Programme: Writing the Vision (July Edition)
Date: Saturday, 20th July, 2024
Transcript Summary
1. One way to be with Jesus is to be with those who have been with Him. It is in this understanding that the saying of Jesus is fulfilled – “I will be with you until the ends of time” (Matt. 28:20). Jesus is always with us in His servants. Our Lord Jesus is with us in those who have been with Him. By agreeing and believing in the ministrations that came forth this week, which the ministers received of the Lord and communicated gracefully to us, some of us were with our Lord Jesus. This happened by virtue of being with those who had been with our Lord Jesus.
2. “Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.” (Acts 6:3). The Lord has been looking closely into this community for men who have an honest or good report of the tiding of the name of the Son and of the Father. Every name has its report; it has its works, honest report and conversation. The Lord is saying to us that He wants us to be full of all the reports that accompany each of the names. When they looked amongst the multitude in the scripture above, they found seven. Some men in the house have the report of the name of the Son, though they are fewer than God expects. 1 Peter 1:22 shows us men who are of the faith of the Son. Those are men who will have the full age of Christ; they are full of faith and wisdom according to the faith of Christ.
3. What we see in Acts 6:7 is now occurring. Some persons will trap the fullness and good report of the faith that is in the Son (Gal. 2:20). The count of such persons can and ought to increase in the Church. The Lord is counting the number of those who will make up the kind of the good report of the New Testament—those who will make up the critical mass. They are those who will be full of the name of the Father.
4. (Mark 3:14) The same provision of being with Jesus is now available to us in the spirit because we no longer have Jesus in the flesh but in the spirit. We have the provision of being with Jesus as long as we can still fellowship with Him in the spirit the way His disciples did in the flesh.
5. Many conversations (manner of life) some people had was because they interacted with some persons who were with the Lord and were able to trap His presence. They transacted with the Lord's person by communing with men who were with the Lord, just the same way Moses was with the Lord and Joshua transacted with what Moses had.
6. (Acts 10:22) Cornelius experienced a visitation and appearance that can be traced to the good report he had. The report of a man on earth can tie earth to heaven. When a man comes to a point of good report, there is a tie between earth and heaven (1 Tim. 3:7).
7. When we are yet to see God avenge any disobedience in a believer, it is because there is an obedience that is not yet fulfilled (2 Cor. 10:6). There is something we cannot embody yet, and this is because our obedience is not yet full. We will see substances that raised a servant like Moses when our obedience is complete. God reconciles earth to heaven when our obedience is complete. In the book of Acts, God was able to tie the earth with heaventhrough an activity in the church. Some men had responded to heaven in praise because they were full of honest reports (having obeyed). This is what will make virtue and praise erupt out of us to God. When we are full of good and honest report, praise goes to God.
8. There is a couch of conversations (manner of life) that the Father must see in the secret; this is what He saw in our Lord Jesus when He said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 17:5). Those conversations that took place in the secret are conversations we will naturally despise because they are conversations of the Father. Whenever we use the light of the word to judge ourselves, conversations will be seen in our souls, and the by-products bring praise to God. Most men will despise the conversation of Jesus which made God declare Matthew 17:5 concerning Him. For example, men will despise the conversation of Jesus pleasing His parents.
9. There are also conversations where we ought to decrease so that the Lord will increase (John 3:30). The conversations where God increases are the ones He sees in secret; they are the conversations filled with virtue and bring praise to Him (Phil. 4:8). The conversations that make us see salvation hold something virtuous in it because they are pleasing to the Father. Jesus attained a point where He was full of good reports of the everlasting gospel and God was confident that He would defeat the devil. We have an opportunity to be full of the report of each of the names in the New Testament. However, the response we ought to give to God for this to happen is to commit ourselves to the words which we have heard.
10. “Do not err, my beloved brethren” (James 1:16). We will err when we are not using the lights of the words we are hearing to judge. How we can archive the conversation we have not previously archived in different situations is to ask ourselves, “What would God’s servants do in such situations”. Being with Jesus is a tangible reality. We can be with Jesus by being with those who have been with Jesus. Their conversations are a motivation for us to do likewise. It is not just the works in Christ that are available to us, everlasting works have also been made available to us.
11. What Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Philippians 4:9 is what God expects of us. The Lord expects to see heavenly conversations among our company because it has been trapped in men. We have a warfare to fight—which is unbelief in what the servants of God are teaching. The same way God was with Moses and those who believed in him, He will also be with men who believe in the teachings of His ministers. We are as close to having heavenly conversations if we can believe the words that are coming to us. We should desire to be full of the name of the Holy Ghost, the Son and the Father (Matt. 28:19). This is attainable because God is speaking plainly to us. A different kind of conversation that God expects can be found in our midst than it had previously been found. However, if we live the same way, then we have despised the words that have come to us.
Blessings!
Kate Richard - 3 weeks ago