Date: Saturday, 14th August. 2021
Ministering: Rev. (Mrs.) Helen Oyegoke
"For God so loved the world,that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."(John 3:16). God gave His only begotten Son because He does not want any man to perish. Although men care very little about their perishing state, God desires to give us a life exclusive to Himself so as to keep us from perishing. Everlasting Life is the very essence of God. Just as good friends always want to share whatever they have with one another, God wants to share His life with man.
Everlasting Life is the reason for the gospel (John. 3:16). Hence, every born-again believer has been called to receive everlasting life, which is received by hearing, teachings and doing the commandments that flow from these teachings. Any man living below the state of everlasting life will perish. Perishing set in when Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God said he would die and he did: he died in his spirit, then gradually in his soul and finally in his body. Adam was not meant to die because of the substances by which God created him.
“In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” (John. 1:4). Jesus did not come to earth to acquire life because He already had life. The life in the Word was the light of men. This tells us that God had preordained that man would come into all that was inside the Word.
"But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men…" (Phil. 2:7). Jesus’ coming in the likeness of men is an act of sacrifice. By this, He is showing us the path to everlasting life. Everlasting life is the life of God; but whoever would have everlasting life will first be trained with the life of Christ. The training of Christ is the training that rids the soul of self. Anyone who would gain everlasting life must take the journey of laying down his/her life.
"Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye."( Col. 3:13). Paul’s statement in this scripture makes us understand that quarrels are inevitable amongst brethren; but when quarrels occur, we ought to forgive speedily because the journey is far. We see each others shortcomings because we are not yet perfected in charity; charity covers the multitude of sins (1 Pet. 4:8). The realm of everlasting life is a realm of ultimate death. For this reason, we must submit to the training to lay down our lives for the brethren; otherwise, we would not gain everlasting life. Everlasting life demands life for life.
In the season of everlasting life, God will begin to narrow down on us - demanding the things we have held onto as our lives; but He will give us grace to obey, just as He gave Abraham grace to obey the many commandments given to him. The commandments of everlasting life will be coming to us in this season and will be demanding for things that we take as coverings.
Those who are not yet married should use the season of their singleness to gain everlasting life. Even though having children and spouses is a good thing, it does not count in the way we are rated in the spirit and in life rverlasting. God’s intention for man was to be in His image and likeness (Gen. 1:26); without these, there can be no dominion. Anyone who has material possessions and does not attain God's image and likeness has only wasted his/her lifetime.
God did not bring Abraham into everlasting life by teaching, but by leading. Having gone through the leading of God, Abraham got to a state where he could say he sought for a city whose builder and maker is God (Heb. 11:10). God wants to train us with the laws that are operational in Him, because without them, we cannot gain the inheritance.
“And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” (Gen. 22:2). God knows what things we love. He told Abraham to sacrifice his only son, the one he loved. May God strengthen us in the days of our sacrifice. One thing the Lord brought to us on this mount is grace for us to make sacrifices. All of God’s demands are out of love because what He is demanding of us is nothing compared to what He wants to give us, which is everlasting life.
"For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead…" (2 Cor. 5:14). Jesus died for us, so we are indebted to His sacrifice. The love of Christ constrains any soul learning Christ; such a one is a prisoner of love and cannot undertake certain things that may be permissible to others. God is seeking for men who will cut covenant with Him so that this message of Everlasting Life can go to nations.
God loved us when we did not love Him (1John 4:10). Spouses should bring this conversation into their homes, loving the other party unconditionally, whether it is reciprocated or not. We should base our obedience on the instructions of God, not on the response of the other spouse. Husbands should love their wives and lay their lives down for her according to the Lord's command, not based on whether or not she submits to him (Eph. 5:25)..
"And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son…" (Gen. 22:16). To get God to the point of swearing by Himself as He did in this verse, you must have given up everything for God, including our “only son”. “Only son” can mean different things to different men. For some, it is ministry; they hold on to it like it is theirs. Ministry is not the inheritance; no minister will take ministry to the world to come. The only thing that will be taken is the faithfulness with which it is done
Man was initially created by God as a high being, having dominion over all of God’s creation; but he fell lower than creation because man is now being governed by the things that were created. We should not allow corruptible things, such as money, cause a rift between us and our brethren.
Grace has come to enable us to obey God’s demands that will be coming to us in this season. We might cry when God starts placing His demands on us, but we should still obey the commandments that He brings to us. Our hearts must be set on the goal, which is, receiving everlasting substances in order to be made an everlasting being. We must be willing to lay our lives down. That is the demand of God required of us in this season. May we find grace to pay our sacrifices as the Lord demands.
Closing Charge by Rev. Kayode Oyegoke
We should not be daughters of the world and its systems. No one can stand on neutral ground: you are either trained by the systems of this world or trained by God. This teaching on sacrifice and covenant is like back-end programming.
When Jesus died, the veil in the earthly temple tore (Matt. 27:51). There is still a veil in the heavenly tabernacle, which is Jesus’ flesh, which we must come through to enter the Most Holy Place (Heb. 10:20). The veil also speaks of limitations that prevent us from entering the promise; these are what God wants to deal with in us, through the demanding of sacrifices of us on various occasions.
Your journey is your acquisition of life: the extent of life you possess tells how far you have journeyed. To grow up is to go up; thus when one is not growing, such a person is not journeying. We are not meant to hear only, but to do the commandments that come by the words we hear. As we do commandments, we make movements in the spirit. Your understanding of the things being taught tells of the realm you dwell in the spirit.