Meeting: Sunday Service
Date: 16 June, 2024
Sunday School Theme: How to be Led by the Spirit of God
Minister: Sis Ore Idowu
(Genesis 1:27-28) – “27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
(Genesis 2:8) – “8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.”
(Isaiah 30:21) – “21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.”
(Romans 8:14 &16) – “14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.”
When God created man, man couldn’t relate with the earth (Genesis 1), then God, in Chapter 2, formed his earthly suit and breathed into his nostril and the man became a living soul. Being a living soul shows that man has life.
The presence of life in the soul of Adam and Eve meant they were high beings, they didn’t need the spirit of God to lead them. However, they were still meant to come into a higher allocation of life, hence the reason for the tree of life in the garden.
However, because of disobedience they died in their spirit – “3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.” (Genesis 3:3-8) But because they still had life in their souls, they were still able to obey God and keep His commandments and ways. In the process of time, the life content trapped in their souls began to dissipate because of the dead spirit. God designed the spirit to lead the soul. But because of the death in their spirit, their souls following the leadings of the dead spirit eventually lost life until they became flesh (Genesis 6).
It’s also key to state that the Holy Ghost wasn’t dwelling in the spirits of Adam and Eve, however they had the life and ways of God in their spirits and soul because they were living souls. If the Spirit was dwelling within Adam and Eve, they wouldn’t have died instantly in their spirits after disobedience. However, with the coming of Jesus, our Spirits are regenerated and the Holy Ghost indwells us, and our souls and bodies have been purchased. Hallelujah! – “13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:13-14)
The presence of sin and death in the spirit, encroached into the soul and also reflected in the body, because the body is a reflector, a mirror and expressor of the soul. This made the years of man’s life reduced to 120 years and later 80 years.
The disobedience of Adam opened the door of sin and death into this world, and everyone born of a woman is conceived in Sin. Everyone is born under the kingdom of sin and it’s only when a person believes in the Lord Jesus that the reign of sin is broken in the spirit of the person – it is this new believer that can be led by the Spirit.
However, though the spirit is saved, and regenerated with the holy ghost within, the soul is still in the kingdom of darkness. Though the spirit is regenerated, there is still death present in the soul because the soul has learnt the ways of death. But as the Soul begins to follow the leading of the Spirit, the Soul gradually comes out of darkness and breaks free from the reign of sin and death. Which is exactly the aim of the leading of the spirit. The aim is for the spirit of God to lead and to order a soul out of darkness into the kingdom of God – which is Salvation.
It’s good to know that though the spirit is saved, the soul cannot lead itself out of sin and death, the soul cannot see the way and lead itself. The soul does not know the way to go. It is only the Holy Ghost that knows the way. The soul should be patient to learn and follow. Our obedience to the spirit is what helps a soul take steps into light and life.
It was because of the fall and death in man’s spirit that man began to take thoughts of what to eat, what to drink, what to put on, which was seen in them sewing fig trees.
Because the spirit of man was dead, God couldn’t lead men through their spirit anymore. God then began to lead the soul from the outward man – the body, through prophets and priests, visions, signs and outward manifestations. But this shouldn’t be so anymore by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ – “17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Just like the way death from the dead spirit of man passed to the soul and eventually killed the womb, so also, when the spirit of life is alive, the soul by following the spirit of life will also come into life and it will also affect the body. An example of such is our fathers of faith in Nigeria who are still physically strong and gearing for the lord despite their old age.
After we are born again and the Holy Ghost indwells our spirit, we are to go on to be filled with the spirit of God. The Holy Ghost already indwells us at new birth, but much more, we can be filled with the Spirit by the baptism of the Holy Ghost upon the soul with the evidence of speaking in tongues, and when we pray in tongues (praying in the spirit) our spiritual senses becomes sharper to pick the direction of the Holy Ghost for our soul. The Holy Ghost leads us through our spirits and will never bypass our spirits to lead our souls.
Pastor Laide Roundoff
(Romans 8:10) – “10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”
There is nowhere in the scriptures that it is stated that the spirit has eternal life. But what scripture says is that the spirit is life. Because if the spirit has eternal life, the holy ghost will not need to lead the spirit.
We must be able to differentiate between life in the spirit and the holy ghost. At new birth, life is given to the spirit, but that life isn’t the full measure, so there was a need for the holy ghost to dwell. Adam, in his spirit, before the fall, had life in his spirit, but the quality of life in his spirit was “living soul”.
(Romans 8:11) – “11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”
The mortal bodies in this scripture are not just our flesh, mortal bodies here include the body of our souls and body of our spirits. The body of our souls and the body of our spirits being mortal shows that they are subject to death and corruption. A person is a constituency of bodies! That’s why if we live after the flesh, we will die because our bodies are mortal and subject to death – “13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” (Romans 8:13)
We are debtors to the spirit life, once we fail to live in the spirit, we die. The life of the spirit is not optional for us, it is a must. We are indebted to live by the spirit. It is not just for pastors and superhuman christians, but for everyone of us!
Our bodies and souls and whole being has been purchased, so we are indebted to live by the Spirit. The head of the church will keep pumping life loads into our souls until we are fully alive in our beings. Once we fail to live by the Spirit, we will surely die. Our daily warfare should be to live by the Spirit.
There is only one outcome in following the leading of the Spirit – to become sons. We either live by the leading of the spirit to become sons or we die! The leading of the spirit is not optional. We must see the dangers and perils in not following the spirit. We have to be a little dull to be able to follow the spirit, and that is what it means to be contrite. To be contrite is to be lame, to not be able to move, take steps and do anything without God.
Pastor Laide Olaniyan (Message)
Tongues and interpretation
I’ve brought keys to the light
I’ve been sent to bring keys to the light
There is the light that is supposed to break open in your midst
I bring keys to show you ways to the light, to help you open the door to the light.
It is the light for this time, for this season.
There is a light that should break open and brighten up my speakings
It is a key to the light
When handled, it will break open the light of the day of my speakings upon you.
Take this key, it’s a key to light, to the understanding of this light.
Take it and you own it and you will unlock the brightness of that day, for many to come into this light of the day.
Message starts
(Galatians 4:1-6) – “1 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; 2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: 4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”
The responsibility of fathering is one of the most complex. Thank God for motherhood, but fatherhood is complex. It is complex when we start judging it through the eternal template of God. Fatherhood is a large responsibility. First and foremost, the lord enlarges a man He is training to be a father. This is because fathering isn’t just about giving birth to offspring, even though the word encompasses originator, succorer, instructor and nurturer.
Fathering is multi-level in the sense that God is a Father to all but also a Father to some. He can father you from afar (in proxy). The Father doesn’t father children directly. Though He is the father of the child, He cannot father him directly, so He appoints tutors and governors until the child gets to the time that he can be fathered directly. Tutors and governors stand in the stead of the Father and execute the will of the Father but is not the direct father. (Hebrews 12:5-6) – “5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” There is a time of receiving (season of adoption).
In proxy fathering, other entities are doing the work of gathering in His stead. Fathering in proxy is not low, but that is where a generality of people are stuck. In the household of the Father, there are also servants there. This means that the Father is first of all a “Householder”, He Fathers both servants and children. The sense in which a servant is mentioned here is the sense of which it is mentioned in the prodigal son. Servants are well taken care of. Abraham is also an example of a householder, he had a servant (Eliazer). There is a fatherhood of God that is a provider and protector, He provides and protects for His servants also. In the household of God, the life of servants is precious.
A father is not just a provider. That you can put a meal on the table doesn’t make you a father, that you can even plant a seed doesn’t make you a father. It is the wisdom of raising that makes you a father. The Lord, who is a Father, has His first administration which He does from afar. Israel was under tutors and governors, the tutor and governor was the law – “24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” (Galatians 3:24). The end of the law is life. The law is spiritual, if you follow the law you’ll have life – “5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” (Galatians 4:5). Israel was under a type of milk, they had difficulties in being weaned from it. It is difficult to transit administrations in the spirit. A father understands the multilevel structure of progression to inheritance, and yet he is able to administer skillfully, each level of his things, according to stature and growth.
One of the things some fathers fail in is that they open the eyes of the children to money early. While some parents tend to fulfil their lusts through their child. There is wisdom and skill for administering and raising a child without injuring the soul. Many people have killed the soul that God has given them to raise by exposing the child to lust. The skill of raising requires that we understand the administration that is safe for the soul at the time. There are some things that when they come alive in the soul, it will compete with the place of the word. It will take serious warfare for the place of the word to come alive again. There are illicit exposures that are dangerous to the soul that must not be exposed to children.
After that tutors and governors have raised the child, if the time that the father appoints comes and the heir has not grown from being a child to being a son, that season will pass. At the time of Christ, you’re a type of son but you have not become a full-fledged son yet because adoption has not been completed. At the time when the lord begins to adopt sons into sonship, he uses chastening and scourging as the tools for adoption.
Fatherhood may look complex because what the Father wants to give is His gene. He begins the process of chastening and scourging as a cleansing process to find what will turn out bad. It is just like the process of sieving out chaff and dead seed from plants like corn and beans. When God is fathering, He doesn’t trust everything so He introduces the process of chastening and scourging because there is something that the son ought to produce.
(Malachi 1:6) – “6 A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?” The transaction relationship that relates between a father and a son is that of honour. The father chastens the son who he receives so that the son can honour the father, and the father will in turn honour the son. Chastening and scourging is a purification to draw nigh and honour the father, then the father will in turn bless (honour) the son.
(Hebrews 12:6-13) – “6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. 11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. 12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; 13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.”
Chastening can make a hand hang down when the purpose of it is not known. When the lord is chastening a soul for adoption, it can feel as if the hand of the lord is against him. Chastening is a reproof of the Lord to show us what is about us (unholy things) that we are not aware of. (I Samuel 2:29-30) – “29 Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation; and honourest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people? 30 Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the Lord saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.” The process of scourging is a process to discern the Father’s soul. Part of honour is the beauty of revelation. When you hold fast to the judgement of the lord, what you’ll be blessed with is revelation. Honour is an understanding of the secrets to the gene of God. When God wants to administer His things, HGe administers it personally. It is His person that delivers it.
Fatherhood is a priestly work, it is a high priestly work to oversee a soul in God’s stead until he is received. There’s a balance between authority and responsibility. When God makes you head, overlook the authority and focus on the responsibility. There is a skill of raising a house that should be had.
It is not only fathers that God needs to raise, God needs to also raise mothers that can raise men into sons. These mothers in turn will teach their sons how to look for virtue in a woman that would help in fulfilling the responsibility of fathering. One of the problems that we have in our days is that many of our men have not been taught what to look out for in a woman.
(Proverbs 31: 26-31) – “26 She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. 27 She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. 28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. 29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. 30 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. 31 Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.” In the school of virtue, we don’t only have virtuous women, we have virtuous men also. A man has to be raised as a man of virtue, and not just a man of valour. Virtue is within, valour is without. God has a standard, a measure that He expects us to live up to, within.
(John 17:1-5) – “1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: 2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. 3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. 4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” Jesus received levels of glory. The last honour that he was looking for was himself. One of the things that the father knows how to do is how to administer honour per time. We don’t know the wisdom of salvation. The carefulness to not expose us beyond the administration of grace that is needed for salvation, per time is seen with God.
Much more than being enterprising and handy, we must be wise to know the administration of the spirit for us to adequately father well. This is not saying that we should not be skillful and handy in handling household responsibilities, but beyond this, we must also be raised in the wisdom of raising, like our God (who is a father) is. We should trust Jesus in places where there is deficiency so we can raise us to be fathers.
THE END