Eternal Glorious Fountain Ministry (EGFM)
Programme: Believers’ Convention 2024 (Day 3 - Evening Session)
Date: Tuesday, 20th August, 2024
Speaker 2: Reverend (Mrs.) Helen Oyegoke
Transcript Excerpt
The Son of God is the High Priest (Heb. 3:1; 5:4-5). We have learnt from several teachings that Jesus Christ grew from one level of sonship to another level of sonship (Heb. 5:8-9). God gave more things to Him that made Him a Son at another level. He attained all these levels of sonship for us and not Himself because He was already God in the beginning (John 1:14).
When we are able to see what Jesus gave up to bring us to God, we will appreciate the kind of person He is. He did so much to bring us to where He is. The appearance of the High Priest is for nature formation. This is because man inherited a hellish nature as a result of the fall. The devil disintegrated man after he fell. This disintegration is the formation of wrong natures in man.
The essence of the teaching of Christ is men who can hear the High Priest. Ordinary men cannot hear or receive the things of the High Priest. Thus, we need to first be exposed to the teachings of Christ. Christ is a real being that one can relate with and encounter. The essence of the milk when we were born again is to enable us commune with the Holy Ghost, making us strong and ready for the next allocation. We are coming to encounter the living and the true God (1 Thess. 2:9), but we start off with milk.
“But ye have not so learned Christ; [21] If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus…” (Eph. 4:20-21). Christ is real and can be touched. We need to hear Him. He is a person and He taught me. Christ is real and desires to teach us. There is a person of Christ that will raise us and make us men.
“For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins…” (Heb. 5:1). Those in the Sanctuary are men that the High Priest is ordained for. There are different kinds of beings in the spirit, such as babies, sanctuary men and eternal men. One cannot experience the change at these different levels without being taught.
Spiritual babies need milk to become a child. Babies are clearly known by their conversation and manner of life. To become a man in the spirit is to become a person that the High Priest can relate with. It is not good for us to remain in the same spiritual state for too long. As such, we must hasten our pace in changing our spiritual state.
“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (1 Cor. 13:11). The realm of God is centered on thoughts. A spiritual child is known by his thoughts. The essence of our gathering here is for us to “become”. The making of a Christ man is done by learning Christ.
“But ye have not so learned Christ; [21] If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus…” (Eph. 4:20-21). Truth is a spiritual substance for building. We hear Christ from preaching by the minister, but there is also another way we hear – by the Spirit. After the minister has taught, the Spirit comes to make it relevant for conversation (living); it is in conversation that we become. What you do is what you become.
There are things inside Christ that we were exposed to by our preachers and teachers. The Lord Himself supervises the raising of men by the spirit of Christ. The revelation of Christ comes when Christ is preached. The essence of the teaching of Christ is to delete the laws of sin and death in our souls. Those things will not be removed except we cooperate with what we are being taught.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Rom. 8:1). Our walking is our obedience – our alignment with the revelation of righteousness. What is right must be revealed. What we believe sometimes limits us. That is why the teaching and leading in Christ helps us; by showing us what is right, by the Spirit leading us into what is right.
When the Spirit tells us what is right, meekness is needed so we do not struggle. To accept what is truly right can be humbling to a soul. For change to occur in us, we must accept that which He says is right. Doing the righteousness that is in Christ raises us. When our sins are deleted, we are raised.
There is the law of sin and death that framed our soul, but there is more to that framing. There is also the law of hell and death. It may be dormant but it is there. When the High Priest comes, He comes to deal with that law of hell and death. Hence, we have to be careful with what we yield to. The end of sin and death and hell and death is to lead a man to the lake of fire. As such, we have to yield to the leading of the Spirit at every point.
We cannot put away childish things except we are raised (1 Cor. 13:11). Those men have been sanctified to a level by the revelation of Christ; they are men who have been purged to a level and have been prepared to receive the ministry of the High Priest. The High Priest then comes to them for further purging. The High Priest has substances for reconciliation which a child cannot yet take.
“Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” (Heb. 1:4). The intention of the High Priest is to make us who He is. For us to be made who He is, we have to be given His things.
“Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.” (Heb. 5:2). These men, though they are in the Sanctuary, are ignorant. The High Priest comes with knowledge to heal their ignorance and give them an understanding of a way to the Most Holy Place. Those men have previously walked in the way of Christ. Christ is a way. Christ revealed the way that raised them. A way is a birth canal. Christ teaches us that way and as we obey, we change. It is in the way that we are being configured. As we walk in the way, we change.
Spirit is way (Rom. 8:1); it takes the Spirit to breathe way. One can read everything about Christ but be unable to pick the way. The Spirit teaches us the way. After walking in the way of Christ, we become Christ. However, after becoming Christ, we are still ignorant of the way into the Holiest of All.
The High Priest is compassionate (Heb. 5:2). Our limitations stop us from having compassion on the ignorant. The men in the Sanctuary are ignorant but the High Priest comes with compassion for their ignorance. These men in the Sanctuary were ignorant men, though the eyes of their understanding had been enlightened. The journey does not stop in the Holy place and as such, those in the Sanctuary need another level of understanding.
The High Priest comes with compassion on their ignorance and being out of the way. These men are Holy Place men. They are priests; they are brethren as Jesus referred to them in Hebrews 2:12. Those brethren have sins but He is declaring His Father’s name to take away their sins. He is bringing solution to their sins and not magnifying it. Brethren are holy men and partakers of the heavenly calling (Heb. 3:1), but they have sins and infirmities.
To be qualified to receive the ministry of the High Priest, a prerequisite is to love the brethren (even with their sins) fervently. We are to love our brethren fervently. A condition for the High Priest to come is tied to a conversation of loving our brethren and the raising of Christ gives us the capacity to do so.
The Lord has taught and instructed that there is no entrance without fervent charity. The High Priest is attracted by brethren in the Holy place; they are lively stones calling for the living Stone. Charity is what makes them lively. This kind of charity cannot be practiced by babes, but by spiritual men. Charity is not just being friendly, it is a man, a suffering, an uphill task. This is because we are going against the nature that is fallen.
“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up…” (1 Cor. 13:4). No one is kind when suffering, but a spiritual man has the capacity to do that. Our actions and reactions should not be determined by what we see others do, but by a law (Christ) that has formed us. That law suffers long and is kind. This is not the reaction of a mere man; it is a mere man that cannot be kind. However, a charity man can suffer long and be kind.
Envy is the law of demons written in the souls of men. It came by brightness and it would be healed by the opening of our eyes – the revelation of Christ. The revelation of Christ helps one to place vanity where it belongs. When we are healed of vanity, we will be healed of envy. A Christ man is not rude. It is in Christ that we begin to learn not to be selfish and it comes by the leading, teachings, corrections and instructions of the Spirit.
When God blesses our brethren with natural things, we should appreciate it rather than speak ill of it. It is childish to not do so. We should not speak bad of things we do not mind having. It takes the strength of a man to appreciate natural blessings of our brethren.
“Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil…” (1 Cor. 13:5). A Christ man is not rude. In Christ, we learn to be selfless, though it is not completely healed in Christ. Selfishness is a deep-rooted thing in man. We were framed by the laws of fallen angels. A child is easily provoked, but a man is not. Childish things will still visit a spiritual man, but because of growth and understanding, the spiritual man will recognize it as being childish and put it away (1 Cor. 13:11).
“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” (1 Cor. 13:12). ‘Now’ speaks of a place of charity. However, there is “then’ which comes after charity. Charity is a prerequisite for the High Priest and because of this, these men can call for the High Priest. We are not to love because we appreciate the features of our brethren but we are to endure their shortcomings.
Endurance sometimes means overlooking. Jesus knows all our sins, yet He comes to speak to us in ways that we would desire to change. He shows us our infirmities not to pull us down but to build us up. He can endure our childishness for a long time, yet continue blessing us because He knows we may not be ready to relinquish those sins. The Lord can bear with us and lead us gently, for He is a competent Saviour; He is a merciful and faithful High Priest.
“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, [2] With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love…” (Eph. 4:1-2). Being worthy of our vocation shows us that a person can be disqualified. The calling is not into five-fold ministry. We all have one calling and to realize it, we have to be worthy of it by walking in a particular way. We should forbear one another because we all have sins. If we cannot forbear one another, we will not be worthy of the vocation.
These are things that make marriages make or break. It takes men who are raised to do marriage well because both parties have faults but Satan has deceived us to be blind to our faults. Thus, we have to be led and taught by the Spirit. We should not be too quick to correct others; we should not be too quick to point out the shortcomings of others because we also have shortcomings. When we realize that a bad work has been done in men by Satan, we would be patient with God’s workings in our brethren and be kind while doing so.
“Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Eph. 4:3). We all have sins, are ignorant and are out of the way. Thus, we should endure our brethren. Peace is a prerequisite to seeing God. Ensuring peace may sometimes translate to being cheated; we ensure peace by losing our lives, rights and ego.
To maintain peace with all men (Rom. 12:18) at times, we do not need to have the last say in our conversations. We must die to maintain peace; we must die to rights and insults. It takes meekness and humility to surrender your rights. To be peaceable (Jam. 3:17) is to be fine with losing our rights.
“But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. [10] Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: [11] For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” (2 Pet. 1:5-11). God wants us to inherit what we are hearing. We will not bring forth fruits if we do not do these things. It is the High Priest that will minister entrance, but before He does that, He will bring knowledge and understanding to us so that we can enter. The High Priest will only come for those who are abounding in these things.
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! [2] It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; [3] As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.” (Psa. 133:1-3). To attain unity, we must die to self. We must not always have the last say in our conversations. Peace means “allowing yourself to be robbed and cheated”. A minister said, “we call it good Friday because Jesus did not talk” (Isa. 53:7).
Blessings!