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Our Union in Christ pt. 3

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  1. Hi there, welcome to NECF. We're excited to share today's message with you. Don't

  2. go anywhere, stay with us till the end for some valuable resources to enrich your faith.

  3. Here's today's sermon.

  4. Alright, so the title is still Our Union with Christ, right? The title is Our Union with

  5. Christ. We are continuing and that is why John chapter 14 has been read again, right?

    John 14 chapter mention

  6. And it's been read so that we can carry on from where we stopped the other day, right?

  7. However, for those of you that were not in the previous two teachings, you can always

  8. listen to the teachings, right? You just have to go to ncf.church, right? And you'll find

  9. our sermons there, right? And you can listen to our sermons. I'm sure there are other means,

  10. it's probably on Spotify, you can listen to it on Spotify. And also, I think they are

  11. creating a platform that will also be made available for us when it's ready. So there's

  12. so much resources that makes the messages available to you. So let's pay attention and

  13. listen and do well to visit the church website to get those messages.

  14. Alright, so John chapter 14 has been read for us. And from the last time we picked out

    John 14 chapter mention

  15. two things, right? We picked out two words that reflect manifestation, something related

  16. to manifestation. And we said that the theme of the year, first of all, to reiterate is

  17. manifesting the kingdom of God, right? In NACM, our theme for this year is manifesting

  18. the kingdom of God. And all the teachings that are coming are aligning with that so that

  19. as believers, we can manifest the kingdom of God, right? Paul would tell the church

  20. in the current year and said, I don't want you to be ignorant of the things of the spirits.

  21. So one of the things that it tries to kill in the church in current is ignorance, which

  22. does not necessarily mean not knowing, but deliberately doing the wrong thing, right?

  23. So ignorance of things of the scriptures. So we try as much as possible to clear our

  24. minds so that we can comprehend the scripture. So the two words continuing from the last

  25. time, the two words who can remind us, there are two words that we were treating. The last

  26. teaching was on a Wednesday and we talk about two Greek words that we try to explain. Who

  27. remembers what are the Greek words? All right, John chapter 14 verse eight, John chapter

    John 14 chapter mention John 14 chapter mention

  28. 14 verse eight, it says, Philip said to him, Lord, show us the father and it is what? Enough

  29. for us, right? And it's enough for us. And that's word show, right? Is Dick and Noel,

  30. right? That word show is Dick and Noel, Dick and Noel, D-I-K-E-N-U-O, show us the father.

  31. So that's the first word, which is Dick and Noel. And the second word, which is similar,

  32. is found in the second question or the third question of that chapter, verse 22. I said,

  33. Judas, not Iscarius said to him, Lord, why is it that you will manifest yourself to us

  34. and not to the world? And the word there was using my brother's reading as unveil, right?

  35. Unveil here used manifest and that word is emphanizal, E-M-P-H, E-M-P-H-A-N-I-Z-O. And

  36. just to reiterate, to understand what was going here, Philip said to him, Lord, show

  37. us the father. Now this is after Christ had explained to them that I am the way, the truth

  38. and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. If you had known me, you would

  39. have known the father also. And we emphasize that Christ is showing them an identity, is

  40. manifesting himself to them. This is what we see John writing. So Christ is manifesting

  41. an identity to the disciples, revealing himself, I am in the father and the father is in me.

  42. What Christ is doing there is what we can say, emphanizal, is explaining to them his

  43. identity, who he is. And that is why in verse 22, Judas Iscarius asks the question, why

  44. is he manifesting himself to us? So Jesus was really telling them about their identity.

  45. So emphanizal is mostly identity based, reflecting a people that have been brought forth, right?

  46. We saw that in previous scriptures about those who were resurrected after Christ rose, showing

  47. themselves, manifesting themselves to people, right? So we see that that emphanizal is something

  48. that is linked to the salvation work of God and is linked to the identity. Now, why did

  49. Philip ask this question, which is show us the father, right? That word show, like we

  50. said, is there now. And it simply means after we have heard of an identity, right? It simply

  51. means to prove something. So Philip was saying, now that you have told us the father and we

  52. have heard that you are in the father and the father is in us, now show us a thing,

  53. right? Show us a thing that will show us the father. So he was looking for works, he was

  54. looking for maybe I would say more teachings, okay, teach us more about the father, show

  55. us signs actually. It's like showing us signs of the father. That is why the answer Jesus

  56. gave was quite, was quite different from the way he answered the first tomers and the way

  57. he answered Judas. He said, have I not been with you? He said, how have I been with you

  58. so long and you do not still know me, Philip? Just like I'm revealing an identity to you,

  59. you are asking for works, you are asking for teachings, you are asking for proofs, yet

  60. I'm revealing myself to you, I've made myself manifest, yes, you want to see something.

  61. Nevertheless, Jesus said, verse 11, believe me that I am in the father, again reiterating

  62. the same thing, that's about the identity, right? Or else, okay, believe on the account

  63. of the works that you see. So, diaconal goes with works most of the time, reflected in

  64. works. So this is where we stopped the last time and now we need to build on it today.

  65. So we can say, am for needs or identity based proof of salvation to show that one is safe

  66. and this is what diaconal is to show a proof of something, right? So you have to do something

  67. external to present that, oh, I am the Christ, right? That was literally what he was saying,

  68. using that word to show things, to show works. So today we would pick and finis of first

  69. and talk about it much more and what we want to talk about much more is the identity in

  70. union with Christ, right? Our identity in union with Christ. So like a subheading of

  71. this is like our identity in union with Christ. So what identity do you have? Now that you

  72. are in the father, the father is in me and we are with Christ. What is our identity?

  73. We need to understand the identity of the believer. So last week when Pastor Victor

  74. was teaching, he made a prophecy on something and he talked about something in his introduction

  75. and he said, it is not gender based. Who remembers? He said, it is not ethnic based. The identity

  76. and the message is not gender based, is not ethnic based, is not culture based. So therefore,

  77. right, you don't need to struggle, you know, with your outward looking, you're struggling

  78. with it, right? You don't need to struggle with that. You know, he even mentioned something.

  79. He said, because of the way the mind has been structured, the emphasis has been on the physical.

  80. But when it comes to the believer, the first identity of the believer, you can write it

  81. down, is that the believer is spiritual. The believer is a spirit, is spiritual. This is

  82. the first identity that we must understand so that we don't struggle with how you look,

  83. right? Nobody can talk you down on how you look because you are spiritual. This is important.

  84. This is also important because when you understand that you are spiritual, you will be bold to

  85. manifest the kingdom of God. When you understand that you are spiritual, that you are a spirit,

  86. you will be bold to do it, to manifest the kingdom of God. Because I will not, we're

  87. going to explain today how that spirit comes to be, right? So what I'm going to explain

  88. here is to make you become bold to manifest the kingdom of God, knowing that you are a

  89. spirit and you're spiritual, right? So some people when they tell them, you have to manifest

  90. the kingdom of God, they just think that something has to come upon them before they can manifest,

  91. right? Not from within them. When you talk about people manifesting the kingdom of God,

  92. they believe that they have to be pushed. They have to, oh no, manifesting the kingdom

  93. of God is something spooky. It's not, right? Manifesting the kingdom of God is not something

  94. spooky. It's not something that cannot be explained. But where it begins is to first

  95. understand our identity, right? That we are spiritual and how the spiritual came to be

  96. is what we will see today. All right, so the believer's identity is spiritual first because

  97. the kingdom itself is spiritual. The believer's identity is spiritual because the kingdom itself

  98. is spiritual. So we have been teaching about this kingdom and we say that the kingdom of

  99. God is not a location, right? It's not a location. It's not a place where we go and we sit and

  100. gather. But it is spiritual, talking about the dominion and the influence of all that

  101. Christ has done. So it is not physical but spiritual, talking about the dominion and

  102. the influence of all that Christ has done. So it will mean that the death, the burial

  103. and resurrection of Christ brought dominion, right, and influence and this is spiritual.

  104. All right, let's start with the first scripture. Let's go to Genesis 1 verse 1. Genesis 1 verse

    Genesis 1:1 Genesis 1:1

  105. 1. Genesis 1 verse 1. Now I said, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Next.

    Genesis 1:1

  106. The earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep and the Spirit

  107. of God was hovering over the face of the waters. I think I'm going to use my Bible so media

  108. team you can present that to the church. I'm just going to use my Bible so we can move

  109. fast. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and the earth was without form

  110. and void and darkness was over the face of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering

  111. over the face of the waters. Right? So what we are seeing here is God's intention, right,

  112. we've taught this before, God's intention to unite with man, okay? God's intention to

  113. do it, to unite with man. It says the heaven and the earth, right? And Perseus also had

  114. taught us that actually if you read the verse 2 you would understand what the earth is because

  115. verse 2 says the earth was without form and darkness was on the face of the deep. Right?

  116. Darkness was on the face of the deep and when we read 2 Corinthians you can put it down

  117. across Genesis 1.1, right? You can even write it in your Bible, just put that Genesis 1.1

  118. and 2 together and put this scripture 2 Corinthians 4.4. 2 Corinthians 4 verse 4. It says, was

    2 Corinthians 4:4

  119. this mind the God of this age as blinded who do not believe lest the light of the gospel

  120. of the glory of Christ who is the image of God should shine on them. Right? We need to

  121. read some more context to that so that we can understand it. So verse 5 of it says,

  122. for what we proclaim is not ourselves but Jesus Christ as the Lord with ourselves as

  123. servants for Jesus sake. Verse 6, for God who said, let light shine out of darkness

  124. as shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face

  125. of Jesus Christ. Again, let light shine out of darkness as shown in our hearts to give

  126. the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. So it means that

  127. the heart of man is where the darkness is, right? The heart of man is where the darkness

  128. is. When they're talking about the heart of man, they're not talking about this heart

  129. that is physical. They are talking about the frame mind of man that aligns with unbelief.

  130. So the heart of man is darkened, right? The heart of man is darkened and therefore we

  131. see that it's nothing physical. It's not talking about physical. It's talking about people

  132. who have not believed. The verse 4 of that 2 Corinthians chapter 4 reveals it that in

    2 Corinthians 4 chapter mention

  133. their case, the God of this world blinded their minds of the unbelievers to keep them

  134. from seeing the light of the glory of Christ who is the image of God. So anyone who has

  135. not seen the gospel, who has not understood Christ, is blind and is in darkness. Do we

  136. say that? Does that mean that they are in a place where there is no electricity? Okay,

  137. so it means it's not physical, right? Does that mean that if you remove their hearts

  138. and you check it, it will be dark? Does it what it means? It doesn't mean that, right?

  139. So if you check them and you go for an X-ray, you will see red, right? I mean, if I'm right,

  140. you know. So it means that it's nothing physical. We need to pay attention to that. It also

  141. means that what is darkened is their understanding. It means that when a message is presented

  142. to them, right, they will say, no, this message is a lie. That's what they do to the gospel.

  143. When they say Jesus is Lord, they say, no, that's a lie. That's what an unbeliever does.

  144. He's as plain as saying, it's a lie. Like, I don't believe this gospel. If you don't

  145. believe something, it means you don't believe it because it's a lie. That's what you have

  146. positioned yourself to be. So therefore, the matter that was being dealt with in Genesis

  147. 1 and Genesis 2 is the matter of the darkness in the heart of man. So from there, we already

  148. saw that this matter is spiritual, right? It's spiritual. Now let me show you something

  149. else in verse 3 to add up to it. Or same in verse 2. He said, and the spirit of God was

  150. hovering over the face of the water. And the spirit of God, that word is ruach heluhim.

  151. It's not spirit of God as to mean God is on the throne. Then the spirit of God is now

  152. walking around and checking how, no, no, that's not what it means. It means God himself. There's

  153. no off in the Hebrew version where it is written. There's no off. There's no spirit of God.

  154. It is the spirit who is God. Let me not use who is God because that will mean another

  155. T-S-K-S thing for those of you that know. But I'm not going to use that. It means the spirit

  156. God, right? It means spirit God, ruach heluhim himself. So that is God. And that means it's

  157. about a spiritual matter because the person who wants to unite the heart of man to himself

  158. is spirit. The heart of man itself cannot be same. So it's a spiritual matter. So from

  159. the beginning we can see that what God intends to do is not to make you to be yellow, is

  160. not to make you to be dark, is not to make you to have jerrycoys like I said last week,

  161. but to make you a spirit that is in union with the spirit of God. That is the first

  162. thing. Spirit that is in union with ruach heluhim himself. From this point you should

  163. begin to have boldness because the goal of this teaching is to make you bold, to manifest

  164. the kingdom. I say it again. So when you understand that what God planned from Genesis is that

  165. he wants you to be in union with him, it means you are a spirit, right? And that should give

  166. you boldness. Okay, let's see further. Let's go to John, no Ezekiel 36, 22-32. These are

  167. scriptures we've touched very well. Ezekiel 36. Can we read from verse 19? Let us just

  168. pay some little bit of context to these. It says, verse 19 says, I scattered them among

  169. the nations and they were dispersed through the countries in accordance with their ways

  170. and their deeds. I judged them, but when they came to the nations, where they came, they

  171. profaned my name in that people said of them, these people are the Lord's, yet they go out

  172. of his land. But I had concern for my holy name, which is the house of Israel, which

  173. the house of Israel had profaned and among the nations to which they came. Now the context

  174. of this is the Israel's unbelief, right? The Israel's unbelief. And what we see there,

  175. right? What we see there, can we observe? It said, they profaned my holy name. Why?

  176. In that the people said to them, these people are of the Lord, and yet they had gone out

  177. of his land, but I had concern for my name. So it means that, there's something I want

  178. to pick it. It means that the profaning on the Lord's name, right? Is simply working

  179. in unbelief, against, working in unbelief, which is against the word of God. Actually,

  180. that is the profaning of the name of the Lord. When you do things, right? When the word of

  181. God is presented to you and you work against it, that is profaning the name of the Lord.

  182. That is what we see here. It said, they profaned my name among the nations because the nation

  183. has, they said these are people of God, but they don't look like one, right? Because they're

  184. not even where God says they should be. So we see that this is the problem in this context.

  185. What I had concerned for my name, it said, talking about he honors his own name, right?

  186. He honors his own name. Now, that word concern is not about God is worried about his reputation.

  187. No, God is not worried about his reputation. Because he had said something, Israel rejected,

  188. then the people of the world was, these people, they look like people that God has really

  189. called them, but they are not in alignment with the word of God. That is profaning. And

  190. God said, I have concerned for my, is not I'm worried about my reputation. No, I respect

  191. my name. I honor my name. And that name is the word of God. Hallelujah. The name that

  192. God had concerned for is not the name that is pronounced, the word Yahweh. No, that's

  193. not, it's really talking about what he will do. So he said, what I will do, I will do,

  194. right? What I will do, I will do. I have concerned for my name, which the house of Israel had

  195. made to Israel. Israel is making it look like God has abandoned his people who remember

  196. Romans. He said, has God abandoned his people? Say no, right? There are people who are believing

  197. even from the house of Israel. So God says, I have concerned for my name, right? Which

  198. is for the word I've spoken, I have respect for it and I'll bring it to pass. It means

  199. that people will believe, right? People will believe. See, don't be concerned when you

  200. go for evangelism, you are preaching, they're like, ah, people are not believing. Oh, you

  201. are doing percentages. Let me tell you, God has made it that many people will believe,

  202. many would come to the knowledge of Christ because God would fulfill his word. Now let's

  203. see what happened after. I actually have a scripture that I actually wanted to, I will

  204. talk about in line with these because I was sharing it with a post-custin yesterday night

  205. when we were discussing about the scriptures. I think that scripture is Psalms 138, if I'm

  206. correct. Let's go to Psalm 138. Let's go to Psalms 138 or verse, Psalm 138. I just show

  207. you something there that actually would help us to understand. You know, when we teach,

  208. one of the things that we do, right, is to correct, is to set straight the word of God,

  209. right? Is to set straight the word of God. Let's go to verse two. Let's go to verse

  210. two. I bow down towards your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast

  211. love and your faithfulness for you have exalted above all things your name in some scriptures

  212. it says more than your word. If your scripture say that, can you raise your hand? Okay. Did

  213. you hear what I said? If your scripture says he has exalted his name, this is a good version,

  214. right? More than your word. So some scriptures rather than use and they put more than. Can

  215. I see that? Above all your words, yes, you have exalted, you have magnified your words

  216. above all your name. Now these, you know, we always know the name is that name that

  217. you pronounce, maybe Jesus, maybe Halloween, right? That name is very powerful. The name

  218. of God and the word of God are not different things. The name carries what he will do.

  219. So there is nothing like he has exalted his name more than. He has exalted his name, his

  220. word. That's actually what is there. Just the same we saw Ruach Elohim, right? So the

  221. authors and the translators put these things there for readability also sometimes based

  222. on their understanding. So God's word is his name and that's word he will do. He is not

  223. concerned about his reposition. His respect is for what he has said and he will do. Now

  224. let's continue in that Ezekiel 36. So if you now go to verse 22, now watch. So we are said

  225. that what God would do, right, is his name, right? His name is what he will do and is

  226. the word, right? And is to bring Israel to the fulfillment of what he will do. So from

  227. verse 22, he began to explain what God would do, right? He said, therefore to the house

  228. of Israel, to seize the Lord, it is not for your sake, it is not for what you have done

  229. it, O Israel, that I am about to act, but for my name's sake, my holy name, what can

  230. we replace that holy name with? His word, right? We can replace that word because of what God

  231. has spoken. Which are profaned among the nations to which you came, right? And I will vindicate

  232. the holiness of my great name. Which you are profaned among the nations, which you are

  233. profaned among them and the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord. When

  234. I come through you, I will vindicate my holiness before their eyes. Next. I will take you from

  235. among the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own

  236. land. I will sprinkle clean water on you. Can you see the vindication of God? Right?

  237. It's salvation, it's cleaning, it's bringing people to a position where they are supposed

  238. to be. And you shall be cleaned from all your uncleanness and all your idols. I will cleanse

  239. you. And I will give you a new heart, a new spirit, and I will put within you. And I will

  240. take the heart of stone from your flesh. I will give you the heart of flesh. And I will

  241. put my words, my spirit within you and cross you to walk in my status and be careful to

  242. what to obey my rules. Did you see? He said he will do what? I will put my spirit within

  243. you. Right? He's talking about our spirit and our spirit in union with Christ, in union

  244. with God. He will clean us. I will save you. I will bring you to a place where we will

  245. be together. All this stated here, a heart of stone, a heart of flesh, and all of that

  246. are figurative to explain a spiritual reality that happens in the believer. So the believer

  247. is spiritual. Hallelujah. See, I am spiritual. I have a spirit within me. And I am in union

  248. with the spirit of God. Amen. Well, let's go to, let's progress. First John 4.13. First

  249. John 4.13. It's about this we know that we abide in him and he in us because he has done

  250. what? He has given us a spirit. Right? This is now later on after the spirit has been

  251. given. He has given us what? His spirit. So every believer has a spirit of God. And it's

  252. not about like, you know, sometimes with the way we picture it is that God is inside his

  253. jacket. Right? It is just, it is, right? It's technically true. But the right explanation

  254. is that you are in union. Your spirit and God's spirit are in union together. That's

  255. what his spirit is. Right? It's within your spirit and you in him. Don't forget 14. I

  256. will be in you, you will be in me. We will be together with the father. So spiritual

  257. matters here. John 4 verse 23. John 4 verse 23 and 24. Quickly. John 4 verse 23 and 24.

    John 4:23 John 4:23 John 4:23

  258. So buddy, hour is coming and is now. When the true worshipers will worship the father

  259. in spirit and truth for the father is seeking such people, right? Such people to worship

  260. him. So God is spirit and those who worship him in spirit must, sorry, those who worship

  261. him must worship in spirit and truth. So God is spirit and it will give bread towards spirits.

  262. God is spirit and it will give bread towards, he's not spooky. Don't look at it like something.

  263. No, no, no. God is spirit and it will give bread to spirits. That is why you are less,

  264. I mean, I'm not saying you should take care of yourself. We don't discourage that. But

  265. your concern and your worry is not this jacket. How does jacket use? No, your concern, your

  266. worries, not how this jacket works. So when you want to go and manifest the kingdom of

  267. God, say, ah, I have to put on white suit like Pastor Imau for the anointing to flow.

  268. And then I need to speak like Pastor Custin, then walk like Pastor. You know, these things

  269. come with the movements. Or you want to preach to someone, I'm not well dressed, ah, you

  270. know, you are covered already, right? You are modest, right? I need to look good. You

  271. know, the gospel must be packaged. You know, you need to put on some shining, looking,

  272. spray yourself. So when you come and say, have you believed? The person will smell your

  273. arouse. Okay, because who came with something? No. As you wake up in the morning, you brush

  274. it, it will go out. You just walk in, you find someone, you can preach the gospel because

  275. it's about your spirit that is ready to teach the world to explain the world to people.

  276. You are not limited by your physical appearance. You are not. So it's a God of spirit. And

  277. we that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Another scripture, John 3, 6.

  278. Let's go to John 3, 6. John 3 verse 6. Or let's see. Okay, good. So now this is now

    John 3:6

  279. the explanation, right? The statement I made, the explanation is that, that which is born

  280. of the flesh is flesh. And that which is born of the spirit is what? Spirit. That which

  281. is born of the spirit is spirit. You are spirits, right? You are a spirit. Can you take verse

  282. 37 of the same John? Let me see if I play something there. John 3 verse 37. Okay, it's

  283. not up to, okay, not up to 37. 36. John 3, 34. Let's go to 34. 34. Yes, thank you. For

  284. he, whom God has sent, utters the word of God, for he gives the spirit without measure.

  285. Now this was a discussion about Jesus, right? Some people saw Jesus baptizing and all of

  286. that. We can read from verse 31. Verse 31. It says, he who comes from above is from above.

  287. Again, reiterating this thing, spiritual. He who is on the earth belongs to the earth

  288. and speaks in an earthly way, he who does, he who comes from heaven is from above. He

  289. bears witness so that, he bears witness to that which he has seen and heard, yet no receives

  290. and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. Whosoever receives his testimony sets his

  291. seal to this, that God is true. Verse 34. For he who God has sent, speaks the word of

  292. God, utters the word of God, for he gives his spirit without measure. The father loves

  293. the son and he has given all things into his hands. Whosoever believes in the son has eternal

  294. life. Whosoever does not obey the son shall not see life, but the word of God remains

  295. on him. The emphasis is that he's talking about Christ and he says he gives his spirit

  296. without measure. It means without restriction. It means first, in the context of Christ,

  297. Christ is fully God and fully man. Are we together? Right? He's fully God and fully

  298. man. It's not like, oh, it's 50% in measure. Right? It's like, I don't know, there's what

  299. they call maybe graduated cylinder. I think I've heard that word somewhere. I can use

  300. that. Yes. Like a portion measured of God, granted to Jesus to carry. Right? So that

  301. the remaining part will be topped up by human. That is not what it's saying. He's fully God

  302. and he's fully man. Right? So the extent of God's spirit is in him. And therefore, when

  303. you are being given birth to, you are not half spirits. You are not half spirits. Like

  304. I'm spirit half and I have other parts. You are fully spirit as well. You know, the mathematics

  305. does not work. Right? The mathematics of half plus half has to be one. I think I was talking

  306. to someone. They want it to be one. Right? That's why they are making it 50-50. But they

  307. can explain 100-100. Right? So the point is you are fully spirit. The spirit of God is

  308. granted onto you, not in a measure because you are given birth to by Christ. So some

  309. people say, oh, that is, you know, some people, they can manifest speaking in tongues. Some

  310. people, they cannot speak in tongues. You know, it is given in measure. No, no, no,

  311. no. They even bring that there. You know, that is what it will mean. And that is why

  312. when we teach, we teach you very well to know that you can manifest all that is found in

  313. the spirit of God. Hallelujah. Say I can manifest all that is found in God. Hallelujah. So not

  314. with a measure. Right? It's not an extent, but fully spirit. So because we are coming

  315. from that and we are fully spirit. Now let me go to Hebrews 7 verse 9. You are from God.

    Hebrews 7:9

  316. You are spirit. Your spirit is given birth to by the spirit of God. Sorry, Hebrews 12

  317. 7 to 9. Hebrews 12 7 to 9. Hebrews 12 verse 7 to 9. It is for discipline that you have

    Hebrews 12:7–9

  318. to endure. For God is treating you as sons. For one son is there whom the father does

  319. not discipline. If you are left without discipline in which all have participated. Oh, stop.

  320. Let me finish reading. Then I'll come to this. In which all have participated. Then you are

  321. illegitimate children and not sons. Next. Besides this, we have earthly fathers who

  322. disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the father

  323. of spirits and words and leave? Now go back to 7. Let's start picking it one one. It is

  324. for discipline that you have to endure. It means that the reason why we endure is for

  325. training. The word discipline there is not punishment. Okay. So put it in your mind is

  326. not punishment. It is training. People endure training. You suffer punishment. Let me put

  327. it that way. You endure training. It is training. God is treating you as sons. Right? For one

  328. son is there whom the father does not discipline. So he is bringing in the concept of family

  329. here. Okay. The father disciplines a son. The next. If you are left without discipline in

  330. which all have participated. It means everybody that is found in God is being trained. Everybody

  331. found in God is being trained and you have to be trained and you have to endure. So here

  332. again it shows it is not punishment because all have participated in this discipline,

  333. in this training. Now it says then you are electing me children. It means how would you

  334. come into a place where you have not been trained? So the next verse. Besides this we

  335. have earthly fathers. Now this earthly fathers is very important because it will help us

  336. to understand the father of spirits. Right? It will help us to understand the father of

  337. spirits. Now we have earthly fathers who have disciplined us and we respected them. Right?

  338. So it is talking about the context of a family again. Are we together? Now shall we not be

  339. much more subject? Right? The obedience to the father of spirits and leave. So this spirit

  340. here is talking to children. We can replace that spirit as sons. Right? Can we replace

  341. the spirit as sons? Yes. Can we say sons of God as spirits? John 1.1. I think I skipped

  342. that. I did not read that. For as many as receiving, for as many as believe, again then

  343. parts become what? Sons. Sons of God as spirits. And our father is God himself. So when you

  344. think of yourself and you understand the fact that you are a spirit, it should be bold.

  345. That tells you that you are the child of God. Right? You are the child of God. You are spirit.

  346. When you think of yourself as a spirit, you should be thinking of your father who is spirit

  347. and that is why I say we is the father of spirits and leave. Leave there is not like

  348. you come alive. It means to be trained to be edified, to grow in him. If you read the

  349. remaining part of it, you will see that that leave is not like it is talking about daily

  350. living. Right? Daily living, progressive living. We will see that. So the father of spirit.

  351. Now to quickly disconnect your mind so that you won't say God is not the father of all

  352. spirits. First of all. Okay? God is not the father of what? All spirits. Right? All spirits.

  353. God is not the father of all spirits. First, from this verse you see that he brought in

  354. the concept, the author of Hebrew, brought in the concept of family. Right? In a family,

  355. the father would discipline the children. The father would train the children. Therefore,

  356. in God's family, he is the father of spirits. Right? And those spirits are sons. That's

  357. why I made us to juxtapose so that we can understand. Those spirits are sons. Therefore,

  358. he is our father and we are spirits. Good. Now let's read, let's read John 8 verse 44.

    John 8:44

  359. Let's read John 8. Let's read the book. It says you are of your father the devil and

  360. your will is to do your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning and does

  361. not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him when he lies he speaks his own

  362. character for he is a liar and the father of lies. Did you see here? Now, it definitely

  363. means that Jesus, if God is the father of all spirits, he would not be calling devil

  364. having his own entity as a father. Right? So he is saying that the devil himself, right,

  365. calls his own people and therefore God is not the father of the devil. Some people are

  366. saying that, you know, God is not the father of demons. He is not the father of priest

  367. of parties, but he is not their father. Because father means they are in the same family and

  368. they coexist, but they don't coexist. Right? We will talk about that because progressively

  369. in this teaching we will get to authority. Right? That's where you will understand much

  370. more. Fatherhood is different from the kind of authority that is expressed over demons

  371. and principalities. So we see here that he is not the father of the devil. God is not

  372. the father of the devil. Right. Matthew chapter 12 verse 27 and 28 is that if I cast out demons

    Matthew 12:27

  373. by bells above, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.

  374. But it is by the spirit of God that I cast out demons. If it is by the spirit of God

  375. I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you. The kingdom of God has come

  376. to you because I cast demons out by the spirit of God. So it means that God's spirit, right,

  377. and God being the father of all spirits, these demons are not included in it. Okay? They

  378. are not included in it. So when we talk about those spirits, it is talking about us. It

  379. is talking about us. In the context that we read, it wasn't talking about angels. It didn't

  380. talk about angels there. Right? It didn't talk about angels. It is talking about us.

  381. Right? It said the father of spirits. Now if we read Hebrews, let's go to Hebrews 1 and

  382. see. Hebrews chapter 1. Can we go to verse 13? Let's just go to verse 13. Verse 13.

    Hebrews 1 chapter mention

  383. And to which of the angels has he ever said, okay, to which of the angels has he ever said,

  384. sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet? Are they not all

  385. ministering spirits, right, sent to serve for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?

  386. This is spirits serving those who will be sons. Okay? It is ministering their ministering

  387. spirits serving those who would inherit salvation. It means those who will come into God's family.

  388. Right? The concept of family again. Those who will come into God's family. And that

  389. is what we see there that the earthly fathers will discipline and train up their children.

  390. And our spiritual father is the father of spirits. And that spirit there is those who

  391. will inherit salvation. So it tells you that that context, it wasn't talking about spirits.

  392. Otherwise, it will be that spirits, you know, it will be in the context of disciplined spirits.

  393. Right? Disciplined angels. But that was not the context of it. It was actually talking

  394. about the context of those who have been saved and are in God. So therefore we can say that

  395. we are spirits and therefore we can manifest the things of the spirits. We can manifest

  396. the spiritual kingdom of God, which is spiritual, right? We can manifest we have boldness. Why

  397. should we also manifest the kingdom of God? Because our father is the one who is in charge

  398. of the kingdom. Right? So we are from a kingdom where God is the father. And when we think

  399. of ourselves as spirits, we should have boldness. Right? We should have boldness. So this identity

  400. as spiritual enables us, right? Enables us to know, right? Enables us to know our position.

  401. Of course, it talks about identity, but it's also related to position. It helps us to know

  402. that there are functions that our father has instructed us that we must carry out. So first

  403. we are spiritual, right? We are given birth to by God. We are born of God. Right? In that

  404. kingdom there are things to do. Those things to do is what we will come back to in subsequent

  405. teachings and is the diaconal. Okay? So coming back to the beginning, right? I said, Philip

  406. was asking and saying, Jesus show us, right? That question is not, how can I put it? That

  407. question is actually a challenge because Christ has revealed an identity to him, right? And

  408. he needed to believe, right? But the works, let's go back to John 14 now. Let's go back

  409. to John 14. Let's go back to John 14. We need to open it so that we can see, so that we

  410. can connect this very well. So verse eight says, Philip said to him, show us, Lord, show

  411. us the father. And I said that he said, prove to us the father with works, prove to us the

  412. father with certain proofs, right? Don't tell, I mean, it's not about position and all that.

  413. Tell us we are and show us something. And look at Jesus concluded by saying that, believe

  414. that I am in the father and the father is in me in verse 11. So can we say that believe

  415. that the spirit of God is in the believer and the believer is in the spirit of God?

  416. Can we say that? Because Christ has mentioned that here, if you go to verse 20, let us say

  417. that verse 20, in that day, you will know that I am in the father and you in me and

  418. I in you, our union with God's spirit. Do we agree on that? Now look at verse 11 again,

  419. go back to verse 11. Jesus now said, okay, if you don't hold on to this, there is also

  420. something you can hold on to that which you requested for. Look at the works, right? Believe

  421. on the works that I do. Now in our father in verse 12, truly, truly I say to you, whoever

  422. believes in me will also do the works that I do and greater works than these, he will

  423. what? He will do. So it means that being spiritual, you would carry out works too. Do we get it?

  424. Being a spirit, your identity as a spirit is not to just be existing. Your identity

  425. as a spirit is not to just have it and oh, I'm spirit. But you would do works. It's just

  426. that the identity precedes the work. That is it. The identity precedes the works. You

  427. can't do greater works if you're not a spirit, if your father is not a father of spirits.

  428. So we can do greater works, all that we do in Christ, right? In the preaching of the

  429. gospel, in the healing of the sick, right? In evangelizing, in singing, in rejoicing,

  430. in shouting glory. We are doing that because first we are spirits, the identity of course,

  431. then those works they follow. Those works they follow. So I like to conclude to say,

  432. don't be in the act. Now that you have learned, right? You have learned that you are spirit.

  433. Don't be in the act of people that will say, oh, that guy is spiritual. You, what are you?

  434. So that guy is very spiritual. You know, he has a way of coordinating himself or every

  435. time they come, if you go to that guy now, he will spiritualize everything. There's nothing

  436. like spiritualize everything. Everything is spiritual already, right? So be bold. Don't

  437. change your lingua, right? Change the way you talk, change your thinking, right? That's

  438. you are spiritual. So that guy is spiritual. What about you? You're spiritual as well.

  439. You do the things. It's because they see people coordinating themselves in certain ways. So

  440. that guy is spiritual. So we are spirits and we will do the works of our father. Who is

  441. the father of all spirits? Who he himself is spirit. Hallelujah. Have we blessed? Have

  442. we learned? Can we just pray in the Holy Ghost? Can we just pray in the Holy Ghost?

  443. Thank you for listening to today's sermon. Your journey matters to us. Let's keep walking

  444. together. Visit our website for more resources and follow us on social media to stay up to

  445. date. Feel free to check the show notes for additional insights. If today's message was

  446. a blessing, share it with a friend. Till next time, be blessed.