Eternal Glorious Fountain Ministry (EGFM)
Programme: Believers’ Convention 2024 (Day 6 - Evening Session)
Date: Friday, 23rd August 2024
Minister: Reverend Kayode Oyegoke
Topic: The Ministry of the Word and the Spirit
Transcript Excerpt
What the Lord is bringing to us is “breath”. It takes an entirely different pedestal to minister breath. “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Gen. 2:7). The Lord gives “breath” to make a man become something. Therefore, it is important that we participate in receiving the Spirit to get breath. We need to be desperate when it comes to the things of the Spirit; this is because “breath” does not come easily. When God gave Adam breath, He did not do so just by talking to him; rather, breath came out of the Lord God to Adam.
“[26] And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. [27] So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” (Genesis 1:26-28). When God created Adam, the issue of “image” was concluded in Genesis 1 while that of “likeness” was concluded in Genesis 2 with the giving of breath for man to become a living soul (Gen. 2:7). To be “like God” is higher than being an image of God, and this is because the issue of likeness came about later in Genesis 2. God spoke words of dominion to man and then woke up the image in him. Before God could minister breath to Adam, He had to give him a body in order to define his functions as a man. The image God gave him had to take form (be awoken), and to revive the image, it needs expression. Without the body, the soul and spirit cannot handle image, and because of the function of likeness, we need to travel from the realm of the unseen to the seen – that is when the name is fully borne. We need to see Jesus for this to happen in the New Testament (Heb. 1:3).
We see how Paul spoke about seeing Jesus in his epistles. “Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord?” {1 Corin. 9:1). This scripture refers to being set free (from the law of sin and death) by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:2). After you have been made free, you will begin to see Jesus Christ our Lord. This ‘seeing’ is different from the one Paul experienced on his way to Damascus; it refers to perfect deliverance.
We should relate with the Lord like He is near. He is seeing all of us and He knows where we are. He sees our configuration. The Lord does not impute trespasses. He comes to us to judge but sees our inefficiencies with great love to bind us up completely; and He will take us to the places where we are unable to reach or cross.
“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Genesis 2:7). This is the ministry of likeness. The word ‘image’ in Hebrew is called “tselem” and it means a shape, illusion, or resemblance of a figure, especially something that is not showing life form or expression. The word likeness is from the Hebrew word “demuth”. It means resemblance; a complete model, shape, like, fashion, manner or similitude. Likeness is stronger than image. What God was doing with the ministry of breath was to give likeness to Adam. Thus, He breathed into his nostrils. Likeness is the express image of a person. It is the image that expresses (Heb. 1:2-3). The Father is actually the giver of breath. When He gave breath to Adam in the book of Genesis, Adam became a living soul. That was how the work for that phase finished.
“[3] And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth…” (Genesis 5:1-3). Adam already came into ‘likeness’ before he gave birth to Seth. Many ministers are not yet ministers of the Spirit. You can minister by the Spirit but you may not be ministering ‘spirit’. Paul got to a point where he could give spirit (2 Cor. 3:5-6), but he did not start that way. Paul gave word before he gave spirit. He was first a minister of the word.
“And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” (Acts 20:32). The word builds up men because it is a builder. Paul was a wise master builder because of God’s word. He got the word for building. The word is a material for building people. Jesus is actually a minister of the Spirit; He is a builder too (Heb. 3:4). He builds by the word of His power (Heb. 1:3). When Jesus said, “I will build My church”, He was going to use the word to build it (Math. 16:18). The word is not ‘letter’ (2 Cor. 3:6). Precept is not letter; it is knowledge.
“Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. [10] For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little…” (Isaiah 28:9 - 10). Knowledge is precept; it is knowing the things of God. Knowledge occurs when one's understanding is enlightened (Eph. 1:17-18). Another name for ‘knowledge’ is ‘epignosis’. Knowledge is the spiritual theory of doctrine. You cannot come into doctrine without being enlightened. The tree which Adam and Eve ate of in Eden enlightened their eyes. Prior to that time, they were blind to that knowledge. That action began the initiation into that knowledge (of good and evil). When they had that knowledge, they moved into ‘knowing’. It was a quick succession. That knowledge came from Satan. We must not play with Satan because he has the power to kill souls.
Academics is a strength for good and evil if it is not well managed. It has swallowed many men and quenched them completely such that they disdain God. Satan is also a kind of light; He is an angel of darkness or an angel of a kind of light. He was enlightening Cain, teaching him and opening his eyes. Either in good or evil, knowledge increases strength (Prov. 24:5). When you argue against God, it is because something is being ministered to you. Satan used the law to blind the Pharisees against God. Jesus called them ‘the blind who lead the blind’ (Matt 15:14), for they were not sincere in their hearts.
The term “blindness” means they do not have enough stature in God. They were babies of the law and also teachers of babes. But men like Isaiah and Jeremiah had more than knowledge. They moved into the doctrine of the Lord—they had spirit. John the Baptist was also not an ordinary man; He had knowledge, precepts, doctrines, and lines. If he did not have lines, he would not know the way. God communicated lines to Moses and taught him ways. David was also a master of lines.
Old Testament saints did not have breakthroughs into all of the arrangements of God’s things. We are just going to begin to break through right now in Churches. The first century Christians had their breakthrough. The Pharisees were matured in the devil; they were serpents – a brood of vipers (Matt. 23:33). When John the Baptist saw them, he knew them. Immediately Jesus saw them, He also got angry because they were not children in God and they were not children in the devil. They were children in the area of God but sons in the things of the devil. Satan used the law to make them; they were trees. That is why they refused Jesus. The Pharisees stood against Jesus because they had become trees against Him.
“Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? [8] Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. [9] And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” (Luke 3:7-9). The Pharisees were trees; they took the seat of Moses and were governing Israel. They had an advantage as trees. There are grasses and trees when it comes to flesh. The tree is a form of flesh that is called a matured flesh. Nebuchadnezzar was a tree and not a grass, but he experienced withering because he still had the nomenclature of grass (Dan. 4:11). Grasses will wither; it just takes some time. The decree came upon Nebuchadnezzar for him to be cut down. It is not every man on earth that is a tree in the kingdom of the devil. In the same way, it is not everybody that is a tree in God’s kingdom. God is campaigning for trees of righteousness who are the planting of the Lord (Isa. 61:3) The trees in God’s kingdom are needed to break the wind of death. Therefore, God will plant trees in churches.
There is a difference between a minister who ministers the word and one who ministers the spirit, which is a lawgiver. The word of God builds. We have ‘letter’ and there is ‘knowledge’. Everything in the hardcopy Bible is ‘letter’. You cannot read it and get knowledge until the spirit of wisdom and revelation comes to excavate knowledge to you. Understanding is trained or initiated through knowledge.
Knowledge is the gateway to things. One comes about knowledge through wisdom and understanding. Wisdom travels through letters and wisely selects scriptures for the purpose of discovery. When wisdom has found a scripture and you understand it, it will make you wise. Therefore, get wisdom and understanding. The Spirit of understanding will shine further and makes you get x-ray of the wisdom you have found. Then, you will become wise in the spirit. Having the knowledge of God alone is not enough to know Him. It only begins the journey of knowing Him. The Spirit of wisdom and revelation is a provision for the Church.
“Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, [16] Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; [17] That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him…” (Ephesians 1:15-17). The Father is the One who opens eyes and gives permission for eyes to be opened. He does not just give permission, He must agree with Jesus (Matt. 16:17). Jesus has become so full of the Father. When it comes to the issue of giving a soul access to light, it is the Father of lights that does this (James 1:17). God the Father is the Father of lights. If you give light to any man wrongly, you can bring him in but later on, he can become a devil. Many have come to these ‘waters’ unprepared, and God will drive them away so that when they are ripe for harvest, They will recover them back.
The Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him is for the eyes of your understanding to be enlightened. You do not yet know God at this point, but you will begin to know what is the hope of your calling.
“The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints…” (Ephesians 1:18). Paul wrote the book of Ephesians, but he was later crying in Philippians 3:10 that He may know God. Knowing God is a different ballgame. Knowledge is precept. It is the wisdom of the Holy Ghost to arrange scripture for knowing. The Holy Ghost uses scriptures to make one wise. He can use some scriptures to explain light and you can have an encounter from this.
“And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16). Peter did not know it was Christ because he heard a word of prophecy from someone. Something must have happened; the Father must have traveled through testaments and did something to Peter. He knew how to connect Peter, use scripture and then open up that revelation, “Thou art Christ, the Son of the Living God”. Peter did not know Him that day. If he had known Him, he would have had life. Peter had revelation knowledge; this is precepts and it is different from lines.
It is possible to minister knowledge and it can be called “word”, but it is actually “knowledge word” – a call to open eyes. Paul was sent to open the eyes of people (Acts 26:18). Sometimes we are not aware of when we move into doctrine, leaving precepts.
“For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, [15] of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, [16] that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man…” (Ephesians 3:14-16). Knowledge is the material for “word”. The riches of God’s glory are gathered by the enlightened eyes, causing one to know the hope of His calling. When hope is changed, ministry changes. A minister can minister the word, minister knowledge and minister the spirit. Knowledge is the first word, which is also known as precept. We also see the word that is more than knowledge in the book of Ephesians 3:17 – “...that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love…”
“Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5). The water here is word, not spirit. There is a spirit called the word of God, which can also be referred to as water. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12). This is a spirit. God comes to us so we can see lines in their linear arrangement (Isa. 28:10). Grace is not “word”; it is spirit. For us not to make mistakes in the spirit, we need “knowledge” and then we need “word”. Knowledge introduces us to the “word”. At times when we speak “word”, we are speaking the word of spirits which is also “spirit”. The word is also spirit (John 6:63).
Flesh is what Satan speaks. Flesh is a fallen spirit product; it is a word that has no life. Satan likes to speak his own word that steals, kills and destroys (John 10:10). If you want to move someone into the word, enlighten him—open his eyes of understanding for him to have knowledge. You are enrolling him into the school of the spiritual. Knowledge is spiritual. “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding…” (Colossians 1:9). Spiritual wisdom and understanding is for the purpose of spiritual knowledge. It means that our understanding should be rich; we should have light. Knowledge is the spiritual theory for spiritual practicals.
“Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68). The word here is called spirit. There is a spirit called “word”. The Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost are all “Spirits”, but They have different natures. There is an attribute, a nature, and a character that makes the Holy Ghost Spirit. There is what He is doing as Spirit that the Father is not doing. There is something the Father cannot do—He cannot dwell in babies—but the Holy Ghost can enter a new born babe in Christ. The Holy Ghost can carry a church from infancy to the Sanctuary.
Jesus needed to die and sit at the right hand of the Father, to pray to the Father for the Holy Ghost to be sent (John 14:16). There is something about the Father; you cannot just take a decision without Him. Although They are one, They are still not the same. In the Godhead, They are one and are a family. The Godhead is not an office; They are Persons.
There is a word that is spirit. There is also a spirit that is spirit. It is called word and spirit. It is actually for the salvation of the soul. The message of the salvation of the soul is the message of the end. The purpose of all the scriptures is to perfect the saints. Grace is for the saving of the soul (1 Peter 1:9-13). Precept is more than letter; precept is knowledge. One can minister “knowledge” and still minister “word”. This means one can move from precept to the word of lines. Lines are doctrines. The word of lines opens you up to the things of Spirit.
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John…” (Revelation 1:1). John was carrying the record of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. This word of God is line, not knowledge. The testimony of Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy (Rev. 19:10) but there is the word of God. These two things are things Jesus is handling as the High Priest. Like Melchisedec, He came and brought bread and gave wine (Gen. 14:18). The word of God is for an everlasting body; it is the flesh of God.
“Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, [20] by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh…” (Hebrews 10:19-20). The veil is the word. Jesus' flesh is the veil. Jesus’ flesh is not the veil to the temple in heaven but of the temple called God. The temple was there before man was made; before Jesus was made flesh. The temple was initially not designed to remit sin; it was purely a worship center, a means by which you give yourself to God. God is a temple but angels do not enter into God.
Angels have been entering into the temples in heaven; they themselves are temples of some sort. Temples dwell in heavens.
God did not allow them to enter into Him; they only have access to a very high tabernacle by which they interface with Him. This means God gave them a shade of Himself; He did not give Himself to them completely.
There is a veil of the temple in heaven but Jesus entered it and obtained eternal redemption. Jesus entering the temple was a means to enter the Father. Jesus did not enter the Father's temple directly because the Father's temple does not have sin; it has never been defecated. Lucifer and the angels were not entering into God.
The sin from the beginning is from the Most Holy. Jesus had to purge the Holy of Holies (in heaven) with His blood because it did not have enough quality to take the sacrifice of His blood. He had to upgrade the temple so that the temple could get the job of a high priest done. We must also enter that temple. Accessing that temple is a kind of model in heaven.
A man can be entering the temple in heaven that has been purged, but he is entering God. God cannot put the temple in heaven aside because it is still standing. To take away the ministry of the temple in heaven, the heaven and earth must pass away. However, Jesus has to fulfill the demands that will make sure that the temple is gone. The way to expire that temple is to raise temples for God here on earth. When men who can carry God here on earth have been raised, there would be no need for that temple again.
“And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.” (Revelation 21:22). The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb have been the original temple all the while. The actual temple is God and He is okay, but God needed Jesus to purge the other temple in heaven so it can be used to raise men. God raised that temple higher than the angelic usage so that men will be raised. As Jesus is using the temple, He is bringing you to God. Coming inside that temple is coming to God. After sometime, it will be discarded for the real temple–God and the Lamb—to appear.
Blessings!