Eternal Glorious Fountain Ministry (EGFM)
Programme: Believers’ Convention 2023 (Day 2 - Morning Session)
Date: Monday, 7th August 2023
Speaker 1: Reverend Kayode Oyegoke
Transcript Excerpt
This Minister's Conference is not to disapprove of ministers or what they have done so far. However, there are realms in God in ministering to the sheep, and if we do not move forward/change, we would be limited in communicating to the sheep and remain stuck. This would affect our promotion in the spirit. We ought to be able to minister to the sheep at different levels. It is beautiful when a pastor can both minister to a high sheep and condescend to those who are yet growing. One exceptional minister that does that perfectly is Jesus Christ. He is a minister who has mastery in everything. Jesus ministered until He sat to minister at the highest office of the ministry. Even till now, He still ministers (Heb. 8:1-3).
“Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; [2] A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.” (Heb. 8:1-2). Jesus is a minister, He ministers all through, He is still ministering. A minister is beyond just a preacher. One can be a preacher, yet not be a minister. Also, one can minister without preaching. Jesus called Paul to be more than just a preacher, he was also a minister (Acts 26:16). When one becomes a minister, preaching becomes powerful. So, the bedrock of preaching ought to be ministering. For instance, there are creatures that are not preachers, yet they minister (Heb. 1:14).
“But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? [14] Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” (Heb. 1:13-14). These beings are ministers, even though they do not preach. One can be preaching yet not ministering. When a pastor does not minister, people do not change. One can preach and be cast away (1 Cor. 9:27). It is good to separate preaching and ministering; not all ministers are preachers. Preachers have the opportunity to both preach and minister. Ministry ought to be the inner garment of preachers. One can be preaching life, yet they are not ministering life. Ministering is a service. The tool of ministration is not just the mouth of a man, it is the entire being of the man. The entire being of a man ought to emit a ministry. By just seeing a minister, people should be blessed. When a man is being read, he is ministering.
An ambassador is one who represents Jesus on the earth; they interface with those Jesus seeks to bless. Today, God wants to tamper with something in us, such that if we were not ministering before, we would begin ministering now and this would affect our preaching. Jesus made Paul and the other apostles become able ministers (2 Cor. 3:6). When a pastor is not ministering by the spirit, it is difficult for angels to minister with them. Angels are ministering spirits, they would be more joyful when men allow the ministry of God to come to the sheep. There is something about the shepherd and the sheep. The shepherd ministers to the sheep. A shepherd is more than a minister. Preaching should not be undermined; both preaching and ministering should be carried out simultaneously. When ministry is not raised, a preacher would do less.
Ministry should be raised in ministers so they can be effective in preaching. There are different ministries, such as the ministry of helps. A minister of helps is not a minister because he gives, it is because every part of his being has been enveloped by that ministry. An usher in church might be ministering while the pastor is not. If an usher is changing from glory to glory, even without talking, and eventually becomes glorious, he will be made a spirit. An usher could be a spirit, even when the pastor is carnal. Such an usher radiates rays of ministry. One may never go up the pulpit to minister, yet they are ministering. Every aspect of the body of Christ is ministering (Eph. 4:16). The five-fold ministry was not given to the church for preaching; it was for the work of the ministry. The work of the ministry is the ministration of glory.
The whole body of Christ ought to be a ministry: the light of the world set on a hill, which cannot be hidden (Matt. 5:14). The greatest evangelism is when the whole body has become a body of ministry. Here, God has dressed the body with mirrors, such that when a man looks at the body, they see themselves (2 Cor. 3:18; Rev. 21:18). To have a glass face is to be covered in glory. A time will come when God has raised a body of Christ to look like this on the earth. This will cause the remainder of the body to race and come into the unity of this glorious body. This will be the fulfilment of the second chapter of the book of Isaiah (Isa. 2:2).
The exaltation of the Lord’s house is a glorification. After this glorification, all nations would go towards the house of the Lord. A time is coming when all nations of the earth shall behold the glory of the house of the Lord (Isa. 60:1-3). Evangelism is not the solution to the problem of the world, ministry is. When God has decked the body with glory- with its pulling force- glory will pull men. Glory is compelling. The church is yet to be made glorious because we still fall under the glory of this world. Men love this world because of fallen glory; it is because of the glory Satan put in this world. To receive glory is to receive Spirit. Glass in 2 Cor. 3:18 signifies face. Through one's face, one can be read. Someone can be referred to as a pure glass, which means such is transparent and open. We need some glasses because we need to change. Heart is another face (Prov. 27:19), and heart is in the soul.
(Rev. 22:1; Rev. 4:6). The sea of glass is a ministration of glory. It means ministry is flowing out of God. It should flow ceaselessly. Ministry shouldn’t stop. Ministry is currently flowing from heaven to us, and this water is as a glass. A sea is a typification of people such that when God’s sea is flowing, His nation is flowing. Sea is the river of God's genes. When one looks at it, we see ourselves in God. The person standing must look exactly as the One he sees in the glass. One can go away forgetting who he is, which means such has not inherited the genes. We should stay by the river till we collect the genes. There is a river flowing in the City of God that makes that city glad (Ps. 46:4). This same river that makes glad is that which flows from the Throne. What flows from the river is an expression of what the face is saying. The face of God is that which God is flowing out of Himself. This is God pouring His face as water. Right on the throne of God, His face is also flowing out from glory to glory.
Revelational apostles are those who first discovered New Testament truths from the Old Testament and wrote them down as commandments. We can never have another epistle written after the canons of the works of God, neither can we have people like the apostles that wrote the scripture. We need to understand this, lest we esteem ourselves as being higher than the apostles in revelation. There can never be another epistle. The apostles had measure as they followed Jesus for years, Paul could not have followed Jesus without revelation. The eyes of the twelve were not enlightened but they believed. Peter alone saw the revelation of Jesus by the help of God but the others did not (Matt. 16: 16-17). The twelve kept believing. They accepted in their hearts without seeing prior to resurrection but afterwards, they believed. Their blessing was in believing without proof. We should believe; in believing we keep our lots.
The fourth-class apostles are those who would be anointed in the apostolic office to see what the revelational apostle has laid. As a teacher, one may not see it despite being able to teach it. There is an apostolic grace in laying revelation. If grace is not upon a man, those revelations can be unearthed for centuries, hence apostles are needed to uncover them. The first man and the last Adam should be checked. The last Adam was an apostle who grew in the apostolic ministry till date; Jesus is the apostle and high priest of our profession (Heb. 3:1). The four apostolic classes can also be seen in the Old Testament pattern - the Patriarchs; God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the Twelve (sons of Israel). We cannot have another kind of Jesus, apostles or people like Paul anymore but we can have apostles and prophets under them who would uncover the truth. We need apostles to uncover (discover) the buried truths that have been laid in the New Testament.
(John 21:15-17). Jesus owns sheep and lambs and He desires to feed them. This is a pastoral duty. All the five-fold ministry are shepherds. A true prophet should have a concern about pasture and have discernment of food, not just foretelling. The five-fold ministry is entirely for the pasture. Lambs should be well-fed. The feeding of a lamb is in the supply of milk. The twelve apostles first fed lambs. The church that was born on the day of Pentecost were lambs and they were adequately fed. The lamb sucks from their mother's breast. The disciples had breasts that brought forth milk to develop men like Stephen and Philip who sucked till they became men of honest report and were full of the Holy Ghost (Acts 6:5). The food is connected to building a baby to being a child. When one feeds on good milk, such should become a healthy child. The church was feeding from the apostles through the “apostles doctrine”.
“Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.” (Psa. 80:1). Our God is a shepherd; and the office of a shepherd is not an ordinary one, so God raised Jesus to sit beside Him at His right hand. God raised Him as a shepherd. A shepherdic office is a highly honourable office. Jesus is a shepherd on the throne (Heb. 13:20). You cannot be on the throne if you are not a shepherd. The thronic ministry is for shepherding. If a minister is not interested in touching the sheep, he should forget the throne. In other words, the throne of God is a ministry.
(Rev. 3:21). The mentality of the throne we currently have needs to be cleansed because we think of the throne or dominion as the exertion of force. Rather, the throne is more of a service. The Throne is to bless the people because there is a connection between the shepherd and the sheep. A true shepherd would allow the ministry of the High Priest/Great Shepherd to cut through the sheep. So shepherds should take blessings from the Great Shepherd so they can in turn be like Him and be a blessing to the sheep. A shepherd can bless a lamb and not bless a sheep. A sheep is one who is set for a particular pasture. This pasture is the pasture of God’s face. The first sheep is Christ. When God is forming Christ in men, He is making them His sheep. So a sheep is a lamb that has been led.
We can minister Christ to lambs and make them Christ or sheep. But there is another sheepfold which is the sheepfold of the life of God—the sheep made to go into the ministry of the glory of God.
“Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” (2 Cor. 3:6). We need the Christ Testament to open the New Testament. The ministry of reconciliation is going to be given to ambassadors. Paul told the Corinthian church that they need to be reconciled to God. There is something about the ministration of reconciliation; it is the ministry of glory (2 Corinthians 5:17-18,20).
We ought to become the righteousness described here now (2 Cor. 5:21). It is not the righteousness that happened to our spirits. There was a ministration of righteousness to us that was described in 2 Cor. 3:9 so that we can become the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God is the ministry of the spirit in the New Testament. Ministers of the New Testament are those who are able to minister the righteousness of God. They do it not just by preaching but by life. It is the ministry of “Jesus is come in the flesh”. In other words, one is allowing the full life of God made manifest in the flesh (1 John 4:2).
The ministration of righteousness is the ministration of the measure of the fullness of the stature of God; because if a man preaches without life, he would preach and not minister. And if we preach without life, then we would minister what we really are on the inside (death). Ministry is higher than preaching. It is to raise a person first and then pass ministry through preaching. Ministers should let their beings preach; they should let it be the flow of their preaching. They should let ministry (life) flow through preaching (2 Cor. 3:6). The Pharisees ministered letter. Jesus called them white-washed sepulchers (Matt. 23:27). In other words, one can be dressed outside but is dead inside. So when heaven is putting ministry together in a man, He would write laws that would tamper with his nature of death and write the nature of a living being. Every minister of the gospel should be a living sacrifice. They should be living ministers.
Blessings!