Lekki Soul Centre (21st April, 2021)
Topic: The Path to Entering God's Dominion
Ministering: Rev. Mrs. Helen Oyegoke
God has packaged His life and person in words. “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” (1 Cor.1:21) The essence of preaching is for salvation. A man cannot be delivered from darkness except by preaching. There is power in preaching. What is being said carries the essence of God’s person. Without preaching, people cannot believe.
“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.” (Rom.10:1) The essence of preaching is for salvation. You must hear something that will instruct you and in obedience, you become free from a particular dominion. The intention of God for man is to make him a dominion being. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” (Gen. 1:26) Anything short of dominion for a man is not God’s intention. A man is meant to be a dominion being, but instead of that, man is being dominated and ruled over by sin and death. That was not God’s plan for man. Image and likeness are the secrets of dominion. Anybody that can come to the image and likeness of the Godhead cannot be dominated.
God is the Most High; He ruleth over all (Ps 103:19). There is nothing that is above God; He is above all things. What is responsible for that reign is the nature and the likeness that God has. His nature is such that He is high above all creation. God intended that man would also come into the nature of the creator. Angels are God’s creature, but God didn’t promise them His nature and likeness. Instead, God created man with the promise of image and likeness. Adam was created as a living soul, and from that, we know that Adam still had a journey ahead of him because God is not a living soul; He is the quickening spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). God planted the life of the quickening spirit in the garden as the tree of life. He expected Adam to partake of it so that he can become a full dominion entity.
Dominion is according to nature and likeness. Rule is determined by what a man is made up of. “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him…” (Ps8:4) His visitation is to bring substances to the son of man. Through preaching, God is bringing His things to us from heaven, but not these present heavens. God was coming down in the cool of the day to Adam to impact him with substances that will raise him to be able to partake of the tree of the life (Gen 3:8). God wanted to raise a man that will have dominion over sin and death. By the time Adam was made, sin and death were already around because Satan had since fallen. Darkness was already around on earth. Darkness is the perverted life of a cherub (Lucifer) that was created as a light bearer.
God is the true light. Angels are also a kind of light; but they are not the true light. When Satan sinned, he turned the light on his inside to darkness. That’s why this darkness is stronger than man; the darkness we are wrestling against is that which was manufactured by a cherub. God wanted to fortify Adam around the darkness that was already around. All that he needed to do was to obey God. Because even though he was a living soul, he was not yet perfected.
Adam was created a little lower in make and stature than the angels (Ps. 8:5). Because of Adam’s make or his stature as the living soul, God could put all things that He created under Him (Ps. 8:6). While Adam was in the garden, the devil was not a problem to him; even though he was made a little lower than the angels. Satan could not oppress or harass him; but the only way he could get through to Adam was by causing him to disobey God. Adam was not sick in the garden; he named all the animals in the garden - he had dominion. Satan was seeing a king in the garden. All he could do to Adam was to make him disobey God. Dominion was meant to increase even as Adam journeyed towards the tree of life to partake of it.
Satan made Adam to go against the law of his existence. Satan went through Eve and deceived her (1 Tim. 2:14). Satan couldn’t have deceived Adam because he knew he had knowledge. Satan knows that there is power in whatever God says, if a man will keep it. So, he prevents people from hearing what God has to say. That’s why he casts doubts because he knows that anyone who obeys the words of God will be cut off his grip. By obedience, we will be delivered from the hands of our enemies and those that hate us. The devil cannot dominate you until you give in to what he has to say. So, he deceived Eve, tempted Adam; and they both fell to it. They died just as God said (Gen. 2:17); and the essence of the dominion they had was taken away from them. By this, they came under the dominion of death.
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned…” (Rom. 5:12) Man came under the dominion of sin and death by disobedience. Disobedience brought us under a dominion; while obedience to what God says will also bring us out of that dominion that Adam put man into. Obedience is the key to dominion. Adam died in his spirit and became a servant to sin. Adam did not give himself totally to the life that was in his spirit. Man is a spirit; he has a soul and lives in the body. When Adam was on earth, his soul trapped the conversation of the life of the living soul in his spirit. This was because he had used the life of the living soul to live for some time on earth.
After the fall, even though Adam and his sons were dead in their spirits, they could still live the life in their souls for a long time. Adam maintained the life in his soul; even after death in the spirit. Anything that takes the life in the soul will take the whole of you. The soul is what believes the gospel for the spirit to be quickened. Adam was not meant to die physically. But because of the death in his spirit, he could only live by the life that his soul had trapped; and that was able to make him live for over a thousand years.
“And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.” (Gen. 6:3). Man became flesh because some people had veered away from the life in the soul. This played out in the life of Cain and Abel. They were dead in their spirits; but they learnt the conversation of life from their parents. Children learn from conversation faster than what you even tell them. Children easily pick spirits. This is why parents need to be careful what kind of spirit is reigning in the home. We must have a godly and holy atmosphere in our homes. And this sanctification starts from us. “And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” (John 17:19) This must also be our conversation. Mothers need to sanctify themselves because children easily pick things.
Cain and Abel grew with the conversation they learnt from their parents; they knew how to offer. Adam taught them; and they grew up becoming priests who could offer to God. It means that they had knowledge. Cain preferred the life in his spirit; but Abel chose to follow the path that Adam towed. The path that Abel followed offended Cain; and by this, he killed his brother. But God raised another child for Adam and Eve (Seth), who followed God (Gen. 4:25). Men began to seek God when Seth was born. But some other kind of men perverted the way of God by continuing in the fallen conversation that came out of Eden.
Flesh is a conversation; it’s a product of sin. That conversation intends to make man flesh. Flesh is dust. The easiest way to make the devil exert his reign over man is to make man flesh. As long as a man is flesh, he will come under dominion or rule. Satan continued to preach his own gospel to as many as would yield to him; and those who yield to him will gradually disintegrate. Flesh is meant for destruction. “And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.” (Gen.6:3) Flesh cannot last. After some time, the days were cut from 120 to 70 because of flesh. “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away” (Ps. 90:10). That is the effect of sin on man. But God has not given up on man.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16). Believing in him is not the believing we did to become born again. We did not get everlasting life when we believed for new birth. The person to believe in to have everlasting life is the begotten Son. The begotten Son is the resurrected Lord. The begotten Son is the brightness of his glory and express image of his person (Heb. 1:3). David was so concerned about doing God’s will. David was not quickened in his spirit, but he was able to cooperate with God all the way. Even when his son, Absalom, was after him to take his life, he displayed so much meekness. He could crush his son due to his might but he fled to the mountain. He was not desperate for the throne more than keeping God’s ordinances. His heart was particular about God’s will. David was made by ordinances and God’s thoughts. When he even cut the skirt of Saul, his heart smote him. He knew the laws of God (I Sam. 24:5).
“And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 18:3). The Kingdom of God is a realm of God’s dominion. You cannot participate in God’s kind of dominion except there is a conversion. David talked about the laws of God that bring a conversion to the soul. The words of God carry the laws of God.
“For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” (Matt. 13:15) Healing them here speaks of the healing of their souls; delivering the soul from the hold of sin. Conversion precedes dominion. Conversion is the raising of the soul. As the soul is being converted, the soul is acquiring another nature fit for God’s dominion. Preaching is for conversion. At New Birth, the spirit was quickened; but the soul must also be preached to, to take on the nature of Christ that is already in the spirit. There is no raising of a man without the understanding or revelation of what God calls right.
To collect a man from the reign of sin and death, you have to give him knowledge and understanding of what is right. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” (Rom. 1:16-17). The apostles were committed and particular about preaching Christ because there are laws that framed Christ, which, when taught to a man, he would be raised from carnality to spirituality. Preaching and teaching give us the standards of Christ for conversion. Conversion occurs when the soul understands and agrees with the standards raised at the revelation of Christ. When obeyed, the soul traps the nature of Christ. We come to acquire the mind of Christ by revelation - by preaching. Preaching shows the laws that framed Christ. You become by doing what you understand.
“One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.” (Ps. 27:4) God wants us to place strong passions on His laws. Salvation is at stake when we do not get the laws of God. The formation of sin can only be broken down by obeying another standard that is called righteousness. The kingdom of God is an alignment of God’s righteousness. Dominion cannot be attained without the revelation of what is right and obedience to what is revealed. Revelation and obedience bring conversion for dominion. Change cannot take place except a man does what is revealed.
When a man journeys in Christ, conversions take place. There are ways we were raised up with; and we were ignorant of what is right, and that is why the soul must receive preaching. That’s the purpose of the preaching of Christ that reveals what is right. Conversion comes by hearing, seeing, understanding, and obeying. The preaching of the gospel is for thesoul to become aware of another life; the life that is by the revelation in Christ and the life that is by the revelation of God. The force of obedience will delete a sinful nature in a soul. What a man does over time is what he becomes. “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous” (1 John 3:7) No one can do righteousness except he hears the preaching of righteousness. Dominion is given to converted beings. This conversion is also a building. It’s the deleting of sins.
“For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.” (Rom. 10:2) Knowledge must inform what we do; and that’s why preaching is needed. “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” (Rom. 10:3) Salvation and righteousness cannot be separated. Salvation means inheriting eternal life. Without the righteousness of God, a man cannot emancipate out of darkness. It is important to know what God calls right. There are many things we call right that is not right before God. It takes God to deliver us from what is wrong. What is wrong is what brings death; and what is right is what brings life. The soul needs to be preached to, until it becomes saved. The soul is not saved until it inherits eternal life.
“But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.” (Rom. 6:17) Doctrine is delivered by the preaching of righteousness. When doctrine is obeyed, there is freedom. It will take believing for the soul to be healed or converted. “Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” (Rom. 6:18) Being made free is by yielding to righteousness. “I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.” (Rom. 6:19) Holiness is a building; it’s a stature in the spirit. A holy man is a man who has attained a high status in the spirit. And it comes by obedience to righteousness. Righteousness raises a man in the spirit to hear what the Son is saying concerning everlasting life.
“But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.” (Rom.6:22) After being made free from sin, the next step is to come to serve God. The end of yielding to the righteousness that is in God is to have everlasting life. Yielding to the righteousness that is in Christ sets us free from sin. Everlasting life is the substances of the Godhead. A man that has not heard Christ cannot hear everlasting life. Everlasting life and Eternal life and the realms of the Godhead. When you are Christ, you have a level of dominion in God’s realm. The end of dominion in God’s realm is that a man will come into God’s own holiness or dominion. What is responsible for God’s dominion is His image and likeness. The one who is speaking to the church to bring the church to the place of God’s own dominion is the Son (Heb 1: 2).
God had always been speaking by prophets; but He is now speaking by His Son (Heb 1: 1-2). His speakings are by preaching or revelations. “Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds…” (Heb 1:2) These all things are all things of God. “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…” (Heb 1:3) The Son is the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person. He was appointed heir of all things. What made Him better than the angels (Heb 1:4) are those things that He inherited. What man is coming against is actually the darkness and death in a fallen angel. For a man to be rescued from this angel, God has to bring superior substances. These angels that Jesus was made better than are not fallen ones but the ones that are still intact. Angels here are cherubims. They are spirits (Heb. 1: 7). Cherubims are at the topmost in the ladder of spirits; and it is only God that is higher than them because God is a quickening spirit. God also is a Spirit (John 4: 24).
Jesus became higher than the angels to deliver man from a fallen cherub. God is making available substances of a higher spirit (substances of the quickening spirit). What God is offering for our deliverance far outweighs what we are facing.
The essence of preaching and teaching is to fire these properties of God into man. God starts by giving us the properties of Christ. If Christ is not raising you, you cannot hear the voice of the Son or everlasting life. Everlasting life begins the giving of the substances of the Godhead. Preaching brings those substances that a man should obey. A man that has not obeyed the standards of Christ cannot obey the standards of everlasting life.
Marriage exists on the ability to bear and forbear. Patience, longsuffering, forbearance are things that Christ brings to us. Men ought to live by the conversation that is being revealed from the preaching and teaching of Christ. Let us give the more earnest heed to that which God is bringing to us (Heb 2:1). How we hear these things is by revelation. As preaching is going on, impressions are being painted in our hearts for a higher judgement. God can say some things to us for one year, and we may not give heed to it. Substances of God can easily slip, and that is why we should put them down when they come. The realm of the speaking of the Son of God is the realm of inheritance; and what is demanded of us is obedience. No one comes into what he has not yielded to. It is good to do Christ very well because the commandments of everlasting life are higher than Christ’s commandments. The commandment of God is life everlasting (John 12:50).
So great salvation makes a man so much better than the angels (Heb. 2:3). The realm of everlasting life is the realm of judgement. No one can trap promises of God excepts he hears, sees, looks upon, and handles the substances being communicated in this season (1 John 1:1). To become noble in the spirit is to come low. Prayer makes us sensitive to the commandments of God. God will help us all in this season; and we will be able to recognize commandments for us.
Message Ends