Transcript: Redefining Success
Prepared from the audio, so small errors are possible.
God's word is alive and powerful. It is sharper than any double edged sword. His word can cut through our spirits and souls and our joints and marrow until it discovers the desires and thoughts of our hearts. Join apostle Emmanuel as he takes us on a journey into the word of God. It is time to encounter God, be transformed by his word, and empowered by his spirit. What I'm gonna be teaching today is an introduction to a series that I'm gonna be considering. I'm not gonna title it the same thing, but it's gonna be around the same subject matter. It's gonna be around the same thought pattern that we'll be considering. Glory to God. On Tuesday is when I would really start that teaching, but I want to just introduce that teaching to us today.
You can title what I'm gonna be sharing with us in this short period of time, redefining success. Redefining success. Please pay attention. Listen as though your life depends on it. Listen as though your destiny depends on it because in truth, it does. Are you are you with me? Yes, sir. In truth, it does. Good morning to you, by the way. The word success, successful, succeed are words that we use a lot in our world today.
And every human being, no matter who they are, no matter where they are, no matter where they live, all want to be successful. Is there anybody here that doesn't want to be successful? Now that would not have been a problem if our definition of success wasn't so impaired. The word now defines success by the superficial rewards that are so glorified by the media like wealth, power, fame, influence, affluence, luxury, prestige. So if you have these things, you are successful. That's why people want to snap pictures in front of private jets, in front of cars, in front of houses so that people can know that they are successful. And it works because it is on account of these things that people choose role models, people choose mentors. And so if you have someone who you perceive to be successful, usually, it is because of the things that they have gathered materially speaking. Glory to God. You'll be so blessed.
Amen. Even as a nation, this confused definition of success is now a very serious concern. From an early age, many of us were drilled to pursue material achievement so much so it became the goal of our educational pursuit. Parents would usually urge their children to work hard so that they can be somebody in life. And by somebody, they mean someone with accumulated possessions. Sometimes some people do not even care how these children come about it. They just want to be able to sit with their... Sit within their social class and boast of their children and what their children are now doing. Oh, do you know my son is not the CEO of this bank? He recently got promoted, and the other one answers.
Even my my daughter just got married, got married to the MD of a particular oil industry. You can't imagine how much my daughter sends me every month so that when they gather amidst their social class, there is a subject of this cost based on what we perceive to be success. There are different magazines and social media outlet that are complete with cover photos that glamorize the rich and the famous. You have Forbes 30 under 30, where they list 30 people who are billionaires before the age of 30. 25 most successful women in Africa. 10 houses occupied by the rich. 50 richest men in Africa. And you see all these things, and young people are are, you know, attracted to these things. They wanna read about it. They wanna study about it.
There are songs right now about being rich and famous. Schools now add to the pressure by using a competitive grading system and by offering rewards for outstanding performances. All of this makes the average young man pursue after the material and a sense of relevance as an estimation for success. So the average young man is pursuing after material possessions and a sense of relevance, and he believes that if he should get these things, then he is successful. How many people know you? How popular are you? How famous are you? How many houses do you have? How many cars do you have? Do you have a private jet?
Do you have the latest car? Can you buy the latest Bentley? Do you use the latest phone? Do you use the latest laptop? How many followers do you have on Instagram? How many followers do you have on TikTok? What is your monthly revenue for your business? What is your annual turnover? How much are you getting paid where you are working? Do this question sound familiar?
We now have social media. This quest for success now make people do all kinds of things just to gain relevance on social media. Why is a lady opening her body and dancing in front of social media naked? Why? A a semblance of success. A semblance of relevance. A semblance of fame and popularity. If I ask you, how many of you want to blow? You'll be amazed. In humility, you put your hands down, but your hand is raised in your heart.
You know that your hand is raised. Some of you have imagined what you would do if you were popular, how your autograph would look like. Some of you have imagined how many cars, how many convoys would follow you. One of my young men went to an event, and then the person that invited him to the event was heavily protected by security officials carrying guns and had a convoy working with her, and the young man just put his hand on his head. He said, I like this. The quest for success, that desire for relevance, that desire for popularity, for fame, for a semblance of of of of influence, for material possession, the accumulation of it. Our concept of success has therefore birthed a relentless pursuit to be successful. And that relentless pursuit with respect to this definition of success never ends well. History has proven it. Scripture has proven it that this concept of success, this definition of success, what it leads men to do, it never ends well.
The pursuit of material success is one of the leading major causes of divorces in homes today. Husbands and wives are lost in the pursuit of their career, that their children and their family and their marriage pay the price for it ultimately. They leave home 6AM in the morning. There's no time for intimacy because success is being pursued. There's a promotion that must back, increase in sales, expansion in the business, more money, more wealth, more riches, more cars, more houses. The absence of a sense of success and relevance is one of the leading causes of suicide in today... In today's world. People result of violence, armed robbery, corruption. To have an appearance of success. Politicians steal, manipulate, control people for the same reason.
Why are elections rigged? Because people want to be elected as governors. Succeed. They want to be... They want it to be said that in their generation, they also became governors. And these people never really have any objective, any goal, any anything really. It is just the desire and the quest for success. And anything, any area, any route that can get me there, I'm willing to go there or go through that route and do whatever I can do to succeed. Politicians do this. A quest for power, a quest for relevance because of this very misplaced and impaired definition of success.
Thank you, Jesus. Absalom in scriptures was like this. He wanted to be king by all means. Do you remember Absalom? He was consumed by this ambition. He manipulated his family, staged a coup against his own father, rebelled against his family, rebelled against his nation, all because of the quest for success, all because of the motivation to have a sense of of relevance, or because of material possession, wealth, riches. Remember, Gehazi lost his his destiny as a prophet to carry that Elijah's mantle also because of this. Riches. Riches. He traded his destiny for riches, and he did not care.
The prophet told him, this money is not ours to be collected, but as long as this money will had will had will had to my sense of relevance, it doesn't matter whether it's mine to collect or not. This money is mine. There are many men of God who have visited native doctors, joined different kinds of fraternities, manipulated members, and compromised on on their message, compromised on their faith, swindled people of their money because of success, because they want to have big ministries. People have visited native doctors for this reason. They visited for this reason. My ministry must be big. People must know me. I must be famous. And that quest of success dictates their strategies, dictates their pattern of ministry, how they run ministry, even what is allowed and what is not allowed. There are people that have merchandised their prophetic callings and giftings because of a quest for success.
I must have money. And so because God has blessed me with the prophetic gifting, you see, what I do is therefore manipulate people through the prophetic to give me their money, sow a seed for breakthrough, sow a seed for favor, sow a seed for all kind things because of the quest for success. When you go on social media right now, you would see that most men of God you see, there's always a camera following them. They... And then when they go for meetings, you would see how that they are dropping from their SUV, very big, neat, brand new SUV, and then you see somebody carrying their bags, and you see somebody, you know, holding their holding their their their iPad, holding their phones, and the man is wearing a polished suit and a polished shoe, and he's walking into the venue. And then you are seeing a a young man who is just starting ministry. He's seeing this picture, and his motive is already corrupted. What he admired is not the labor of ministry. It is the it is the half flowing that surrounds it, the result that surrounds it, the the glory that surrounds it. What is the...
Is admiring? His motive for wanting to go into ministry is now that one day, he can come out of an SUV. And because of that, he's willing to do anything and peradventure the way of God seem too slow. He can circumvent that way and visit all the means if available. Are you seeing this problem here? This is the reason why there are many expressions in the body of Christ that that that are that are false today. A quest for success. People have changed their message, used strategies that are not of God because of this quest for success. We must be on social media. We must have...
There's a way that the ministry must appear on social media. And even though God has not helped us to that extent, we will loan money, we would borrow money, we would do all kind of things just to give ourselves that same blands of success. People live fake lives. When you are here. You are here. When you you are are here. When are here. When As I was teaching, I saw a vision, and I saw ribbons falling from heaven. Ribbons falling from heaven. And God asked me to chant that song so that the potters can be opened.
Whenever I see ribbings falling, it shows that the angels for healing, the angels that anoint men for signs and wonders, miracles, and healings have arrived. I don't know who has prayed for this. I don't know who have fasted for this, but be very sensitive in this meeting because there will be A lot of people are constantly depressed. They feel unworthy. They feel less than their peers. When they look at their lives and they realize that they did not have a sense of relevance as marked by the presence of money, cars, houses, fame, the latest gadgets, the latest clothes. Young people now dupe and scam people for money. Some even go to native doctors to have some sort of spiritual advantage in scamming people for money, duping people for money because of this sense of life. Because of this desire to succeed, Two people were having a discussion, and one said to the other, can you imagine? One of my friends was telling me that he went to go and do the the the advanced side of scamming people for money, and they told him that the sacrifice would have to be his mother.
And the friend now told him, the person he was talking to say, and so if it guarantees that you have money, I can sacrifice anybody. The guy said, ah, even your mother, he said, ah, even my mother will thank me for sacrificing her. He said, what kind of life will you now live when you sacrifice somebody for money? The guy replied, now that I don't have money, what kind of life am I living? It will amaze you what people are willing to do just to have a semblance of success. Everybody gathered here right now have an innate desire to succeed. Something is wrong. Something is wrong with our definition of success. A generation has to wake up and realize that whoever defined success for us defined it wrong. The pursuit of success has also led people to legitimately follow after their career paths, building massive financial portfolios for themselves in the process, but many of them have forgotten...
Have gotten rather to the peak of their career. And they realize when they get there that there is no fulfillment, there's no there's no satisfaction despite all they have amassed. Because of success, he decided that he will study and rise to the peak of his career. So he became a professor, studied all through school, went through the rigorous process of getting a master's, having a PhD, having a... Because he wants to be the best in his field. Bug all the certificates, bag all the awards, bag all the rewards. And there are many people who stand in their mansions who have legitimately followed their career path as it were or their business choices as it were, and they've succeeded in it so to say, but there's no sense of fulfillment and satisfaction. They feel empty despite having all that a man can think of. Despite having all that a man can think of, Hecliozastus is the one who said, vanity upon vanity, all is vanity. I will show you very soon why that man spoke like the...
Like that. When you read the book of Ecclesiastes, you'll be afraid. You will wonder what then is the reason for life. What are we now doing? Because every single thing, the guy called it vanity. The guy even says eating food is vanity. He said getting a job is vanity. He even said marrying is vanity. What else is there? I will show you I will show you the perspective of the person that is speaking.
There are so many successful people who, like Solomon, they've realized that all they spend their life pursuing is vanity. I've told you here before of that young man, that DJ, who died before the age of 30, killed himself, committed suicide whilst having a concert. People were waiting for him. It was the largest concert organized by a DJ in America. Millions of people were waiting for him, and he was nowhere to be found. His friends went to the hotel and found him dead, wrote a letter. I've seen it all. What else is there? He wrote some of the most popular songs you now sing. We're not...
If you if you are led by God, you don't sing them. But some of the most popular songs in the world right now... I checked his YouTube some time ago, and I saw some of his videos having 2,000,000,000 views, 1,000,000. If the world is 8,000,000,000 people, this guy has 2,000,000,000 views. There's no man of God on YouTube who has that on any message. What even gave Rick Coleman? 2,000,000,000 views. Some 1,500,000,000. Crowd gathering for his concert. The man said, I've seen it all.
What else is there? When he when he realized that there is nothing else, there's literally nothing else. Why? Because he has he has he has he has touched everything you are laboring to touch right now. And after touching everything, still felt that emptiness within. I call it the poverty of satisfaction. The poverty of satisfaction. You you think that when you finish school and you get a good job, your life will make meaning. But you realize eventually that at every milestone you reach and you touch, as you are touching them, there is eternity that was planted in your heart that makes you unsatisfied with every level you ever touch physically. And there are people on the other side of that divide who have pursued success by every means, and they've not attained it.
And they feel constantly on worthy of existence because when they look at themselves with respect to what their peers have gathered, it seems as though their ministry is not as big. Their business is not as prosperous. Their house is not as flashy. Their car is not as big. And because of that, they perceive themselves not to be as successful as the other person. Who defines success for us? Do you know that when we look at ministers of God, we ultimately rate their greatness based on how popular they are? Even some rate their anointings based on their popularity. So we say, this man. So as long as a minister of God is getting wave and is trending and is parking crowd, a lot of us are willing to listen because we believe that result means God is there.
And there are many people who, of course, we don't we don't top down on results, but this overemphasis on results. There are people who say things like who say things like, forget English. Do you have power? There are people when you wanna start in the word of God, they say, close that thing. Do you have power? Do you have results? It is herald. If you're not careful, it will lead us eventually to herald. It will lead us to a place where we don't vet the source of the results just because there is result. That English, they said we should live.
It is how the ways of God are communicated to you. And it takes... The Bible says God revealed his ways to Moses, his acts onto the children of Israel. Through whom did God reveal his acts to them? It was through Moses. It was the one who understood the ways that could produce the acts. And somebody is saying ignore the English. Touch results, they say. This is the reason why many Chalatans have risen in the body of Christ, and we're unable to tell the difference. A man of God is starting ministries.
Motivation is I must be great. When that becomes your motive for ministry, you have already failed before you started. You have failed before you started. You know why you have failed? Because that motivation is not the motivation for genuine ministry. That motive is not the... Is not is not what God blesses for genuine ministry. That motive advances self. And anything that advances self is against the government of God. Anything that is against the government of God advances the kingdom of darkness.
It means that man will build ministry using strategies from the kingdom of darkness to build what he claims to represent God. And if the devil has a seed in your ministry, he will request one harvest when it grows. So because of his motivation, he's willing to do anything. He's willing to borrow money, get money from enemies, invite a popular musical artist, put their person's face on flyer, put his face on flyer. At least if they see this person, crowd will come. He's willing to break the bank, do anything because his push, motive, his success. He's driving a car, and he's not okay with the car that he's driving. He said, man of God, I know drive SUVs. So one day, will come and preach. You have to give.
Listen. If they're not giving, they will not prosper. The motive behind the giving message is he want... He wants to change his car. He wants to change his car. He needs a SUV. Some of you are holding 10,000,000 naira. You must empty it and give to God. You don't know that so many seemingly successful people suffer from poverty of satisfaction and meaningless existence. I have found out that a professional career and a large bank account cannot replace this absent ingredient.
To be successful and unfulfilled is to be miserable. To have an apparent of success and to be unfulfilled in that success is the height of miserability. You will sit down, and you will not know what else you can hide to give your life meaning. And so you will go to you will go to smoking. This was where the man, Solomon, found himself. That was why he wrote many of the things he wrote in Ecclesiastes. Don't wanna go ahead of myself. How the man started was not how he proceeded. Are you with me? Remind me that we have to do so long.
We have to do so long. There are many people right now who have risen to the height of their career path, and they are eventually faced with the shocking reality that forty years of their life, they have pursued another man's dream. Another man's expectation of them. It might be their parent. So they are living another man's reality. They are living another man's expectation. Somebody told them that you have to be an engineer. You have to be a doctor. My father was a doctor. My mother was a doctor.
Hi. I'm a doctor. Your wife... Your your mother is a doctor. We have said there's nobody in this family who will not be a doctor. My children are doctors, and this guy has a passion for something, but then because he feels as though this is how... I mean, my father who is doctor is successful, wealthy, rich, influential. I mean, this must be the past to it. And so he's taught this hard and also becomes a doctor. And right to the peak of that, his career becomes the the CMD of a top hospital, and he's doing well for himself, crossing over 1,500,000 a month.
A day will come, he will be driving home, and he will suddenly he will suddenly realize he's not happy, and he will have no idea why. He will get home to his wife, and he will be hungry for no reason. Because there's unfulfillment and a poverty of satisfaction. He has lived his entire life pursuing another man's dream. So at the end of his life, the expectation was somebody else's expectation. Remember, it's God who said that the plans I have towards you are good and not of evil to give you a future and unexpected end. It means if you get to your end, what you should... It is God that should determine and decide our end. If the... If your end is as God expected it, is the only time you would find fulfillment.
If your end is as man expected it, you realize that no matter how many height and torques you built, it will be filled with sorrow. Hi. This year, it is quiet this morning. This is an encouragement. This is the reason why it is important that for the time like this to redefine our definition of success. Do you know that a young man can start ministry ministry or start his life or gain admission or even gain or get a job right now? And he uses he uses what is happening in the life of others to estimate whether or not he's succeeding. So he looks at his life for instance and says, my my classmates, when we're in SS three is married, this one that we finish together is married. I am already 20 whatever, and I'm not married. So is something wrong with me?
And they they... Their own definition of delay is how far their life is from the life of their peers. And many people have run out of patience in working with God because they are in a hurry to ensure that there is a semblance of meaning and relevance in their life. What is God's idea of success? Can we attempt to find out what is God's idea of success? What is God's idea of success? Let's have an arrangement. Arrangement is that today, don't sing with me. Your voice will corrupt what I want to do. Sorry.
It's it's it's not... No offense. No offense intended. But I don't need you in this equation. It's me and my father. It's me and my lover. Is that okay? It's just... You can pray in tongues. You can pray in tongues.
Help yourself pray in tongues. I don't need your own help. God will do what God wants to do when God wants to do, you see. Yes. Yes. So pray in tongues. Pray in the spirit. Help yourself. Help yourself to ascend so that you can hear at the frequency at which I'm speaking. So that you will not hear words.
So that what you hear is spirit and life. There there are some of you, your spirit man is damn thin. And as such, what you are what you are hearing is just English. Intelligent communications of a man. But what what what I'm saying is beyond English. It is spirit and their lives. And so you can help yourself by bringing the holy ghost in hinter house even as you are listening so that your spirit man can ascend, can come up either to start seeing realities. So just stay with me. Stay with me. We are building.
If we build the way we are supposed to build, when we get to where we are going, the holy ghost will come. That's why I don't need interruption. You see? Yes. If we do what we are supposed to do, it will honor that pattern with his presence. Of course, he's already here, but the Shekinah will overshadow this place, overwhelm this place. Because when I came, I saw surgeries happening in people's hearts. I saw God exchanging hearts. And so when that cloud of glory comes, when it reaches... When we get to where we are going, it will be obvious we are there.
When the surgeries happen, then the angels who came with packages will now be able to deliver the package. It's not this version of you that they came from. And so God is intentional to ensure that we build. So as we build, we steer the waters. You see, this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. Don't say amen, but there are people that in this meeting will receive a physical shift in business and in career and in ministry. By reason of the transformation that is about to happen to their heart. Yes. Finally, you become a prepared vessel, a ready vessel. The reason why it looks as though things have not picked up the way things should have picked up is because of the corrupted heart that you have used in pursuing after what God intends to give you, but with the wrong motivation.
And God himself is the one who will conduct this surgery. Stay with me. That you know himself to do according to all that is written within it. For then, you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. The word success there is the word. The word success there. It would interest you to know that this word success, the word, this is the only place that it appears in the entire bible. In other words, you would not find the word success in the King James version of the bible, in any other place apart from this, because it's the word. Are you with me? Before I tell you what the word means, let me tell you my opinion of the reason why there is such a scarcity of the usage of this word success.
Are you with me? In many portions of the bible, you will read the bible and find out God blesses people. God prospers people. I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper. Even as thy soul prosperous, the Lord takes pleasure in the prosperity of his of his servant. God gives us all things richly to enjoy. Look at what the bible says. It is the Lord thy God that giveth the power to prosper. The bible even mentions how many people God blessed. In Genesis 12, the bible says God blessed Abraham.
In 13, the bible says he was rich in silver and cattle. In gold, he was rich in silver, rich in cattle, rich in gold. So the bible is full of stories upon stories of people God blessed and prosper in scriptures. But however, there is only one usage of the word success, and it's found in the book of Joshua chapter one verse eight. I believe this is because God already knew humanity's innate vulnerability to the allure of material possession. That men would easily be swayed by the over emphasis on material things being that we live in a material world. And people will measure their relevance by how much they've been able to accumulate in the material world. So there is a scarcity of that term in scriptures so that in your entire pursuit in life, you will not be tilted towards that direction. However, the bible does emphasize that it is God's will for the believer to have good success, not success. Note that the only reference of success in scripture does not stand alone.
There's good at the back. In other words, any kind of success doesn't quite pass on as success for a believer. There is God's idea of success, and the bible calls it good success. It means there is bad success. Stay with me. And so many... So few people have entered the economy of good success. So few. So few. There is God's idea of success.
God says, his idea of success is good. Do you remember that the trademark of God when he creates is good? In Genesis 12, the Bible says all that he created was good. Are you with me? Good success thereby implies that God is responsible for and involved in that success. To understand God's idea of success, you must understand God as creator. What did I say? I've showed you that good success therefore implies that God is responsible for and involved in that success. That success is defined by God. When God created things, God looked at the things he created and said they are good.
In other words, a man can succeed, and God will look at that success and say it is not good. Because I'm not the one that fashioned it. I'm not the one who fashioned it. So it is not good. So how does God fashion success? What is God's definition of success? To understand God's idea and definition of success, you must understand God as a creator. Without this understanding, you cannot know what God means by success. God did not create the earth just to have fun with the earth. He didn't create the earth as a toy.
There is a purpose behind the creation of the earth. The earth is to be an extension of God's spiritual kingdom. As the monarch of the universe, he created the heavens in perfection. He wanted to rule and to extend his rulership, so he created the physical realm. The idea was that the earth was to be a reflection of the perfected heaven, of the perfection in heaven due to God's influence. So what is the purpose of the creation of the earth? What was God's idea for creating the material realm? It is to be the reflection of the kingdom of heaven so that by looking at the physical realm, you can see God demonstrate it. God has this in mind when he created the earth. It was the intention of God to extend his domain, and how he chose to do it was to create an immaterial realm separate from the immaterial realm that he lives in.
And the idea was that that material realm will give expression to him and to his kingdom so that by looking at the material realm, you understand the immaterial. Are you with me? Yes, sir. In the book of Colossians chapter one and verse 15, I think we are talking too much. Let's do scriptures. Speaking of Jesus, the bible says, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Is the image of the invisible God. Can you see this? The firstborn over all creation. The material realm was created to reflect the spiritual realm, and Christ is the ultimate representation of this reality being the image, the visible expression of the invincible God.
What God wanted to do was that he he he made himself flesh so that by seeing the physical expression of himself, you understand the spiritual expression of himself. Are you with me? So the bible says, Jesus being the brightness of his image. The express image of his person. Are you with me? So that when you look at Jesus, you understand the spiritual God that you have been interacting with. That's exactly what God had in mind when he made the earth. So that by seeing the earth, you can understand and know what God is and what the value system of his kingdom represents. Let's do Romans one in New Living Translation. Romans one nineteen, we'll read on to verse 20.
The bible says, they know the truth about God. Listen. They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. Can you see what that says? They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. The question is, how did he make it obvious to them? Verse 20. Forever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invincible qualities, his eternal power, and his divine nature so that they have no excuse for not knowing God. Do you understand this?
Is it clear enough? Everything God created in the earth has a purpose therefore. Every tree, every animal, every bird, everything serves a purpose. Nothing was created for the fun of it. And so when God decided to create man, there was also a reason, a purpose for which man was created. Stay with me. I'm going somewhere. There was also a purpose and a reason for which man was created. It is this purpose that is the only source of meaning. Without purpose, life is an experiment.
It is a journey that results in frustration, disappointment, failure. Without purpose, life is subjective. Life is just a trial and error game that is ruled by environmental influences and the circumstances of the moment. Without purpose, your life become tossed about by outside forces like a ship that is adrift in the sea. Without purpose, time has no meaning. Energy has no reason. Life has no provision. God does nothing without the reason. We must therefore find out what is the reason behind the creation of man. And consequently, what does God plan to do with your life?
In understanding that, we would now know exactly what God's definition of success is. Are you still with me? Yes. I told you that the laggard scope of God's program is to make the earth an extension and a reflection of the heaven. That is God's program. It's to make the earth an extension and a reflection of heaven. It was what Jesus expressed in Matthew six, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That is God's eternal counsel. That is God's program. The question is, what is the place of man in that program?
Are you with me? Genesis one twenty six. The bible says, God said, let us make man in our image. You see, let us make man in our image. This is very important. After our likeness, let them have dominion over the sea. So God decided God is the creator. God is the inventor. Is that not so? And God is defining how he wants to make man.
Let us make man in our image. And by reason of us making man in our image, it can then have dominion over the fishes of the sea. In other words, what ensures that man has dominion is the fact that man is in God's image. Are you with me? God decided the blueprint of man before he gave man a function. Let us make man in our image after our likeness. And when that man has been made in our image, after our likeness, he then has everything necessary to maintain dominion. Is that clear enough? Verse 28, the bible says, and God blessed them. And God said to them, be fruitful and multiply.
Fill the earth. Subdue it. So man's place was to have dominion over everything that God had created. Remember, everything God creates has a purpose, but the intention for man's creation was to reign over everything God has created. Man was to oversee it. Man was to manage it. Man was to tend it. Man was to keep it. Man was to preserve it. Man was to multiply it.
Man was to be creative, be productive. The word be fruitful in Hebrew means be productive. It doesn't mean get pregnant. In Hebrew, it means directly transferred. From Hebrew, it means be productive. This was man's responsibility. Multiply the influence of heaven on earth throughout the earth. In doing that, you will get... You will have children. Those children would also take a portion of this mandate.
Are you with me? And extend this mandate. This was the original idea. It means success, therefore, could only be measured to the extent to which man succeeded in the assignment that he was given. No matter what man becomes, if he does not fulfill the reason for his creation in the mind of the creator, he has failed. It means the only person that can, by this reason, define success is the creator. The inventor of a product is the right person to define whether or not that product is a success because he holds the blueprint of that product. He knows how the product was designed to function. It means outside of God, our definition of success is wrong. Are you with me?
If I make a phone, the the phone is only as successful as its ability to function as to how I've I've designed it to function. So if I make a phone and it's unable to make phone calls, it it... Let's say it's paused for whatever reason, and I pick up the phone and I say, well... Or or a tablet for instance. And I pick up the tablet after it is paused and say, well, this thing is now sporty. But I'm looking for a table tennis racket. So let's use this instead. I will start playing table tennis with the tablet. It is performing a function, but is it successful? Why?
Because it's not performing the function for which it was created. It means only the inventor can define success. Only the creator can define success. I was speaking to one of my young women and said, sir, I want to succeed. And I looked at her. I said, my God. My God. If I want a phone to be able to make calls, browse the Internet, I'm gonna I'm gonna design that phone with all the intricacies and all the structures and all the components that that phone must have to be able to fulfill that function. Is that not so? That phone will come heavily loaded with the ability to perform the function for which I want it.
I can't take a Nokia thirty three ten and demand from a Nokia thirty three ten the functionalities of an iPhone. You know why? Because it was not infused with a component that an iPhone has. Are you with me? That is why God began the way he began. That's why God said, let us make man in our own image. Let us make man after our own likeness. With respect to how we have made him, let's not define his function. Do you understand what I'm saying? God is telling us the component of man that makes man able to perform his function.
Why is this knowledge important? Because when man fell, the fall of man affected the agenda of God. Remember, the reason why God is putting all these things in man, his image, his likeness, his everything in man was for one purpose, to be an extension. Are you with me? Yes, sir. To be an extension of God's kingdom on earth. But when man fell, man's fall affected the deployment of the initial program of God. Man's fall affected the agenda of God. Are you with me? The program remained the same, but the program could no longer be fulfilled by man.
I will tell you why. I'll tell you why. The consequence of the fall of man meant that man died spiritually. Genesis two and verse 17. In the day you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in that day, you will surely die. So a man heard of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in that day, he died, but the death wasn't physical. It would eventually be physical, but it started as a spiritual death. Are you with me? Yes, sir. That death is a severing from God.
Man was no longer right with God. God could not fellowship with man because man had wronged with God. Please stay with me. In other words, man was no longer righteous. Man was now a sinner, and this was humanity as a whole. Humanity was no longer righteous. Humanity has died, and so the part of humanity that makes humanity contact God is dead. Man was no longer in God's likeness. Man was no longer in God's. Man was no longer in God's image rather.
Are you with me? Yes, sir. Or likeness even. What does that mean? What does that mean? I designed a phone and I say, this phone is to make phone calls, browsing, and all of that. Right? This phone that I've made, to be able to do all of these things, this phone must have a battery. This phone must have camera to snap picture because one of the function of the phone is to take pictures. This phone must have a WiFi connection.
This phone must have... And I put all the components inside this phone. Something there happens to the phone. The phone's battery now spoil. The phone's camera now spoil. Are you with me? Do you realize that what is wrong with the phone now makes the phone incapable of fulfilling its function despite the phone still exists. Are you with me? Yes, sir. That's what happened when man's spirit died.
It means it means God... The reason why God made man has now been affected. Man could no longer fulfill the function to which he was made because the component to which he would fulfill that function has been affected. Are you with me? Yes, sir. How was God's program affected? Number one, God's program was affected because man died spiritually. Man lost connection with God. Man was no longer right with God. Man no longer had relationship with God.
Number two, by reason of man's death spiritually, man lost power. Man lost dominion. Man lost authority. And if man lost authority, how can he enforce dominion? Remember there were demons on earth. Falling angels, I mean. They were Hanimas, beasts of the sea. And the moment man lost dominion and authority, man could no longer enforce dominion. So look at this. Man died.
The death of man meant that man could no longer have access to God. Man could no longer relate with God. Because of that, man lost dominion. Man lost authority because the authority came as a result of man's relationship with God. So when man could no longer relate with God, man lost authority. When man lost authority, it meant that the authority that man enforced on the earth was no longer available. So everybody that man had authority over would no longer see authority on man. Let me explain it to you. An army an army officer commits an offense and is disbarred. They strip him of his clothes.
Take the army uniform away from him, And they say, from today ends what you are now a civilian. Do you know what army used to call civilians? A bloody civilians. So before, while he was on that uniform, that uniform gave him authority. The gun he was holding gave him power. That's the authority and power. Authority is the is the legal right to exercise power. Are you with me? Yes. So it's possible to have power without authority.
Are you with me? Yes. So when that man comes, you fear him because of his uniform. The moment you see an army officer wearing a uniform, what do you do? That was what it meant for man to be in the image of God. Every time lion saw man, what he was seeing was God. Every time everything saw God, what they were seeing saw man, what they were seeing was God. So do you misbehave in front of a soldier? So the lion could not misbehave. Nothing...
The mosquito could not misbehave. Nothing... Come on. Can you suck God's blood? Can his daughter be drinking water? You go to say, can you give me water? Are you with me? That was what man represented. So when man died, man was stripped of his clothing. So the next...
After that conversation was done, with the next man appeared, he was no longer wearing army uniform. Everybody that he had intimated now saw him and say, ah. That's that's that's lunch. There was no more authority. Now you see, so it means he could no longer enforce dominion. Why did God create him? Let them have dominion. Are you with me? If an invention can no longer perform the function for which it was made, it means it's not successful. Are you with me?
But that's not all. That's not all. In Genesis three five, this is where I'm going. Genesis three five, the bible says, for God knows this was... This was happened interacting with the woman. For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil. This was the third consequence of the fall. This was the third way that God's program was affected. The devil come and tell them, God knows in the day you eat of this fruit, your eyes will open. You will be like God.
You will know good and evil. The question is, which eyes will open? Which eyes were they currently using to see? Do you understand what I'm saying? Read verse seven. Verse seven. In verse six, the earth of the fruit. In verse seven, look at this. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they saw that they were naked. Watch this.
The third way the program of God was affected was that the high man lost spiritual senses, and man's physical senses was opened. That was the third way by which God's program was affected. This shows you that this is not how God designed man. It was the fall that made man aware of his physical environment above his spiritual reality. The way God designed man was to see from inward, outside, not from outside inward. That means that man was incapable of unbelief. Man was incapable of doubt because man perceived life from the realm of the spirit. Are you with me? Outside into the physical realm. So the realm of the spirit was superimposed into the physical realm.
So man saw first from the realm of the spirit before he saw the physical realm. Do you get this? So man could walk on water because he never saw impossibility in walking on water. But the moment man's physical eyes opened, man now knew I can drown. You're not getting what I'm saying? Do you understand what I'm saying? There were... Man could not... There there was no... As long as man saw, and that was how God made man.
To see from inside out, To interpret things from the realm of the spirit outwardly, not from outside, inside. Do you understand what I'm sharing with you? And this thing was so powerful. It was so strong. But even when even when man was asleep, and God put him inside deep sleep, the bible calls it. He gave him spiritual anesthesia anesthesia. Deep sleep, the bible calls it, and plucked out of his ribs, closed it back. When man woke up, a man saw woman. He said, this is the bone of my bone, the flesh of my flesh. For it was taken out of the man.
How did he know? He was sleeping, but man does not see from outside inside. Man sees from the realm of the spirit outward. It means even though he was outwardly sleeping, his spirit was seeing. Do you understand what I'm saying? Yes, sir. You have lost that ability. That's why when you wake up, when you open your eyes, that's when you start seeing. When man slept, his spirit was aware of everything going on in heaven and on earth. So when he wakes up, the next thing is, okay, how do we enforce what we have seen in heaven and earth?
You don't get you don't get what I'm trying say. That was why Jesus said in the book of John chapter five that what I see my father do. It means how man was going to be an extension of God's kingdom in heaven on earth was to see what was happening in God's kingdom. That was why God made man in his image so that man had the ability to perceive his kingdom. Man had the ability, the inherent ability to see what what what God was doing and to therefore do what God was doing on earth. That was what man lost. So because man could no longer see into the realm of the spirit or see God's kingdom, how then can his will be done on earth? As it is in heaven, you cannot see how it is in heaven. So you see, this man is now useless. And God had to salvage this problem by prophesying redemption.
So throughout the old testament, watch this, God's program changed. Watch this. It didn't change from what it was before. It is still very much what it was, but a branch came out of that program to formulate another program. I call it the program of the seed. So all through the old testament, God now prophesied that to salvage what man has done, to to redeem and to correct this anomaly, we would now have to send the seed. The seed of the woman will bruise the head of the serpent. God prophesied redemption. God prophesied a savior was coming. Are you with me?
Yes, sir. Please stay with me. A savior was coming. So all through the old testament, the program of God was now the coming of the Messiah. What did I say? The coming of the Messiah. That was now the program of God because man had lost what it takes to have dominion. God says, don't worry. We'll fix it. Messiah will come.
So all through the old testament, the program of God was now the coming of the Messiah. It means if you were born in that time, the reason you were born was to preserve the gospel of the seed. Number two, to live your life as a prophetic picture of the seed. Number three, to serve, to protect, and to preserve the people of Israel who were the carriers of the seed. Those were the three reasons you were born. It means outside of these three things, if your life is not doing these three things, you were an enemy of God. That was... That is how... That is what explains the Amalekites, Canaanites, Igashites, all those people you read in scriptures that God will save and kill them. Don't don't leave them alive.
Kill their children. Kill their animals. They will be... It is because they stood in opposition to the program of God. It does not matter how successful they were they were. It does not matter how many how many cars and houses they had. As long as they stood in opposition to the program of God, they were enemies of God. Are you with me? If we were born in that time, you had three assignments, one of the three, to be telling your children that Messiah is coming. Go and get my message.
The blessing of Jesus. Messiah is coming. Messiah is coming. Two, to become a prophetic picture of the Messiah that is coming. In other words, your life becomes a prophetic picture of a shadow of the Messiah that is coming. Number three, you live to protect and to preserve the people of Israel that were God covenant people through whom the Messiah will come. If your life is not finding expression, doing any of these three things in the whole testament, you were an enemy of God. You were not successful. Be a king, you are not successful. Are you with me?
It means that definition of an enemy of God is one that opposes the agenda of God. It doesn't matter how prosperous you become. It doesn't matter how wealthy you become. You were not successful. Do you know that the first wealthy man... Let me say... Let me put it this way. The first man in scripture to go into real estate and build a city and become successful, the first man in scripture did so outside the presence of God. In Genesis four, the man called Cain. It it was the first picture of a successful man because he had real estate.
The bible says he built a city. Built a city and named it after his son. But before he did that, he went out of the presence of God and yet built a city. It means a man can accumulate everything you you you ascribe to success or as success outside of God. The first man to do it did not even know God. Are you with me? Yes. So you want the car. You can have a car and not know God. The richest man in Africa is not a believer.
Greatest man in the world is not a believer. So why will all your apostle of God be for wealth? When people who don't know God are wealthier than your forefathers. Why do you think that is God's idea of success? Why do you think that is how God defines success? Are you with me? Yes, sir. In the New Testament, when Jesus came, the seed has now manifested. So the program of God was no longer a seed is coming because the seed that was coming has now come. So there's no prophet right now that will rise up and say, a seed is coming.
That was what all the prophets in the old testament was prophesying. That program has been accomplished. That program has been completed, and the old testament is filled with pictures of successful people that patterned and partnered with that program. Are you with me? However, when Jesus came, then the repair to the original problem could now happen. It means God's original program could now be in the picture again. God could now say yes now that we have repaired it. Imagine that I have a machine. Right? And the machine is for carrying things and it's ports.
Maybe the lever is broken or something. And the pulley system is broken, and it can no longer lift or pick up things or carry things, and it's just there. And we can we can use it as anything. We can be using it as a play a play tool. I will climb it and climb down, but doesn't mean that it's a success. Is that not so? Now if the inventor of that machine who built the machine to carry things and pick up things, now realize that the machine is stopped and so cannot perform its function. Now send the repairer to come and repair the machine, and we bring a new lever. We bring a new pulley, and we bring everything new. The question is, why was the machine repaired?
Was it repaired so that it can become aesthetically pleasing? So that we can all look at it and say, wow. A new machine. A new machine. Everybody see a new machine. That's what happens when we camp around the gospel of salvation. Salvation was the repair. Salvation was the repair. That that was just the repair. There is the...
There is a reason why the repair needed to happen. So when we get in the... When we get souls saved and we leave them like that, say, ah, glory to God. Oh, a soul is saved and we leave them. What we have done is we have repaired the machine, and we've left it. So you're a Christian, Abi? Yes. I'm a Christian. But the machine is there collecting dust, not performing any function, not fulfilling the reason for which it was made. It means the machine can be repaired and still be a failure.
In the New Testament package, you now realize that the solution that came was the solution to the three infirmities that man suffered that affected the program of God. Number one, man died. So in Ephesians two and verse one, the bible says, and you, he made what? Who were dead in trespasses and in sins. Verse five, watch this. The bible says, even when we were dead in trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ. So the first problem was that man died. Repair, he made us alive. The second problem was that man lost authority. Man lost power.
Man lost dominion because man died. Is that not so? Luke ten nineteen, behold, I give unto you power over serpents and scorpions, over the power of the enemy. Nothing shall by enemies hurt you. These signs shall fall under belief. In my name, they will cast out devils. In my name, they will speak with new tongues. In my name, I ah. You see, power Repair was happening. So when a man gets saved, what the man...
What has happened is a repair has happened. Now that man is alive. Now that man has power. Power. I like power. I like power. Like power. Power is... No. It's what is what stops us from talking too much.
Go and get my dream. The kingdom culture of power. The kingdom culture of power. I'm not here to talk about power. I wish I can talk about power. Why? Power. Power. Some prophets went... Some men of God went to go and see a prophet in the mountain.
He said, bring water for me. He brought water. He said, pour it there. He poured it inside a a bottle, inside a bowl. The man held the bottle. He said, a man wore a battery, and the water started boiling in their front. Started boiling in their front. Boiling is power. It's power. That one is called demonstration of power.
It's just... We just demonstrate it to show the world that it's there. So that you know that God is alive. Power can be demonstrated. But there are those of us who go beyond demonstration to now use power to solve problems. So when we live, when we look like this, look like this and people are for that demonstration. It doesn't solve any problem. But can I speak a word into your life? And you would go back and find out that your life... I...
That's power. I don't have time to tell you stories of power. The third the third way that the program of God was afflicted affected was that man's spiritual senses, remember, died. His physical sense is now opened. So in John chapter three and verse three, Jesus now says, verily, verily I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot perceive. In other words, that lust of sight that happened, when a man becomes born again, he starts seeing back. Ah, I'm not saying this. I'm not saying this. In verse one of this scripture, it was Nicodemus that came and said, nobody can do these things you do except God be with him. Is that not so?
Do these things you do. So Jesus realized that, hey, This man wants to do what I'm doing. This man wants to do what I'm doing. No one can do these miracles. So when God... When Jesus saw that he wants to do the miracles he's doing, remember in John chapter five, Jesus said, this what I see my father do. In other words, the secret to doing is seeing the father do. So when Jesus now saw that he was after doing, what he wanted was to do miracles. Jesus said, let's solve the problem. The the reason why you cannot do is because you cannot see.
It means if you want to do, then be born again. The moment you are born again, you see. Your spiritual senses come alive. And when they come alive, you are able to perceive the kingdom of God. This is where God's definition of success is. Because it means that if you are not born again, in God's sight, you cannot succeed. Whatever you have cannot be termed as success. Are you with me? You'll be a musician, and you'll bag 10 Grammys in your lifetime. You'd be an actor and bag 75 Oscars if it's possible.
Assuming you win one every day every every day of your life. There are human beings who have fleet of cars in their garage worth billions of dollars in worth. And God says as long as... It means where success even begins is are you born again. That's where success begins. Before we start investigating, if you are not born again, there's no reason for me to for me to envy your life. I have nothing to envy. So when I start teaching people the word of God, I'm now using unbelievers to exemplify what I'm teaching. I've lost my call. Because in God's system, the...
We're not rich kings in scripture. They were rich kings that did not have... That didn't know God. Pagans to the core. They were. Are you with me? It's not a strange thing that people can have money without knowing God. It is true. But if we go to heaven, what will determine whether or not you are popular among the immortals? First is, are you saved?
Does heaven know you? We can then proceed. Because if heaven knows you, it means that the kingdom of God is now resident within you. The kingdom of God, I like to define as the sphere of divine life. Wherever it is fair, where God's life is... Are you with me? Where God... Where God's life is, his kingdom is. So it means if God's life is now in you, tabernacle in your spirit, the kingdom of God defines or should I say is resident within your spirit. Are you with me?
That's why the bible says, they will not say the kingdom of God is here and there. Low here or low there. The kingdom is within. The kingdom of God is within you because you now have... You are now a bearer of God's life. So it's a sphere of divine life. Wherever you find the life of God, you find the kingdom of God. Are you with me? And because the kingdom of God is within you, the... Because the life of God is within you, the kingdom can now reside within you.
But the kingdom of God is not the kingdom of heaven. A lazy preacher can say they are the same. They are not the same. A lazy preacher can say you can use them interchangeably, but it's not true. In some context, it is true. But in some context, it is absolutely not true. Look at this con... Some context for instance. One, two, three, go. So imagine saying the kingdom of heaven is within you.
It's inside you that heaven is. Are you with me? Yes, sir. There are context where they can be used interageably. No doubt. But there are context you see, there's a obvious distinction. The kingdom of heaven is God's rule in the heaven of heavens. It is a spiritual geographical location. Are you with me? A spiritual geographical location that exists.
That does what? Now because the holy spirit is within you, you now have the ability to perceive realities in the kingdom of heaven. Are you with me? So what the holy spirit does is it serve as your connector or your router to heaven. Now because you are the holy spirit, heaven can now declare its program for your life. Because you have holy spirit, you can now perceive the program of God in heaven. Are you with me? In Philippians three and verse 20, the bible says, but we are citizens. Give me the amplified version. We are citizens of the state which is in heaven.
You see? Listen. So from the day you gave your life to Christ, you became a citizen of heaven. And the token of heaven, which is the holy ghost, is released into you, and that holy ghost is supposed to link you to heaven so that you can now function from your nation and not from earth. Watch this. So the holy spirit enables you to know what is God's purpose over your life. What does God expect over your life? How do you feature in bringing to pass God's program on the earth? That's what the devil comes to do. He now comes to tell you, now that you are now a citizen, let me show you how you now serve a function in bringing to pass God's original program.
Are you with me? It is my living according to that order that now makes me a success on it. That is God's ideal success. It means how much I am able to align myself with the speakings of God from the third heavens concerning my life is how God defines success. It means a man is not successful outside of purpose. It does not matter what you accumulate. It does not matter what you do. A man is not successful outside of purpose. So take for instance, I've become saved, and I joined the church. Let me round up here.
And whilst praying, I perceived that I'm supposed to be an intercessor. Right? God has called me to function in the capacity of an intercessor. How can I perceive this? Because the holy spirit is now resident on my inside. I cannot perceive the reality of heaven. So there's a burden in my spirit. As I'm praying, I can I can perceive things in the heavenly places? How many of you have have... You are praying in the spirit and you start seeing visions of yourself?
You start seeing your future, what you have not yet done in time. Has that happened to anybody here before? And that is sin. That's the sin. That's the perceiving of the spirit. It's the only cause to your insight that makes that a possibility. What God is showing you is your own place in heaven's agenda. Your own place in the program of God. Are you with me? Your own place in the program of God.
So if a man is praying, and whilst he's praying, he he he is pressing into God, and he begins to have a burden to pray, a burden to pray, a burden to pray. And he he he he can sense because he now has the holy ghost on his inside that are meant to be an intercessor. I know it from the Lord. I'm saved. I've joined the church. I know that God's will for my life is to be... Is to intercede. I know it from the Lord. Everyone has approved it already, and God has picked me that I will be the vessel that will bridge the gap between a people, a territory, and God. I will be the one that God will entrust his program to.
That's what intercessors do. You see, one of the responsibilities of interferons is to capture what God wants to do in a country, a territory, a nation, a people, a life. They are to capture a portion of God's program over a territory, over a nation, over a people, over even a person. Are you with me? Yes. And then their responsibility is now to use the favor that they have secured with God by reason of the grace provided for that assignment to now begin to pray that God does what he wants to do. So an intercessor uses prayer as an earthly allowance for heavenly intervention. Because if God wants to do anything, man must pray that God will do what he wants to do. So the bible says, ask the Lord for rain in the time of a little rain. It means because it...
In the time of rain, does not mean they will fall. It means a destiny will not manifest until an intercessor begins to pray for it to manifest. That is... That was the responsibility of Hannah, the prophetess. God showed Hannah, the prophetess, a portion of God's program, which was a messiah is coming. Our responsibility is to now stay in the temple and give ourselves to prayer. The messiah comes. The messiah comes. The messiah comes. The messiah comes.
And he's interceding. As he's doing this, the intercessor uses his favor with God secured by a reason of the grace he has to intercede. To begin to open the heavens, to shake the heavens so that God's program can now find expression on earth. Hear me? So if God is doing anything on earth today, it is because an intercessor interceded. It means it means it means if I begin to capture this thing in my heart, and God has given me a burden to pray, God has given me a burden to pray, the more I ignore God. And every time I feel the burden to pray, I waste my time in watching movies I am failing. It does not matter if I go to work by 6AM the following morning and get to my place of work by 8AM, and I'm punctual, and I'm given a promotion because I'm intelligent. As long as I'm not surfacing the the the the the the the the desire of God for my life and over my life, it does not matter what you accomplish in time to a failure. So after I perceive, I still have a choice as to whether to obey the holy spirit or disobey.
I'm in the kingdom. Yes. The life of God is at work in me. Yes. But I'm not living in obedience to that life. I may fail you. If that is your experience, then that is what it is you have according to God's definition. That's why he says that you may have good success. It means any success outside of this reality is bad. Listen.
Living my life outside the program of God does not make me unsaved. You can still be saved and go to heaven. Yes. But when you get there, you will find out very shockingly that heaven is not as you watched in movies and in book of bible stories. You will find out that there are rewards in heaven. There are rankings in heaven. You will find out that your life, your... Ah. Oh my god. Many of you think you go to heaven and go and walk for the Abraham.
Are you are you joking? Do you think you have the ranking to even see him? The bible said there are gates in heaven. Are there thieves in heaven? There is structure and order. It's not even every angel that has access into his room. Are you with me, brothers and sisters? There are rewards that we will get in heaven, and the reward will be a function of how much of our life was successful based on how much of our life God was able to, you know, use to establish his program on it. So why do you desire prosperity? Do not realize that if the reason is not captured in God's program, you are a failure.
Why do you want to succeed in ministry? If the reason is not captured in God's program, you are a failure. In God's viewpoint, a man is only successful as he allows heaven as much as he allows heaven expression through his vessel. Purpose is the determiner of success. If I'm not living in fulfillment of what God has called me to do, it doesn't matter how many houses I gather. You are not a success in God. What that means is that you are not operating from heaven. Unfortunately, a lot of believer have built mansions for themselves in time, but of no use to heaven in God. Of no use to heaven rather. The bible says, I sought for a man.
Men can be that curse. That's why God is always searching. Do you know that Paul was a very successful man? We're gonna pray now. Do you know Paul was an extremely successful man? He was the brightest student in his class, Paul. He was a Pharisee of Pharisees. That's why he called himself. A Pharisee of Pharisee, I was. He says his passion for being a Pharisee was born in his target under the best of the best, Gamaliel.
And because of that passion, he rose up in ranks. Whenever Paul moved, Paul moved with entourage. Paul never travels alone. He was too successful. He has written in ranks. He has convoy you admire. Can a man succeed in time and use his wealth to partake Jesus? Jesus told Paul, you cannot kick against the brick. I know you are... You want to be rich.
I know you want to succeed. I know. But if this question is not answered, heaven has no hand in your pursuit. When a man understands this, don't worry. Let's call... Let's meet on Tuesday. I will not show you on Tuesday the... What it means to have a call from God. On Tuesday, I'm teaching on demystifying the call of God. I'll not show you what it means to live a life of purpose.
Doesn't mean ministry. Call of God. People think call of God means ministry. Oh, no. I'll now show you that there's blessings attached to the call. Are you with me? There's what? Blessings. It means I cannot live in fulfillment of what God has done, what God has what God has ordained for my life and be broke. That's why the bible says that God takes pleasure in the prosperity of his servants.
Give me that scripture. I will show you what comes ahead of it. God's take pleasure in the prosperity of his servants. Psalms 35. Look at this. Can we read this together? One to go. Us, who do what? It means if you favor God's cause. Start rejoice.
Start rejoicing. Why? Because the Lord has pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. It means there are many men of God. There are few servants. His servant is one who has who has lived his life, who has determined that my life will solely be. And it fulfills the agenda of God. It means I have no possession to the money I own. If God says, let this money go towards his cause. Let them shout for joy and be glad that favor my righteous cause.
So if God says, that that money you are holding, the church is building a building over there. That money is for the church. That is a righteous cause. It says when you begin to favor his righteous cause, just be shouting. Just be glad. Just be shouting. Why? Because the Lord has pleasure in your prosperity. It means the Lord will intentionally ensure that you prosper. If you don't live your life according to this order, you will need to cut corners because you cannot succeed in God.
You have no... You don't have heaven's backing. You don't have heaven's resources. The reason why as a ministry, continue to succeed and not manipulate anybody for money is because of this. The reason why we continue to do big things as a ministry is because of this. The reason why we don't beg for bread is because of this. Apostle Rumoh said, when God told him to resign from his job, He said, at the time he resigned, his current salary was 1,200,000. He said he had over 69 people living in his house, and all of them feed. He eat the... Eat the same food as he does.
So when God told him to resign, he now went to meet God. He said, God, you have said I should resign, but you didn't tell the people to leave. So what will happen now? That evening, God no answer. He prayed. He went he prayed and went to service. When he came to service, he preached. On his way from service home, people started sending him money. Several alerts. By the time he got home, the money was exactly 1,200,000.
That one was not provision. That's a sign. That's the sign. What God was saying is do what I've sent you and what resources back you. That's the meaning of when I sent you, lackest thou anything is when I sent you, not when you sent yourself. When I sent you. So if you lack, it means you must check who sent you. It it it might be that you began sent by God, but you deviated because of an impure motivation. And you started going to places God did not send you. And when I sent you to give, to do ministry, to order crusade, to start that business.
When I sent you, did you lack anything? Did you lack anything? This is the meaning of success in God. This is the meaning of success in God. I started praying around 12AM this morning. Around 5AM, the Holy Spirit came. And I saw people who have been limited following online and listening on-site because of wrong motivations for pursuit of success. So they are obeying kingdom principles with the wrong motive. They come for evolve. They come for kingdom wealth summit.
They they listen to a post. They manage the meditation on prosperity, and they wonder why these things are not working for them because they are not living their life to fulfill the program of God, so God has no commitment over their life. And God says, for these ones, it will come. It will come. It will come and it will proclaim mercy. It will come and it will conduct a surgery. And when that surgery is done, it will now show you a sign that when I sent you, it will happen now. Some will see the sign in this week. Some will see it in this month. Some will say the sign in this year.
When I sent you, when you lived your life to fulfill my program, did you lack anything? So why did you allow people to convince you that you were foolish doing the things that I told you to do? Whereas, whilst you were doing it, you never lacked. But you allow the pressure of men get to you because they thought that the things you were doing were foolish. Yet in those things, you never lacked. Are you ready to pray? There are many people... Their own problem is that they've not even they've not even gone up to heaven to find out what is God's program about their life. They have not... They don't...
They they have the slightest clue what God has said they should do. So they are like they are like they are like an embodiment of power. There's no there's no there's no idea what he has been given power for. There are many people here who there are resources locked in you, potentials locked in you. God has given you every single thing. He made you in his image for that purpose so that that important role you have to play in his program, you can play it. But there are people who they they have not even find out what it is. They are just coasting. They're they're just living life, going to class every morning. Come back.
Sleep. Go to class. Come back. Sleep. And when they are done with that life, you know what next? They get admission, they go to class, come back, sleep, read, pass exam. When they are done, you know what next? They get a job. Go to work, come back, sleep. Go to work, come back.
You know what next? They get married. Then go to work, then come back, then they meet their children, they play with their children, sleep. And they live years confused, having no idea what to do. At age something, they're not saying, ah. I think you know what? I think we have seen Nigeria. Let's go and hustle in America. Maybe when we get there because there's now a a deep lack of fulfillment, lack of... They've been doing the same thing for many years.
They just want a change. And the thing they change they want is the change of environment. The thing that what they... They think, you know what? It's because I've been doing this same thing, so I'm tired of it. No. If you start living purpose, you can never be tired of it. It will... You will be... It has a a a inner working of self regeneration, of excitement and joy.
In doing the same thing, I will do this like that. You can't imagine. You can't imagine the joy on Tuesdays. I can't wait for PM. Hey. On Sundays, I can't wait. I am overly going to come and be a blessing to God's people. It doesn't matter what God has called you to do. There is there is a sense of you are you are rich in satisfaction. You are wealthy in fulfillment, and you can never lack resources.
You can never do it. Lack resources. I was driving here today, and God, as I was driving, I just smiled. I remember the days when I switched to check under the rain. And I would leave my house, Nakwete, and rain will beat me to Abadina. And because I know rain is fun that I must come and preach, I will wear mofty and jeans. And people already pray. I enter bike, rain would beat me around to the toilet to go and get natives. So that will now look fresh. My worker, every gram kerchief will clean clean the body.
But there is satisfaction. We do those things and we never consider them as suffering. It is only purpose that can make you suffer and not suffering. You didn't get that? You didn't get that? That can make you labor and it's not suffering. Guess still what? Guess what? He started to work at 25. He feels the same way every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and every Friday, he's happy.
And he's now 45. He still feels the same way. He will... It won't change. He will let him change up five times. It will be the same calamity. Many of you saw those who live like that. You know, are many people right now who are in their sixties who are not happy for no reason. They are angry with their Now if you are here and you realize that my own affliction is that my eyes are yet to open, I have not even seen anything. I've not perceived anything.
I'm just coasting. One of the things that God will be doing is opening, activating spiritual sight. It's it's one of the things that will be happening here. There will be activations of spiritual sight. There are people that... Anointings have been placed on you for the fulfillment of your assignment, but because you have not seen it, the anointings have not been quickened. There will be activations of all sorts. There are some of you that can literally raise the dead. God has given you the mandate to literally raise the dead, but because your eyes have not opened, you have not seen anything, that thing is locked inside but cannot manifest. There are there are giants in this place.
You will pray. You have heard my sermon. I don't need to give you a prayer point. You pray. If yours is an open of sight, you must pray. Let my sight be opened. If yours is an activation of potential and giftings. Listen. Hear me. Hear me.
Hear me. Hear Do you know that? Listen. Do you know that one of the reasons why John the Baptist died was because he could not see. They asked him, are you the prophet? He said, no. Are you a liar? He said, no. Because he did not know that the mantle he was carrying was that of a lighter, and that mantle is not arrested. They came to arrest that mantle.
In first Kings, they could not arrest the mantle. The man stood and called down fire. But while this one was inside the prison, he did not know, he could not see. He could not see what he was carrying. He could not see what he represented. He could not see. Listen. Listen. Listen. There are some of you.
There are some of you. Your mother goes to pray, goes to the mountain to pray. Every night, she's praying. Every morning, she's praying. What? What she's praying for? What she's crying for, you are the answer to it. Not only are you the answer, you are the one that will provide. You are literally the the reason she has been praying. And God is saying, listen.
Not gonna do some... I'm not gonna send answer from heaven. The answer is in your house. He's eating Amala everyday. He's waking up and sleeping everyday. Collecting pocket money everyday. The answer is there. But the answer has not seen. The answer has not seen. Continue where Elijah stopped.
To continue where Ezekiel stopped. There's a graceful Daniel upon my life. I will be excellent in business. I'm a Joseph. I will step into a place and begin to dominate. Pray. Lift your voice and pray. We are praying. We are praying. Now, lady, there are people that will start feeling heavy in their heart.
There's a change of heart happening now. There's a change of heart happening now. There are people that their heart will be... They... As though as though there's a physical hand touching your chest. For some people to be so strong, you will feel physical pains and palpitations over your chest. I feel fire burning the chest of people, replacing wrong motivations, wrong motives for ministry, for wealth, for the pursuit of vain and influence. God wants to give these things. God wants to release these things, but that your your agenda is not aligned with his program. You have your own personal agenda.
And God says, no. I don't bless self. I only bless what favors my government. I don't bless self. I only bless what favors my kingdom. Look at that. Look at that. Holy spirit, move in this place. Move in this place. It will be so strong.
It will be so strong. I tell you. It will be so strong upstairs, downstairs. It will be so strong. There's a purging happening. A purging. A literal purging happening. As that purging is happening, a fresh release of oil and anointing of grace. I see I see a garment being taken away from you. I'm seeing a dirty garment, a dirty garment like like rags, like rags.
Someone is wearing like rags, and God is taking that garment away. The vision of Joshua, high priest is what I see, and God is replacing that garment. Have carried yourself thus far by your own strength, by your own energy, by I'm seeing like a fuel from within. A passion for God, a passion for the things of God. A passion for the kingdom of God. A passion for the things of God. Being our working to the inside right now. I'm hearing the sound of angels singing, and God is telling me he's opening people's ears. There are people who their ears are opening in this place. Their ears are opening in this place.
Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh God. My God. Oh my God. God is still working. God is still working. There's someone that's rebellion in your heart.
Rebellion in your heart. You know. You know. You know what I'm saying. You find it difficult to give. You find it difficult to obey principles. You try. You struggle. But God is supplying help. I see the hand of God stretched from heaven, and he's supplying help from Zion.
I hear a word for someone. This is an encouragement and a warning. An encouragement and a warning. God is saying that you have Transverse this path without giving him the honor that is due. Your passion, your hunger is for the world. Whereas for the things of God, you take them for granted. Lord said, I've promised you greatness, but the greatness is only as far as you walk with me. I see a new chapter opening, and God says, I'm providing you another opportunity. Is that is that... What is that?
Is that is that a name? A place born? What is that? One One joy. Joy. Joy. I hear I hear that God is replenishing the passion, the hunger in the name of Jesus. A new chapter is opened. One What? No.
A new chapter is opened. In the name of Jesus. A new chapter is opened. The name of Jesus. A new chapter is opened. God says, I've shown you grace. I've shown you grace. There's a release of oil upon you. Of your... Of the increase of your lifting, there will be no help.
In the name of Jesus. Of the increase of your lifting, there will be no help. You will be a treasure in your... Amongst your peers. A treasure amongst your peers. Those that know you will celebrate God for your life. For God says, I've sent you the deliverance. I've sent you the deliverance to your family. I've sent you the deliverance to a territory. The works of your hand is blessed, and God will anoint and increase it.
In the name of Jesus. Peter. I hear someone's name like Peter. And Peter, is that... That is that? Yes. Peter. Peter. I see that this Peter is running but never getting there. Peter running but never getting there.
Running but never getting there. Running but never getting there. Running but never getting there. Never... Hands never touching it. Hands never reaching it. Hands never possessing it. And it looks as though this is the same reality that you are now sharing, but but God is breaking you out of that bondage. In the name of Jesus, you are coming out of that lineage in the name of Jesus. For there's neither Greek nor Jew.
Neither male nor female. You are all wired in Christ Jesus. I declare that bondage broken in the name of Jesus, and you're set free right now in the name of Jesus. We are not wasting time. We're something like that. Who has something to do with? What is that? Your name. I'll pray for you. The person I'm seeing is a man.
He's a male. The person is not here. He's he's like a a direct relative or something of someone. The person is not here, but I'm seeing a man. I'm seeing someone here standing beside someone who is a man whose name is Odum Ayo. But I'll pray with you. Hold me. It ends today. In the name of Jesus. In Jesus name.
In There's someone I'm saying. You're from Ondo state but reside in Lagos state. From from Ondo state but reside in Lagos state. Don't don't... I don't think... Because if my time is wasting, I don't I don't wanna wait for anybody. Are you from? Where do you live? So you know how to receive. Is that okay?
You are blessed. You are blessed. In the name of Jesus. You are blessed. And then I... I'm seeing wings in your back. Asking, oh, what is this? And what is saying is spread. There's a graceful influence upon you. There's a graceful influence upon you.
Influence. I see... I'm seeing wings stretched, massive wings. And God is saying this is influence. Influence. I don't know how it will happen, but I activate it through your life. In the name of Jesus. Let it be quickened right now. In the name of Jesus. Thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Father, we thank you for what you have done. I tell you, this that is happening here will continue to happen. Even as you leave this place, the atmosphere will follow you. I sense that God is not done working on people's heart. There are people that will be thrown into encounters even on your way home. I'm I'm telling you, there are strong hits you all of a sudden. God has become something strong, something powerful in the lives of people here. Thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Lord. Let us share the grace together in fellowship, everyone. The grace of Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the sweet fellowship of the Lord's prayer. Be with us now and forevermore. Amen. We believe you were blessed by this message to connect with the Disciples Christian Network and get more from Apostle Emmanuel. Follow us on our social media platforms. You can follow us on Instagram at officialdisciplescn. You can follow us on Facebook at disciples christian network. You can also join our telegram page at dcn media for more messages by apostle Emmanuel.
If you have a testimony from this message, you can mail us at disciplecn@gmail.com. God bless you.