Programme: Writing The Vision (July Edition)
Date: Saturday, 20th July, 2024
Transcript Summary
Jesus is first the Apostle and the High Priest of our profession (Heb. 3:1). He raised ‘twelve’ to also be apostles of the Lamb, but He was the first Apostle. It is time for us to respond to the heavenly calling because men must ascend or come up into heaven. There is a vocation that Jesus is officiating in heaven. This is not the present heaven but a greater and more perfect heaven that is to come – the heaven that the only begotten Son of God is ministering from.
The twelve were chosen so that they might go “in and out” with Him (Mark 3:14). Jesus going in and out with the apostles made them apostles of the Lamb and they found pasture for their souls (John 10:9). What He wrought in them became a kind of work that must be worked out in every soul that will fulfill their heavenly calling. The apostolic ministry of Jesus is beyond the five-fold; Jesus is the sent One to give life, everlasting life and Eternal Life.
Jesus was sent to give life (John 10:10). He chose the twelve disciples to be with Him that He might go in and out with them till they received life. As such, they were commissioned to preach the word of this life, but their inheritance was not just to be preachers. The apostles had life and by their preaching, they could access the word of life. Unknown to them, while going in and out with Jesus, they partook of a pasture which is life and could also communicate the words of this life.
By being with Jesus and going in and out with Him, things were done in the souls of the apostles. They were being saved but had not come into full salvation. The twelve apostles were the first lambs that followed the Lord Jesus. When Judas had to be replaced, they made sure to choose one who had been with them since the beginning (Acts 1:20-21). As the souls of the apostles were being trained by going in and out with the Lord, their souls were being fed with ways. Life is ‘way’.
Apostle Paul was given the commission to know God’s will, see the just One and hear the voice of His mouth (Acts 24:14). It will only take a sheep to hear the voice of His mouth. However, one must know His will before one can hear the voice of His mouth. The Being who is responsible for this is the Holy Ghost.
When a man is not ready to walk in the spirit, the voice of the Shepherd cannot be opened to him. The first voice that we learn to hear is the voice of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost can stay with goats and later make them lambs. He starts to lead the soul with objective leading but His intention is not to stay there. The voice of the Holy Ghost will come to train every lamb. In Hebrews 3 and 4, the Holy Ghost was speaking to the Church at a level. However, He did not want them to remain there; He wanted them to graduate to hearing the voice of the Shepherd.
The Holy Ghost leads and converts men who are goats in their souls through His voice. He treats things that make the soul offend. The Holy Ghost must rid a soul of certain things before He can commend such a soul to the Shepherd. This is because it is dangerous to introduce a man to the Shepherd and he begins to disobey Him. The Shepherd opens the door to the Kingdom. When the voice of the Shepherd comes, one begins to see the Kingdom; and when this happens, one must not turn back.
The Holy Ghost wants to train us to hear His voice. For this to happen, we must know the voice of the scripture so well. The scripture has a way it sounds; it has its own voice. Nobody should hear the voice of the Lord if the Holy Ghost has not trained him well (Heb 3:7-8). Stephen was full of the Holy Ghost (Acts 7:55). To be full of the Holy Ghost is to be a person who has heard the voice of the Holy Ghost well enough. Stephen had heard the Holy Ghost such that when he was being stoned, he saw the Just One (Acts 7:55-60). This is the training a man needs before he can begin to hear the voice of the Shepherd.
The essence of going “in and out” with Jesus is to know Him. For this to happen, we must partake of pastures. There are two pastures that we m ust partake of as a sheep: “feed My lamb” and “feed My sheep” (John 21:15-17). The sheep that can be fed by His pasture are sheep that want to become His people and the sheep of His hand.
God wants us to know Him, but we cannot know Him without His will. His pasture will make us know His will. The essence of His will is to open His conversation to us. His will is a script and it is a conversation; it is a life that we must see and hear. Jesus must open us on the inside to see the way He lived. The disciples saw how He lived and their souls acquired things pertaining to life. We will also acquire things pertaining to life by going in and out with Him.
Blessings!
Kate Richard - 2 months ago