Programme: United Kingdom Easter Retreat 2024 (Day 3 Evening)
Date: Sunday, 31st March 2024
Tongues and Interpretation (1)
“I am the official of the things of the height. I am the official of the things of the throne. I am here to officiate even the things in the hands of the High Priest. I have come to help you to tap into resources of the things of the heavenly, even the things of Jesus. Tap into the resources of the High Priest even for the people. Tap into the resources of grace, into the resources of truth. Tap into the resources of life, even for to give life, for exchange of life. It is for a cleansing. It is an High Priestly work. It is a bishopric work. It is a raising work. It is a work of giving life. It is a work of giving life. For I am that official. I have come to officiate the work of God, even as by your hand. Saith the Spirit of God.”
(Message Begins…)
Hebrews 3:1-6
“Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; [2] who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. [3] For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. [4] For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God. [5] And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;[6] but Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.”
There is an apostolic ministry of Jesus. Jesus is the apostle and high priest of our profession (Heb. 3:1). He bears the title of an apostle as a sent one, and at the same time, an high priest of our profession. So the apostle calling being described here is majorly for the house. There is no way an edifice of such magnitude can be built without the apostolic and priestly ministry of Jesus.
Ephesians 2:20-22
“And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; [21] in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: [22] in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”
There is a foundation of the apostle and prophet. Anyone who wants to come into the New Testament must understand and be skillful in building. Such a person must be able to read the house and understand the concept of the building. He must see the architectural drawing of the concept of the whole house. He must see the apostolic concept of the whole house. The vision of God is the house because there is vision and prophecy. The prophecy is the testament and the vision is the house. It is a building. God wants a building that He will dwell in.
Isaiah 57:15
“For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.”
Because God is high, anyone who will be a personnel of God must be very high too. That is why anyone who deals with God is a high priest. That word ‘high’ has to do with the building, the erection. The Holy Place is for the testimony. So God is high and at the same time, He is lofty. This is why He revives the spirit of the humble and the heart of the contrite ones. Those two hearts mean something: one is for building, while the other is for the testimony.
The abode of the testimony is a place. “...where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?” (Isa. 66:1). ‘The place of My rest’ is different from ‘the house that ye build unto Me’. After one has built unto Him, then the place of His rest is prepared. ‘Lofty’ is a place; ‘high’ is a building. God's indwellingness is not complete without both ‘house’ and ‘place’.
What makes a place the Most Holy Place is the place of the ark; and where God actually dwells is on the testimony. The testament is in the ark and there is a seat called the mercy seat over the testimony, which is where God dwells, right on the ark. They call it Shekinah, which means the indwellingness of God, the inner abode, weight of God; the One that dwells on the inside. That is where the Lord appears; it is a place by Him where He will appear unto one. Moses was put upon a rock (Exo. 33:21-22); that is a building, and it has got a foundation. When God came, He proclaimed His name, then while God was moving, He took Moses and put Him in a place – in the cleft of the rock; that is the place of the testimony.
We must not lose the concept of housing. A true apostolic ministry means the actual apostolic ministry; not that others are false but they are low. There are some men who are sent by God, and truly, they are apostles, but not apostles of the vision and the prophecy. Paul’s statement in Ephesians 2:20 gives us the identifying factor for true New Testament apostles and New Testament prophets – which is, they have a foundation. There is a foundation of the apostles and prophets.
Project ‘rest’ begins with project ‘house’. Therefore, to build a believer, one needs to first find the point where the building ought to begin (which is, the foundation). For a house to go up, first get the foundation. The foundation of the house of the Lord is nowhere else but in the apostles and prophets of the Lamb. This is why the project of building God’s house cannot start unless we have this kind of apostles and prophets in a generation, because without them, one would not even have the sense to build a house for the Lord. Then Christianity would take another direction and just be used to solve people’s problems or be focused solely on making people go to heaven.
God is not interested in people going to heaven, rather, He desires that His people grow into becoming ‘My house’. Satan does not mind that Christian’s become born again, die and go to heaven; as long as God's project is not done, he can continue to have a field day. Nothing can frustrate the continuity of the dragon except people are built up.
A ministry like EGFM and other similar ministries focus on building the saints because that is the most important thing. The great commission is not just for evangelism, but majorly to teach the people.
Matthew 28:18-20
“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. [19] Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: [20] teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
Note that the instruction is to ‘teach’ not just to ‘preach’. So the purpose of all the power is for teaching all nations. This is the real commission, not just to get the people born again.
A man can hijack God’s programme under the guise of being serious with God. Someone who always keeps a straight face may not be responsible towards revelation. The purpose of revelation is for building. The building cannot occur unless the materials are revealed. No human was born with what the building looks like; it must be revealed. The foundation of the apostles and prophets is the discipline stone for the rising of the house. New Testament apostles and prophets are very disciplined, and secondly, they are very jealous – jealous to make sure that the building is built according to the pattern.
The word ‘teach’ used in Matthew 28:19 is to train or raise. The names of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are curriculums for raising the people of God. The end of the world is the end of the gospel. Until we reach this end called the gospel end, we have not yet finished.
Isaiah 62:11
“Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.”
You should proclaim to the end of the world; and what ends the world is the season of reward, the season of the promise and the season of His work. The end begins with God’s words and ends at the promise. When that time is reached, God can close an age. In different generations, there can be what Matthew 24:8 called ‘the beginning of sorrows’, such as wars, but the end has not yet come. The end can only come when the gospel is being revealed or preached (Matt. 24:14).
Ephesians 2:20
“And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone…”
Many people are quick to call themselves apostles. ‘Apostle’ is not merely a title, it is shown in the work one does. If any man wants to start becoming spiritual, he should first look for this foundation – the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Therefore, to found/establish a believer, start with the foundation stone. It is what makes an apostle and a prophet. A true apostle can be identified by his ability to teach Jesus, or preach Christ and Him crucified, not just how to get things from Him. To preach Christ is to preach the wisdom of God. To preach His crucifixion is to preach the power of God (1 Cor. 1:24; 2:2).
Prophets can teach, although they are foremost prophets. It is very rare to see pastors combining the prophetic ministry with the pastoral, but it is necessary now that those offices should be combined. Prophets of the New Testament have the personality that got the foundation; it is a pile of revelation that has concretized inside of them. Christ has been revealed. So, when a prophet or an apostle preaches, it is not mere words being spoken but words from the ‘caking’ of spirit that is dwelling in them. Those kinds of apostles and prophets can teach every day non-stop. When they speak, they have breakthroughs. They can never run dry, they can keep on teaching even if a physical Bible is not available.
Ephesians 2:21
“In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord…”
The cornerstone is the Lord of the Holy Place. It is the stone placed right over the foundational stone (Eph. 2:20-21). As a saint is being built, the foundational stone tells the trajectory of the house. As the house is rising, there is a stone right at the corner. It is important to ensure that we build on the Cornerstone. The house should follow the pattern of the Cornerstone. The Cornerstone becomes a descriptive stone for growing up.
To grow up into a holy temple is to make a holy place in the Lord. In the same cornerstone, one would find out that it is beyond a cornerstone, it is a sure foundation. After becoming a temple in the Lord, the saint becomes a habitation of God (Eph. 2:21-22). No building project is simple. No building project should be done anyhow. A person’s heart reflects what his house will look like.
Exodus 25:9
“According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.”
The description in the book of Exodus given for building the tabernacle must be carried out exactly according to the pattern. One has to do it exactly, else, the altar would not answer; it would not minister to God; because each measurement has a meaning in the spirit. A minister of the gospel must be patient and careful to build God’s people according to the pattern.
Isaiah 66:1-2
“Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? [2] For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.”
The Lord asked Isaiah the question: “where is the house you want to build for me? Our minds should not think of heaven when we speak of the house God would inhabit, or the earth. God said His hands made those things, and that they were not good enough for His rest, just like when Adam named all the animals, but none of them could play the role of a suitable helpmeet for him.
Some saints who should become stones for the building of God’s house are running from one place to another, different from the place God has designed for them to be built. They do so because they know that if they will be on the project of becoming a stone, their lives would be limited and quietened. When Solomon was to build the temple, he sent experts to hewn him stones from across the sea. That is a prophetic display of how God can go far and wide to get stones for the building of His house. God decked Solomon with wisdom to build the temple; that was an apostolic calling.
An apostle is known for his wisdom. An apostle must be wiser than Satan. Satan will often tempt an apostle showing him why he should relax and bring in unnecessary stones for the building and design. This is the battle that the apostolic spirit will confront. Satan wants a crack in the building or to make the building follow another direction. God is building saints in the United Kingdom, in Canada, etc. a house for Himself. The vision is to get a place that God can inhabit; to be an habitation of God through the Spirit (Eph. 2:22).
Daniel 9:24
“Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.”
The people are the tool for the project. The holy city needs a temple. Without the temple being raised, transgression cannot be dealt with. It is transgression that keeps the temple ruined. So when the problem of transgression is beginning to be solved, it means something is rising. Sanctification is constructive. To end sin is to raise the Holy Place. To make reconciliation is to raise the Most Holy Place.
Immediately the Holy Place is raised, what follows is the bringing in of the everlasting righteousness. To seal up the vision is to fully conclude everything about the house. To seal up the prophecy is to put the testimony in the house. Then anoint everything called the Most Holy. To anoint the Most Holy is to anoint the temple of God, the habitation of God, through the Spirit.
The Father and the Word are houses, but They want a house in Them. Jesus is part and parcel of the Godhead. He is not the vision of the house, He is the pattern for the house. He is among the Trinity. What God wants are beings that are not among Them to be engrafted into Their midst; that is when They would be fulfilled. And we are the ones to fulfill that desire. Jesus would not go to God without a house in Him – “in whom ye are also builded together…” (Eph. 2:22).
Ephesians 2:21-22
“In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: [22] In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”
The vision is the house, the prophecy is the testament, because the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Rev. 19:10). Jesus is the Apostle and High Priest of our profession (Heb. 3:1); this means that the apostolic ministry must be combined with priestly ministry for the house. This is because the house that will be built is a priestly house; it is an edifice of priests. Christ is priesthood from the beginning to the end. Christ is a priest under a High Priest. When a believer starts his journey as christ, such is starting the journey of a priest in order to become a priest.
The scripture says, “And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father…” (Rev. 1:6). However, we do not yet know the import of this verse; this verse is yet to be fulfilled. God made that statement by faith to the 7 churches (not just to all believers) who have gone high in God. Those churches were priestly churches. Of course, it is a promise to all but we must rightly appropriate it. We do not just take things to ourselves and claim them. A potential priest is not yet a priest; one must come of age. The Old Testament shows us the pattern.
Some people believe that the role of a priest is to pray. In the Old Testament, priests do not pray in the tabernacle, rather, they accomplish service there. Priests help prayers to be received by burning incense. Incense are catalysts, they help to cause prayers to ascend. It means priests set the order for prayers to ascend. In the New Testament, the incense is inside a priest; it is not physically seen. When a New Testament priest lives, his lifestyle is an incense. We carry the savour of God’s knowledge by us in every place.
2 Corinthians 2:14-15
“Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. [15] For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish.”
It means that when New Testament priests are moving, incense is being offered. A real priest makes one remember Christ. The real project of the Church is to turn a believer into a priest. The destiny of a believer is the priestly life or the priestly body. All that our Lord became is a High Priest. Only priests can attend to holiness. What is holiness? — things set apart that the dead cannot find entrance into. It is a class that the commoner cannot come to. The entire camp of Israel were commoners to Levi. Israel could not come to where the Levites were, that was why they paid tithe to Levi (Num. 18:26).
The priestly personality is seen in scripture. Every believer should pray. However, prayer is not our priestly ministry. We are given the right for intercession. We should pray. It is the duty of all believers to pray but that is not our priestly ministry. A priest is he who has the power of access where flesh cannot tread. Right now, we are in a realm that access brought us into. Know yourself, value yourself and fear yourself before you fear the Lord. If you know who you are, you would not carry your body carelessly to engage in illicit sexual relations. God said such activities should not be once named among believers (Eph. 5:3) much more saints in whom heaven is putting such great treasures as these in.
To come into priesthood is to come into holiness; it is to come into a place where one’s body and soul is consecrated – learn the ‘set apart’ of a priest. There are certain things that a priest should be above. He should behave like somebody who is from above and not from beneath. In the Old Testament, a priest should not sorrow when any of his family members dies (Lev. 21:1). Imagine a priest who is offering incense for the entire nation begins to mourn upon hearing the news of the death of someone; that action would ruin the entire offering. This tells us that a weakling cannot be a priest.
There are certain things that make a priest unclean before God; we must be holy and without blame before God (Eph. 1:4). A man can be righteous before men but not righteous before God because God has His standards. The reason for the infirmity we often have is because we are not yet built. When one is built, one becomes firm (firmament). It means priests are heavens.
When you are built, you will be very strong. Even the answer to fornication and adultery can be addressed by the milk of the word, much more when a believer's structure/stature is being raised into becoming a stone. A time will come when one will hate the things spirits bring, not just to resist it, but to hate it, because such has been so built. All you need to do is to meditate. Priestly thoughts are life thoughts, they can knock off things that are not of God.
The apostolic commission is actually the spirit (the oil) on Jesus to build. Jesus Christ is in heaven, He builds us from heaven. Apostles and the Holy Ghost can build the Outer Court and the Holy Place. But, apostles and the Holy Spirit will not be able to build the Most Holy Place; this is where Jesus comes in, the Holy Ghost would need to involve the ministry of Jesus. To make a believer most holy is a building, and we can attain it by resources and materials.
One can be most holy. Do not think that you cannot be perfect. Although this would not be accomplished by one’s personal consecration, there are things that God will bring to make it happen. This is where the High Priest will show up. Jesus needs to appear (that is, to come) for the purpose of the building, not just for rapture. This is the project. The purpose of the book of Hebrews is to receive the ministry of the High Priest.
Hebrews 8:1-2
“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.”
Jesus, the present High Priest, is a minister of the sanctuary. The true tabernacle is not a natural tent, it is a pitch in the spirit, a model in the spirit. It is how Jesus was pitched as a Most Holy entity. So Jesus already modeled the true tabernacle. He went through the consecration of it. The demands of the true tabernacle were His life, sufferings and death. The cross was a demand of the true tabernacle. The cross is the duty of the Most Holy for Eternal Life. Jesus lived on earth by living out the spirit of prophecy; that was His suffering. The sanctuary is the Holy Place, the true tabernacle is the Most Holy – that is the tabernacle of God.
God's dream is that the believer comes into this place where such is raised into an edifice of the Most Holy. Individually and collectively, we become a Most Holy place; individual temples come together to become a Temple. Each stone has God in it, and each stone coming to God will get all of God together. God knows how to divide portions of Himself in individuals (2 Cor. 6:16).
God is so big that He can give a particular saint God, and what that saint has as God is not the same manifestation of God that another saint has. Just one saint cannot claim to have all of God. Another manifestation of God will be seen in another saint, yet He is the same, He is one God (1 Tim. 2:5). We are all peculiar and we represent something in God. Each one of us has a lot (plot), and the lot is the Lord (Ps. 16:5).
Lots in massive portions are divided into smaller portions. God is an embodiment of land. A portion of God in a certain place may have something that another does not have, this is so that one does not depend on just oneself. Our expressions of God are different, yet we are one. The Holy Ghost is different from Jesus and God; They are three Persons, yet one. It is a mystery. No man can exhaust God or come to the end of Him.
There is something about the building and the High Priest. There is something about the Apostle and the High Priest (Heb. 3:1). The apostle is the epitome of the wisdom of God for the house (Prov. 24:3). There is something the High Priest does to the building because we need a ministry of reconciliation, even in building. No building can occur without the spirit of reconciliation. There are things in us that They want to remove. This is because God is not building on sand but in persons. Jesus directs the resources for building by wisdom. Before God puts materials in a man, He has to make the person agree.
Hebrews 2:17
“Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.”
The sins of the people need to be reconciled. The sins of the people are the building materials from the devil. When you see an edifice attacking God, it is sin in display. True apostolic ministry will sit people down and teach them. Paul often taught all day and all night; he was building the people.
Anyone who would get built must undergo some stringent training. The early Christians were strong. No earthly profession is easy, and people often shy away from studying certain courses because they are tedious. True Christianity is tedious. We have regard for natural things and earthly attainments that are so complex; how much more someone who is a High Priest of the heavenly order? How would His mind be? We have to pray to Him to upgrade our minds to comprehend Him. Even the lifting of our levels of comprehension is an impartation. It is a quickening over the cells of our brains and minds; we should be as bright as the firmament (Dan. 12:3). As the Bright and the Morning Star communicates with us, that is how we change.
Hebrews 1:3
“Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high…”
This scripture means that Jesus is bright. This brightness is not just physical light, but an intelligence. If education is so valued on earth, how about spiritual intelligence? Spiritual things are what makes for our development.
The Person who purged our sins is He who is the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of His person. Note the phrase, ‘on high’ used in Hebrews 1:3. Our Father is high; He is called the Most High God. The high priest called Melchizedek is referred to as the priest of the Most High God (Heb. 7:1). You cannot deal with the Most High God without being a high priest; you must be high in priesthood. That is why those who are priests of the Lord are not as high as those who are priests of God. One cannot know God unless such is a priest; priests are those who know God. The cherubim that fell (Lucifer) was a cherubim of glory. He was a high priest and that is why he is dangerous. He knows how to kill and destroy (John 10:10).
Prophecy (For Pastor Hans Baird)
“Pastor Hans, I see in the spirit, a place, a spot, on that spot is your new you. You are fighting right now to take it. I see you warring to take that place and become that person. You have seen what is in that spot, what kind of a man that man is. I saw it, and I feel led to say to you that Jesus will aid you. You need persistence, pressure, breakthrough into that plot called that man. It is a man; it is a man of the living God. Enter it. The Lord is in support. It shall come to pass. And we are going to awake in this likeness.”
“I see many of you changing. I see some of our children, whom we never thought that they can change, suddenly, they are opening up. Something is happening to them. If you pray sincerely and desire sincerely this status of a personality I am describing tonight, that portion is yours.”
(Message Continues…)
“One thing I fear the most is to see other people becoming better, that is, becoming more spiritual, and gone ahead of me, while I am unable to. I do not want to come short of this calling, that is, this description of persons God is making. We also should dread that. Do not think everyone is complacent like you. There are some saints who are seriously advancing in their change; and you cannot tell by their outward appearance. There are some students who play and joke with others while in class, whereas, they have an underground plan on how they study, at night. I pray that in ten years to come, none of you will be low. The greatest will not be too far from the least. We may not have the same portion, but we all would be on the same team.”
Jesus is going to divide the portions with the great (Isa. 53:12). As a Priest, He is a divider. As an apostle, He has the engineering of the building. A priest sights the portions because he has urim and thummim to locate things (parts) in God. ‘Parts’ is connected to ‘pertaining’ (Heb. 2:17); ‘parts’ means ‘lots’. Jesus is able to get us to God.
Hebrews 7:25
“Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”
Jesus as a High Priest takes away sins. Body is life; the blood is also life. If ‘body’ is life, it means ‘body’ can be death. The kind of body we have, which we inherited, was not the same like that of Noah. What God protected with the flood was that living soul kind of body. It may not live forever but it is still living. After a while, man’s body fell into death. It took time for an exchange of body because a priest did evil. The study of priests is about themselves: the tabernacle and the life. If you know the tabernacle and the life, you know all things, because all things are tied to it. The sphere (of the earth) is tied to the human body. Creation is tied to Adam, Adam owns earthly creation. The names he called them is what they bear.
Over time, Satan makes an exchange of the body. What we ate into was not just the body of sin. There is a body of sin that our fathers ate. One can give birth to children with genetic diseases. Most of the breakthroughs in medicine have been able to handle attacks on the body from the external. However, scientists are still working at getting cures to solve genetic issues. Things that are hereditary are lots and portions. It is another kind of building. Satan needs that frame so that man can respond to him.
2 Thessalonians 2:2-4
“That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. [3] Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come , except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; [4] who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”
The son of perdition has things given to him by someone to make him oppose God. Satan builds us against God. There are things (in us) that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God, which we have to bring to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5). Obedience is fulfilled when a man’s inner building is standing. There is a spiritual frame around your soul that you should have that your body depends on. It constitutes your thinking pattern, which informs how you see things. What you live in informs how you evaluate, your taste buds; and that life is as a result of inner building. What makes us live fewer years (100, 60 or 50 years) is a building. Someone made us unclothed and clothed us with mortality.
2 Corinthians 3:18
“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
The house is not the physical body, it is a frame in the soul. The frame dissolves by exposing it to everlasting light, through which God will break the graves open and build another house inside (2 Cor 5:2). It is the habitation of God that is called “all solution” for the total man (Eph. 2:22). Our souls need to be builded to capacitate God. There is a way God is, and only His priest can tell how He is and where He likes to dwell. Jesus depends on the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost shows and leads the apostles and causes them to preach who Jesus is.
Jesus gave Paul the vision of the house. Paul preached and kept on preaching until the foundation was laid. Paul saying he had laid the foundation means he has preached it with nothing left unsaid (1 Cor. 3:10). What everyone should do now is to build on it. When someone says he is building on Paul and is teaching deliverance message, such a one has not yet found the foundation.
Jesus is the Apostle and High Priest of our profession (Heb. 3:1). As an apostle, He is a builder, and as a High Priest, He is a reconciler. The High Priest brings the materials for the Apostle to build the house. To build Christ in people, the Spirit of God receives from Christ and gives it to the minister to build the house.
When it comes to building God in men, one needs a higher agency – Jesus Christ, the Lord, the heavenly High Priest of good things to come – His intervention is needed. Not that the Holy Ghost does not know the house, but by ordination and authority, the High Priest of the house must be present, because that house is His house. If He is not present when the house is being built, it means the house is not authorized. This is why there are certain things the Holy Ghost would not do alone, unless Jesus is present. It is in the season of the house of God that the Holy Ghost would glorify Christ. He takes the things of Jesus and shows them to us for the purpose of building (John 16:14).
The ministry of reconciliation is tedious— to cause one to reject another life— one has a tendency to complain when They are taking away one’s body parts, because it involves our life. So, the High Priest has to strengthen us through His intercession on our behalf. To make the ministry of reconciliation effective in our lives, He helps us with grace. This is why He has to be merciful and faithful to the cause (Heb. 2:17); because we have a tendency to make Him give up.
Hebrews 3:6
“But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.”
The end is when the building is finished – “whose house are we”.
Hebrews 3:14, 16-17
“For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; [16] For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. [17] But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?”
To sin is to disagree with the process of becoming God’s house. ‘Carcass’ is the structure of the flesh. Anyone who refuses the Son, his carcass will fall. He who believes not is one who does not know what the process entails; that is, when one’s house is undergoing construction, though one may not see it literally, one should know that something is taking place, and should believe that he is being built.
Hebrews 4:1
“Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.”
Entering rest is a promise. To enter rest is for one to be built. When one has fully been built, he enters rest. However, there is yet something more – to eat of the good of the land; that is, to go into the land and get the promises. Those who entered into rest were not ordinary men, they were fit for the land; it was not just because they escaped the wilderness, they survived the rigor of building.
God is building us for rest. The next thing the building needs is to adapt and receive the inheritance of rest, that is, to enter into sabbath. The building is a project for the rest. One would not do well in rest if one does not have the capacity to submit to it; just like someone who did not study law cannot practice law. A baby Christian cannot practice rest; he does not know it. You need a different stature to respond to the Most High God. There is a way God sees and demands things. He has His own holiness. To have a body is to have the frame to carry out what God is saying. Rest and building are synonymous.
The entire Hebrews 7 talks about rest; and we see the High Priest present at this stage again. Here, this High Priest is the mediator of the new covenant. Rest is the law of the house. Jesus wants to teach us everything necessary; He is making every detail clear, and it would yet become clearer. Jesus is the Apostle and High Priest of our profession. The apostolic ministry is a bishopric. Judas Iscariot lost his bishopric when he fell; that office of the apostle was what the other apostles casted lots on (Acts 1:16-20).
Acts 1:20
“For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, And let no man dwell therein: and His bishoprick let another take.”
Combining bishopric and high priestly ministry is one operation; there is also the shepherd and high priestly ministry. From Hebrews 7, we see the shepherdic-priestly ministry of Jesus; chapter 13 calls Him the great shepherd of the flock.
Hebrews 13:20
“Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant…”
As a shepherd, our Lord Jesus deals with the covenant, while as a bishop, He deals with the building. Jesus, as a bishop, deals with houses; whereas, as a shepherd, He deals with blood. Both blood and building are feed. We eat His flesh, meaning, we eat His house, and drink His blood, meaning, we drink the life or the laws of the house (John 6:53-54). What keeps the house is the blood.
The Bible tells us that the Lord Jesus upon His second return, His millennial reign, would ride upon a white horse, and He would destroy the antichrist (Rev. 19-20). The armies of the earth would come to make war with Him. This is not a comic story. The world is arranging itself right now for this battle. The armies that would fight Jesus are not human soldiers or navy seals, but the soldiers and navy seals of the antichrist. To be an army in the kingdom of the beast is dependent on the amount of death one has acquired.
Armies are the fruits of a nation; they are the vines of a nation. The fruits of a nation are those who can protect the nation. So what Jesus would do is to kill the vines of the nation, which are the best of the nation. What makes a person an army of the Lord is nature; such a person has produced the nature of the vine. Those branches are the capacitors that can produce vine (John 15:5).
Revelation 19:14-15
“And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. [15] And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.”
Upon Jesus’ second coming, the saints that returned with Him were called the “armies of heaven”. They were so called because they were people who have been able to yield to the heavenly life; they are the armies of heaven. The armies rode on white horses and wore white robes, but the Lord Jesus put on a red robe. The Lord slew the armies of the earth and their blood flowed for kilometers, as much as getting to the bridle of the horses (Rev. 14:20).
This description tells us how high the flow of blood would be and how many people would war with the Lord. After that, the rest of men who were not part of the armies of the earth but had the mark of the beast were led captive by Him, and He ruled over them for one thousand years. They have the mark of the beast and his name, but they do not have the life of the image. They have the image, but do not have the spirit of the image. They could not speak, so they were not an army.
So, it is not sufficient to have an image, the image should be able to speak; that is what makes one an army. For the entire one thousand years, those who are originally under the lordship of Jesus would reign with Him. During that time, there is a possibility that they may not get married or have children. Also, those of the earth who were led captive by the Lord Jesus after the war would also live a thousand years without dying. Jesus has the power to make a body stay alive, that is what the rod of iron will do. This rod of iron can make bodies live because it is a spirit of reward.
Jesus slew the army and took over the people. To take over a nation, first overrun its army; then the people would come under. This is what Jesus did, then He inherited the people and ruled over them. The flesh of those who died were eaten up by birds of the air – the Bible tells us it is the marriage supper of the great God (Rev. 19:17). However, the armies of heaven who wore white robes and came for the marriage supper of the Lamb would eat a Person, even the Person riding in front of them – the Lord Jesus.
They had white horses and white robes (Rev. 19:14) because they ate into a supper – the supper of the Lamb. The Lamb of God is the stature of “amnos” that they ate – everlasting life. After this, they would also come to eat the Eternal Lamb, which is the “amnion”, the little Lamb. The little Lamb is the most concentrated. He has been reduced to small; meaning that everlasting life is converted to Eternal Life. That is the little Lamb they will eat for one thousand years. A thousand years is needed to eat Him. When they are done eating Him, the job is finished; they have inherited Eternal Life. It is a privilege to be eating the Lamb now.
We would keep eating Jesus and drinking His blood; that is the only food of a believer (John 6:53). The solution to the devil is a Person; it is eating Him that will solve the existing trouble. Satan has fed humanity for about six thousand years. It is a mercy to eat Jesus for thirty years consistently. We have been eating Jesus; we ate Christ and we are now eating the Son of God. We are eating into the complexities of His nature.
Though Jesus is an eternal Lord, He will give us an everlasting side which we must eat and drink. This is what the book of Hebrews is dedicated to: teaching us the course of flesh and blood of the Lord Jesus. As a Shepherd-Priest, Jesus leads. As an Apostle or a Bishop, He feeds us to grow. We grow up into Him in all things (Eph. 4:15). When one has grown up to become a father, then He can make covenant with such because He does not make covenant with children.
Young men are also a kind of father, because they have overcome the wicked one (1 John 2:13). To overcome the dragon, you have to know Him who is from the beginning (1 John 2:13-14). Young men are fathers who have the word of God. Those who are fathers in everlasting life are those who will deal in terms of the testimony.
Before God can rest, He first needs a place (Isa. 66:1). For the covenant in the Old Testamepnt, God was looking for a place, which is the heart. However, the Israelites ran away with their hearts; when Moses interceded, God had Moses bring two tablets of stones upon which He wrote the law and gave it to Israel. Biologically, the heart and blood have something together. The heart is the temple of the blood. The ventricles are the oracles of the blood. So when God says He is putting testimony in the heart, it means that it is from the heart life is pumped into the body. When the laws are on the heart, the blood carries the laws to various parts of the body. Then we would see another dimension to our bodies.
Body in itself is life; however, to move it forward (that is, increase the function of the body), give it its blood. Therefore, the function of the body is not full until it finds its testimony. This is why we need a shepherd who will teach us how to have the testimony. The testimony is often referred to as the testimony, the testament or the covenant. Testimony in its raw form is called a law. God is looking for a way to give us the law and He does it by law. But there is something hindering the law – our own law, which is our own blood.
God told the Hebrew church that they have been wrestling against building, but that they have not yet resisted unto blood (Heb. 12:4). Therefore, there is sin and blood. ‘Sins and iniquity’ may be ‘body and blood’. So the issue of dealing with sin has to do with a being who knows some things we do not know. These are secrets of death. Satan is watching to know how we would come to the reality of these things (we are being taught); he thinks we would be too tired. But Jesus says this night is probably the greatest day in the heavens; that we can see the things Satan is afraid we would see.
Satan knows these things; that is why immediately Moses’ body was left on earth, Satan wanted to take the body. It is only a priest that could have contended with the devil over the body. Micheal knew some things about the body, so he contended (Jude 1:9). When it comes to your body, it is a place for contention. And a minister who does not know how to contend and just allows for anything, not being able to protect the flock, is not a builder. Such a minister would compromise because the devil hates building.
Some years ago, some people wanted me to change this pattern of ministry. They called me and my wife and asked us to start teaching milk. We responded that churches are already handling milk. They intended to break the ministry because they were subordinates. They tried to influence us. This is why when someone is rich and has not yet been dealt with by the Lord, he can be injurious.
Money is very bad; a whole human being can be sold for money. Even our Lord was sold for money, portraying that one can buy flesh and blood. And this is what the devil is tendering for. He is tendering a legal power, saying he can purchase us. Therefore, we need the light of the living God and some strength to contend against him. This is why a pastor needs to stand and fight against the devil. The place of the blood is not an easy place of contention, it is a place of life. There is a life of the body – that is, what the body represents as life, and there is a life that the blood represents also; and both are needed.
A shepherd is a prophet because he is nomadic. All the prophets in the Old Testament were mobile, including Abraham. This is why we read of them that they always had flock; the herdsmen profession they had was an explanation of their lives. Cain was a tiller of the ground, while Abel was nomadic. Perhaps it was because Cain was a tiller of the ground, being in one place, that Satan was able to get him.
Abel, who took sheep from place to place, appeared as though foolish, but that was a right cause. This does not mean that a ‘grower’ or ‘builder’ is a wrong profession. God divided the body and the life for both. Paul called himself a wise master-builder; again he refers to this profession as husbandry (1 Cor. 3:9-10). Therefore, growing things is the same as building things. They are both just works.
Satan got Cain but Abel never turned despite being tempted by Satan. The grower and the shepherd ought to be brothers. Although it is not easy to combine the two works together, there should be a counsel of peace between them both. The priestly ministry runs these two things. So the pastures are priestly, the prophetic ministry is a priestly ministry, the bishopric ministry is also a priestly ministry. The prophetic ministry is a priestly ministry because it is found in God; so it requires the building of God.
The priestly life is a life of God. The blood is the blood of God. If the blood is the blood of God, then the flow should be the flow of God. The flow is a mystery of the going of God, that is, how God goes. And Satan does not know it. How God goes is how we also should go. How God goes should be written in our hearts. Our going forth and coming in should be blessed because blood goes out and blood comes in.
There should be two states of the flock. The sheep finds pasture when they follow the shepherd out. The shepherd is also the door into the house (John 10:4-9). “...These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth…” (Rev. 14:4). The Lamb goes by blood, because He came by water and by blood, the Holy Ghost bearing witness (1 John 5:6). This witness must be shown on earth also; not as in earthly, but that this life is worthy to be lived on earth. That is how to show that Jesus is come in the flesh (1 John 4:2). What Jesus came to demonstrate in His flesh is to show that life.
Jesus goes by water and blood. We ought to show the life of the blood; beginning with the water for the washing of our bodies. The water is for the outward dimension of the body while the blood is for the inner dimension of the body. So both in and out are fortified.
The time of writing laws is a critical and a most difficult one. If one is not built, one will not partake in the ministry of the covenant. Such a one would not be able to follow the Shepherd in and out, because it is not easy for one to love not one’s life unto the death, as that process entails changing of covenant for one to take another covenant. Our life is not easily relinquished; it would seem as though one is dead. So God first builds us up.
Acts 20:32
“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.”
So, an inheritance cannot be given when the house is not yet built. Building gives one the capacity to do some things; one who is built will be able to do the covenant. They that know their God shall be strong and do the covenant (Dan. 11:32). To do the covenant is to make the covenant.
In the season of blood, to drink the blood means to eat the pasture prescribed in the testimony. There is something the blood is saying; it can be read (Rev. 1:3). The blood is actually a book and there are things contained in the testament. Those who can read the testament must have some building; and those who can hear it must also have an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. We can hear.
God wants to show us how to live in such a manner that Satan will not be able to detect us. There is a life higher than the dragon that he cannot demystify and a building he does not know how it stands. There is a life he cannot read, there is a life he cannot gainsay or stop. Jesus says He is that life and promises to give it to us. This life is called prophecy. Any day the Lamb leads you and you follow, you are living prophecy – you are prophesying. That is how true prophets are identified; they are beings who deal in the testimony. Real prophets will not turn their back on the life that is in the Lamb.
By the words we are hearing, we are eating blood, because life is being taught and we partake by understanding. Human beings that are blessed are those who have the capacity to eat by understanding. God is causing us to eat by understanding; this understanding will set us up forever (Jer. 3:15; 23:4). These words are what makes one the head and not the tail. Becoming the head does not happen by prayer only. A person can have a lot of money and still be a tail. A tail only shakes, it does not think. Head is wise. Head thinks well. The way God ordained flock is to receive blessings. Do not be strong in your will.
“There are certain things one may do today that appear good in one’s eyes, only to regret it later in life. God kept me in a place to be pruned and to learn under a woman, I left that class unbaked. Some ten years later, I was taken back to that class. In fact, that was mercy being shown to me by heaven. This time, I was moved to serving friends. It was from serving friends I came to Lagos. That period of service was glorious because it made me meek. No one should think of himself as a strong and unbeatable person. Heaven knows how to break any strong fellow and make such a baby. It is better to submit to the breaking of the Lord than to be broken by Him by force.”
Satan has his own prophecy which every man must escape. It is not easy to come to this place in teaching. After praying about the meeting, the Holy Ghost had to encourage us by bringing us these words. A miracle has taken place tonight – to be able to sit and hear these words. Many of us have been fed. We are eating into an alliance in the spirit that will touch our generations to come. What we are eating is accomplishing some radical changes in us. Satan poisoned our blood; the answer to such poison is this kind of message. Laying on of hands cannot touch blood, but words, blood, spirit and life. May we gain wisdom above Satan.
During the millennial reign of Christ, the people of the world had an opportunity of seeing Jesus and His power at work for a thousand years, yet immediately Satan was released from the bottomless pit, they all followed Satan. So God only used the one thousand years to prove that those people could never change. Satan easily gets men. Sometimes, even after we have heard the word in a meeting like this, after some time, someone can still flop and display a conversation that is contrary to the words we have heard. May that not be our portion.
What you have just eaten is a high table from the High Priest of good things to come; keep yourself in it. He would give us the building and the testimony. He is the mediator of a better covenant (Heb. 8:6). The giving of the law is a sensitive season, and Satan always looks for a way to stop one from yielding to it. But thanks to God that we also have the building to break Satan's law in our lives. We would break his laws and eventually kill the dragon. A time would come when Satan would no longer be attractive to us, and we also would not be attractive to him.
Satan can give up on people. If he gave up on Job before the New Testament, he can give up on us. Satan tempted Job and Job overcame each time. Each time Job overcame, Satan would go back to God and press for more charges, yet Job kept overcoming, till Satan finally gave up tempting him. The book of Job is a thesis for overcomers. Satan can run out of ideas, to tempt us with. And he would get to this state concerning us.
Keep hearing. All the places where the word of righteousness is taught are portals. If you find a place where they teach these things, go ahead and hear them. Also, it is important to check what you hear and whom you hear from with your pastor, because Satan can hide wrong things in unsuspecting places. We cannot afford to just hear any minister in the times we are in.
Tongues and Interpretation (2)
“Oh, to dissolve, to dissolve every doubt. O to dissolve every doubt. To break down walls and pride. To break down walls and pride. Everything that you have mounted. Everything that you are standing on. Everything that you are standing on apart from Me, I break them down. I break them down. And I breathe My breath, to build you, to build you, to give you stamina. Stamina, stamina; the strength, stamina, o stamina to build. Stamina to stay. Stamina to be meek. Stamina to be teachable. Stamina to open your heart totally to Me.
I break down walls of pride. Bright pride. Pride that is disallowing you to feed. Pride dissalowing you to stay, to stay on Me, to stay on Me. To focus on Me. O pride! I deal with pride. I break down pride. I break down pride. I break down pride. And i give you strength, strength to build. Meekness to build. For meekness is strength. Meekness is strength. Meekness is strength. Meekness is strength. Meekness, meekness to be teachable. It is strength. It is strength that your enemy does not understand. Oh, it is strength, great strength. And I give you strength. Strength, I make you formidable today.
I make you formidable today. I breathe My breath. I breathe My breath. Receive My breath. Receive My breath to blossom. Receive My breath to grow. Receive My breath to undersand the prophecy, to understand the prophecy. To see the prophecy for building. For the house, for the house, for the house. It’s for the house. It’s for the house. It’s because of the house. The house must be built. The house must be built. The house must be built. Receive breath, stamina, stamina, strength, fortification, fortification, fortification. O, fortification. I fortify you. I fortify you. I fortify you, make you faultless. I fortify you, make you blameless. I fortify you, make you strong. I fortify you, make you formidable. I fortify, i fortify, I fortify you. I fortify you. I fortify you. Amen.”
Blessings!