Eternal Glorious Fountain Ministry (EGFM)
Programme: Anamnesis Prayer Meeting – Week 3 Day 1
Date: Monday, 21st November 2022
“Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus…” (Heb. 3:1). Jesus is the High Priest of our profession and vocation. In this context, profession also means confession. What we confess is what we hope to become. The hope of our confession is to become entities of God’s calling. Therefore, our profession is the heavenly calling. We have been called into a vocation that requires the mediation of our Apostle and High Priest (Jesus Christ). Therefore, without Him, we cannot become what the calling has for us.
Jesus has a particular ministry as an Apostle. He was called of God a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek (Heb. 5:10). Though a High Priest, He is also a sent one to do the ministry of a priestly vocation. Therefore, Jesus’ ministry is one we do not fully know but should trust heaven to open up to us. Jesus is an Apostle of two things: everlasting Life and Eternal Life. Before he ascended physically to heaven (in front of His disciples), He had previously ascended in His soul. This was because His body was not yet qualified to stand at the level where He could be a full sent one, in the manner God ordained it. The same also happened to Moses; this was why Micahel had to go and contend for his body (Jude 1:9).
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” (Rom. 12:1). This means that as much as God wants to receive our souls, He also wants to receive our bodies. God is not calling us just to be holy with our bodies physically. This holiness is not just talking about being separated from sins because that understanding limits the blessing of this kind. It is also not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answering of a good conscience towards God (1 Pet. 3:21).
A priest cannot fully function in his ministry without His flesh. The amount of life in our bodies is the amount of priestly ministry that we can push out. Our bodies are washed with pure water and our souls are sprinkled from an evil conscience for the purpose of entering the Holy of Holies. This is what makes our bodies and souls acceptable in the sight of God (Heb. 10:22). During His days on earth, Jesus moved from one geographical location to another, but now He can reach anywhere by just staying in one location in the spirit. This shows that a person can be in a place while the apostolic wave spreads; this is power. Someone who has stepped into the heavens can affect the whole earth from one spot. Kenneth E. Hagin experienced this kind of apostolic operation and Heaven moved his messages such that it was felt all over the earth.
An apostle should not struggle like men who strive. Paul stayed in Tyrannus and the word went to all of Asia. That was the expression of a strong apostolic wave. This type of wave can from a spot, move tidings to every place that the Lord wants it to reach because of the resources that the apostle has access to. However, not all apostles have this grace. We can only see this high ministry of the apostle if the minister is highly empowered, has touched certain things, and has an alignment with those that sent him. Many people are actually apostles in the measure of an evangelist. Full new testament evangelists teach and preach revelation. They are like prophets of the New Testament.
“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…” (Heb. 3:4-5). Jesus is a builder and He builds God into men; this is His apostolic ministry. When Jesus sits upon His throne, He performs two operations: He rules and He is a Priest, both referring to everlasting life and Eternal Life. Then, He can fully occupy the full essence of the calling of His priestly ministry. This is because He has to be a Priest on the Throne for Him to minister Eternal Life. In the first stage of His rule, when He is building His house, He rules with an everlasting sceptre; this is a season of works. When He sits as a Priest, it is a season of rest and He will manifest rest upon His throne.
The first stage of His manifestation is His rule. Thereafter, He will use the throne to build. As He builds, He rules the house and sets its standards. After this stage comes peace between the two operations. Another work begins after peace. Thus, the Throne of God is two-fold: it is for us to be buildings of both everlasting and Eternal Life. A time will come when the building should bear glory after it has been completed. Then, He must come to sit in that temple to bear the glory. This is when we can say that the house is bearing the glory. We are to consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession because He is the house of God. Jesus is the ark of God and He wants to make many arks. God’s intention for our vocation is that we become His house.
“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. [7] Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice…” (Heb. 3:6-7). The hope of Eternal Life is a building, for without a building, there will be no place for Eternal Life. We have to be built to be able to function in Life Eternal because it is not just anyone who can handle Eternal Life. This is why we need to come into knowledge regarding our profession. We have to cooperate with Jesus in learning and our minds have to expand to gather information. The material for building God’s house is through the voice of the Son of God. Hence, we must not be lazy spiritually. His words are spirit and life (John 6:63) but we need to engage them also.
“Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: Thereby good shall come unto thee. [22] Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, And lay up his words in thine heart. [23] If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, Thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles. [24] Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, And the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.” (Job 22:21-24). After Job’s ordeal and graduation in the spirit, he became a high priest that could intercede for his contemporaries. Satan always shows up in the season of reconciling iniquity. Job was about to be blessed and honoured when Satan came. He comes when there is glory in view. Glory means resurrection out of the clutches of Satan into an estate that is different from his order. Satan hates men leaving his captivity. He attacked Job because he knew that if Job escaped his captivity, many will look up to him.
In our age, we also have a Champion (Jesus Christ), to whom we can look up. He is our model. As the High Priest, He is the only one who can build an everlasting man — the temple of God. Jesus is called and trained to build temples for God. God does not want to build high cathedrals but to raise beings of high wisdom. These are men who can deal in the things of God; they are divine men. A divine man is one into whom God can pour Himself.
Lucifer used to be a temple in whom God lived, but He fell (Eze. 28:12). To defeat him, God raised another temple, Jesus, who was made so much better than the angels. Other temples had to worship this temple (Heb. 1:6). He had to put off or destroy his earthly temple (human body) in order to put on a higher one. This was because the one that was to be built was more important. A special building is required to stop iniquity. Wherever such beings (buildings) are, iniquity ceases to exist.
“Thou shalt have no other gods before me. [4] Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: [5] Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments." (Exo. 20:3-6). The binding cord of God's commandment is a love commandment. When a man loves God, there are certain things he would do in love. What builds up a man spiritually is love – a man will do certain things in response to God when he is in love with Him. What also makes men hate God is a commitment to another love.
“For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.” (Rev. 22:15). Lovers can either ‘make truth or a lie’, but one who loves God will ‘make truth’. Service is tied to love. Thus, there are those who love God and there are those who hate Him. Those who love God will do things that affirm so. Real servants are image builders and Satan seeks to make men venture into image-making. Satan is an inscriber on the souls of men because he can also give commandments. He is a beginning being. This means he is love and can give love. So when he tempts a man, he offers him love gifts. However, these gifts are referred to as ‘another’ because they are things one can have beside God. But God is a jealous God and He does not like such. After a while, He will leave such a fellow and then, Satan will take the preeminence. This is Satan's tactic, for He knows that God would not share space with anything else.
“And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. [6] Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” (Exo. 20:6-7). Once there is a presence of hatred for God in a man, such a person would look for another god. Many people do not know they have hate. When there is a sin or iniquity in a man, the tendency to love another is present. Iniquity is what you love and that sin will be required of man. Anyone who does not have any other god besides God will not be able to take the name of the Lord in vain. But when one is not serving God, one would push God’s name for vanity. This is a sin that many commit.
Building is our profession and without that profession, we cannot rest. The two-edged sword is the instrument of rest (Heb. 4:12) that will build up a man spiritually. What will not allow a man to rest are wrong thoughts and intents. This is because creatures (evil spirits) are in this realm. Satan created those creatures as agents of unrest. When we touch heaven, we would touch these creatures. They are things not made by God so they need to be shaken out. We must not allow creatures to disturb us from being built. Many of us do not discern these creatures on time, so they do damage to our souls, which we would later need to be healed of. Although these creatures are fast, the word is faster than they are, and it is able to destroy them. Therefore, when we inherit the nature of the word, we will be faster than these creatures.
We have to be deliberate in killing those evil creatures because they are tempters. Many times, we do not even know that some of our thoughts are influenced by these creatures. It would take the word to heal us from the preaching of these creatures. If we listen to Satan, we would doubt the throne. The angels could depart from God because of the things Satan poured into them, by reason of his trafficking and merchandise (Eze. 28:16). These creatures are like viruses in a computer. But God will make us faster than they are so that they can be chained for us to be free. When we are faster than them, we can discern them. We must know that these evil creatures are liars. In this realm also, we must lean on one another to shut the tongue of these evil creatures. Husbands and wives for example, must be wise and sensitive, knowing that they stand in the spirit.
Buildings (especially heavenly buildings) are very important and crucial. The image of God is a heavenly work; it is a heavenly vocation. It is worked out in a man through commandments. When this work is done, one can be said to have made a covenant. There is no covenant-making except commandments are given. After the covenant is done, then one can come into life or rest. When you build, you put life in the image or you write the law in the building. Therefore, we should not just build or make an image, but also put life into that image. When you are putting the law of life in an image, you are giving life to it. If you give life to an image, the image will live. Then, the image will speak.
“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. [12] And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.” (Rev. 13:11-12). Making an image of the beast is not by building a physical image. The making of an image is a means of service, and bowing to the image is worship. Service is a work while bowing is worship. To make such an image is to cause such men to be conformed to the beast.
“And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” (Rev. 13:15). Another word for building is resurrection. Without the image of God, you cannot come into the life of God. You can either build the truth of God or the life of God. What we build inside would affect our physique and show externally. Jesus is the image of God that has life and is speaking. That image is God’s temple and building. This is His apostolic mandate. We need wisdom to carry out instructions. It is the intention of God that none lacks building, for He wants everyone to have everything good.
Blessings!
Summary
1. The hope of our confession is to become entities of God’s calling. As such, our profession is the heavenly calling (Heb. 3:1). This confession/vocation requires the mediation of our Apostle and High Priest (Jesus Christ), for without Him, we cannot become what the calling has for us.
2. As much as God wants to receive our souls, He also wants to receive our bodies (Rom. 12:1). He is not calling us to just be holy with our physical bodies but to the answering of a good conscience towards God (1 Pet. 3:21).
3. A priest cannot fully function in his ministry without His flesh. The amount of life in our bodies is the amount of priestly ministry that we can push out. What makes our bodies and souls acceptable in the sight of God (Heb. 10:22) is when our bodies have been washed with pure water and our conscience, sprinkled from an evil conscience for the purpose of entering the Holy of Holies.
4. Jesus is a builder and He builds God into men; this is His Apostolic ministry. We are to consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession (Heb. 3:1) because He is the house of God. God’s intention for our vocation is that we become His house.
5. The hope of Eternal Life is a building. We have to be built to be able to function in Life Eternal because it is not just anyone who can handle Eternal Life. This is why we need to come into knowledge regarding our profession. The material for this building is the voice of the Son of God (John 6:63).
6. We have a Champion (Jesus Christ), whom we can look up to. He is our model. As the High Priest, He is the only one who can build an everlasting man — the temple of God. God does not want to build high cathedrals but to raise beings of high wisdom who can deal in the things of God.
7. (Exo. 20:3-6). The binding cord of God's commandment is a love commandment. When a man loves God, there are certain things he would do in response to God's commandment. This means what builds up a man spiritually is his love response to God's commandment. What also makes men hate God is a commitment to another love.
8. Once there is a presence of hatred for God in a man, such a man would look for another god. Many people do not know they have hate. When there is a sin or iniquity in the soul of a man, the tendency to love another god is present.
9. Building is our profession and without that profession, we cannot rest. The two-edged sword is the instrument of rest (Heb. 4:12) that will build up a man spiritually. What will not make a man rest are wrong thoughts and intents which are fuelled by evil spirits..
10. Evil creatures or spirits are like viruses in a computer. But God will make us faster than them so that they can be chained for us to be free. When we are faster than them, we can discern them. We must know that evil creatures are liars!
11. The image of God is worked out in a man through commandments. When this work is done, one can be said to have made a covenant. After the covenant is done, then one can come into life or rest.
12. The making of an image is a means of service, and bowing to the image is worship. Without the image of God, we cannot come into the life of God. We therefore need wisdom to obey His instructions.