Transcript: Growing Into Christ Part 4
Prepared from the audio, so small errors are possible.
Just like a soldier, going to battle, Garrett himself with every armor needed for battle and for winning. So believers must guard themselves with the gospel of peace, the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Join apostle Emmanuel as he teaches God's word to equip you for a victorious life on earth. This is Believer's Equip. Galatians chapter four verse 19. Galatians chapter four verse 19. My little children for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you. We're going to be concluding the subject matter that we have been looking at every Tuesday now, growing into Christ. Is that not so? Yes, sir.
So we come... Would be drawing it to a close by considering how Christ is formed in a man. How Christ is formed in a man. Because Christ is not formed in men by accident. Christ is not formed in men merely because that man attends church for many years. We've discussed already that Christ is not formed in men merely because that man attends church every single year. Christ is not from a man merely because that man has giftings or that man can speak in tongues or that man can preach or that man can sing or that man can serve or that man can move around, you know, or do things or or is in a spiritual environment. All of these things are beautiful, but that is not all or what it takes for Christ to be formed in a man. So if we've been talking all this while about Christ being formed in you and we've looked at the symptoms that shows that a man is not growing, that Christ is not being formed in a man, it is wise that we also consider how exactly is Christ then formed in a man. Do you understand what I'm saying?
How exactly does that process of maturation happens? Because you see, Christ is formed in a man through a deliberate and a painful, a holy, a continuous process in which the holy spirit of God uses the truth of scriptures, uses obedience, the dealings of the spirit, surrender, communion, correction, even circumstance to begin to shape that man inwardly until the life of Jesus begins to gain expression in his nature. So God is interested in bringing a man into union with Christ so deeply that the old life begins to lose dominion over that man and the new life begins to take visible shape. Are you with me? Yes, sir. That's God interest in a man. The old life begins to lose power. The old life, the old nature begins to lose its dominion, begins to lose its grip over the man, And the life of Jesus, which is present within your spirit, starts overshadowing that man. Are you with me? Yes, sir.
Yes. That's why Paul says in Galatians, until Christ is formed in you. My little children for whom I labor until Christ is formed in you. When you receive Jesus at salvation, I'm sure that you know that Jesus took residence in your spirit through the Holy Spirit. Is that not so? Yeah. Are still talking about Christ being formed in you despite Christ is already in you. And the reason for that is because the Christ you received in salvation is resident within your spirit. The Christ you received in salvation dwells in your spirit and leavens your spirit. The Bible says in first Corinthians 30 verse 16 that your body has become the temple of the living God.
And it is in your spirit that the Holy spirit dwells. Do you understand what I'm saying? In your spirit. And Christ through the holy spirit now resides in you. The Bible says, and that the spirit of God dwells in you. So Christ through the Holy Spirit, as a matter of fact, the fullness of the deity dwells in your spirit. And that makes your spirit perfect. That makes your spirit, what now? Perfect. Perfect.
That makes your spirit complete. Because Jesus resides within you. Jesus resides within you. I think it's something that we can be confident about. It's something we can rejoice about. The fact that Jesus resides within you. That's the reason why the Holy Spirit is referred to as Jesus unlimited. I think it was Kenneth Hagin that refers to the Holy Spirit that as Jesus unlimited. And Jesus himself said, it is expedient for you. It is better for you.
It is good for you that I go away, that I leave you. And the reason why he was saying that was because Jesus being with them, despite he was very powerful, was somewhat limited because he existed only as one person. Do you understand what I'm saying? It means if the miracles must happen, they must happen where he was. You must bring him... Whilst he was on earth, he wasn't omnipresent. He couldn't be everywhere at the same time because he was unrepresent man despite being unrepresented God. Do you understand what I'm saying? So the system that Jesus wanted was a system where he could be resident within their spirit. And they could carry him everywhere that they went through the Holy Spirit.
And that would not happen except the son of man is glorified. So when Jesus was saying that it's expedient for you that I live, it is better for you that I live, it is introducing them to the holy spirit and the ministry of the holy spirit that would come to dwell within their spirit in the fullness of the deity as well. Am I speaking? I am I making sense? Yes. It is simple stuff. Right? Simple theology. So the holy spirit is resident within the believer. And when we say within, it's resident in your spirit.
That's where the believer carries Jesus. That's where the believer carries the fullness of the deity. And because of that, your spirit, I said, is perfect. Your spirit, I said, is complete. Glory to God. But you can find a believer who in him dwells the fullness of the deity, but his soul is still not governed by that fullness that dwells in him. The nature of Christ is not yet governing the soul of that man. That man is still canal. That man is still fleshy. That man is still reactive.
That man is the definition of everything we have been talking about. You remember everything we have been talking about. That man is a believer, but he's a believer that has not been conquered in his soul. Jesus is within him in his spirit, but his soul is still a barren ground. So you can have the life of Christ within you, yet your mind may still be unrenewed. Your emotions may still be unstable. Your appetite may still be wild. Your will may still be rebellious. Your priorities may still be canal. Your responses may still be fleshy despite you have the life of Christ within you.
So when we talk about Christ being formed in you, it's not because you don't have Christ on your inside. Formation is the journey by which what God deposited in your spirit now begins to invade your soul. Now begins to discipline discipline your body. Now begins to rearrange your life until Christ is no longer merely the one that you received, but now the one that you resemble. Because man is spiritual and body. Is that not so? Man is spiritual and body. And Christ being formed in you means that what is in your spirit now dominates your soul. Now conquers your body. Because your soul has your emotions, your mind, and your will.
The emotions, your intellect, your will. Your will is where you make decisions, where you decide on what to do and what not to do. Is that not so? Your mind is your intellect. Bishop David Oedepo call it the seat of wisdom. And then you have the emotions, all of which are present within your soul. Is that not so? Yeah. Now this area of your life, salvation, nothing happened to it. Absolutely nothing.
What something happened to is your spirit. So something could have happened to your spirit, but the effect of nothing having happened to your soul can be present within a man's life. That's what makes that man no different from an unbeliever. Because now you see an unbeliever who behaves like an unbeliever, and you see a believer who behave like an unbeliever. And you can't tell the difference. The reason is because your will, where your decisions come from, has not been conquered by the spirit. Your mind, your intellect has not been conquered by what has conquered your spirit. So no doubt, the life of God is within your spirit, but it has not just found expression within your soul. You have not allowed it to seep through your soul to conquer your emotions. That's why you are still reactive.
That's why you are still emotional. That's why little things still get to you because you can't feel like Christ. I told you that when Jesus said I am the way, what he was saying was, I am your manner of feeling, of thinking, of making decisions. Is that not so? All these three things affect your soul. Your manner of feeling, your emotions, your manner of thinking, your mind, and then your manner of making decisions, your will. Are you even brothers and sisters? So what Jesus was saying is, I want to conquer your soul. I want to conquer your soul. Glory to God.
So formation is the journey by which what has been deposited in your spirit now begins to invade your soul, begins to rearrange your life until Christ is no longer just the one that you received. It's now the one that you resemble. Do you remember that? Yes, sir. The first way that Christ is formed in a man is by the ministry of the word. The ministry of the word. You see, scripture is not just information. The word of God carries the mind of God. The word of God carries the ways of God. The word of God carries the values of God, the standards of God, the judgments of God, and even the revelation of Christ himself.
The word of God carries all of this. So when a man consistently sits on the sound piercing balanced living truth and receives that living truth with meekness. The word of God begins to confront everything in him that is not like Christ. It exposes hidden motives. It judges secret intentions. It tears down imaginations. It corrects wrong patterns of thinking. It dismantles lies. That's what the word of God does. It reveals the beauty of Christ.
It show to the ugliness of the flesh. Hebrews chapter four verse 12, the Bible says, the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword. Are you with me brothers and sisters? Yes, sir. Romans chapter three from verse one, popular scripture that we read, says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, is your reasonable service. Verse two then goes on to say, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is good and be conformed to this world. I have a teaching you should listen to. It's called breaking the mood. If you listen to it, listen to it again. It will bless you.
I explained this scripture in a way that not many people understand or not many people have thought about. I'm not gonna go there today anyways. My point here is be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That's what the word of God hopes to do in the life of a man. The transformation that happens by the renewing of the mind. That means the word of God does not just come to inspire you. The word of God also comes to cut you, also comes to set you. It doesn't just come to encourage you, even though it encourages you. It doesn't just come to inspire you, even though it inspires you. It comes to correct.
It comes to search. It doesn't just come to make you feel spiritual. It comes to break. It comes to separate. It comes to diagnose. It comes to rebuild. And Christ is formed in a man when he stops approaching scripture as simply a sermon material or a storybook or a biblical book, you know, or just a theological material, basically speaking. And it used to submit to scripture as a tool of formation. Like a doctor, surgically moving through your soul, cutting through your soul, and implanting something inside of it. Are you with me?
Yes, sir. That is why James says in the book of James, to receive with meekness the implanted word or the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls, not save your spirit, not save your spirit because your spirit is already born again. But your soul still needs saving in every practical sense of renewal, in every practical sense of healing, in every practical sense of alignment, your soul still needs saving. And so it says, what saves a man's soul is the engrafted word of God, the implanted word of God. Are you with me? Yes, sir. That's what saves a man's soul. So if a man's soul is sick, what he needs? And I say this without any bias to those who study psychology and study all these other courses that hopes to understand human behavior and maybe modify human behavior and sometimes even provide some kind of assistance to help create a system of check and balance and all kind of things like that. I say this with no of...
It's no no bias to them, but that the only thing that can save a man's soul is scripture. It's the word of God. And the earlier we understand this, the better. The earlier we understand this, the better. A man of God was sharing a story with us and he said, in those days, a lady was brought to church. And whilst they were bringing the lady to church, lady jumped out of the bus, ran away. And the reason they were bringing the lady to church in the first instance was because she was mad. Now, a type of madness was a type where she hears different kinds of voices and begins to respond to them. And she responds so loudly and audibly and sometimes she acts out what she's been told to do after sometimes negotiating with the voices and it looks as though the voice eventually won. Then she acts it out.
For instance, the voice tells her, bite that lady. Then you can hear her audibly saying, no. I will not bite her. I will not bite her. And you will not know that what she's saying is she's really hearing something. You make the mistake to think she's joking until you are beaten. You realize that something was really wrong. Glory to God. That's how it happens with her. She just starts hugging with voices, speaking to multiple.
Now, medicine has a name for that. And she's been given all kinds of drugs, antidepressants, all sorts of things like that, that couldn't help her. And so she would be healed and then she would relapse and then she would be good for some time and then she would relapse again, then she would be depressed. And then the time came, it just became so aggressive and violent that they had no other hope again. Called the pastor. The pastor said, you know what? Bring her to church. Oh, she's... Right now, she's very violent. She doesn't even want to follow anybody.
Chain her and bring her to church. So they put her on chains, chained her hands and chained her legs, put her in a vehicle. She attempted to escape the vehicle, but they rushed her again, threw her in the vehicle, brought her to church, pastor. The pastor said, no. No. No. I'm not I'm not doing anything. Take us with the back. Something at the back. Sit her down and chain her to a wall.
Just let her be listening to the word of God. Just keep on doing this every Sunday. Bring her. Whenever you're coming, just chain her like that. And then she would sit down with chains on her legs and chains on her hands until she was healed, until she was free. Mentally stable, healed completely. The bible says that word is able to save your souls. Save your soul. That means there is no affliction a man has in his soul that the word of God cannot save. I read a book by Joyce Meyer called healing the soul of a woman.
The summary of healing the soul of a woman is the word of God. There's no other way by which afflictions of the soul can be healed, can be saved, can be transformed, can be delivered except by the word. So if somebody says, man of God, remember what I said? The soul consists of your emotions, your mind, and your will. So if somebody says, man of God, I can't stop doing this, where does that fall into? That's your will. What will save you? It's the word. Because it's such an affliction of the soul. Somebody says, when I read, it's as though I don't understand what I'm reading.
What faculty is that? So what will save you? The what? That is it. If you can understand this, the problem is solved. And the word of God that we read is not just a historical text. It's not just a theological material. It's not just a religious book. The Bible says, the entrance of your word gives light. Place Place value on the word of God.
The entrance of your word gives light. The Bible says you sent your word and your word healed them and delivered them from their destructions. Two things that the word of God brought when it was sent, healing and deliverance. In other words, if healing is what is needed, the word is what is sent. If deliverance is what is needed, the word is what is sent. How come we now trivialize the word as though the word were just some? For many of us, it's how we grew up. Especially for those of us who had a religious church background. There's a way sermon time is introduced to us like just a time where it's like another social study class. Where rules of morality are read to us.
Where we are told do not steal, do not do this, do not do that. So it's all about morality. It's all about legalism. It's all about the law. It's all about what you should done, what you should not do. It's all about memory verses. It's all about storing things in your head, quoting verses. All about bible stories. Oh, Jesus, you know, did this. Cain killed Abel.
This one happened. That one happened. And it placed no value on the life giving power of the word of God. Somehow, it reduced value for the word of God. And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. For some of us, what we watched was cartoons. We watched cartoons and we watched Moses. This was all there was to it.
Nobody told us that the word of God is more than that. It's not just stories. It's not just stories. It has the power to break chains. Nobody told us that that book that we read is different from a mathematics test book. Yes, sir. It's different from a book of history. Yes, sir. And you can approach it like an historical book because history students read the Bible. The Bible is perfect as an historical book.
In fact, there are accounts in ure that aligns with historical event. That is what shows us the authenticity of scripture. I don't want to go into all of those things. I don't lose my train of thought. Stay with me. So the Bible can be reduced to just an historical manuscript and you stay there. The Bible can be reduced to a book of stories. A book of fictional stories, inspirational stories, a book of stories to create movies for children. The bible can bring you to that. But the fact that we can pick this thing from scripture doesn't mean that this is all there is to scripture because this thing is spirit and life.
That's what Jesus said in John chapter six and verse three. He said the words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life. Give me a amplified. No. MSG. Can we read it to everybody? Jesus said that the words that I've spoken to you is a spirit word. And so when you read scriptures, because the bible says all scriptures are inspired by the spirit. They are given by the inspiration of the spirit. So these words are spirit words.
So if they are spirit words, what is the consequence of a word being the spirit word? It is life making. It is life making. It is life making. It means when you open scriptures to read scriptures, you are literally making life. You are sitting down with an instrument that can make life. Can you place value on the world like that? When you listen to anointed teachings and anointed messages and anointed sermons, you are listening to instruments that can make life. Men have prospered by the word. Men have been lifted by the word.
Men have been delivered by the word. There is no problem a man has that the answer is not in the word. There's no problem a man has that the word cannot solve. Are you with me? Somebody lost a loved one and the person is in pain and sorrow. The salvation to the person's soul is in the world. Somebody's business experienced a crash and they are now depressed. The salvation to the person's soul is in the world. Somebody is poor and they want to prosper. The salvation to the person's soul is in the world.
Do you understand what I'm saying? Somebody is doing ministry and the ministry is not growing. The salvation is in the world. Somebody is doing business, the business is not prospering. The salvation is in the world. Place that much value on the world. Are you with me? And the Bible says that the word that transforms a life, the word that saves a soul, is not the admired word. It's not the quoted word. It is the implanted word.
The word that enters, The word that stays. The word that is meditated upon. The word that is obeyed. The word that is allowed to sit in your conscience until it becomes your conviction. That word is the word that saves a soul. And many believers hear the word and celebrate the word and share the word, even teach the word, but did not let it remain long enough in them to break them. But Christ is formed in a man when the word is welcomed beyond excitement. But with submission, with obedience, with meditation. And I think I should go a little bit practical here because we say meditate on the word, meditate on the word, but many people don't really understand what we mean by meditate on the word. Because they think that meditation is just reading a verse again and again and again again.
And then they think that they are meditating. Or maybe shouting out a verse with emotion or just writing it down somewhere and pasting it on your wall. They say I'm meditating on the scripture. But when you start the scriptures, you'll find that meditation is somewhat deeper than that. Meditation is deeper than casually reading the Bible. Meditation is when you take the word beyond your eyes, beyond what your ears have heard, and you begin to press that word into your soul. You begin to press that word into your mind, into your mouth, into your imagination, into your conscience. Meditation is that process of press in the word into your conscience, into your mind, your soul, your emotion, your will. Until it starts rearranging you from within. So it doesn't end that I have known what the word says.
Meditation takes what you know, presses it into your heart, presses it into your soul, presses it into your emotion, presses it into your will until you become what the word says. It's a digestive process. It's a churning process. Are you with me brothers and sisters? It's a process of staying with what God has said until what he has said begins to challenge whatever it is that has ruled you up until now. It begins to build a a deeper reality within your soul. That's why Joshua chapter one verse eight, that powerful scripture says, this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth. It says, you will meditate in it day and night. You will meditate in in it it day day and and night. Night.
So when you meditate on scriptures, what you're doing is that you are reading it, you are saying it, you are repeating it, you are thinking it, you are praying through it, you are holding it before your heart until it enters deeply into you. You are inclining your ears to his word. So if you want the word of God to transform you, the first first posture you must take is a posture of honesty. Especially if you are someone that is actively pursuing transformation in specific areas of your life. You must approach scriptures from the standpoint of honesty because the bible says that you should receive the word with meekness, the implanted word with meekness. Stop coming to scripture just looking for something that will inspire you or or just a story. Start coming to scripture so that scriptures can search your heart. Holy Spirit, show me where I'm wrong that I might grow, that I might be built. Show me what is not yet dead. Show me what is still alive in me.
Show me where my thinking does not agree with you. Show me the lies I might have believed. Show me the excuses I might have protected. Show me the part of me that keeps on resisting you. Because the word of God does that. The word of God does that. I found that the word of God works mostly deeply in the man that stops defending himself before God. That's why James says to receive with meekness, the implanted word of God. Meekness is what stops you from arguing with God in your heart. Because a lot of people, the word of God is challenging their heart, they are arguing.
They are providing arguments in their heart. Word of God is saying this is wrong. This your mentality on this subject is wrong. How the word of God says it is that when you are reading scriptures or you are being taught the word of God, an ideology is being pressed into your soul, but there is something that is underlying within your soul that starts fighting what the word of God is trying to get into you. And you'll find yourself start saying, no now. No now. And start wrestling. You can't be transformed transformed in that manner. The Bible says, to receive it with meekness. That if the word of God challenges you, let your response be a meek heart and a contrite spirit.
Do you understand what I'm saying? A meek heart and a contrite spirit. Let that always be your response to the word of God. Allow the word of God to correct you. Stop trying to protect your own opinion above scripture. Allow the word of God to correct you. Allow the word of God to offend your flesh if it is necessary. Allow the word of God to expose what you would rather keep eating. That's the first posture of transformation, the meekness and the honesty that you bring into the place of the world. Are you with me?
If you notice that there are things you are struggling with, then approach the word of God specifically. Don't be vague. Especially if it is obvious to you that when the word was coming to me, it was exposing fear in my life. I can see that I'm dealing with fear. It's obvious to me now that there's a strong seated fear within my soul. I get afraid so easily. Confront that thing specifically. Do you understand what I'm saying? In other words, you are going into the word of God to deal with fear. What does the word of God say about fear?
What does the word of God say about the presence of God? What does the word of God say about the faithfulness of God? What does the word of God say about the fatherhood of God? The courage of a lion. What does the word of God say about all of these things? You are doing this... A a study specific to your own life, not a study to teach somebody. So you you start seeing perfect love casts out fear. So if I'm still dealing with fear like this, could it mean that I don't yet understand the love of God? Perfect love, yeah, does not mean that the love you have for God, it is the revelation of the love that God has for you.
And the bible says when you know and understand and have a revelation of the love that God has for you, there's a way it casts out fear. That can be a revelation to someone but you just stay on the love of Jesus. A time will come, you will now begin to understand what exactly about the love of Jesus cast out fear. How can a man be so rested in the fact that Jesus loves him and there's no fear in him? Because it might not make sense when you read it at first glance. It will only make sense when you begin to meditate on it. That's the point of meditation. That's the point of turning into your system. As you begin to study, now stumble upon Exodus 20 that I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. You don't realize that when he loves, he loves jealously.
You know what that means? Let me put it into practical terms if you can understand. Imagine that most of them are married. Not You might not understand what I'm saying. But just try and use your mind. Imagine that you're working with a spouse of yours. Right? A man now. A man in this equation. But if you're the lady, think of yourself as the lady.
But but illustration pertains to the man. So you're working with the the the the... Your spouse who is a lady. And as you're walking, you're holding the person's hands. And you see a thug coming from afar. Maybe you're holding the person's hand like this. Right? Ladies here. And you'll see a thug coming from afar, walking like a drunk person. What's your instinct as a man?
What did you say? You defend the woman. In other words, you want to probably draw her away from where that guy is working. Is that not so? Yes. And it's almost like a natural instinct. You just want to draw hands away. And that way, what you're doing, that you're exposing yourself to danger. Because what you're saying is basically, you know what? Let me be the one to face this drunkard that is coming.
You stay behind me. Is that not so? Yes, sir. That's a love that a man has for a woman. So what if you understand the love Jesus has for you? What exactly is he willing to do to protect you in the face of danger? Because when you understand that, you now get why the bible says perfect love cast out fear. The revelation of that love will make you realize that Jesus can't leave me alone to die. He loves me too much to allow this to happen. He loves me too much to allow for that to happen.
It loves me too much to allow for me to fail. That revelation. The Bible says it checks out fear naturally. I would have used another example, but you will not understand again until you marry. I was working with my wife some time ago. Right? And we were just walking somewhere. And as I've forgotten where we were. As we were going, there was some kind of like a pillar or so that she was walking, so I had to pull her away from that pillar. She just looked at me and smiled and continued working.
So we're walking. Was like water in... Like rain had fallen. There was a shadow of water, so I had to pull her hand away. And it was subconscious. Right? Pull her away again. Then it made me think that why is it that this person, when he's with me, loses consciousness of our environment. Almost as though I have chosen to make you... I don't...
I'm not sure why... I'm not sure what is funny. But as I was saying, almost as though I've chosen to make you responsible for my protection and my well-being so that I know that I can't fall into a gutter even if my eyes is closed. And the reason is because I'm working with you. If I was walking alone, would I have been doing that by myself because I would obviously not eat a pool if I was by myself. But now that I am with you, I expect that you would watch over me. I expect that... Now the bible calls us the bride of Christ. And the bible says that that the man should love the woman as Christ love the church. So if if humanly speaking, in the worst of our state and our ability to express love, there is an incline to protect whom we love.
How much more Jesus? You don't understand what I'm saying. It means there's a revelation that a believer can have that makes him know I am protected as long as he walks with me. And that thing, the bible says it can cast out fear. It can check out fear. You just suddenly realize there's literally nothing to be afraid about because Jesus walks with me. Jesus works with me. Now what I've just said now is not simply in perfect love cast out fear. It is in the meditation of it that the thing begins to open up to your heart. It begins to sink deeply into your heart.
Sometimes you close your eyes and your mind begins to see it. Your mind begins to see it. You press it into your mind. Your mind will see that picture as well. Do you get my point? Sir. Your mind must see that picture as well. What has the bible said about boldness, courage? This is just the love of God. What if you now have a full revelation based on the meditation of scriptures?
Are you with me, brothers and sisters? Yes, sir. Go to what God has said about that thing and begin to turn it into you. If you are struggling with lust, go to what God has said about purity, about holiness, about your body, about fleeing temptation, about sin, about being alive to God, Romans six, Colossians, Galatians, and begin to read begin to read these things again and again, again and again. If you're struggling with bitterness, for instance, go to what God has said about forgiveness, about mercy, about meekness. There's someone I met who is always difficult for her to let things go. It doesn't matter what the offense is. Even if it's a barrel that you took, it will just be a plane in her mind again and again, and she will keep on looking at you with bitterness every time she sees you. When she was talking to me about it, she said, I don't know why it's just difficult for me. It's just difficult for me.
Now Christ is in your spirit. Is there. But that expression is not Christ like. That expression is obviously not Christ like. It's just difficult for me to let things go. No. It can be difficult. Can be difficult. So what do you do? You go into the world and you begin to study.
And as you study, you then find a parable of a man who was owing money. And the master forgave him what he was owing. And the moment he was forgiven of what he was owing, he now went to the person that was owing him money and started taking all kind of legal actions against that one, pressing that one to pay him back. And when the master heard it, the master said, what? The master called him, threw him into the prison and said, no. Whoever, give me that scripture. Let us look at it. Next verse. My heavenly father also will do to each of you from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses. Now when I was reading this account of this story, what I found there for why the master was hungry with his servant is because he expects that if you have been forgiven of something, it should never be difficult for you to forgive another.
The only person that should struggle with forgiveness, the only human being that should struggle with forgiveness is the human being that has never been forgiven. Now if you are a believer and you now understand how dead you were in sin and the consequences of the sin of Adam. The consequences. You start studying what should have become your lot. If not for your sins that were forgiven. If you have received the forgiveness of sins truly and you meditate on the forgiveness of sins and the account of salvation and you see that the bible says that whilst were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And not just did he die for us. He became man. He stripped himself of glory. Were you deserving of it?
He stripped himself of glory. He stripped himself of honor. I was teaching this some years ago, and I called the lady out. I said, which one of you have a pet? And the lady said she has a dog or a cat or... I can't remember what she has. And I told, do you love your cat or your dog very well? She said, yes. Or think of it like a farmer that a poultry. You know that this poultry is an investment.
Do you love your poultry? Yes. I do love my poultry because I know what they can make for me. Is that not so? Yes, sir. So what if your birds catch a flu and you were told that the only way that they can be free from that flu is that you must become a bird. You must become a chicken. Or you must become a cat. And whilst you're a cat or a chicken, it's not as though you just do and you are a cat. Or do and you are a chicken.
No. They will carry you as egg. They will lay you. You must hatch. Somebody must put lantern beside you or else you will die. Because as an archelin, you are subjected to several things that can kill you. Rats can enter that place and kill you. Snake can enter... You are defenseless. And you have to depend on the intelligence of another to protect you.
And whilst you are that vulnerable, you are conscious that you are a man. Because you are 100% man and 100% chicken. We don't sit down to understand. So that when the bible says he stripped himself, you would understand what the bible is saying that God became a man. Looks like an insult. Which one of you can do it? For even the pet that you love. And you would think becoming a man is already enough humiliation. He now has to be naked on the cross. He now has to be beaten beaten by those he insulted himself for and stripped himself of glory for.
You can't understand it and hold people in your heart. You cannot understand what I'm... You can't. You you can't sink into the depth of your soul, and it's difficult to let people go. Ah, no. No. Because I've been forgiven much. I've been forgiven much. It don't matter what the person did. The day this thing breaks in your spirit, even the person that raped you 25 times, it will flush away like you are washing something off.
What is happening then is that Christ is being formed in you. Christ is being formed in you. Christ is being formed in you. I read a particular story of when they were asking the passion of Christ. The guy that was exchanged for Jesus after they had beaten Jesus and battered him and his face was swollen, and then they came out and they said that we'll release one person for you. They brought out a criminal, Bokwala member. Assassin. Somebody that has raped their children, stolen in their shops. And they put Jesus there. So who should we release?
And they pointed at a criminal. When they were acting that particular scene, they had... The person playing Jesus was there in his costume and blood all over and all of that. They were shooting action. And the guy that was playing the role of the criminal was an atheist in real life. But it don't matter what you have as long as getting paid for the movie. Is that not so? So he was playing the role of the criminal, and then he was laughing, and then he looked at the guy playing Jesus and the facial expression of the guy playing Jesus. And instantly, his countenance broke down immediately, caught in the movie. And those that wrote it said that that particular facial expression is sustained was not in the script.
It was at that point he gave his life to Christ. Thought as though he understood the exchange. You cannot understand the forgiveness of sins and haven't meditated on it. And you now hold people in your heart. Say it's difficult for me to let go. Christ is not I don't have time to pick these things one by one. But when you meditate, things begin to open in your spirit. Things begin to open in your spirit. If you are struggling with condemnation, go to what the Bible has said about justification, about righteousness in Christ, about cleansing, about the access you now have to God. You must learn to bring the light of God into the exact place where darkness is sitting in your life.
Be specific because transformation begins when your engagement with the word of God is not random. It is specific. Are you with me? Yes, sir. So you take a portion of scripture. Read it slowly. Don't read it in haste. Don't read scripture like you are trying to finish it fast. Like an assignment you're trying to complete. Read it until you can see what exactly it is saying.
Then read it again. Now begin to ask questions. What is God saying here? What is this showing me about Christ? What is implication of this to me? What does this expose in my life? What lie in my life does this scripture confront? What does this demand from me? What must change in the way I What must change in the way I respond to life? What must change in the way I speak?
Are you with me? Yes, sir. And you begin to say it back to yourself. Begin to speak it loud. Begin to pray it. Begin to repeat it. Carry it to your mouth. That's meditation. But it doesn't end there because your imagination is must... Is also involved in it.
So as you're saying it to yourself, you must also begin to imagine it. Are you with me? Because many people don't realize this, but one of the reasons they remain bound is because their imagination is already meditating on the wrong things all day long. The fearful person, for instance, keeps on imagining disaster, keeps on imagining events that makes fear stronger in his heart. Are you with me? The lustful person keeps on imagining things that makes lust stronger in his heart. His mind keeps on realizing corruption, keeps on realizing images of lust. And it's what the flesh does. So when you are meditating on scripture, the meditation must have an impact directly on your mind where the images are being created. Because the bitter person, for instance, has a picture of the offense in his heart.
And then, peradventure, you did not respond. The picture will now start coming to your mind of the perfect response you should have given at that moment. You should have said, instead of saying, you should have said, it would have been better this way. It would have pained him if he just said this one. You will now remember what he told you last year. He said, ah, you could have used this one and strike him. That's why they left your mother. You will not remember again something she told you in confidence. Say that. And you'll be looking forward for the next confrontation because now you are building your house now.
Before you were unprepared, now you know what to say because you are realizing it in your mind. Let me just make a mistake. Just come and greet me. Just near me. And this is happening inside the mind. So when you are talking transformation, it means whatever the word of God is saying to you must also be replacing that picture in your mind. Do you understand what I'm saying? In fact, I tell people, recognize those pictures as demonic inspirations because they are not from God. So treat them like that. When the scriptures come, say, I rebuke you.
Use your words. Get out, you devil. A lustful person is thinking lustful thoughts in their mind and you see a woman and your mind is already naked in the woman in your mind. Get out you devil. The moment the thought crosses your mind, get out you devil. Instead, now put scriptures you have been meditating on inside your mind and begin to see the pictures. This is how Christ is formed in you. It's not impartation. It's called a formation. Formation means you are making something.
You are forming something. There's a building process involved in that thing. Do you understand what I'm sharing with you? One of my daughters was sharing with me. How that her emotions were affected by an event that had happened, and she was offended at everybody in that event. And when some of the people who were innocent, she said, sir, I know that these people are innocent, but my mind is telling me that they are bad people because they did this thing to me intentionally. But I know that it's not true. But I can't help but feel like I was betrayed. You understand what I'm trying to say? Now a lot of people understand what she's saying.
Right? But people would have experienced what she's saying. Right? Where you know that this is not the case, but you cannot help but feel bad. You know that the reason why you are feeling bad is because of a misconstrued picture of the event. That's not what happened. That's not how it is. But you are feeling bad, but you know that that's not what happened. But your mind is telling you that's what happened. To convince you, your mind will be painting pictures to reinforce that false narrative inside your mind.
Even things that did not happen, your mind will be hiding spice to it. If at that point, you were employed as a knowledgeable director, you would do well because instances that were never real will start being added to make the things spicier. And as you are thinking about it, the more your fame is brewing in your mind, the more you are meditating about things. Somebody came to me some time ago and was reporting an event to me. And I told the person, is that what happened? It's not that deep. And the person said, And the reason why the person said was because the pictures that I have formed in my head, I've gone to hell and I've come back and tell them it's not that deep. Do you understand what I'm trying to say? Your problem is that you are not allowing the intentional work of transformation. Because at the point where that thought is forming pictures and images, you must be interrupting that process.
It must never be complete. It must never be built in your life. Because the Bible says, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. The Bible says, guard your heart with all diligence for out of it proceeds the issues of your life. It means when things are built up in your mind like that, pictures, imaginations built in your mind like that, you must interrupt that process intentionally. The Bible says the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. They are mighty through Christ to the pulling down of strongholds. What are the strongholds? Casting down imaginations. Imaginations.
KJV calls them imaginations. NKJV now calls them arguments. It means imaginations can be arguments. What are they arguing against? They are arguing against the word of God because the bible says, bring them into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Give me KJV, please. Every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. So casting down imaginations. The imaginations are high things, and they are exalting themselves against the knowledge of God. Knowledge of God.
So NKJV calls them arguments. They are arguing with the knowledge of God in your soul. And God is telling you, it's not that deep. Arguments. Arguments. You see, arguments in the mind, imaginations, thoughts. There's nothing there. This thing is easy. Easy care. Arguments.
Arguments in the mind. You have passed this exam already. The word of God has gone forth, that you are ahead and not beneath. Above only and not beneath. Arguments start coming again. Fool, you pass and then take choices. Somebody will sit down and be realizing failure. They'll be seeing it in their head and be realizing the thing, realizing how they check their results. How will I not tell my mommy like this? They've not written the exam.
They've not done anything, but they are realizing the thing already. When the contract fails, when the proposal fails, oh, then I'll do like this. These are arguments. The bible calls them arguments. Do you understand what I'm saying? The bible calls them arguments. What do you do to arguments? The bible say cast them down. How do you cast them down? With your words.
With your words. Because if you know they are lies, that means an argument is happening inside you. That's the meaning. And somebody must win. Yes, sir. Because if you're telling me, sir, I know you say lie, but I can't help. That thing you cannot help is the lie. It must not win. It's false. It can't win.
Otherwise, you see, the more the flesh wings in your soul, the more the towers that makes the flesh strong become flesh wins. Yes. That means whilst you were arguing and the flesh won, if it was easy by 50% to have won that argument. I just say no. I'm standing your ground. For the fact that the flesh has won, the next time that argument happens, it's now harder to say no. You understand what I'm trying to say? Are you with me? Let me leave this place. Number two, the second, oh my god.
We're out of time. Well, you're to study the remaining because I wrote 10 things down. We see where we can stop. Number two, the second way Christ is formed in a man is by the ministry of the holy Let's not spend too much time here. Because you see spiritual growth is not a self improvement project. Spiritual growth is an operation of divine life. The work of the Holy Ghost in your life is not just to make you shout. It isn't just to make you feel power or to make you prophesy or to make you speak in tongues. The Holy Ghost is given to you to reproduce the life of Christ in you. That's why second Corinthians chapter three and verse 18, the Bible says, but we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as by the spirit of the Lord.
So we don't get to that point of by the spirit of the Lord. We just think that, you know, we just quote beholden as made mirror, the glory of the Lord are being transformed. No. No. No. What enforces the transformation is the spirit of the Lord. Are you with me? Yes, sir. Transformation is by the spirit. That means no matter how disciplined the man tries to become by human strength, Christ likeness cannot be manufactured by the flesh.
It is the spirit that reveals Christ. It is the spirit that magnifies Christ. It is the spirit that convicts you when you depart from Christ. It is the spirit that enables you to obey Christ. It is the spirit that gradually conforms you into the image of Christ. And the spirit does not just visit the believer. It works on the believer. It presses upon your conscience. It presses upon your heart. It checks your motives.
It disturbs your compromises. It awakens hunger in your spirit. Awakens hunger in your soul. It teaches you to cry, have a father. Because the bible says, you have received the spirit of adoption wherein we cry, father. It is the spirit of God that is in you that reveals God to you as harbor. Are you with me? Yes, sir. Thank you, Jesus. He is the one that leads you into all truth.
He's the one that strengthens your inner man. That's how Christ begins to gain ground inside of you. It is through the holy spirit. But you have to understand something about the holy spirit. The holy spirit can only form Christ in a yielded man. Say that with me everybody. This is where the crisis is. Because we want the comfort of the holy spirit, but we don't want the government of the holy spirit. But the holy spirit is not committed to helping a man to preserve his flesh. That's not what he does.
The holy spirit is committed to exalting Christ within a man. And you must understand that how he does it is to exercise government over your soul. And so when he points to pride, he expects surrender. That's the meaning of yieldedness. That's what leads me to my next point. Yieldedness. The holy ghost will only reveal Christ in you and form Christ in you to the degree to which a man submits himself to the dealings of the spirit within that man. Are you with me? When he points to loss, he expects yieldedness. Will tell you...
He will come to your heart and he will tell you. Because your flesh wants it. Your flesh desires it. And your flesh is convincing you that there is nothing there. The Holy Ghost who has seen your end and knows your tendency, knows there's everything there. And so he tells you flee. Flee. You say, ah, it's just a phone number. Flee. It's just greeting me.
It's just saying hi. Flee. But it's just a gift. Flee. Christ is only formed in you to the degree to which you yield. The more you continue to disobey, the more you continue to do your own, to exercise your flesh, what you are doing is you are short circuiting the activity of the holy ghost in your heart with respect to his ministry of forming Christ in you. Because how Christ is formed in you through partnership with the spirit is through yieldedness. If a believer don't understand the language of yieldedness, the believer will not experience the activity and the ministry of the holy ghost and its ability to form. There are some times when it tells you, go and apologize. You you...
It it comes with an impression in your heart, and your flesh tells you, how about your ego? How about your pride? Do not think you are wrong. When I shall not wrong, they will not make me feel as though they are the one that is... See, if you have let down, they will do it next time. You are enabling them. You are enabling them. And the holy ghost tells you, enable them and let me enable you. Yes, sir. But your flesh wants to win.
Your flesh wants to win. Your flesh wants to win. You don't know how much this thing affects men of God. If you know what I'm telling you, this is the... I believe that this is the hallmark of Christianity for real. Because if we can be believers that Christ has been formed in us, we will be good husbands, we will be good pastors, we will be good wives, We will be good leaders. We will be good politicians. We will be good businessmen. You want to steal somebody's money and change the figures, something will come. He will say, mm-mm.
Mm-mm. Wipe it back. He said, but nobody will know. This is just extra 10,000,000. My family has needs. Mm-mm. I said I will provide for you, but this is not how I said I will provide. And with conviction in your heart, knowing that you could have gotten away with that thing, it's done. But you have been taught yieldedness to the spirit. And with nobody watching you say, yes, Lord.
Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, And you refuse to change numbers. That means there's no conflict that can happen between your husband and a wife. That the holy and as you are walking, walking is telling you, oh god. Oh god. As Christ loved the church. He didn't work out on the church. Yeah. Nothing is telling you and you walked away and you are still thinking you are right.
You might truly be right in that the lady might have probably offended you or said what what you should not have said, and you refused to be disrespected, and you walked your thought process. It might mean that you have true consistent disobedience, silence the voice of the spirit. Because if it's alive on your inside, you will not notice. You will be discomforted in your soul despite you might be in the right. Because it's not no longer about the event that took place. It's not about your response to it. Now the holy ghost is not correcting the event. It's correcting your response. The holy ghost will now go into the woman's heart and be correcting the event. And the holy ghost will say, how can you speak like that?
How can you talk like that? So that by the time both of them meet, that's Christ and the church. That's that's that's actually what marriage is meant to typify. It's called the bond of perfection. But when you have two people, and the Holy Ghost is dead inside them, or you have one person, and the Holy Ghost is alive on his inside, and one person, and the Holy Ghost is dead on his inside, and they come together. That's why the Bible says don't be unequally unequally yoked. You think it's just a good advice. They will show you pepper. Because you, when you were pissed, I wanted to give him one punch. Something told you if you raise that hand.
Nothing is telling are talking from a place where we are seeing the future of this. What do we know? I mean, what what do we know? He loves me. He is caring. Anybody can be caring. Even a dog is caring. There are some people that are inside relationships, and you know that the purpose of the relationship is to satisfy your flesh. You know. And the Holy Ghost has been putting this thing in your heart, And you have been shutting it up intentionally.
Shutting it up. Satisfying the flesh has not... It... It's not just satisfying your immoral tendencies. Because somebody now can think, may I not there, at least I'm not pressing my breast yet. And and you might think... Calm down. Calm down. Calm Calm down. Just...
Let's come. Stay stay with You me. Stay with me. Might think, apostle is not talking to me. I'm okay. Whereas, the reason you enter a relationship is to satisfy your desire and to quench the test of loneliness on your inside. And instead of running to God, whom alone is the one that can satisfy, you run to a man as a means of gratifying your flesh and your loneliness. Because, you know, I don't want someone to talk to you. I want you to talk you out of destiny. When the holy ghost wants to form Christ in you, it is only successful in the life of a yielded vessel.
A yielded vessel. A yielded vessel. A yielded vessel. The olingos is How does he pray? Now you sang the song. How does he pray? Oh, yeah. I want to pray. You were singing in in church today, and you were saying, spirit, pray, and you were even crying. When when the man of god raised the song, your eyes were closed like this.
One tear dropped from the side of your eye, and you were saying, spirit, pray. And now he comes to notch your heart by 10PM. He said, go on. One hour. One hour. Just go outside. Because it is when you pray in tongues that he prays. It means when he wants to pray, he needs your yieldedness to pray. I'm telling you that the activity of the holy ghost, every activity of the holy ghost in the believer is dependent on yieldedness. Even the ability of the believer to flow in power, yieldedness.
Yieldedness is character building power in you, yieldedness. Because you say you're no longer your own. So allow me to move through you. Allow me to break you. Allow me to mold you. Allow me to form you. Allow me to... Allow. Allow me. And the the character of the holy ghost is that he's a gentle spirit.
He doesn't force his way. It is demons that do that. Demons are the one that oppress people. They are the ones that force their their way into your soul. Demons are the assistant spirits. They're the one that keep on repeating lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies. Because they wanna force you to believe it. It's not the word of holy ghost. He speaks quietly, he speaks softly. He repeats it again to you.
If you will not hear, he leaves you alone. I feel like pushing on the Holy Spirit. I wish I had time. I wish I had time. If you learn this yieldedness, everything that the Bible says is within your spirit. You will know how to allow it to impose on your soul if you learn this yieldedness. So when the bible says there is joy in your spirit, you would learn literally speaking how that joy comes out of your spirit and overwhelms your soul. The problem is that we are not yielded. It's an activity of the spirit. When the bible said there is peace in your spirit.
When negative emotions continue to overwhelm a man, it is because at some point, he's refusing the yieldedness of the spirit. It is true. So we need to stop here now. Right? Thank you, precious Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name, we have prayed. Thank you for listening to this message. We trust you have been blessed. You can get more life transforming messages from apostle Emmanuel Boluwatifeh on our Telegram page at DCN media channel. You can also stream the messages on Spotify, Ocho Mac, and Apple Podcasts.
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