Programme: Writing the Vision (September Edition)
Date: Saturday, 21st September, 2024
Transcript Summary
1. An advent is a dispensation. Apostle Paul spoke in Ephesians 3 of the dispensation of the grace of God that had been given towards the Gentiles. Someone who is not a Jew may not understand where Paul was speaking from. The Gentiles were a people referred to as “dogs”. They had no inheritance in God’s things and were alienated from the life of God because of the blindness of their minds and the ignorance in them. However, God created a season when He would allow these people to be joint-heirs of the life that is in God.
2. “That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:” (Eph. 3:6). The Gentile world did not understand what had come to them but this was a big deal for the Jews. For Paul to have made such a quick transition to accept that the Gentiles were fellow heirs of all that God had promised the fathers was a lot of trouble for the Jews. This explains how seasons come and how people can make that transition when seasons change or when God makes a demand.
3. In order to break through to the Gentiles, God had to use a man – Paul – who did not see Jesus physically but with another kind of eyes. The Gentiles becoming fellow heirs was a reality God gave him and he accepted it. Therefore, everything Paul was speaking was communicating that counsel of God to the Gentiles (Eph. 3:9). We can see how God obstructed a standing because He wanted to move His resources to the Gentile world.
4. If God gave Paul so much understanding and love in his heart for the Gentiles such that despite their persecution, he was still committed, this means that when God wants to work, He will. God has that commitment to work. God can reculture us to a point where we can begin to see what is ahead of us—how grounds change and how people should move with changing grounds. In the same way, God has ordained that a people will come into an understanding and an experience of the Son of God. It is a lifetime commitment of God, but it took the burden and intercession of the Lord over a people to come to this point, so that we will all call on the Lord with one heart and mind.
5. In the parable of the ten virgins, we see the place of wisdom (Matt. 25:1-13). Five were wise and five were foolish. However, looking at the five foolish virgins on another ground, they were wise because they had an understanding and awareness that the bridegroom was coming and prepared for it. If we see it literally as a foolish and wise thing, we will not be able to truly understand the transitions God demands of us per time. The foolish virgins were aware and truly wanted to participate but something went wrong.
6. In Matthew 21:33-41, Jesus told a parable of a certain husbandman who planted a vineyard, appointed labourers over it and put it in the care of husbandmen. However those husbandmen killed his servants, and when they saw the son, “...they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. [39] And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him…” (Matt. 21:35-41). There is a temptation to use your own lenses to define what the inheritance truly is or the blessing, like the husbandmen in the above scripture.
7. Oftentimes, it is easy for one to unconsciously find what works for one and stay with it because it gives us a sense of validation. These husbandmen have an appreciation of a work but they are not connected with the person who has done the work and carved out something for themselves in that space. It is often difficult for people to transition with God into greater provisions because we are quick to carve out what works for us and use our lenses to define its operations, guard it and define it as an inheritance; because from our lenses, we see how it fits into an operational lifestyle we want to live. What is missing is that we are in touch with some works but not in touch with the Person. So when the season comes and the Person comes to make a demand, we often do not want to take the journey.
8. Even though the husbandmen had an evil eye (many times we fall victim to this same trap as Christians), in their eyes when they saw the son, they thought that if they could kill the son, they would have secured the inheritance for themselves; they saw a pathway into securing the inheritance. This becomes a trouble for man to be able to make journeyings with God when the seasons or landscape changes, because we are not truly in touch with what God calls an inheritance over us.
9. In our journey with God, what God presents us with is not just what we discover on the pathway that works for us or the spoils and realities we have held on to, but the connection to the Person who has called us. And it is this connection with the Person that would assure us that we can make the transitions with Him.
10. “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20). The understanding the Son gives is the knowledge of the holy of holies, the knowledge of a higher reasoning; the ability to fellowship and participate with God at a higher level. That is the inheritance.
11. The five foolish virgins were prepared but missed that moment of coming in with the bridegroom. When the call was made, it was obvious there was a gap and they had run out of resources to be able to meet with the bridegroom. It is easy to conclude that the foolishness of those virgins was that there was no preparation. But what exactly is the preparation? The preparation is the work God has done in you. You are the design of a work. And your understanding and willingness to journey with God is what makes you take advantage of that moment of His coming.
12. “And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. [11] Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. [12] But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.” (Matt. 25:10-12). What is this knowing that made a people who had anxiously waited for, desired, and kept vigil over receiving the bridegroom suddenly have no connection? This tells us that our journey with God calls for a constant appraisal and cry. This cry in our hearts would make us have a clear understanding of the inheritance. To make the transition, you need to have wisdom. This is where the distinction between the wise and foolish virgins lies.
13. Oftentimes, we can track God’s dealings from His dealings with us personally—He has dealt with you from the time you gave your life to Christ; you can understand what He is saying to you and you can relate to it. But there is something more, and to make the transition, you need to have wisdom. This is where the distinction is between the wise and foolish virgins. We have not been this way before; so we have to take off our shoes and desire to be able to relate with what God is saying in this season. To do so, we have to kiss the Son (Ps. 2:12); that is, we have to begin to receive and relate with His Person.
14. Before we got to this time, God began to put emphasis on His Persons. There are some people who have related with the Holy Spirit, and all that stayed with them was the tangible activities and experiences that the Holy Spirit brought, but did not connect with His Person. So we had revivals, baptism of the Holy Spirit, charismatic revivals etc., but the activity of the Spirit of God in terms of character formation and leading us to where He becomes the Spirit of truth, many believers never really made that journey. God could not move them to those provisions of nature formation because it was difficult to connect with the Person – to take not just the principles and understanding that solves a problem or that fits into our definition of what is working, but the understanding that takes us further to the Person.
15. So in this time, God is now setting a stage again; a stage wherein His Son will begin to administer the things that are within the veil. And at this stage, if we do not have access to His Person, we will stumble at this provision no matter how hard we try. Have we not heard that people who prophesied about certain moves of God were the ones who fought it most when it came? Or the Jews who were preparing themselves looking for salvation, were the ones who fought Jesus the most when He came. What makes the difference is that our hearts must walk through this journey and connect with the Person of the Lord. The giving of understanding of His Person is the real inheritance.
16. 1 Peter 1:4 talks about an inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading. Before now, we had a vague idea of the inheritance. What this season has come to do is to truly divide the inheritance for us. The understanding of Him that is true will raise a people who will walk with a different reality and lay hold on the inheritance. We have talked about the inheritance for years, and desired it, we saw it and celebrated it; however, when it comes to partaking of the inheritance, that is when we would see who truly is a wise virgin and who is foolish. Truly, we are aware of God’s provision for us. The case is not that of a vagabond who does not have value for the inheritance, but how we can make that transition from where we are to where we need to be is the work within we ought to be engaged with.
17. “For the LORD hath chosen Zion; He hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest for ever: Here will I dwell; for I have desired it.” (Ps. 132:13). Zion is a pedestal, it is a place we need to come to. God has to meet you on the mountain. The mountain speaks of a minimum level of preparation for God to meet with you. The Lord is looking over and wants to bring men from the Sanctuary into the Most Holy but this will require a certain kind of heart.
18. Transitions are about heart postures. God wants to work on our hearts so our hearts can respond. What God is focused on is an understanding of His Person (1 John 5:20). If your heart can relate with this understanding, it becomes your own, it brings you to a place of participation, a plane where you can interpret God’s dealings and appropriate it. It brings you to a place where you can initiate new seasons of God because you have responded.
19. The same passion with which Apostle Paul spoke of a dispensation is the same passion with which the Lord Jesus is speaking of this dispensation. Paul, whom that dispensation was committed to, made sure that a people got it and could relate with it. Even the Jews who initially stood against him had no choice but to accept to walk on this new ground of participation with this understanding that the Gentiles are now fellow heirs. In the same way, it might be difficult to make the transition of the present season if the heart posture is not correct. Satan will also want to stand on our path to receiving the blessing of this plane.
20. Understanding is not what one reads or comes to know; because in this realm, even when you know it, it is not sufficient. There is a moment and an entrance that must be granted one. There is a giving for you to receive. Unbelief stands on our path to shut us out. Recall Paul’s admonition in Hebrews 3:12, “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.” The training God wants us to have is such that we can track the inheritance with our hearts and this would connect us to the Person. The Person with whom we have to do is the Lord, the Minister of the Sanctuary. He is sitting over His work as a refiner’s fire and as the fuller’s soap ready to wash. But are we seeing Him?
21. Paul prayed that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith (Eph. 3:17). If this truly happens, then we will see the Person of the Lord and be able to make the transitions He demands of us. However, if we stick only with the principles and activities of the Spirit: the Spirit of wisdom and revelation and all the rest of the seven spirits of the Lord that are being manifested amongst us, when the Lord calls from the Holy of Holies, we will say our ordination is in the Holy Place. The things of God can be so engaging that once it is understood in a certain way and it is working for one, one might not be open to another understanding.
22. There is an understanding of the knowledge of God you have that has helped you relate with God in certain ways, but to be able to hold a more tangible reality called God and truly be able to relate with that which is undefiled and does not fade away— the life that is in God— you need to let go and begin to re-learn the ability to relate to who God is.
23. “Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.” (Matt. 13:52). This scripture speaks of an attitude of the Kingdom we need to have. For you to be instructed in the Kingdom, your heart must have married His person. Then you will know how to appropriate the old in the light of the new. To bring forth out of one’s treasure things new and old speaks of possession, it speaks of someone who truly has inheritance, someone who can lay hold on what God has already given and can use them to make transitions and journey from one point to another. But if we are stuck with the old, then we have not been instructed unto the Kingdom of heaven. What makes a man be instructed? It is how we begin to respond to these times when God is speaking about an understanding.
24. The high point of the Son of God is come is that understanding has come. But this understanding is so new that if you have not been instructed, you will accept only the old and leave the new. But your heart needs to come to the place where it learns wisdom: the wisdom that divides is the wisdom that can appreciate and receive the inheritance. We have waited, asked, prayed and cried for it and suddenly, we have entered into what we did not labour for. But to truly enter into it, God needs to deal with our hearts. Dealing with our heart means that there is a cry for knowledge and understanding, there is a cry to say, ‘God, we value what You are offering’.
25. Jesus has obtained a more excellent ministry which defines the high point of the giving of the things of God (Heb. 8:6). It defines the point where God wants to give Himself to us through His Son through an understanding, and that is the point we have come to. The Lord Jesus has obtained this ministry to reconcile us unto God and this reconciliation, this out working of the provisions of this covenant, is the high point of this day.
26. We need to do everything to respond to this season and take advantage of this gift of God. We need to make that heart adjustment and that means connecting to the Person of the Lord. The dealings over our lives should make us capture the reality of the Lord. On this mountain where God wants to receive people to Himself is a very dicey point as the demands are higher, and the grounds of participation are higher. A wise man who has responded to the wisdom of the Lord suddenly can be cut off. Wisdom is then the capacity to track what God is doing and track the emphasis of God.
27. That heart posture of wisdom is what is going to make us take advantage of the coming of the Bridegroom and it would help us not be like those husbandmen who defined the inheritance wrongly. People have fought to keep what they termed as inheritance but we need to be careful so that when He comes, we will not be ashamed. For us not to be ashamed, it takes the fact that we truly want to be pilgrims in the spirit that see the Lord who truly is before us.
28. When it comes to inheritance, the real blessing is the blessing of the One who is holy, the blessing of the Son. And if everything that you have gotten does not bring you to the place of that blessing, then you have not gotten to the inheritance. There is the blessing and the blessing is this understanding of Him who is true. When apostle Paul yielded to that understanding, God used it to enrich the body of Christ. This brought the fullness of the intentions of God. The inheritance will not truly be known until we go past this point. What will be given to us is an operational life, a high level of reasoning, a nature of participating with God, a nature of understanding of a reality called God that only people who have been willing to journey with God and make that transition will hold. These are the people who will truly be called, as they have obtained this inheritance.
Blessings!