Programme: United Kingdom Easter Retreat 2024 (Day 3 Evening)
Date: Sunday, 31st March 2024
Rest is a project of God and a project is something that has not happened. Rest is a project that has not happened even though God has desired and purposed it.
Titus 1:.2
“In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began…”
There are things that God has promised and desired before the world began. There is a way God wants to administrate the coming age and it is tied to "project rest". We may do a lot of things on earth and not touch this project. We may do a lot of projects; personal projects, spiritual projects, ministry projects, career projects, family projects but leave God’s project untouched such that His house is not built but left desolate.
A lot of us pray that God will grant the desires of our hearts but God also has a desire that we would become His house.
Psalms 132:13
“For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation.”
The word “chosen” is like predestination. The Lord has purposed that there will be a company of people that through raising will come to Zion. Getting to Zion is not the final destination, but it is to prepare them to be able to function with God eternally.
Psalms 132:14
“This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.”
The Lord has defined what His rest will be forever.
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.”
There is a makeup of a man that can become the house of God. There is a content that will be put in man that will make him be able to give God rest. This is the purpose of our faith. It is why we were born and raised. Our present placement and experiences in life may not look like that of a person who will give God rest, but that is the reason for the direction God has gone in this meeting. He wants to attack all the doubts and the investments of spirits in us, so that we can be raised to a place where we can begin to think that we can participate in this project.
Reverend Kayode Oyegoke said that the home for a man is not this present earth nor this present heaven even though people go to heaven when they die (Heb. 1:10-12). The home for man is the new heaven and the new earth. What determines being in that home is what was put in us in the days of our flesh. One of the reasons we are subject to elements is the content of our life. God is looking for a man that is poor and contrite in spirit and man is not naturally contrite and broken, nor does he tremble at God’s word. Man in this context is not just limited to unbelievers.
Revelation 3:17
“Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked…”
The Laodicean church was said to be rich and well clothed but they did not have any real clothing. A believer can get to the point of saying they have need of nothing, but that believer (or the church at large) has been deprived of something due to lack of meekness or brokenness. During the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus was talking about those who will have access to the Kingdom, He said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit…” (Matt. 5:3).
Reverend Kayode defined blessing as “the ability to receive”. Therefore, a blessed man is one who has received the most things, and God wants us to receive all things. What makes that house is “all things” and we have to come into this realm. We must be prepared to spend our life acquiring these treasures.
There are certain things (principles and doctrines) needed to make a man that can exist in the world of all things. Angels were made with certain elements that gave them the ability to supervise this present creation. Those elements can be found in their laws, makings, and the kind of body and alignment they have. There was a deliberate work God did in angels for them to be able to administer this present world. For man to be able to administrate the coming age, man has to live in this present creation with the life of that coming creation. This is because there are fallen spirits who have beaten man down to stupor to the point where man has become subject.
Galatians 4:1-2
“Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; [2] But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.”
Even though we are heirs with God, we must be careful about the tutors and governors over us. This is because there are both positive or negative tutors and governors. As long as we are children, we have tutors and governors that we are under. We must make sure we are under tutors and governors that God has given the word of the world to come.
Galatians 4:3
“Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world…”
When we were children, we were in bondage. A believer that is a child can not have access to administrate what God has given. Such can not have access to enjoy the fullness of what God has promised due to the bondage under the elements of the world. It is these elements that God wants to take us above. The elements of the world are elements that angels (both God's angels and evil spirits) have control over, but God wants to take us over them. Different things can be anointed by spirits. They are made of elements that have the ability to be above man's state when man is still a child.
A child cannot successfully navigate itself in this world. Just like in the natural, a child can not be left to walk its way. So also, when we are children in the spirit, we do not have the ability to navigate our way. We ought to live our lives according to a kind of way, even in the days of our flesh. Then the Godhead will begin to put content in us that will make us the kind of man that can function with God. These kind of people are those who will become God's house.
In 1 Peter, Apostle Peter describes the thing we are begotten unto.
1 Peter 1:3-4
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, [4] To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you…”
These inheritances, when we receive them, are the content that will make us the house. They will make us incorruptible, undefiled, and not fade away. Everything we are receiving in this meeting has those properties. The word “reserved” means to be kept in a garrison or to be kept under heavy guard. These are things angels desire to look into. The substances that will make us incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading are reserved in heaven. They are precious substances and God has been releasing them to us. They are things that have been kept in places that angels can not access (Eph. 1:3). These are the things angels desire to look into; they are things that make the new creation man.
This Project Rest has to be completed but we can not afford to lose the materials being given. These materials are precious, and this kind of message is scarce on the face of the earth because they are reserved and kept under tight protection. Only certain people have access to these materials. If those certain people trample upon it, it can bring damnation to them.
Matthew 11:23
“And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.”
We may wonder what mighty physical works were done in Capernaum. While there may be no record of that, we know that somebody came to them with resources that were reserved for them. However, they trampled upon Him as He taught in the synagogue. These were the mighty works. What is taking place among us are mighty works – labour. Sodom would have remained until this day if they had someone to teach them. God destroyed a people that were not preached to with fire. How much more those that were preached to. What Carpenaum had access to was the best that God had to offer them.
Hebrews 2:1-3
“Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. [2] For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; [3] How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
There is no way of escape and there is no way we will finish the Project Rest if we do not receive the materials. If we lose the materials being spoken to us, the house will not be built. There is a kind of brokenness, contriteness of heart and trembling we have to come into to be able to come into this.
Hebrews 3:1
“Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus…”
Holy brethren are those who have come to the sanctuary. The word “consider” is from the word “consideration”. Its meaning is not limited to just thinking or pondering upon our Apostle. We have to begin to see Jesus and what He came to accomplish differently. Consideration is what is used to make investments; it is a legal term. A contract is ineffective without consideration, which is like a payment or commitment an investor makes to get an investment.
One cannot back out of a contract once consideration is involved. Likewise, we must give consideration and make certain payments, that is, we have to yield our lives. We consider the High Priest when we begin to interpret our lives by what the High Priest has brought. To be part of the profession in Hebrews 3:1, consideration has to be involved. We have to consider the High Priest.
To be part of any profession in this world, we invest by going to school and this is our consideration. Some people have some concepts on meditation and fellowshiping with the Lord, but just thinking in one’s head cannot get the contents of the Godhead. We have to empty ourselves to receive because the content that will make us be participants of this profession is not in our heads. We have to first receive the content before fellowship can begin. These are the contents that are given to us, that are reserved in heaven.
Blessings!