Transcript: Preparing for Apostolic Meetings Part 2

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The entrance of God's word gives light. It gives understanding even to the simple. Sharper than any two edged sword, it discerns the thoughts and the intents of the heart. The word of God shapes, it heals, it corrects, it instructs, it transforms. And apostle Emmanuel Obolo Atefei has been given a mandate from God to propagate the gospel of the kingdom and to raise an army of kingdom minded believers. Men who will be movers and shakers across all spheres and across all mountains of influence. Kingdom minded believers scattered across all the mountains of influence. All the mountains of influence. Sitting on the thrones of this world, holding the pillars of dominion. Move out and shake us.

That's what you are becoming. A kingdom minded army moving into business and conquering business, moving into entertainment and conquer and entertainment, moving into all structure of influence. And like David with the 400 men in the cave, he's raising an army of mighty men, not just in the numbers, but in the quality of men who can be sent to around heaven's mandate upon the earth. This is where mighty men are made. So join us every Tuesday for believers equipped and be a part of the making of great and mighty men. Let's turn our Bibles to Hebrews chapter 12. Last week, we began to speak about preparing for visitation, preparing for your visitation, preparing for apostolic meetings. That was the title really. And what happens in apostolic meetings and largely setting up yourselves to get the best of an apostolic meeting. Glory to God.

So continue and we observe to see if we can teach. If we cannot teach, we'll pray. We'll pray. Whichever the case may be. So we began to speak about preparing for visitation, and we established the fact that the first thing you must do is to discern the sacredness of the meeting. Many of you are blessed by that. You must recognize what God is bringing you into. Today, want us to go further because when you understand what is involved in a gathering that God has appointed for a purpose, you will understand why your preparation deserves serious attention. In other words, your preparation reveals what you believe about the meeting. If you believe that something significant is waiting for you at that meeting, that belief will begin to influence your decision before the day arrives.

Is that true? Yes, sir. It'll affect your schedule. It'll affect your conversations. It'll affect your prayers. It'll affect the things that you give your attention to before the day arrives. If you see someone preparing for an important examination, the person starts arranging their life around the examination that is coming. You know? Oh, well, some... Oh, you...

Not all of us are in departments where I would say that there are exams and there are exams. Don't feel bad. My department too was like that. Glory to god. Glory. So it's not in what department you are in. But for those in certain kinds of departments, there are exams and there are exams. Is that not so? Yes, sir. Like, medical students, for instance.

You write a lot of exams, but there are exams you write at specific moments that determine a lot. Is that not so? Yes, sir. And the other exams you would have written usually cumulate towards that one moment when you write that one exam. Are you with me? Yes, sir. Though chances are that if you've been doing well in the other ones, you would know precisely how to do well in this one. And chances are that if you have been failing the other ones, you don't know how to pass an exam. Glory to God. It stands to see that even when we say that there are meetings and there are meetings, if you don't know how to receive in the first meeting that they are, you would not also not know how to receive in the other one that there is.

You understand what I'm trying to say or you don't? But this is the point I'm trying to make. When you're preparing for an exam that is that other exam, there's a way you now start changing your schedule. Who understand what I'm saying? If you have not written that, don't don't raise it. You wanna raise your hand and you know that nothing changes about your life when an exam is coming. Don't raise it. I'm talking about... You know that an exam is coming and something about your... The arrangement of your life starts to change because an exam is coming.

You understand what I'm saying? Something about the arrangement of your life starts to change because an exam is coming. That's exactly how apostolic meetings are. When you understand the value of the event, it would show in how you begin to arrange your life before the event. When you understand the significance of the meeting, it will show in how you begin to prepare for the meeting. It's interesting how we prepare for everything important and significant to us, aside the things that really matter. I mean, some people have had interviews that they consider to be very important, ice takes interviews. And you will see the way they start preparing for the interview. But then you'll find an apostolic meeting that can determine everything, and I'm gonna show you very soon, about your destiny. Hallelujah.

So the lady was speaking to me some time ago, and she was telling me, we had a pro... We had a meeting then in EAC that she was a part of those days. That was many years ago, by the way. And we used to call it prayers and encounters. And it's precisely what the name is. Prayers and encounters. We come to pray, people have encounters. Simple as a, b, c. So she came for one of those meetings, and she said that in that meeting she came for, she prayed as though her life depended on it. She said she went into an encounter.

I don't know if she said she had an out of body experience or not. I can't remember. But then she said everything that she would use her life to do for the next about ten to fifteen or twenty years of her life, she knew it and wrote it down in a sheet of paper. Glory to God. Glory. Wrote it down completely. She said, her life up until the time she was meeting me to recount the experience had proceeded exactly as she had written down. Do you understand what I'm saying? Yes, sir. That's one meeting.

That's the significance of one meeting. Glory to God. If you believe that something significant is waiting for you at a meeting, that belief will influence your decision. It will influence the way you begin to arrange your life. I think a clearer picture would be someone preparing for a wedding. Now you would not understand that. And I'm not sorry. For years to hoping that one day you'll understand. I like to use instances that people can relate with. But on moments like this, you have no choice until some people step forward, you know, come up either.

Sir. A 100 left people are saying yes. Glory to god. When you see a man or a woman preparing for wedding, a wedding, they start making decisions months ahead, strategizing their finances around the wedding, structuring and making plans and making arrangements around the event. Are you with me? Yes, sir. So the question we must therefore ask you is, what have you begun to arrange in your life because conference is coming? You see that? What's your present conduct? And you believe that God has something for me.

This one this one is a moment and a time of encounter. And because you believe that, what is the arrangement you are making around your life? God is good. God is good. Thank you, Jesus. There is a spiritual reality surrounding every gathering. But gatherings we have once in a year, there's a spiritual reality that surrounds it. Hebrews 12 from verse 22 down to verse 24 says that we have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to an enumerable innumerable company of angels. Did you see that? Yes, sir.

We've come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels. It says to the general assembly and the church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven. To God, the judge of all, to the spirit of just men made perfect. Look at this. 24. To Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of than that of Abel. Now this is a typology of the church that you see. It's a typology of the church of the firstborn we've called into. So when we come and we gather, the human beings you see, oh my, cannot exhaust the spiritual reality of our fellowship. The bible says when we gather, there are angels everywhere.

It says innumerable. It means the human beings you see are the least of who is present. That if we take a census and we count 600 human beings, that's the list of what... Of the spiritual realities that we are present. We can count ourselves. We can't count the angels present. It says there are innumerable company of angels. Glory to God. Your understanding must be shaped by scripture. Your consciousness must be shaped by scripture.

Glory to God. And Hebrews one fourteen describes them as ministering spirits, sends forth to minister to those who have inherited salvation. So angels minister to people as we gather. They serve under the authority of God. Psalms one zero three verse 20 describes them as doing his commandments and eating the voice of his word. Therefore, our confidence concerning the angelic ministry rests in the authority of God and the purpose of God and the word he has released. So we know that whenever God declared his word and when we gather around his word, angels are on assignment. Look at acts of apostle chapter 10. Cornelius was praying. Right?

And an angel appeared to him and instructed him to send for Peter. So he sent his messengers to go and look for Peter and send for Peter following instruction of the angel. And while the messengers were traveling, God was dealing with Peter at the other end of the equation. So that by the time Peter entered into the house, Cornelius had gathered his entire relatives, his household, his close friends, everybody. And the bible says, while Peter preached, the holy spirit fell upon them. And they began to speak in tongues and prophesied. Now look at how many things were brought together for that meeting. Cornelius was praying. God sent an angel to Cornelius as he was praying. Peter was on the other end, also having an encounter with God for that meeting.

Are you with me? As Methodah, they're traveling to Peter. Was busy also evangelizing to his household and telling them what is happening. An evangelist is coming. An apostle is coming. They must be there. Whilst he was going on outreach, Methodah are going. God was also appearing to Peter somewhere. Glory to God. Amen.

Then Peter enters into the house. Christ is preached. Then the holy ghost comes upon everybody, an outpouring of the spirit. See, those who entered into the house that day were were stepping into an arrangement that had begun before their arrival. There there are preparations that you must understand. There are preparations that God makes for these meetings that the people attending might know very little about. That as God is preparing for that meeting, Peter is having an encounter. An angel have been sent to Cornelius for one meeting. Do you understand what I'm saying? There are events colliding against each other.

Just because somebody must be saved. Just because somebody must receive the holy ghost. Somebody must prophesy. The gospel must be preached to Cornelius and his household. Even greater than that, the gospel was entering to the Gentile nations. And Kolilov and his household became the ones that opened the door of the gospel into Gentile lands. It's the reason why me and you can be saved today. And to make all that arrangement happen, God was busy convincing Peter, sending angels on assignment just to ensure that that single moment. And as Peter was speaking, look at the heavy coalition that shows you how much everyone has invested as he was speaking. He had not even prayed for anybody.

He was just speaking. Then the holy ghost started coming upon people to show you heaven was already waiting for that moment. I wish there was a way I could make you understand this thing. That there are meetings like that heaven waits for. Where men gather and it's as though God cannot wait to do some things. So as he's preparing the people, he's preparing the man. The man too as he's praying, waiting on God, God is also dealing with his heart. God is also putting him under alignment. God is also ensuring. I told you about the story of the lady who had not entered the church before what?

It was the first time of she was entering the church. Right? And the man of God had the clothes he wanted he wanted to wear that was appealing to him. And as he was wearing the clothes, he felt that the clothes was tight in his body. He still wanted to rough it, and he felt a strong conviction. The rich priest told him off it. Wear that one instead. And he says that the rich priest would not normally the clothes he wants to wear. So he obeyed. Upon obeying, he gets to the service and meets a lady in the service who tells her as she approaches the lady, the lady goes out under the power.

And the moment the lady comes back, ask the lady what what happened? The lady said, I had... It was... It's my first time in this church. I have a dream where I saw you wearing this clothes. So for that meeting, God entered into the lady's dream. For that meeting, lady had a vision about the meeting that she had been invited to. Expectation had been raised by her friend according to her. So in preparation for the meeting, she goes to sleep. She have a dream.

She sees the man of God ministering to her wearing a particular cloth. The man is just busy doing his own thing. God comes to the man and says, no. I will return what you will wear today. Look at the preparation God is making. That the vessel is prepared. The people are prepared. And when the meeting comes, whilst Peter yet speak. It means if all the vessels have been prepared, the evidence will be whilst Peter yet speak. That...

That's the evidence. If all the vessels have been prepared and all things are in motion, then whilst the worship is going on, while testimony are being taken, the holy ghost would fall. Men would begin to prophesy. The sick would begin to be healed. Your oppressed will begin to be delivered. It wouldn't wait for a special time when the apostle is ministering. It wouldn't wait for a special time. Do you understand what I'm saying? When hearts are prepared and and everything is in motion in this manner, that as God is preparing the men, the men are preparing themselves. I said last week that the word manifest...

In the manifest conference, the Greek word translated... Well, it's a Greek word, but it's translated manifest in the New Testament, and it's the word for narrow. It means to make visible, to make known, to bring into view something that was hidden previously or something that was unknown previously, something becomes evident, something that was not conspicuous before becomes revealed, and everybody becomes suddenly aware of a reality, of a thing. People begin to recognize what they had not previously seen or what they've not previously understood. That's the word fanero. And that word has two significance. But when you tie them together, you'll see it's one significance really. It has two significance in this in this annual conference we hold, and I think it's important we understand this. Glory to god. Glory to god.

First significant is seen in the book of John chapter two verse 11. In John chapter two verse 11, John uses this word when it says that Jesus manifested his glory through the sign of Canaan. His glory was made evident through what he did. The bible says, this beginning of signs Jesus did in Canaan of Galilee and manifested his glory and his disciples believed in him. So he manifested his glory. The word manifested. There is the word fanero. And the bible says, when he manifested his glory, his disciples believed in him. The word manifested. And you would see the use of this word in that Jesus was already present in the wedding before the water became wine.

His identity did not begin when the miracle happened. It was already there. His power did not begin when the servants filled the water pots. However, through that sign, something about him now became evident to those that were present. His glory was manifested. That helps you understand our expectation. So we desire that people come into a clearer knowledge of the Christ Christ who is already Lord. That's the first significance of the word manifest. That the Christ would manifest his glory. Now in the same way that it was in that wedding and up until this moment, people did not know.

That's the same way it is very much possible for people not to know until there is final, until it is made manifest, until the glory of God is made manifest, until Jesus Christ is made manifest. Do you understand what I'm saying? Yeah. So we desire therefore that the power of God, the glory of God finds expression. We desire that what scripture declares concerning Christ becomes increasingly understood, becomes believed, becomes witnessed amongst us. But a person that has been confused about god who for the conference receives light. So what has happened? Light has been made manifest. Glory to God. Glory.

A believer receives strength to obey an instruction that he has been avoided. A person that has been bound by sin encounters the saving power of Christ. That everybody who is sick are ministered to. That's Christ being made manifest. Manifest. That is glory being made manifest. It brings us into a clearer recognition of Jesus, a deeper response to Jesus even. And the second significance of this meeting... So the first significance is that the glory of Christ is revealed, that Christ himself is manifested or. So when we call it manifest conference, the first thing that must be manifested or the first person that must be manifested is Christ.

The first person that must be revealed is Christ. The second significance now comes from when Christ is revealed. That's why I said it ties together. But for understanding, would separate them. It's in second Corinthians four verse 10. What does it say? It says, always carrying about in the body. Second Corinthians four verse 10. In the body, the dying of the Lord Jesus, right, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. Glory to God.

Glory to God. That expression is the word. And this one is taking place in our body. The life of Jesus becomes manifested in us. The life of Jesus becomes manifested in us, becomes evident in our lives, you see. That means that as Christ is revealed to us, his life finds expression in us, and then we are equipped to reveal him to the world. That's the second significant. That there is something God does in the people that he gathers that he intends to carry beyond the gathering itself. That the people that meet him when they come for the manifest conference now return to families, now return to schools, now return to businesses, now return to their offices, now return to their communities and places of responsibility. And they carry what they have received into these places where they live and they serve.

Glory to God. That's the second expectation of the manifest conference. It's what the manifest conference is birthed around. Glory to God. That people receive light. People receive strength. People receive wisdom. People receive direction. People receive healing. And all these things that will make the life of God evident through them, wherever God has placed them.

So what God does in that meeting must find expression through the people that leave the meeting. You see, the impact of the meeting therefore doesn't die in the meeting. In fact, the impact of the meeting is not even in the meeting. It's not about the meeting. It's about what happens to your life after the meeting. That as Jesus revealed to you is revealed through you. And as it's revealed through you, you are made manifest too. Glory to God. Glory. In this context, Paul is describing the affliction and the pressure that himself and his fellow workers endured in ministry when you start reading from context.

And how the power of God sustains them through everything that they've been through. And then it says the vessel is weak, the pressure is real, the... But but the life of Jesus is at work in their lives. Earlier in that context in verse seven, it says we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. God has placed treasures in in human vessels, and his purpose includes making his power evident through those vessels. That means when we speak about believers manifesting, we are speaking about the treasure of Christ becoming evident through their lives. Glory to God. Glory. That people should encounter something of the wisdom of God in your division. That's the treasure of Christ in earthen vessels.

That's something other than you. How do I explain this to you? That the life of God, the glory of God is manifested in our body. So there's a deposit of his life, his power, his glory, his excellency inside earthen vessels. Are you with me? Yes, sir. That the life of Jesus may be manifested in our body, Fanero. Manifested in our body. And then in verse seven, he then says, that we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. Some say that as we gather for that meeting and the glory of God is made manifest, the life of God is made manifest, Christ is made manifest to us.

Something of Christ, something divine, something of his wisdom, something of his power. Do you understand what I'm saying? Is deposited inside of you. That becomes the treasure in the earthen vessel That the excellence becomes of. Glory to God. We are ready. Something of his love, something of his righteousness in your conduct, something of his presence deposited. That something finds expression through you that was deposited by God and that is a consequence of the life you have received, of the glory you have interacted with, of Jesus you have seen. This is why we gather. This is why we gather.

That you leave that place and you receive a life that you can carry into your workplace as a witness. Into your business as a witness, into your family as a witness, into your department as a witness. Glory to God. Glory. Yes. That people around you can benefit from the understanding that God has deposited on your inside. That your community and your surround... Your environment can experience the service of a person whose heart has been strengthened and directed by God. This is where we gather. And I'm saying this so that it drives the expectation.

Jesus said in Matthew chapter five verse 14, he says, you are the light of the world. A city that is set on the hill cannot be hidden. In verse 16, he said, let your light so shine. Before men. That they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven. Look at the movement of that statement. You are the light of the world. I mean there's light in you. That light shines through your visible works. Then people see those works and then the father receives glory.

There's a visibility that serves the glory of God. That your life can become a place through which people can recognize the work of God. The treasure in earthen vessels. So this should give direction to your desire at the manifest conference. And what God deposits in you becomes manifest, becomes revealed. There's also the covenant God has had with us for this conference. There are promises and assurances that God has given to us about the conference. There's also the grace that God supplies on the ministers that he appoints to serve. In Romans chapter one verse 11, Paul was the one that was speaking. He said he longed to see the believers so that it might impact some spiritual gift to them to the end that they will be established.

To the end that they will be established. He was anticipating that seeing them, he would be able to impact graces upon their lives. It would be able to put... Why didn't you just tell them to pray? He said I long to see you that high may impact to you. Glory to God. First Corinthians chapter 12 verse seven says the manifestation of the spirit is given to the prophet of all. The holy spirit supplies what people need through the word. As the word is being taught. Through the deposit of his spirit.

And he comes in meetings like this. Comes in meetings like this. There is a grace that is put upon the man specific for meetings like this. There's a preparation God does even with the ministers that will be ministering specific to meetings like this. Are you with me? Yes, sir. Many a times, it doesn't even matter who is ministering. Ministering. So if we know what we are preparing for, then how should we come is the question. We've already spoken about discerning the sacredness of the moment.

Today, I want you to understand that the preparation we are talking about before the conference, it helps you to enlarge your capacity. It help you to enlarge your capacity to receive, to retain, and to respond to what God supplies in the conference. The problem with people is that when they come for meetings like this, they receive but they cannot sustain what they've received. They cannot keep what they've received. And the larger part of sustaining, receiving, keeping all ties to your preparation before the meeting. So you see, a believer that lives a prepared life, what I'm teaching you is actually supposed to be your lifetime. Because if I teach you how to pass an exam, it's not specific to when you're writing MB for medical student. It is for every exam that you write. It's meant to be a lifestyle that you live as a believer. It's meant to be how you approach every apostolic meeting.

So that when it becomes a lifestyle, we don't even need to teach it again. Are you even brothers and sisters? Sir. Don't even want me to do it again. It's meant to be a lifestyle because There's no point learning this thing for one meeting. Glory to god. And then you throw away everything that you have learned. We're talking specifically about the manifest conference because it... It's once in a year so that you don't miss out on whatever God wants to do. But it's meant to be your posture for every apostolic meeting.

Because someone's word that will shift their destiny might come a Sunday before the manifest conference. Someone's word might come today. Someone's word was just a Sunday that passed. Someone's answer is there. Do you understand what I'm saying? Yes, sir. There are meetings and there are meetings. It's not a function of the title of the meeting, the tag of the meeting, or the frequency of the meeting. It is a function of when and where God sends your word. And a man must live prepared.

Every word is sent to you in that it builds you up. Are you with me? There's no time you hear the word of God that is not sent to you. Because you are built up. He says, I commend you therefore to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up. Are you with me? Yes, sir. There is that. But there is also that where the word of God is specific to you, an encounter specific to you. By that, I mean, an encounter specific to your destiny, to your purpose, an instruction direct to you, an empowerment, an engracing, an encounter you.

When God makes his power available specific to you, And a man must live prepared, ever ready to receive the word. For those who are workers, it might be in a workers' meeting. So how do you come? Do you say because in the workers meeting, you come carelessly? No, sir. As long as the word of God will be taught. You come like somebody ready to drink. Yes. Ready to receive. So I will sing that your preparation before the meeting increases your capacity.

And when I say capacity, I'm speaking about the condition and the readiness of your heart to receive. How much attention can you give to the word of God? How willing are you to receive an instruction that challenges you? How deeply can the truth of the word of God take root inside of your life, inside of your heart before the cares of this life begins to remove them from you? What will you do with what you hear? And how much of the power of God can you receive? All of this defines capacity. You're already good. All of this defines capacity. That's what Jesus dealt with in the parable of the sower.

So let's start. So as you give your life to all of these, realize that you are building capacity. And every time you appear in an apostolic meeting, it's already a part of you. You will always drink to the fullest. You always receive to the fullest. And you always keep and sustain what you have received most importantly. Number one is that you discern the sacredness of the moment. Number two, the second thing that you must do is that you must build expectation and stir up hunger. What did I say? By the help of the spirit.

Because you cannot make yourself hungry. Hence the clause by the help of the spirit. Expectation usually begins with what you are hearing and what you are allowing to govern your thinking. Romans chapter 10 verse 17 tells us that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So So if your mind is constantly feeding on disappointment, if your mind is constantly feeding on impossibility, if your mind is constantly feeding on the failures of yesterday, those things will shape how you approach tomorrow. If your mind is feeding on your expectation last week, two weeks ago, three weeks ago, that was not meant even when the words was spoken. If that's what you are feeding your mind on, you are clean faith in your spirit. What did I say? You can be preparing outwardly for a meeting, whereas inwardly, you are expecting very little. You can be sewing clothes, especially for those who are workers.

You can be planning everything you want to wear because all the meeting is to you. It's another time to be glamorous. But there is very little that happens within your spirit. Because there is very little thought that goes into preparing for the meeting with respect to expectations you have specific to your life and destiny. And the first thing that drive expectation is what you are giving your years to. What you are giving your ears to. Things that will be feeding faith on your insight. Glory to God. Amen. You are feeding your heart with the word of God, with testimonies.

When Kathleen Kuman was having a conference somewhere, she was to have one of our indoor conferences in a particular territory. There was a grandmother who was saddled with responsibility of taking care of her grandson. The parents were away. The grandson unfortunately had a spinal condition, so he cannot work. Paralyzed, head to toe. So he's on a wheelchair. Grandson, I think, was about 13 years old or so and has been on a wheelchair almost all his life. So the parents more or less just left him with his grandmother. And when the grandmother heard that Catherine Kuman was coming, the grandmother would call the grandson every night before he slept and will start telling the grandson, Catherine is coming. Katherine is coming.

When Katherine comes, you will walk. And then she will put the grandson to sleep. The next night comes again. Katherine is coming. The grandmother did this for three months before the conference. Every night, every day, Catherine is coming. Catherine is coming. So much so, it got to a point in time where when the grandmother comes, the boy already knows what he's about to say. So they will both say it together, Kathryn is coming. Kathryn is coming.

When Kathryn comes, I will walk. And then puts him to sleep. The day of the meeting came, they went very early. And as as as usual, with Kathryn Kuman's meetings, outside was choked with people before they opened the door. And she struggled. She struggled because the bird was in a wheelchair. She couldn't get a front despite all her best trying to get a front seat. So they got a seat somewhere at the far back. The moment they opened the door, the place was filled instantly because the amount of people that would even fill the lower ground were already outside. So she couldn't, of course...

She had to be careful because of her grandson. So they had to sit down at the back. The worship was happening. The boy, this was the day that they've been speaking about for three months. All that was on the boy's mind is Catherine is coming. Catherine is coming. When Catherine comes, I'll walk. Katherine is coming. Katherine is coming. When Katherine comes, I'll walk.

They were doing worship. The boy was excited all through the worship. Ex... Expecting, where is Katherine? And the woman wore a long gown was helped to the pulpit, climbed the pulpit, held the microphone, raised her hand, and the mother told him, that is K3. The boy stood up and walked. Instantly. The lady did not pray any prayer whatsoever. That is the power of expectation. How expectation builds is what you open your ears to hear, what you feed yourself with again and again, what you tell yourself again and again and again and again and again before the meeting time comes.

When I'm going for meetings, I go, oh my god. My book is fully structured in that I know exactly what I want in that meeting. I still have my daughters of conferences I attended. I still have my daughters. Expectation for this meeting. You'll see it there. Expectation for this meeting. You'll see it there. This is what I'm soaking myself in because it determines how I'm going to start praying. It determines how I'm going to start praying.

The undoing of most people in meetings like this is that they they just appear. They just come. And their belief is whatever happens to me happens to me. That's usually how people come for meetings. There really is no time when do you know the difference between blind Batimos and the lame man who had been lame all his life By the pool of Bethesda. I don't have time to really teach this because it's a teaching. I have a teaching on that. There was something significant that God wanted to do with the miracle of the lame man. So the lame man was not healed necessarily because he was hungry or because he was even expecting to be healed. And how do you know?

You know in the conversation that followed. Because the moment Jesus asked him the question, what he started saying were explanations that did not pertain to the question that Jesus was asking him. He wasn't speaking as though he understood who was standing there. When you cross over to the story of the blind Patmos, you find something completely different. In that Jesus was not even going his way. Jesus wasn't going his way. Give me the Matthew rendition. Jesus wasn't going his way. Jesus wasn't talking to him. Jesus wasn't speaking to him.

Jesus was just moving. To add his own purpose, add his own place he was going. And the bible says that all of a sudden, Matthew's rendition. Luke, is it Luke? Which of that? Question carries a story. Give me... Let... Wait. Let me let me say this.

If if it's a zizala, would know. 47. 47, please. Next verse. Next verse. Next verse. Yes. This is it. 47. This is it.

Stay with me. What I'm looking for is there. Just go with me with the story. So you heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. Is that not so? But the bible says that now they came to Jericho and he went out of Jericho with the serpents and a great multitude, blind Batimon, the son of Timos, sat by the road begging. Are you with me? Yes, sir. Next verse. So the guy started hearing noise because, I mean, a great multitude was passing by.

So there will be noise. It wasn't gonna be quiet. So upon hearing the noise, he asked them a question. He said, what is happening? And they said, oh, oh, oh, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. Are you with me? Yes, That was what he heard, but that was not what he called. Who they told him was passing was Jesus of Nazareth. That was what he heard. When you read through the book of Mark, you find this is the first time that the word son of David is used to describe Jesus.

That means this guy had a revelation of Jesus that nobody, not even his disciples had. Before he met Jesus. Does that look like someone who appeared before the meeting? Who just came and said, oh, I came to beg to tell whatever happens. That looks like someone who has been doing his research, who has been studying, who has been visiting, who have... Do understand? Who have been learning something? Who have been praying for a day like this? Who have been wishing for this moment? I'm going somewhere else.

Stay with me. Who have been praying every day for this moment? And the moment the day comes, he wasn't gonna call him Jesus of Nazareth. Everybody was already calling him that. He had to register himself. Because he understood something about Jesus. Now what you know about him is is important. And it determines what you experience from him. Your revelation of him governs your experience of him. That's why you have disciples who do you say that I am.

So it's important what you say he is. So when he says son of David, it's a name he cannot ignore. I don't have time for this. You need to go and study it. Go and study it. Go and study Jesus, the son of David. Is what we are doing next year's history treat. The revelation Jesus. Revelation of Jesus. We need to talk about the son of Abraham, the son of David, and why the bible refers to him as those two.

We'll we'll talk about that later. But there's a powerful significance here I cannot explain tonight. And the moment he said son of David, Jesus... And even tied it to mercy. He didn't say heal me. What understanding? What understanding this guy has? You need to go and study it. You need to go and study it. He didn't say heal me.

Because the bible speaks about the short mercies of David. My Lord. Have mercy on me. And the moment he said that, Jesus cannot ignore a cry for mercy. Next verse, look at this. So Jesus stood still. Do you know that the understanding of mercy that the old testament guys had was that it was a sovereign thing? It was I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So him he...

It was it was the throne of David that changed that equation, that made it so that mercy is now a corporate availability to anyone who names the name of Christ. The old testament Jew understood mercy as a sovereign thing. When they see the way a man's life is tending, they say, ah, God has had mercy on this one. It wasn't the corporate reserve. Do you understand what I'm saying? It was the covenant of David that made mercy available through the establishment of his throne in Israel. Are you with me? So your throne, oh god, will be established forevermore, was a promise that God had to David. I wasn't speaking about the tribe of David. Was speaking about the lineage of David, how that the Christ would come from him.

During this conference, what guaranteed mercy for everybody now in Christ was the covenant of David? Now how did this guy know? Because if he was a if he was a matter, there's no ground for which he would have called and asked for mercy. So he wasn't just asking for mercy. He was asking for the basis. He was calling the basis upon which mercy could be had. He wants me to ask him for mercy. Holy spirit. Look at the next verse. Look at the next verse.

I want to show you something. Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man saying to him, be of good cheer. Rise. He's calling you. And before you get to this part, you see that they've even tried to silence him a lot. They've they've tried to quiet him. They've tried to silence him. They've tried to tell him, keep quiet. Keep quiet.

Is that not so? But he wouldn't stop. That showed you that he's been expecting that day. You can't you couldn't silence him. We'll get to preparation. That's that's what you do during the meeting. They just could not... Someone who has who has who has been preparing so mightily for this one moment. And the moment now comes, somebody knocked on and said, please, can you sit down? If you...

I've been on this matter. And you think whatever you say now would make me miss this moment. No. I would apologize after the meeting. But right now, this is a moment I've been preparing for. This is a moment I've been praying for. This is a moment I've fasted for. This is a moment I've studied for. This is a moment I've researched for. So I wouldn't keep quiet.

I wouldn't keep quiet. Keep keep quiet. He shouted even more. And Jesus stood still and said, go and bring that man. Watch. Go and do what? If a man is a beggar and he stays by the streets to beg, he has no help, no assistance whatsoever. He stays inside inside the cold, and then he begs. He probably sleeps there. He probably wakes up there.

Probably use whatever he can find as a pillow. His whole life has been shut down. All he has all he has would probably be a pun that he collects money in, a garment he uses to cover himself against the coat, lays on the floor to sleep on, a stick. Is that not so? The moment they told him, be of good cheer, rise, he's calling you. Look at the next verse. It is throwing aside his garment. I want you to see that because that shows you that he knew that he wasn't going home blind. Oh my god. He did no wait.

Yes, sir. Oh my god. See. See. This is how you know someone who has prepared. That is a throwing aside his garment. He... Think about it. If he was not healed, how would he find that garment back? This this was a blind man.

How would he find it? He threw it See. See. See. When a man has prepared, there are things he will throw away. This is how know someone who is ready to be healed. That's what happened to that small boy when they told him that is catering. Instantly. If you have prepared a man like this for a conference, the moment the day comes, he will throw aside his drugs. He will throw aside his glasses.

He will throw whatever he has been using, holding him down. You tell him, Jesus is here right now. We come for healing meetings. We tell people, do what you could not do. Do even do what you could not do. It is hard and difficult. Do what you could not do. The guy because he heard Jesus is calling you. He threw away everything. He said, this is it.

Oh my god. So if if a layman hears this, won't he pray where he sticks? And begin to walk. Oh my god. If somebody who has cancer hears this. See, we've not seen hungry men in this generation. We've not seen. We've not seen. We've seen. Expectation.

The man of God is on the pulpit. He says, I was in a meeting. I was in a meeting. I won't mention the name of the minister. I'm talking about a meeting I was in by myself. We traveled somewhere to minister. Well, this summer, I think it wasn't easy. It wasn't easy. I was ministering. And I said, these are people that have been taught.

So I said, I'm hearing the name a day a day a day. I was gonna complete it While I was still trying to find the the full name I was hearing, a brother ran out with speed. He was somewhere at the back. He ran out with speed and said, it is me. I said, Adewali. What's your name? He said, no. I'm Adewali. I'm Adewali. Was somewhere at the back, now waiting, now coming like this.

Before the Adewale I was calling came outside, my eyes open about this one. It wasn't the one I was calling Because I was not different. It wasn't the one I was calling. It's just the one that threw away his garment. You could tell the one that I've been preparing for that day. You could tell the one that I've been preparing for that day. You could tell the one that I've been what? Preparing for that day. Was ministering one on one of these Sundays I was here, ministering, and I called someone's name because I was seen something about that person. And the person that I don't waste my time on these things again.

I don't even wait for one second. I don't see you running. I just move on. And then I was going outside, and the young man was there waiting for me saying I was the one you called. It's... Oh my god. That's how you behave when you have not been taught. When you don't know, that that that shows that you are not... There is no apostolic meeting you should come casually for. Expectation should have been welling on your inside.

So that the moment you come like this you see Jesus has arrived, you... The garment should... It should... Oh my god. Whatsoever represents a garment should be flung away. See, let me, let me, you remember the woman that had the issue of blood? In Mark chapter five. Verse 28 says that she said in her heart. She said, if I touch bodies close, I will be whole. She had suffered this condition for twelve years.

She had spent everything that she had. Everything she had accumulated. Her condition had grown worse and worse over the years. Now listen. Listen. If the bible says that she has seen doctors, she has seen everybody who could have promised her healing, do you agree with me that her disappointment must have accumulated? She's been to meetings again and again, and she's not been healed. She's tried everything. She's not been healed. So what she should be telling herself right now is what's the point gone?

That's why I told you, what you think, what you hear matters. You don't come for apostolic meetings reminiscing on what did not happen before. That one is not your business. It's another opportunity for another thing to happen again. Do you understand what I'm saying? You you you... The bible says this woman had accumulated disappointments. There were several people there that was sick. With all kind of condition. John chapter five.

But the bible also says that only one person was healed. So it wasn't every meeting Jesus went to that every... People were sick. Everyone got healed. And there are other meetings Jesus had that the bible didn't heal them all. He didn't know where this woman had been to. He didn't know who she had seen. What all all that... You didn't even know her history. You didn't know if she had been in any crusade you had before.

And she couldn't touch Jesus. All that mattered was, I'm seeing Jesus now. All that mattered was, this is another meeting again. All that mattered was this is another encounter again. All that mattered was, see, another opportunity for me to receive again. So listen. What I believed for last week, I can believe for again today. I can believe for again on Sunday. It's only a foolish person that comes with episode of disappointment. It's what I'm thinking about when I'm coming for a meeting.

You are talking faith on your inside. That's what you are doing. You are talking faith. Do you understand what I'm saying? You are talking the life of God on your inside. Be filling yourself with faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Be be recycling testimonies. Be thinking of miracles. Be thinking of healings.

Be thinking of God can do this. Be putting it in your mind. My business is changing. My finances are shifting. My healing is coming. What is on your mind? There were certain dimensions of the power of God. I wanted to see my ministry. I would go for meetings. I will write it down.

Word for what? What I want to see when I'm ministering? The power of God will come strong upon me. I will go for the next meeting expecting to see what I've prayed for manifesting. I wouldn't see it. The next time I'm going for a meeting, I'm going again fresh. Don't pile up episode of disappointments when a meeting is coming. You are talking faith. Don't do that to yourself. The only person you are not helping is you.

Oh, I came out to be healed. When they prayed for me, I was not healed. So when they tell you, come out if you are sick, you are now... You are now... What's the point? Say, ah. Don't do that to yourself. Don't do that to yourself. Yourself. Amen.

Sit down do for a bit. Sit down. Sit down. Do you know since when God started dealing with Abraham... Do you know since when God started dealing with Abraham about his son, the promise of him being father of many nations, the promise of his son. And every encounter that God had with Abraham, he will still tell him the same thing. Every year that was going by could have been a year Abraham is once again disappointed. Don't do that to yourself. Don't do that to yourself. There are times that the man of God might not even mention anything about what you have written down.

But just because you wrote it down and you expected it and you prepared for it and it was your expectation, Angels on assignment will find you. That's what happened to the boy. Catherine Kuman did not pray for the boy, did not minister to the boy, did not say anything to the boy. But all of that does not matter with with respect compared to his expectation. Do you understand what I'm saying? Ask that boy what Ketrin Kuman thought that day. He might not remember. Forget what he will remember. I was watching a crusade by a man of God. The first day of the crusade, he prayed for the sick and told them to come out.

Several people on wheelchairs worked. Several wheelchairs worked. But several more did not work. He announced, bring the sick again tomorrow. He said if you were not healed today, come again tomorrow. I didn't watch the following day. I followed the last day again. A testimony made almost everybody weep. It was a testimony of a Muslim guy who was... Who became crippled five years ago or so.

It was so bad. His legs was so bad. Messed up. You could almost see the skin and and all kind of things, and he couldn't walk. The leg, it was stiff. The kind of thing that happened was the leg is... He can't even bend the leg. So this place cannot bend like this. You understand what I'm saying? Yes, sir.

It was a fire something that had happened. It was an accident. So the leg just became stiff because there was no medical care. It just became stiff like that. So he he walks with this place stiff. And because there was no medical care, the team was well in Jera. Just looking bad, rotten. He said, I'm a Muslim. Muslim. He was invited for the crusade when the workers were out on the streets.

He said the person that invited him told him, just come. Just come. You will be healed. Just come. You will be healed. He said the person that invited him even prayed for him, but he wasn't working. So the person kept on encouraging his faith and and... It was a Muslim guy sharing a story by himself. Everybody was in tears. Just come.

You'll be healed. So he came the first day. He said everybody was getting healed. People were working beside him, and he was not working. He said, so is he fake? He said, as he was saying it, the person beside him came. He gave... That guy invited him, came to him because he was the one that brought him. And that guy came and said, will I ask you tomorrow? He said he does not know.

He said, ah, no. Just come. You'll be healed. Kept on saying the same thing. Convince him again. He came the following day. He saw people getting healed. Testimony is taken. He was not healed. He came again the third day.

The man was ministering again. Told everybody, he wanna be saved. He had finished praying for the sick. He was still not healed. And he said, come and give your life to Jesus. He said, you know what? I've seen enough to know that this is real, whether it happens to me or not. Jesus is real. So he takes his leg like that with his crutches and goes to surrender his life to Jesus. The man sees him with his crutches coming and said, what is wrong with that brother's leg from the pulpit?

Call one of his pastors. Can you touch that leg? He touched the leg. On the stage, the man declared, they healed. They try and move the leg. Try and move the leg. Leg was not moving. Ministry quite a lot. Sutton, I've never seen him do. He left the stage, came down to where the man was, stayed on the ledge by himself.

So worship team was just singing. This continued for about ten minutes. It was as though it was bent that you will be healed. When I was watching it, was like, Bend your leg. Bend your leg. You will see the thin... The man trying to bend his leg. After about ten minutes, the guy walked. Stiff leg. Started bending.

Little by little, started bend... You could still see the rottenness. You could still see it. You could still see the rottenness. Plaster and everything used to bandage leg. Oh my god. Almost everybody was crying. Men, women, tears in the eyes of everybody. He said, walk. And he could bend the leg.

He could bend the leg. He could bend the leg. What if he returned the following day? What if he went back? What if he allowed a disappointment of him not getting healed the first day? You see, he's not a Christian. But someone did something to his heart. Are you aware that Cornelius is not a Christian? Yet an angel appeared to him and said, we have seen your prayers. We have seen your harms.

We have seen your giving. I'm going to talk about that. The guy walked. Tears in the guy's face, tears in everybody's face. Right there, a Muslim gave his life to Jesus. We now say because I believed God for this. And I think that this is something... But somebody needs to hear this. Do I keep... I trusted that this would happen.

It didn't happen. I came. I received the word. It didn't come. I keep. And then a meeting now comes again, and then you just choke. You have you have developed a theology that if it happens, it'll happen. It's better it happens on its own than me having an expectation for it and not disappointed. That's not how faith works. Expectation will always be the model of manifestation.

Do you understand what I'm saying? People can sit down at the same row like this, and they are hearing different things. One is looking at the man of God, affecting what he's wearing. Another one is observing the church, checking out one girl's hair. Another one is looking at one babe that he has seen. Let's not be deceived to think because we all came to church, we are all having the same level of expectation and desire. No. That's why Jesus, when he asked, who touched me? It seemed like a foolish question to have asked given the number of people that were crowding and trumping upon him. That's the experience many people have in church.

Who touched me is the question. Because we all came to church, but not all of us touched him. Despite all of us touched him. Because the disciples said, look, everybody trumping on you. He said, no. Somebody touched me deliberately. When you now come to the woman's side, you now see what deliberately is. She said in her heart, if only I can touch the hem of his garment. And immediately she said it, she threw away her garment. How do you know she threw away her garment?

She threw away her dignity. Because the dignity... Even she threw away her life because she could bear. She could be stoned to death. It was the same thing with the blind man. If the blind man wasn't healed, what would they return to? If this woman wasn't healed and she was caught with the issue of blood, All the people that she had touched with gardens, to not to death. Because according to Jewish customs, all of them are now unclean, unfit to appear in the synagogue, Unfit to appear before men. So as the custom was, she shouldn't have did what she had did. That's somebody throwing her garment away, saying if I perish, I perish.

This is it. There's no plan b anywhere. This is it. This is it. This is it. So what do you do now? You build expectation in your heart. That expectation that you are building in your heart from the words you are declaring, from the words you are praying, from the words you are seeing, from testimonies you are sharing, that's what you should gather yourself and your friends to be talking about. Not stupid gist. This is a sacred moment, you see.

Not synergists. Did you hear what that girl shared in church? My god. My God. Don't take spiritual convictions for granted. As you gather yourselves in twos and threes, and all you are discussing is testimonies, testimonies of faith. Something is happening in your heart. Your heart is being charged. Your heart is being encouraged. These are the kind of conversations you should be having.

Have you not seen... For those of you who are students, you would have had this experience that when an exam is coming and you gather in twos and threes and fives, and what people are conversing about is how hard the exam is, something begins to die inside of you. You you... There is fear that starts building up. It walk the same way with faith. Yes, sir. Leave such people alone. Yes, Find people that are... Think that are going the same way as you. Yes, sir.

Talk about the power of God. How sweet it is. That's what I speak about with my friends. The power of God. How sweet it is. Number three. Let me say this one for a closer. Before I go to number three, when you have good expectations, write it down Because it leads us to the next thing I'm gonna say. Write it down. Write it down.

The paper you're writing it on has no usefulness. The only usefulness is that it it it allows you to be deliberate. There's no spiritual principle to the paper you write it on. It only allows you to be deliberate. Then hunger. I said steer hunger. Right? Sir. Psalms 63 verse one says, my soul thirsteth for thee. It tests for you.

My soul tests for you. My flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. Next verse. It says, so I have looked for you in the sanctuary. That when I appear before the sanctuary, there's a test in my heart. What am I looking for? To see your power and your glory. That is the test that rises in the heart of this man when he appears before the sanctuary. See, there is a spiritual complacency that settles over people when they become satisfied with how little they know and how little of God they have seen, how little they practice. There's a kind of complacency, how little they give even, how little of God they've touched.

When when when you become satisfied, there's a complacency that settles over you. There there are times I tell God there are... There is more I want to do. I I I can't be satisfied because I've not I've not touched enough. I've not seen enough. There are dimensions of power and the glory of God that I've not yet experienced and I must experience. It creates a sense of hunger. It's why the psalmist says, to see your power and your glory in the tabernacle. To see your power and your glory. There is a way Psalm 60 verse one describes the glory of God.

There's a way Isaiah 60, describe the glory of God. Isaiah 52, describe the glory of God. I've not seen it like that. Gentiles shall come. Kings shall come. When you read scriptures, even you see things to be hungry for as you read scriptures. You read the story of Jesus. You see things to be hungry for. You look at the body of Christ and you see testimonies in the body of Christ and you see things to be hungry for. There is more can do for the kingdom.

I'm not doing enough. My financial power has to increase. I cannot see. Is there something about this part to make wealth I've not touched? This part to make wealth I've not seen. The Bible says it is in God. It is in God. It is in God. It is in God. It means I can find it.

I can find it. It says you will seek and you will find when all your is involved. So when you are coming for meetings like this, write these things down. Think about these things. Meditate on them. Say it to yourself. Speak it to your friends. Stay up hunger within you. Return to messages on hunger. Listen to them.

Spend time considering what your life can be. What is still missing? What graces are not available yet, Lord? I've seen wisdom, but it's not all. I've seen favor, but it's not all. I've seen your blessing in my life but it's not all. I know that there is more. I know that there is more. There can be more to touch. Yes.

The holy ghost is locked up in my head. Thank you for listening. We believe you've been blessed. To be a part of this vision, you can connect with us on YouTube at disciples television, on Instagram at dcn underscore nations, and on telegram at dcn media channel. We love you. Stay blessed.