Believers’ Convention 2024 (Day 7 – Morning Session)

Date: Saturday, 24th August 2024

Minister: Pastor Shehu Makama

Topic: Holding Fast the Promise of His Coming

Tongues and Interpretation 

“Come up hither, come up hither, come up, Shehu come up. Come up, come up, come up, come up, come up, come up, come, come, come, I call you up into a higher stand, into a higher strength, into a higher might, into a higher plane and grace. Even the grace of Jesus that is upon your father. Come, come, come, come up, come up, come up, Makama come up, come up, come up, come up hither, come up, come up, call you up. For there is a hood, even a house for you even in the garment of your father, Kayode Oyegoke, that you ought to step into and I say come into it. Come up, come up, call you up, glory you up, strength you up, hold you up, talk you up for to bless My people, for to minister grace and strength to My people, for to serve Jesus, saith the Lord Jesus.”

(Message Begins..)

This convention is not just a program, it marks a very critical point in the destiny of the church. So much has been given to us, and so many things will be required of us. This is not just another meeting. We will never have another convention like this, not because we would not have more glorious moments but because a door has been opened that may not be opened again. Therefore, it is important that we discern it, in order to make our passage through unto the destiny God has ordained for us as a church. This meeting is marking a significant spiritual calendar that the Lord has earmarked for the church. 

Some of us may be struggling to understand the theme of this year’s convention, “The Son of God is Come”, because it sounds so unconventional. There are promises of comings in the scripture and we must see them to believe that God is true since other comings have taken place. 

John  14:16, 18

“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever… [18] I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”

At the time Jesus said this, the Comforter had not come. He talked about the coming of the Comforter then He talked about His coming. The Comforter came two thousand (2000) years ago. The promise of comings is the promise of the entire Godhead abiding with man; this is the greatest promise in the Bible. The Comforter came, never to go back. But there are still those who are skeptics of the coming of the Comforter till date. There are people who do not believe in the coming of the Holy Ghost or believe in His operations and manifestations. Whatever we do not believe in, there is a tendency for us to trivialize, scoff or mock it. When we do so, we hinder ourselves from the blessing of the coming. The coming of the Holy Ghost is not the only coming Jesus talked about, He also talked about other comings. 

John 14:20

 “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.”

Jesus divided the coming of the Holy Ghost from His own coming. He said that in His coming there would be a kind of knowing. Jesus was saying that without His coming, we would not know this. Knowing is not just an understanding, it is coming to the reality of being in Him, He being in the Father and the Father in Him. The coming of the Holy Ghost brought about the manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit. However, it is not just limited to that (John 16:13). Without the coming of the Holy Ghost, we cannot be guided into truth and walk in truth. Leading into truth is the workings of the Spirit, not just by hearing revelations but by also leading us to live the life we have learnt. To live the life, we have learnt is not possible without the Spirit of truth. 

Many people engage in activities like praying for long hours because we all want to be involved in activities and not in growing spiritually. The emphasis of the coming of the Holy Spirit is to help us grow into the stature God wants for us; it is in leading and guiding us that this will happen. The Holy Spirit has to first come to abide in us, but the essence of His coming is to prepare the ground (man) for the next coming, which is the coming of the Son of God. This coming of Jesus is not  a coming upon the earth, like the Holy Ghost did. Rather, it is a coming within us. As glorious as heaven is, the Godhead wants to vacate heaven to dwell in man. The whole intent of their coming is to raise a tabernacle for their dwelling (Isa. 66:1). We cannot comprehend the great love of God in choosing that He wants to dwell in man.

If Jesus promised that the Holy Ghost will come and He came, then as He has promised that He will come, He will surely come. There are scoffers today because we have not received His coming. But we are stepping on a strange territory, and it is a learning process. We have to disengage our hearts from that which is familiar to that which is unfamiliar. 

John 14:21-22

“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. [22] Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?”

This coming is one in which He will manifest Himself, meaning, He will carry out a work. The Holy Ghost has a work to raise Christ in us, yet with all His efforts, there are still spots and blame within us. There are some sins we cannot really understand, which is the testimony and the life. The Holy Spirit can deal with the body of sin, but it will take the coming of Christ to deal with the life of sin which is the testimony of iniquity in us.

The disciples understood that Jesus was making reference to an inward coming, in order to perfect a work. He would not manifest himself to anyone except those who are looking for Him. The third coming is the coming of the Godhead to us (John 14:23). This coming is not just a cliche but a prophecy. There are people who may not understand or come into this; we should not allow such people to distract us. 

2 Peter 3:3-5

“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, [4] And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. [5] For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water…”

These scoffers are walking after their own lusts because they have not subscribed and accepted the first coming, which is the coming of the Holy Ghost as the spirit of truth to deal with their lusts, prepare their hearts and make them Christs which is the foundation of the coming of the Son of God. They knew about the promise of the Son of God. There was a probability that He had come and they did not know because they were walking according to their own lusts. 

We have to allow the teachings of the gospel of Christ to do a thorough work in us so that lusts, spots and blames would not be found in us because they can hinder us from believing. When you do not believe that Jesus has come, you will not be a partaker of the programme of His coming. There is a likelihood that those scoffers are not unbelievers. They could be those in the church, but people who have not yielded to the coming of the Holy Ghost as the Spirit of Truth, to do a thorough work by raising up the foundation of Christ and thereby bring about the anticipation of His coming. 

Things can remain the same outwardly, but this coming is a manifestation within. Those who are ignorant of the coming are that way because they do not understand the coming. God is not slack concerning His promise, whatever He says He will do. 

2 Peter 3:9

“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

This repentance did not happen on the day we gave our lives to Christ; it is a process and it comes through the workings of the raising and building of Christ within us.

2 Peter 3:12

“Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?”

Some of the reasons why scoffers will say He did not come is because the earth and heavens are still intact, but this is talking about the constellations within us. These are the things He is coming to deal with within us. This is the sensor to the external constellation that principalities use to rule and govern our lives. This is the world within us and it must first go because it is the one that gave the prince of the air the right to rule over us. Christ is a world within us that will ensure the coming of the Son of God. The essnece of the coming of the Son of God is to deal with what gives principalities and powers an edge to continue to rule over mankind.

The entirety of the issue of Christianity is about the salvation of the soul. The soul is a masterpiece design of God that has the capacity to change from one dimension to another dimension. What determines who we are is the state of pour soul; this is determined by the properties of the soul. What made us subject to the powers of darkness is because of the world within us. For the soul to be raised to another heaven, that heaven must first be implanted within us; this is the heaven of the Son of God. The coming of the Son of God will bring His own heaven and sanctuary because He is a heaven. 

The heaven and the earth within us must change because what is within us cannot contain the Father. The coming is real. The word of God coming so real to us and bringing a judgment within us is an indicator of this. 

2 Peter 3:13

“Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”

The old heaven and old earth has to pass away by His coming. Our rejoicing is that His coming will bring the new earth and new heavens within.  

2 Peter 3:14

“Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.”

The new heavens and the new earth is what we have been looking for and it is what is coming. Jesus cannot bring the Father until we have been made without blemish. 

1 Thessalonians 5:23

“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Preservation will take place. Preservation means the old heaven has been taken away, by the virtue of the new heaven, preservation has come and we will be made blameless. There is an assurance for us, if we continue faithfully in the prophecies and the word of God that has been coming. 

1 Thessalonians 5:24

“Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.”

We can bank on His promise. 

Message Ends.