ENTERING THE KINGDOM OF GOD

ENTERING THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Mark 10:17-27

As we discussed earlier on, the kingdom of God represents the sovereignty, supremacy and total dominion of God in our hearts.
While we all desire to be partakers of the kingdom of God in the age to come (Rev. 11:15), the Lord God wants to establish His kingdom within our hearts…
He wants to be the Lord of your life; He wants to take total control of your life, from this moment. Give your heart to Jesus!

A rich man came running after Jesus and knelt down before Him, asking ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’

Another way to put this is, ‘what must I do to inherit/enter the kingdom of God?’

Let’s take note of two key things in this statement. He first addressed Jesus as ‘Good Teacher’, he then proceeded to ask questions pertaining to eternal life.

Jesus quickly responded by saying, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God’.
What could this mean? Was Jesus trying to say He wasn’t good? NO!!!
By His response, He was indirectly saying to the man, ‘Do you recognize and acknowledge Me as God?’
Thereafter, the Lord told him about the commandments, which he already knew.

The man quickly responded to what Jesus said, ‘Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth, is there anything I still lack?’

Let’s give it to this rich man! He really tried! He kept all the law...
However, just like this rich man, we sometimes seem to be ahead of God in terms of knowledge. It’s amazing how great we seem to appear in our customized apparel (‘man-made righteousness’). It looks as if we have a full grasp of what God is saying, and then, God suddenly turns the table around…Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me’…

Brethren, we can’t inherit eternal life (the kingdom of God) by works, neither can we obtain it through our self-made righteousness, it is only attainable by grace, through faith (Eph. 2:8-9; Gal. 3:11).
Eternal life is the free gift of God to us (Rom. 6:23).
Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom (Luke 12:32).

Jesus might not necessarily ask you to sell all your belongings and give to the poor like He did to this rich ruler, but be rest assured that He will deal with the worship of mammon in your life. We cannot serve God and mammon! Until we place our total trust in God (not uncertain riches of this world), we cannot enter into the fullness of His power.

The man became very sad at this word, and he went away sorrowful, because he had great possessions…

The real problem the man had wasn’t in owning great possessions, but that the great possessions owned him. The life of a man does not consist in the abundance of things he possesses (Luke 12:15).
Just like this man, many of us place our entire life on materialism. We would rather walk away with what the world system has to offer. We would rather cling to the world at the expense of the kingdom of God.

Later on, Jesus said to His disciples, ‘It is hard for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God’. He said this repeatedly…

His disciples who were greatly astonished, asked within themselves, ‘Who then can be saved?’

But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible’.

IMPORTANT THINGS TO NOTE:
Entering the kingdom of God can only be made possible by God. If you don’t know (seek) God, His kingdom can never be established in your heart…

Ask God for the kingdom (Matt. 6:10, 33; 7:7).

Except we become like little children, we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 18:1-4; Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17).

Entering the kingdom of God is a function of divine revelation. The way of the kingdom is not the popular way, it is spiritually discerned. Few are they that locate it… (Matt. 7:13-14; 2 Peter 1:11; Prov. 25:2).

PASTOR NATHANIEL SADELA

        Resident  Pastor

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THE KINGDOM OF GOD

THE KINGDOM OF GOD

John 3:1-5

Literally, a kingdom can be referred to as a country, state or territory ruled by a king or queen. A kingdom can also be seen as a realm, domain, dominion, sovereign state, territory, etc.
Someone defined the word ‘kingdom’ as a combination of two words, ‘king’ and ‘domain’. Simply put, the word ‘kingdom’ connotes, “king’s domain”.

The kingdom of God is the manifestation of the supernatural (or the spiritual) which establishes the reign, lordship and total dominion of God…It’s a process which starts from within (our hearts); it must be generated within us before it can manifest around us (Luke 17:20-21).

Your kingdom come! Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven (Matt. 6:10).

Nicodemus, one of the Pharisees, a ruler of the Jews came to Jesus in the night, saying ‘Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher sent from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him’…
This implies that they actually knew that Jesus was sent from God, but they failed to identify with Him as the Son of God. They saw all the things that Jesus did, they coveted those things within them. Moreover, they knew that one could only achieve those great feats through the power of God, but they were unwilling to forsake their old ways of life.
However, this man called Nicodemus took a bold step! He came to Jesus, but he chose to come in the night…

Jesus said to Nicodemus, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God’.

Through this, Jesus gradually introduced the message of the kingdom of God to Nicodemus. Just like many of us today, this man was entirely kept in the dark about the dynamics of God’s kingdom, even though he was very ‘religious’ and well lettered in the teachings of the law. He was completely ignorant of the real substance…

Many times, we are familiar with the ‘presence’ of God, we come to church regularly, we perform our religious rites, we observe our traditions…yet, the mysteries of the kingdom are hidden from us, because in our hearts, we dwell amongst the crowd (Matthew 13:10-13).

Furthermore, they (the Pharisees) were concerned about ‘doing’, while Jesus was concerned about ‘being’.
In the real sense, the kingdom of God is not a function of what you do, it’s a function of who you are…What you do is a by-product of who you are in Christ!

Nicodemus said to Him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?’

The same question has lingered in the hearts of many folks for long. Many believers and professing Christians have never tasted the experience of rebirth (new birth) in Christ. They just know that they are serving God and they are church workers, regular church goers, tithe and offering givers, project donors, philanthropists, etc. While all these are good, there is more to the kingdom of God…

Jesus re-emphasized the same point in another way, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God’.

Let’s look at these:
John 3:3 – You must be born again
John 3:5 – You must be born of water and of the Spirit

What do these mean?
For anyone to be a bonafide citizen of earth, you must be born after the order of Adam, following the normal reproductive process (between a man and a woman) as ordained by God.
Furthermore, for you to be a bonafide citizen of God’s kingdom, you must be born after the order of Christ. You must be born of water and of the Spirit. You must be born again! In other words, you must experience the second birth…

The water here is the Word of God and the Spirit is the Holy Spirit. Unless we experience spiritual transformation through the Word of God and the Spirit of God, we can never experience the kingdom of God, neither can we experience the fullness of His power (Ephesians 5:25-26; John 15:3; 1 Peter 1:23; John 1:12-13; Titus 3:5; Romans 8:14-16).

As we open our hearts today, may we experience the quickening power of the Word and the Spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ. May His kingdom be established in our hearts today and forever!

Open up your heart to Jesus! Receive with meekness, the engrafted Word which is able to save your soul…The Word of God will break you and remould you. The Spirit of God will form you. The breath of the Almighty will give you life!

Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom – Luke 12:32 

PASTOR NATHANIEL SADELA

        Resident  Pastor

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QUICKENED BY HIS SPIRIT

QUICKENED BY HIS SPIRIT

Romans 8:11-17

To quicken is to bring to life, to make alive, to animate, to revitalize, to refresh, to stimulate, to kindle, to inspire, to resurrect, etc…

In John 6:63, Jesus said, ‘It is the Spirit that quickens (gives life), the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life’.

Jesus Christ was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:4). He was justified in the Spirit… (1 Tim. 3:16).

Thank God for the resurrection of Christ from the dead. If Christ had not risen from the dead, our preaching would have resulted in futility (1 Cor. 15:12-20).

Just as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so are we expected to walk in the newness of life, through the enabling of the Holy Spirit…
Jesus is alive forever more… He’s risen! (Rev. 1:18).

The Bible says, ‘the first Adam was made (became) a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening (life-giving) Spirit’ (1 Cor. 15:45; John 5:21).

Therefore, we have the same Spirit of faith, through whom we know that the same Spirit that raised up Christ from the dead is at work in us today…
Furthermore, He (the Holy Spirit) quickens our understanding to know that our hope in Christ is not limited to this world.
Through the Holy Spirit, we have a spiritual guarantee that at the appearing of Christ, we will partake of the better resurrection (unto eternal life) – Ephesians 1:13-14; Hebrews 11:35; Daniel 12:2.

HOW CAN I EXPERIENCE THE QUICKENING OF THE SPIRIT?

Ask, Seek and Knock! (Matt. 7:7-11; Luke 11:5-13).
We are never really persistent nor consistent in our ‘desire’ for the leading of the Holy Spirit… We tend to give-up too soon!

Embrace the Cross!
‘Jesus must increase, but I must decrease…’ (John 3:30).
Until we come to the end of ourselves, we can never see the fullness of God’s power revealed in us…His strength is glorified in weakness (1 Cor. 12:7-10).

 PASTOR NATHANIEL SADELA

        Resident  Pastor

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JESUS CHRIST: OUR PERFECT EXAMPLE

JESUS CHRIST: OUR PERFECT EXAMPLE

Bible Text: John 13:3-16

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe [them] with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also [my] hands and [my] head. Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash [his] feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean. So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for [so] I am. If I then, [your] Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. (KJV)

INTRODUCTION

Today being another commemoration of the triumphant entry of our Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, it calls for a reflection of what Jesus lived and died for. He is our example in everything.

The bible tells us that Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith – Heb. 12:2;

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

He is our road map, a perfect example our faith. He epitomizes all that we should live for as Christians. His life showed us how we should live ours – 1Pet. 2:21

For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

Today marks the beginning of what is known in Christendom as Passion Week, we need to reflect on some of those things Christ Himself had shown us by example.

SOME OF THE LESSONS FROM JESUS’ LIFE

·         *God’s kind of love – Matt. 5:44, 46, Rom. 13:8-10

·         *Being humble as Jesus Christ – Phi.2:6 – 11, James 4:10, 1Pet. 5:6

·         *Be compassionate – Col. 3:12, 1John 3:17

·         *Be persistent in God, even in the face of suffering – Heb. 2:9 – 10, 1Pet. 4:13, Rom. 8:18

·         *Maintain godly and holy life style – Rom. 14:19, Heb. 12:14

FOLLOWING JESUS FOOTSTEPS

To become like Jesus, we must be ready to follow Him and do His will through the following three (3) simple steps:

·      *  Follow Him in His word. 

·     * . By the leading and the prompting of Holy Spirit - Rom 8:9;

       But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

·     .*  By the teachings and declarations of His servants - 2Chr. 20:20b, John 2:5 ;

       And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.

AN ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS

AN ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS

John 4:1-42

An encounter with the Lord is worth far more than a lifetime of struggles. A divine encounter will bring the desired turnaround into one’s life. Divine encounter positions you for relevance in the things of God, particularly at this end-time…

Jesus moved from Judea to Galilee, but it became a necessity for Him to pass through Samaria.

After a long and tiring journey, He finally arrived at one of the cities of Samaria called Sychar, and sat on the well there (this was around noon).

Few moments later, a Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water…
And Jesus said to her, ‘Give Me a drink’…

The woman was rather astonished, wanted to know why a Jew would ask for a drink from a Samaritan (based on the rift that had existed between them for long).

Furthermore, Jesus assured her that whoever He gave the water of life would never thirst again… Consequently, the woman sincerely desired the ‘water of life’ and asked for it, so that she wouldn’t have to come to the well again.
Jesus saw her openness, sincerity and vulnerability. He decided to take the discussion to another dimension…

‘Go, call your husband and come back here’ He said to her. This suggestion opened up another chapter of her life…
The woman sharply responded, ‘I have no husband’. Furthermore, the Master dug deeper into her life, revealing her past (which might seem to haunt her)…

I believe that when God decides to open up different chapters of our lives, lines upon lines, precepts upon precepts, the healing process is about to begin!
Question: Are you ready to own up and open up to God? When God confronts you with your weaknesses and frailties, how do you respond?

However, our Lord, Jesus Christ chose not to condemn her, rather, He chose to restore her! (John 3:17).

At this stage, she could deduce that He was a Prophet. Here again, she brought up another sensitive issue, that centres on religion and worship.

Likewise today, we place more importance on ‘the house of God’ than we do on ‘the God of the house’. Religion is gradually taking the place of true worship in the church of God…
Jesus revealed to her that true worship (which is acceptable in the sight of the Father), is not a function of geographical location, but a function of the heart.

This doesn’t suggest that we should stop coming to church (Heb. 10:25), but that our coming to God’s presence shouldn’t become a routine, it must be crowned with a divine encounter! Our service unto God must proceed from the depth of our hearts. (1 Samuel 16:7; Luke 16:15).

At this stage, her heart was beginning to open up… (Psalm 119:130; Rom. 10:17).
By the time Jesus revealed Himself to her as the Messiah, she believed absolutely!

Furthermore, she left her water-pot by the well, went into the city and told everyone she came across, about Christ.
The people came to meet Jesus, believed in Him, and urged Him to stay a few more days with them…and many more believed in Him. They accepted Him as the Christ, the Saviour of the world!

Someone who already had a ‘character’ defect in the society had a life-transforming encounter with Jesus, and she eventually led many souls to Christ…

God is not a respecter of persons! He will do it for you also! You will have a life-changing encounter with Jesus! Look beyond your past, don’t let the devil use the past to intimidate you! Look unto Jesus, and receive grace to walk in the newness of life…

 PASTOR NATHANIEL SADELA

        Resident  Pastor

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GO AND DO LIKEWISE

GO AND DO LIKEWISE…

Luke 10:25-37

Jesus said ‘…he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do’… (John 14:12).

They that know their God shall be strong and they shall do (carry out) great exploits (Dan. 11:32).

A lawyer (an expert in religious law) tested the Lord, by asking Him for the requirements for eternal life. This man already had his own pre-conceived mind-set/opinion, but he decided to check out what Jesus would say. Many times, we ask God questions that we already have customized answers for…

Jesus replied him, ‘What is written in the law of Moses?’ ‘How do you read/understand it?’
Do you understand what you are reading? – Acts 8:30; 2 Cor. 3:15.

The man recited the laws of Moses, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind…and your neighbour as yourself’.
Having heard this, Jesus encouraged him to live according to the Word (just as he had recited), therein lies eternal life.
However, this man, wanting to justify himself before God, asked Jesus, ‘Who is my neighbour?’
This is exactly what we do. We try to appear blameless before God. We try to define the scope of God’s will, purpose and assignment for our lives. We try to determine people who fall within the category of our ‘neighbour’. We try to pre-determine who we will love.
Someone is asking the same question today, ‘Who is my neighbour?’

Jesus took this discourse to another realm by telling the lawyer a story!
This was about a man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and got waylaid by thieves who stripped him of all his belongings, wounded him and left him half dead…
The man in question, who went from Jerusalem to Jericho is a typical Christian or prospect, who still shuttles between the light and darkness…
The thieves here, represent the devil, whose major pre-occupation is to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10).

But for God, who sent His only begotten Son to take away the sin of the world, through death by shedding His precious blood on the Cross of Calvary, we had been left for the dead…

Now by chance, a priest showed up on the scene…But when he saw the half-dead man, he passed by on the other side of the road.

Thereafter, a Levite came along, when he got to the place, he moved closer and looked, and decided to move on, crossing to the other side of the road.

Many of us are like the priest and the Levite, we meet spiritually ‘half-dead’ people on a daily basis in our workplace, institution of learning, group, within the neighbourhood, in the same community, on air (while we are travelling), in the bus/car, etc.

We decide to ignore their spiritually appalling conditions, do business with them, interact with them, and move on, leaving them for the dead… (within the claws of eternal damnation and doom).

Chances and opportunities present themselves before us regularly, but do we leverage on these, to advance the Kingdom of God?
Time and chance happen to them all…Eccl. 9:11

Furthermore, a Samaritan, who was embarking on a journey, came along, when he saw the half-dead man, he had compassion on him.
He went to him, bandaged his wounds, rubbed oil on his body, gave him wine, and set him on his own donkey, took him to the inn (hospital) and took care of him. The man got much better, but the Samaritan didn’t stop there.
On the next day, when he saw that the man had regained his consciousness, he decided to proceed on his journey.
However, he gave two denarii to the inn keeper, and said to him ‘Take care of him, whatever more expense you incur, I will repay you when I return…’

The good Samaritan is a type and shadow of our Lord, Jesus Christ…He alone can deliver from the power and consequence of sin. He came to us, bandaged our wounds, anointed us with oil, gave us the wine of new life, carried us on His divine wings, took us to the place of grace, the secret place of the Most High and took care of us…

Just as He gave the innkeeper money to take care of the wounded, He has called us and given us resources, as His servants, to minister to the needs (spiritual, economic, social, psychological, medical, etc) of people…
We must use our God-given resources (life, health, money, materials, time, etc) to reach out to people in the love of God.

Please, take note of what He said ‘Take care of him, whatever more expense you incur, I will repay you when I return…’

Jesus finally told the lawyer: ‘Go and do likewise’.

 PASTOR NATHANIEL SADELA

        Resident  Pastor

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THE PERFECTION MANDATE PART 4

THE PERFECTION MANDATE – PART 4

THE BLESSING

Genesis 22:1-18

The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it. The blessing of God upon Abraham is the seal of the perfection mandate that God gave us.
It pleased the Lord in His awesome Majesty, to choose Abraham as the conveyor of the blessing He wanted to bestow upon mankind (Gen. 12:3; 22:18; Gal. 3:13-14).

As we all know, God took Abraham through a divine process before he could attain this level. In Genesis 21, Sarah conceived and gave birth to Isaac, just as the Lord had promised.
However, there was another hurdle for Abraham to scale.
A man who is going to be a conveyor of the heavenly blessing must be tested, proven and certified by God.

Brethren, for everyone who has been given the perfection mandate, divine processing is not an option! It’s a major pre-requisite!
In the school of the Spirit, process precedes progress, test precedes testimonies…

God told Abraham to take his son, Isaac to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, of which He (God) would tell him…

Abraham embarked on the journey. He set out very early in the morning for the place, not knowing the exact mountain where God wanted him to offer his son as a sacrifice.

Brethren, Abraham couldn’t have known that God was actually testing him. However, he took the step of obedience. God will definitely test you, He will test every one of us, at different points in time. Are you prepared for the test? Some of us are already going through the ‘test’ unknowingly. God is taking you through a divine process, and you probably think it’s the enemy that’s attacking you…

For Abraham, Isaac was the greatest blessing he would ever receive from God. Isaac was the link to his being a source of blessing to all the families of the earth, yet, God asked him to present Isaac as a burnt offering…
Can God request for anything that is very dear to you? Can God command you to drop that ‘great’ ambition of yours, and follow His agenda for your life?

When God lays it in the hearts of His servants, that we should sow seed for the expansion of His kingdom, do we obey His Words?

God took Abraham from the lineage of idolatry, began a new thing in him, processed him, nurtured and groomed him, till he became the father of faith. The Bible says he offered up Isaac by faith (Heb. 11:8-19).

As a result of Abraham’s obedience, God renewed His covenant with him through an oath (Gen. 22:16-18; Hebrews 6:12-18).

In Genesis 24, Abraham, guarded jealously his posterity (the trans-generational blessing he carried), therefore, he charged his servant Eliezer to get a wife for Isaac from his folks (his father’s house). He refused to allow Isaac to mingle with the daughters of the Canaanites…

He remained totally obedient to the commandment God gave him many years earlier (Genesis 12). He told his servant that, on no condition should he take Isaac back to his (Abraham’s) relatives.

When Isaac eventually got married to Rebecca, Isaac was 40 years old (Gen. 25:20) and Abraham was 140 years old (Gen. 21:5).

When Jacob and Esau were born, Isaac was 60 years old (Gen. 25:25-26).
Abraham was 160 years.

Abraham died at the age of 175. The Bible says he dwelt in the tent with Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise… (Heb. 11:9).
Abraham must have noticed the lifestyle of Jacob right from childhood (Gen. 25:27), and taught him the ways of God. He must have told Jacob about how he received the call, the heavenly mandate, how the God of glory appeared to him in Mesopotamia, etc.

Where was Esau all this while? He was missing in action! May we never miss out of God’s blessing in the name of Jesus Christ.

Abraham died a fulfilled man, having secured the destinies of his descendants to the fourth generation, before he slept in the Lord (Gen. 14; Hebrews 7:9-10).

Receive grace to run diligently, the race that has been set before you!
You will fulfill the perfection mandate that God has given you! You will finish strong, and pass on the baton to the next generation, in the name of Jesus Christ! 

  PASTOR NATHANIEL SADELA

        Resident  Pastor

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PERFECT LOVE

PERFECT LOVE

1 John 4:8-18

The best way to describe God is love! The best way to describe love is God!
God is love.

God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son… (John 3:16).

Greater love has no man than this, that a man should lay down His life for His friends (John 15:13).

Until your love life is perfected, you will never experience the fullness of God.

Thank God for your career life, academic life, etc. However, for you to enjoy an astounding success in all these, you must be fully established in the love of God.

Love God by showcasing His love around people.
Man is an extension of God, created in the image of God. Service to people is service to God. It's not possible to claim to love God if you find it difficult to love people around you (Matt. 25:31-40).

Love God with all your heart, mind and soul; Love your neighbour as yourself.
Upon these two commandments hang the law and the prophets (Matt. 22:37-40).

The royal law – love your neighbour as yourself… James 2:8.
Love is the fulfilment of the law (Rom. 13:10; Gal. 5:14).
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love (1 Cor. 13:13).
Love activates faith (Gal. 5:6).

Love is the more excellent way. 1 Cor. 12:31, 13:1

A new commandment I give unto you...John 13:34-35

IF YOU LOVE GOD, HOW WILL IT SHOW?
It will show through the things you do to people around you.
Agape love - unconditional love, selfless love, sacrificial love.
It is the nature and character of God.

When you love people, you don't compete with them, you complete them.
When you love people, you are not proud against them, you are proud of them. When you love someone, you don't just try to tolerate them, you also appreciate and celebrate them.

Wherever perfect love exists (family, church, group, organisation, etc.), fear becomes eradicated. Perfect love casts out every form of fear!

People who loves God loves the truth, and they love to be told the truth, no matter how hard it hits them.

Many folks lack the anointing of the Holy Spirit because you don't show love!
Their heads lack the anointing because you don't understand the mystery of love.

The love of God, unconditional love, undiluted love, Godly induced love fuels the anointing of the Holy Spirit in one's life!

When we are entrenched in the Spirit of Love, there is a heavy dose of the release of God's anointing upon our lives - Gal 5:22-23

He that has love has all things.

THE PERFECTION MANDATE PART 3

THE PERFECTION MANDATE – PART 3

THE COVENANT OF CIRCUMCISION

Genesis 17:9-14

In our last discussion (on this series), we concluded that God took Abraham through the process of ‘perfection’ in order to make him a distributor or conveyor of the eternal blessings He bestowed upon mankind (Gal. 3:13-14).

After what seemed like eternity (a period of about thirteen years in absolute darkness), God showed up!

This marked the beginning of another phase in Abraham’s life! God made a covenant of circumcision with him.

WHAT IS CIRCUMCISION?
It’s the surgical removal of the foreskin of a young boy or man. This is usually done as a religious rite or as a purely hygienic measure.

God began the process of perfection by giving Abraham the covenant of circumcision, as a means of ensuring that he put his absolute trust in God.
Because Abraham had been consecrated by God, every male descendant of his, must be circumcised, in order to manifest the trans-generational blessing that God had conferred on him…
God declared that every descendant of Abraham who would not be circumcised had broken His covenant, and therefore, would be cut off (Genesis 17:14; Exodus 4:24-26).
This physical circumcision was meant to inflict ‘pain’ and ‘weakness’ on Abraham and his descendants, and this would leave an indelible mark in their lives forever…Through this process, they would become more and more dependent on God and not themselves!
Furthermore, God told Joshua to circumcise the sons of Israel, who were born in the wilderness, and after they were healed, the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you” (Joshua 5:2-9).

Some days after this occurrence, Joshua encountered the Lord in another dimension. He saw the Captain of the LORD’s army, who revealed divine strategies to him on how to penetrate the walls of Jericho… (Joshua 5:13-15).

However, God just used the circumcision of the flesh as a starting point, whereas the real circumcision is of the heart (Deut. 10:16). This is the only means through which we can attain perfection in the sight of God (Romans 2:25-29).

The heart of the matter is the matter of the heart! Perfection is not necessarily a function of what is physically seen, but it’s a function of the heart. Is your heart right towards God and men?

Furthermore, let’s look at Deut. 30:6 and Colossians 2:8-12.

Abraham caught this revelation and keyed perfectly into it. Even though he was physically circumcised (which could be done today, based on people’s discretion), he knew that God’s desire was a perfect heart! This man eventually became the father of faith, a friend of God, a reference point in Christianity!

Few days after Abraham and all the male adults and children in his household were circumcised, as he was sitting at the tent of the door (with optimism and expectation), he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold….he saw GOD! (Gen. 18:1-15.
When you experience a circumcision of the heart, you no longer see as the world sees…you no longer walk by sight, you rather walk by faith! (2 Cor. 5:7).
You fix your eyes on the unseen…for the things that are seen are temporal, the things that are not seen are eternal. You focus more on things that have eternal value. You discover the mysteries of the kingdom which are hidden from the ‘multitude’ (2 Cor. 4:18).

Abraham entertained the ‘three men’ and thereafter, the promise was re-emphasized.

Furthermore, God saw Abraham as a prophet and revealed His intention to Him (Genesis 18:17-19; Amos 3:7).

Abraham became an intercessor! He stood before the LORD in prayer, negotiating the destiny of a nation…Through the circumcision of the heart, he was no longer selfish (self-centred), he no longer engaged in self-centred prayer sessions, he started interceding for others! (Genesis 18:20-33).

The Bible referred to Abraham as the friend of God in three different places:
2 Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 41:8; James 2:23.

You can also be a friend of God, if you choose to walk before Him with a perfect heart, through the circumcision of your heart…

The circumcision of the heart is what makes a constant walk with God possible.
Furthermore, circumcision of the heart is the beginning of the process through which Christ makes us priests and kings unto our God (Rev. 1:6; 5:10).

HOW DO I ATTAIN THIS CIRCUMCISION OF THE HEART?
Deny yourself, pick up your cross daily and follow Jesus (Matt. 16:24; Luke 9:23).