Eternal Glorious Fountain Ministry (EGFM)
Programme: Lekki Soul Centre (LSC)
Date: Wednesday, 9th November 2022
Jesus was teaching the people the kingdom by opening their eyes (Matt. 4:17). The preaching of the kingdom is different from many other preachings. Preaching had been ongoing before Jesus was born but no one ever taught the kingdom except John (Matt. 3:1-2). Jesus was sent to preach the kingdom because He was in the kingdom. But John the Baptist was not yet in the kingdom, so he only preached about the kingdom.
“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them... For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Cor. 4:3-6). ‘In the face of Jesus’ simply connotes the learning of Jesus. When learning Jesus Christ, we would understand that the word ‘light’ means ‘agency of understanding’. To cast understanding is to make you to understand the knowledge of God. Knowledge is not acquired but by understanding. The principal agent to knowledge is wisdom; then understanding. Wisdom directs the path to where knowledge is discovered. Knowledge in scripture is also called riches. ‘Riches of His glory’ is the same as ‘knowledge of His glory’.
“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 …” (Eph. 1:18). It is not easy to come from believing into knowing. It is a transition and a movement to leap beyond believing into knowing. There can never be a knowing without eyes being opened. ‘Eyes of your understanding’ means your understanding has a means by which it sees: the seeing of your understanding. ‘Your understanding’ constitutes the apparatus for discernment especially for the spiritual— this is the gift of man. When God made man in Eden, this faculty was not tampered with. The understanding of man was intact. Man was healthy and his understanding was healthy but the adversary knocked that understanding. It was that understanding that was in operation that both man and wife were naked and they did not know— they had enlightened eyes. But blindness would cast an aspersion on them and say they were naked– they were primitive. That is darkness.
The knowledge of evolution on earth is of the understanding that sees things differently. The knowledge of the school of education is understanding which does not agree that there is God. The theory of evolution says man has evolved but the scriptures say man has depreciated. The adversary is behind the preaching of a fallen understanding that man evolved.
“And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:11-12). The work of ministry is that which should be done in the people: the ministry of glory and light. The fivefold ministry was given for the edifying of the body of Christ and not for the healing of the sick. The fivefold ministry is supposed to build the body, taking it from adolescence to maturity.
“Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ; That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive…” (Eph. 4:13-14). The sleight of men would not be by unbelievers but by men in the Body of Christ. These people watch the Church, see its weaknesses and bring in things it is unaware of. The reason these people would operate in the Church is that a large percentage of the Church is blind. The church would walk in consistency with the truth of the word if it was not blind.
The fivefold ministry is given to stop the walk of the Gentiles (Eph. 4:17). This shows that walk is a weighty responsibility God expects from the church. Our walk will tilt stars in this constellation. The reason we find it hard to take steps in light is because of the barrage of spirits hanging in the air. Spirits are against our walk in the right course. For us to walk well, our sight must be healed. We need eyes to walk (Eph. 1:18). Our response to the Lord is a result of how we see. Satan knows this well enough to attack the sight of people and cause them to remain spiritually blind.
Evil spirits live and abide in our ignorance. The problem of man is solved when he is given eyes. When the kingdom is preached, sight is restored for men to see the way they ought to (Luke 4:18). Preaching comes to tamper with forces and alignment of evil spirits and their regimentations that are set against the kingdom. As we proceed with the preaching of the kingdom, Satan will do everything he can to make entrance into the kingdom harder for people.
“Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints… 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 …” (Eph. 1:15-18). A man can have faith and love the saints but such a one is not wise in the realm of the knowledge of God. Although they might have some other kinds of wisdom, they do not have the kind of wisdom that has to do with the riches and the knowledge of God (spiritual wisdom). It is possible to be a Christian and not know the hope of your calling (Eph. 1:18). The demand of Heaven supersedes faith. When your eyes are not enlightened, you will be ignorant of the life that is in the Spirit despite it having an effect on you. When sight is restored, we are able to reposition and align accurately with the life in the Spirit.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 5:3). At new birth, we are expected to come into a state of being poor. Being poor in the spirit is not equivalent to new birth. The spirit first gets born again in order to help the work that brings us to a place where we become poor. When we become poor, we are ready to hear the kingdom.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, And recovering of sight to the blind, To set at liberty them that are bruised …” (Luke 4:18). It is only the poor that can hear the gospel. The gospel is not to get people born again. Rather, it is for those whom God knows would not reject Him. The brokenness of heart or a broken spirit is not the disease; rather it is a state that will allow the diseased soul to be healed. Man has been so diseased by Satan that we guard our disease. To access us, our hearts need to be broken.
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.” (Psalm 51:17). A man who is poor and he who is persecuted has almost the same heart state (Matt. 5:8, 10), showing us that God is a God of the heart. When God looks at the heart, He weighs into it to check the readiness of that man for blessing, through his helplessness. The showing of the state of helplessness tells God that such a man is in need of the kingdom. Jesus, in His sermon on the mountain, spoke about the sacrifices that David wrote about (Matt. 5). The sacrifices are a broken and contrite spirit. The ‘broken spirit’ is for knowing Christ while a ‘broken and contrite spirit’ is for knowing God.
“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? 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.” (Isa. 66:1-2). Heaven as a throne is an office for God and the earth is the place of operation. God has used these places long before we were created, yet He is desirous of a place to rest. God told Solomon that His house in Jerusalem would be built through him. Adonijah was disqualified from getting to the throne because he was ambitious. God wanted somebody who was broken and Solomon was that person. Solomon was not a confident man. He grew confident gradually as the anointing came upon him. His display of wisdom was a result of his brokenness.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence; And take not Thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; And uphold me with Thy free spirit.” (Psalm 51:10-12). The ‘holy spirit’ here is not referring to the Holy Ghost. It is a spiritual character that comes from the attitude of sacrificing. People use animals as a sacrifice but what God uses are spirits. God is not interested in animal sacrifices, even though He gave them to us. The children of Israel abhorred God with their sacrificing of animals: they gave their hearts to Satan and gave God animals. God was cheated by them (Psa. 50:10-17).
Jesus taught His heart on the mountain. He was declaring Himself and His heart posture – the things He did before He entered the kingdom. Jesus came into both a broken spirit and a contrite heart. He was not born with these heart postures. He yielded and allowed God to work these attitudes in Him
Hebrews 10:5
“Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me…”
Psalm 40:6-8
“Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not desire; mine ears hast Thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast Thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy law is within my heart.”
Faith comes by hearing (Rom. 10:17). When ears are opened, the whole body gets prepared. For a person that is being configured in the mind as a sacrifice, his response binds the body. Ears are opened for to offer the body as a living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1). Jesus’ spirit, soul and body were offerings. They came both by seeing and hearing. Hearing precedes seeing.
When Jesus came to the mountain, He started by mentioning the sacrifices (Matt. 5:1-11). God’s dominion will not come to us if we are altered against the posture of receiving from God. Immediately a person gets born again, the Holy Spirit begins to lead him. We will never stop being led by the Spirit because it is from one leading to another: glory to glory, and learning to learning. When we are led by the Spirit, the Holy Ghost can make us poor.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” (Matt. 5:3-4). To mourn is to be dissatisfied. Such people that mourn shall be comforted. It is to be in a state of stupor, looking for something that others are not looking for, having no satisfaction. That is the mourning and it is a blessing. Noah was mourning, then he built an ark. The rest were rejoicing and they perished with the waters. We should be mourning as there is nothing to laugh for in the earth right now. Nothing should comfort us. If we go to heaven right now, we would mourn, even faster than we would on earth because there is no opposition in heaven. Everything would be bare and we would be able to see our states. The children of God in heaven at the moment are weeping because they did not use their time on earth for heavenly things. Though they enjoy the presence and euphoria of being in heaven, they still remain unsatisfied because heaven cannot satisfy a soul. It is only the Creator Himself that can satisfy the soul.
No one will be given the kingdom except his heart becomes like that of our Lord Jesus. While He was preaching, He was still sacrificing. When Jesus was born as a man, God stopped taking the sacrifices from Israel. Jesus resurrected the fresh and genuine type of sacrifice that God wanted. The one that was very close to Jesus’ kind of sacrifice was in Eden through Adam and Eve. They did not sacrifice animals to God as they were the animals. They were generating things to God, giving Him a contrite spirit and a broken heart. That was why He used to go to the garden to bless them.
The tree of life was an installation of the kingdom of God on earth. Adam and Eve needed an amount of sacrifice to open the way to the tree of life to them. However, Satan turned and converted them till they fell below requirements. After some time, sacrifice stopped going up. Then, God created the alternative of animal sacrifice. Man can give thousands of bulls and goats to God but that is not what He really wants. God’s bull is a contrite spirit and His ram is a broken heart.
“And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to hearken than the fat of rams.” (1 Samuel 15:22). Obedience is a superior sacrifice to animals. In the scripture, sacrifices are bulls. To hearken is typified by the fat of rams, which is a higher grade of obedience or a high-quality sacrifice. Abraham was ready to sacrifice Isaac, however, God stopped him and gave him a ram as a replacement (Gen. 22:10-13). That ram came because Abraham had hearkened. Bulls and rams have a meaning in the spirit. When a person offers rams, such a one is actually carrying out obedience by the book. God gave animals for the originality of sacrifices after man’s fall. He assigned bulls as a particular kind of sacrifice. Therefore, bulls are books of obedience that God gave. When they are offered, God is reminded about something; it is like a memorial of the original. God expected that after several sacrifices of bulls, the children of Israel would eventually give Him their hearts. However, many of them were able to separate themselves from their sacrifices.
“This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; But their heart is far from Me.” (Matt. 15:8). The animal is the heart. What goes on in the heart matters to God. If we can bridle and rend our hearts, we would be able to offer ourselves as bulls and rams and God will come. God is a spirit. From time to time, He comes down to check hearts to see if He can find an animal on the altar. Contrite spirits, broken spirits and meek spirits are animals. These things are of a great price to God (1 Pet. 3:4). They are the things He eats. Before we know it, God will start coming to us and angels will begin to surround us.
A heart that can offer sacrifices is able to travel at the frequency of God. God will commit Himself to such a heart and the heart will learn to offer greater sacrifices. When God commits Himself, He will also show that heart the reason for light. Light is given in His holy hill so that we can respond better and become better sacrifices. Satan wants to separate us from our hearts and make us stay on our minds. We need to have skill like Jesus did. Jesus is a master of the heart. He was constantly guarding His heart with all diligence (Pro. 4:23). The mind cannot be used for the things of the kingdom because it is a heart affair. Satan raises intelligent minds but God needs hearts that can flow with Him (Prov. 4:20-22).
“Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:25-26). The new spirit contains laws. They are sacrifices or animals of God. For a person to own God, such a one must possess a heart of flesh. He would be undetachable from God like the cherubims of glory and the throne. Wherever the wheels of the throne go, the cherubs follow. The cherubs and the throne are one. We would become one with God because we have what can keep Him. This is why after being born again, one thing we need is the heart to hear what can make us see. Immediately we see the kingdom, then we begin to make moves to enter. We enter by the resources of entrance that heaven brings to us.
To be converted is to have repented (Matt. 13:15). The preaching of the kingdom of heaven is an opportunity for healing. Satan wrought sins and diseases in man. The way he weaved this work was so mysterious that man would prefer to not turn away from it. Not turning means that God will not be able to access those diseases.
“That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them” (Mark 4:12). Healing is for the remission of sins. Sins go as we enter the kingdom. This sin is oldness; it is more than fornication as it cannot be seen. This sin is Satan’s gift to man that we use for survival. We live through this sin and it is the lifeline of our lives. It is the wisdom with which we live. The sin results from our accrual in the age of darkness. We trust the sin so much that it can even follow people into ministry. Fornication is something that everyone knows is wrong. Kingdom entrance does not need preaching against fornication or works of flesh. Those are things we ought to drop instantly at new birth. However, this sin is a life.
It is difficult to convert some people in the world. There are some unbelievers that simply cannot be preached to because they are wiser than most Christians. They have age and wisdom in sin. Also, physical age does not connote one’s age in sin. Generally, it is easier to convert a person who is younger in the age of sin. Similarly, it is difficult to get a rich man into the kingdom (Matt. 19:24). Rich men are those who have age in sin. The young rich ruler was not just rich in possessions; he also had riches within (Matt. 19:21-26).
It is only God that can grant some people entrance into the kingdom. There is a forgiveness of sins that comes after one has been converted to a child. Once we get healed, we are already in the kingdom. However, if we are not converted like children, we would be unable to access the door of the kingdom. In other words, there are certain demands that the dominion of God would have us be like little children. Also, there are natures that the water and Spirit of God would bless us with.
Entrance into the kingdom by the birthing of water and spirit breaks the formation of flesh. That flesh is an age with sin in this world. Satan trained men to be flesh. It is through satanic tutelage that humans became flesh. We were firstly living souls, not flesh. Now, Jesus is offering something higher than a living soul. He wants to make us spirits by breaking the genetics and formation of flesh. He wants to translate us into spirits. Thorough washing by the word and the water of the Spirit brings about conversion into children. When we become children, we will be able to let our sins go. Like children, we will be easily entreated to let our things (sins) go. Forgiveness is not to pardon; it is removal or remission (Mark 4:12).
Blessings!
Summary
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The preaching of the kingdom is the opening of eyes from the fallen understanding that the adversary had given man (Matthew 4:17; 2 Corinthians 4:3-6; Ephesians 1:18)
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There is an understanding that is prevalent among the Gentiles that makes them vain. Because of the blindness of the church, it is unable to walk against this prevailing darkness or vanity (Ephesians 4:17).
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The purpose of the five-fold is to build the church to take steps in light. This is done by healing of eyes, for we walk with our eyes (Ephesians 4:13-14; Ephesians 1:18).
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Seeing the kingdom has to do with the preaching of the gospel or the preaching of sight. The gospel can only be preached to a man that is born again. A man cannot see the kingdom except he is born-again. But the fact that a person is born again does not mean that such a one has seen the kingdom (Luke 4:18; John 3:3).
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The heart state for one to receive the kingdom is to be poor, broken and contrite (Luke 4:18; Psalm 51:17; Isaiah 66:1-2).
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God instituted the bringing of animals (bulls and rams) as a sacrifice after the fall; but the real sacrifice that God demands is that of a contrite heart and a broken spirit (1 Samuel 15:22; Matthew 15:8).
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For a person to own God, such a one must possess a heart of flesh. It is the heart that makes the sacrifice for entrance into the kingdom (Matthew 15:8; Prov. 4:20-22; Ezekiel 36:25-26)