Transcript: The Great Commission — Make Disciples
Prepared from the audio, so small errors are possible.
The experience is a meeting organized by the Disciples Christian Network, where men encounter God, His presence and His power in an atmosphere of worship and the word. Join Apostle Emmanuel as he leads us into an experience with God. Let's turn our Bibles to the book of Matthew. Chapter 28. There is a secret weight that attaches itself to the last words of any man. When a father is dying, the family gathers around him because they understand that what the man says in his final breath is the distillation of everything he wanted his children to know. A submission of his regrets, a submission of his victories, and the most important lesson that he would pass across to his children. Usually everybody would gather around him because they want to know what is the last thing that he would say to them. Is that not so? The last words of a king become the manifesto of his successors.
The last words of a general becomes the matching orders of his army. The last words of a teacher becomes the syllabus of those that it leaves behind. And in every culture, in every generation, last words are heavy because they are final. There will be no addendum to it. Now bring that same principle to the one whose last words still echo across eternity. Jesus. He walked the earth for thirty three years. He thought for 3.5 out of those thirty three years. Then he died. And then he rose from the dead.
Now he was standing on a mountain in Galilee after resurrection. About to ascend into glory. And his disciples gathered around him looking at him as he was about to ascend. And he looked at them and was going to give them his last words. I know I've taught you for three and a half years, but this is the last thing I have to say to you. A compilation of everything that I have taught, a summation of everything that I have taught. This is what I've been trying to say. Everything leads up to here. Are you with me? Yes sir.
His last words. His last words. And it's important to pay attention because he's the logos of God. And what is given to this man is what I would call the final mandate of the Christ. The final mandate of the men to whom he has poured himself into three and a half years. And in verse 18 of Matthew 28 down to verse 20, you see the last words written in ink, it says, and Jesus came and spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. So don't be in doubt about this. All authority in heaven, all authority in earth has been given to me. It means I'm saying this from a standpoint of authority. So this is not just a council.
This is not just an advice. Whatever I'm about to tell you right now is coming from a standpoint of authority. Not just authority, all authority, all authority in heaven, all authority in earth. And you would think the next thing that would follow, given the all authority status would be go and uproot the works of darkness. Even though we have that assignment as believers, what you would think that after declaring that all authority has been given to him, the next thing that would follow immediately would be, go and do this and go and do that and destroy the works of darkness. But that's not what we see. In the next verse, what we see is go therefore and make disciples of all nations. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. How come he's speaking from a place of authority and what he's telling them as his final mandate to them is go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the spirit. In verse 20, he then rounds it up, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of age.
This is his final mandate. This is the final thing that he gave the disciples. This is what he gave the church. After submission of all his teachings. Are you with me? Yes, sir. This was his final instruction to us. He did not say go and gather church attendees. It did not say go and raise religious fans. It did not say go and produce people who can clap, who can sing, who can attend programs, who can come to conferences, who can wake up in the morning and come to church.
The instruction was go and make disciples. That means the expected product of the gospel is not just the person who comes out for altar call. The expected product is a man whose life is under the government of Christ. Being taught, being trained, being corrected, being transformed, and being conformed until Jesus can be seen in that man. Go and make disciples. That single instruction was the apostolic constitution that Jesus handed over to the New Testament church. And that was what formed the foundation of everything that the disciples did up until now from then onwards. Are you with me? The same things that Jesus made, go and make disciples, became the matching order of the New Testament church. Every miracle in the book of Acts, every missionary journey of Paul, every letter from Peter, from James, from John, from Jude was written under the shadow of that one mandate.
Go and make disciples. Are you with me? The early church did not measure success by how many people gathered on Sunday. They measured success by how many people were being formed into the image of Christ. How many people were being made disciples. They understood that the mission was never to fill rooms alone. It was to produce a man in men. It was to produce Christ in men. The mission wasn't just to gather people. The celebration wasn't that the people were increasing.
The celebration was what was being formed in them as they were increasing. Do you understand what I'm sharing with you? Yes, sir. What was being formed in them as they were increasing? That was the mandate. That was the assignment. That was the test of conviction. Are you with me? And everything that they did in the New Testament was around this models, was around this model. But I think when you study the new testament like I'll be showing you very soon, you will realize that the new testament church, those who received this mandate from Jesus directly, successfully fulfilled this mandate.
As a matter of fact, the reason received that Christianity can get to you and me today was because this mandate was carried out. Was because of the presence of disciples, was because Jesus himself made disciples. You see, what was important about this mandate was Jesus was telling people basically, what I have done to you, go and do to others. Others. Because in the ministry of Jesus, whilst he walked the earth, there were multitudes of people that received of his ministry. Do you remember? The Bible says everywhere he gathered, multitudes came. In fact, in one particular place, the bible says there were 5,000 men without counting women and children. That means if you had counted women and children, you would have had more than 15,000 people gathered listening to Jesus as he was preaching, multitudes. But when Jesus was going to pass down his mandate and give people his final instruction, he told disciples, go to the upper room until you are endured with power.
It wasn't 5,000 people that was in the upper room. It wasn't 10,000 people that were in the upper room. Not everybody who received of his ministry became disciples. Are you with me? Yes. Not everybody who received of his ministry became disciples. Now my question is this, imagine that all Jesus did was preach to multitudes. Imagine that all Jesus did was feed the 5,000, did miracles here, did healings there, and then he ascended to heaven. What will become of Christianity? Because nothing was heard of all the multitude that gathered except 120 people.
Do you understand what I'm sharing with you? Nothing was heard about them. So it means if Jesus' ministry was built around the multitudes, there would have been no continuation of Christianity. The reason why Christianity could continue was because of the investment he make in 120. Those 120 were the ones that carried and received the mandate. They were the ones who stayed in the opera room. They were the ones who were praying in the opera room. Are you with me? It means what Jesus was basically saying is, if this mandate will reach the ends of the earth, what I have done to you, do to others. I have made you disciples.
Then make other disciples. Do you understand what I'm saying? I've made you into something. In three and a half years, I did something into your life. I did something to you. You became something. I picked you as a fisherman and made you into a man that works on water. I picked you as a fisherman and made you into a miracle worker. Now you are Now you are healing blind eyes. Something happened to your mind.
Something happened to your soul. Something happened to your spirit. Now take this same thing. Don't just fill the pews. Don't just gather people. It is good to gather people, but turn them into disciples. Make disciples. And he said, I said this with all authority given to me in heaven and on earth. That means this mandate is not something we must joke with. Do you understand what I'm sharing with you?
I say this with all authority given to me in heaven and on earth. But somewhere along the line, somewhere along the long road of two thousand years, the last words of Jesus became the lost words of Jesus. A man of God called it the great commission has now become the great omission. Because we do every other thing other than this. We have kept the buildings. We have kept the offerings. We have kept the songs. We have kept titles, but we have quietly omitted the one thing and the last thing that he commanded with all authority given to him in heaven and on earth. We have learned how to make converts, but we have forgotten how to make disciples. We have learned how to gather, but we have forgotten how to form.
We've learned how to entertain. We've learned how to bring people together and keep them through all kind of calisthenics and gymnastics. And the result is what we have right now in pews across the nation, across the world even. An entire generation of believers who carry the name of Christ, but have never been shaped into the image of Christ. And that is where a line must be drawn that is going to make some of us uncomfortable. Because the line cuts straight through the middle of the modern Nigerian church, even the church around the world, the global church. There's a difference between a convert and a Christian. I've taught this before. You can get that teaching. Christian or convert.
But that's not even where I'm going today. Stay with me. There's a difference between a convert and a Christian. A very sharp scriptural eternal difference between who is a convert and who is a Christian. When you read through Bible, you'll find that this is so. There are so many people who have been converted, but they are not yet Christians because Christianity is not a name of identity. A convert is a man who has responded to the altar call, who believes in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Are you with me? Usually, we call that man Christian. But when we read the bible, we found that that was not the condition that made them call people Christians.
People were not called Christians in scripture solely because they accepted Jesus or responded to an altar call. If this were so, on the day of Pentecost, when Peter stood and preached the gospel and people were preaching their heart, and they asked him, what shall we do to be saved? And then he told them, receive Jesus, and they accepted Jesus, and more than 3,000 people came to Christ. Immediately, they would have been called Christians. Are you with me? But that was never what we see in scriptures. A convert is someone who has received Christ. Someone who has responded to the call. A Christian is a man who is being formed into the likeness of Jesus. A Christian is a disciple.
A convert has received Christ. A disciple is being taken over by Christ. He's being taught by Christ. He's being formed into Christ. It is one thing to receive Christ is another thing to be formed into Christ. And don't assume that just because you ticked the first box, you have automatically arrived at the second one. Stay with me. Are you with me? Yes, After the events of the Pentecost and people came to Christ in large numbers, more than 3,000 people came to Christ, the Jerusalem church was established immediately. And house to house fellowship began, People started meeting in synagogues, and it came with such a...
It was a revival because there was a move happening. There were healings. You read acts of apostles five. You see Peter's shadow healing the sick. You see act of apostles four, Peter at the beautiful gate raising somebody up. Is that not so? Three and four. And then you read all kinds of miracles, healing Stephen, doing all kind of miracles, and there were just plenty. The church was booming. The church was growing.
The Bible speaks of the church. People were being added. Multitudes were being added daily. Daily. Is that not a growing church? Yes, sir. I mean, a church where as the pastor is coming, if you were sick, just be by where you will pass. Just so his shadow can fall on you. Is that not a powerful church? Where you know that he does not even have to touch me, just his shadow.
In fact, the bible says aprons were taken from their body. Anchor cheeks were taken from their body to go and lead them on the sick. It was a church that was rich in signs and wonders. It was a church that was rich in miracles. But that was not the mandate that God gave. The mandate God gave was not gather in Jerusalem and be enjoying the Holy Ghost. The mandate was disciple. Make disciples of all nations. That was the mandate. The mandate was, you shall become witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, in Judea.
That was also the last mandate he gave to them in Acts one eight. Witnesses. A witness is not a name of identity. A Christian is not a name of identity. Not everybody in the court is a witness. Do you understand what I'm saying? Yes, It means you can be in the court of law. Some are lawyers. Some are judges. Some are policemen.
Some are spectators. Some came with the plaintiff. Some came with the defendant. If someone is called a witness, it means the person is there to perform a function. A witness means you have an evidence with you that either proof that this thing is a truth or is a lie. And you have an evidence to bear that witness. Is that not so? That's what a witness is. It's not a name of identity. It's a name of function.
We give that name to you on account of what you are doing. Do you understand what I'm saying? Yes, sir. That was the man that God gave to us. Make disciples. But the Jerusalem church was comfortable, and they were growing in leaps and bounds, large numbers. It was a very prosperous church. But all of a sudden, we realized that if we leave this church like this, they will just keep on growing and a time will come, will be measuring church growth by numbers. A time will come, will continue all of these things, and there will be no intentional system of discipleship and scattering and sending people out. Because you see, the system that God has designed is that this make disciples, and this is why it is very important to God.
Because you would wonder of everything that Jesus could say whilst he was ascended into heaven, why would he say make disciples? I mean, in Matthew six, he said, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That is the eternal counsel of God. So you would think that the final mandate he will give to his disciples was to reinforce the eternal counsel of God. To say, now as I'm going, ensure his kingdom comes. Ensure his will be done on earth as it is in earth. Do you understand what I'm saying? What he told them was make disciples. And the reason he told them this was because make disciples is directly connected to the eternal council of God. As a matter of fact, the the way the eternal council of God will find expression is through the instruction, make disciples.
Let me explain that to you. National transformation, what we call national transformation, is not possible unless I taught you this on Tuesday, that we don't come out of situations by situations changing. Who changes? Who changes? Who changes is you. You. That's exactly the faith of every nation. No nation comes out of its repressed state by situations changing. Things will not just change overnight. Nigeria will not just transform overnight, and we'll have a better Nigeria with good roads, good electricity.
Because when people go and pray, that's what they expect will happen. That's what they think will happen. Oh, God arise and change this nation around. And what they are thinking will happen is a turnaround. Everything just turns around. Like the prophecy of Elisha, by this time tomorrow, a grain of wheat. That's sincerely what we think will happen. But when you study scriptures, you'll find that that is not the principle of God. If this nation will be transformed, it will be transformed because the men are transformed. It is transformed men that transform nations.
That's why we call ourselves agents of transformation. You cannot be an agent of transformation if yourself has not been transformed. And the system through which you are transformed is discipleship. That's why Jesus knows that his kingdom cannot come if men are not made disciples. It is discipled men that bring about societal transformation. So the idea is that something happens to you as you have now found Christ. You are now released back into the society to become a functioning member of the society. Without begin to bring about active developmental transformation to your environment because you're a believer. It means that this thing of Christianity is not designed to end in church. Christianity is not a Sunday service thing.
So if the model you received was a Sunday service model where you think that the idea that God had in mind is that we gather like this every Sunday in large numbers. And we feel everywhere, overflows everywhere. And on Monday morning, there is no evidence in our environment that we gather on Sunday. That what we are doing on Sunday is a failure, especially if after many years of doing this, the nation cannot tell any change. Because the idea in the mind of God is that what is being produced in the church is sent into the environment, is sent into societies, is sent into systems and structures. That is God's system of transforming nations. Make disciples. So whether you like it or not, the answer to Nigeria's problem is still in the church. That is the reason why you must not fight the church. The church is the salvation of this nation.
We speak about America and how great it is. You go and study the history of America, and you will find out how important the church was in playing a role. So the church is not the one that builds the nation. That is not the truthful responsibility. So it is a foolish thing when people come and say, why are they building churches when they could be building factories? Jesus never said, go and build factories. He never told any pastor, go and build factories. Go and build industries. That is not the primary responsibility of any church. What he told us was make disciples.
Those you have made will build the factories. Those you have made. Because there is no way a man is truly made that it will not become valuable. So it means if we have a developmental problem in a nation, it is because the people are not developing. Are you getting this thing I'm sharing with you? Please believe what I'm teaching you. Please believe it. Nigeria will only be great to the extent to which you are great. And if you have not been made disciples, it does not matter whether you are great or not. You are not a blessing.
Because your greatness is only functional to the kingdom if it is within the scope of the kingdom. It can only be within the scope of the kingdom if you are taught what God expects of your life practically as a disciple of the Christ. That's why when Jesus left, what they had to say about the disciples was these are they that have turned the world upside down, not the church. It wasn't the church they turned upside down. It was the world. They actually entered into sectors of influence and turned it upside down. It means if you are truly being made, we will see the effect of your being made across this nation. It means we really need to ask ourselves if we have this much Christians in this nation. Why is this nation like this? Then you will realize that at some point, we forgot discipleship.
We were gathering people in churches, but we're not fulfilling the assignment and the mandate that God gave to us. We were celebrating that people are coming. We are celebrating numbers, and we were pulling them by different means. We didn't care how they came. They could come by the music, by the entertainment, by LED screens, by smoke screens, and all these things. I don't force these things. All these things are wonderful. But when the emphasis becomes this thing, you'll know that there is a problem already. This is the answer to this nation's crisis. I've taught you in scriptures.
This is the answer to this nation's crisis. This is the answer. It means whatever we are doing here, if it does not prosper, this nation cannot prosper. If we neglect the mandate of Christ to the church to make disciples, we have left our nation in doom. The reason is because you might be saved, but your nation is not safe. And you would carry the life of Christ, but be insecure in your nation with the life of Christ. Because there are many people who have not been transformed, who has not been made. Are you with me brothers and sisters? Yeah. So when the church was blooming, the Jerusalem church, about five years after, three to five years after, the blooming of the Jerusalem church, persecution started and Stephen was killed.
And after the persecution began, the church scattered. And all of a sudden, the real assignment of the church could now begin because the assignment of the church was go into the world. Act one eight. Give me act one eight. Let me show you this. For you shall receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me where? So it should begin where? It means the expectation of Jesus wasn't that we gather in Jerusalem and then build a large church. We are enjoying the presence of God. No.
If we are truly making disciples, at some point, we should send them out. At some point, the world around them must begin to feel the impact of what we are building in this church. The church cannot be on fire, and the environment is cold. So we gather for vigils, and fire is burning the church. Demons are being casted out. People are going out under the power. And then the same people that are going up under the power are living like unbelievers in offices. Living like faithless believers. Stay with me. The impact must be felt.
And when the talking Jerusalem kept on gathering, the mandate was go to Judea, but they were not going. They were enjoying themselves, enjoying the fellowship of the spirit. They became comfortable in the growth that the spread no longer matter to them. It wasn't important to them any longer. And so Stephen was killed. I don't wanna go into that. But when you study deeply into the things of the spirit, you will find out that death worked to fulfill the mandate Jesus gave them. Because it was by occasion of that death that they could now scatter. Give me Acts 11. Acts 11.
Next verse. Start from verse one. Start from verse one. One, two, three, go. 19. One, two, three, go. I don't have time for this. Next verse. I wish I could stay on that. Do you know who the Hellenists are?
They are basically Jews, but Jews that are subscribed to the will of the Gentile. They were Greek speaking Jews. Alright, go on. Preaching the Lord Jesus. Next verse. And the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. I really wish I had time, but I'm moving fast. There's an history here. That great number was almost half of Antioch. Bible history have it that more than 300,000 people came to Christ.
And there's a reason behind it. I don't have time to show you this. Let's go on. The news of these things came to the head of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent at Barnabas. Now people had come to Jesus. People had given their life to Jesus, responded to the altar call, and this was happening in large number. And the church was growing in a huge way. And then people in Jerusalem heard it and send Barnabas to go and oversee what was happening there. Next verse. Then he came and had seen the grace of God.
He was glad and encouraged them all that with purpose of art, they should continue with the Lord. Next verse. For he was a good man, full of the holy spirit and of faith, and a great many people were handed to the Lord. Next verse. Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. Why? And when he had found him, he brought him into Antioch. So... Can we read the next line together, everybody? One, go.
For how long? For how long? Go on. What were they doing? Were they doing? Teaching. How long were they teaching? So what happened after one year of teaching? Next line. After one year of continuous teaching, The bible calls them disciples were now called Christians.
It means it wasn't the fact that they accepted Jesus that branded them the name Christians. It was the fact that something had been made inside of them by teaching. What did Jesus tell us in Matthew 28 again? He says, go therefore, make disciples of all nations. Verse 20 says, teaching them. Teaching them. So what was Paul and Barnabas doing? Teaching them. And they continued doing this for one year. And after one year, something had been built so strong and so deep inside those people.
So strong and so deep inside those people that people look at them and call them Christians. It means they were behaving like Christ. They have become Christ like in character, in words, and in deeds. And to show you that it was not mere name. These were people that had just been saved. Their salvation was not more than one and a half years. Are you with me? Yes, sir. And in one and a half years, prophets came from Jerusalem and came to Antioch, Agabos, and the like, and started prophesying. Next verse.
And he stood by the spirit and started prophesying and saying, oh, there will be a great famine that will come. It's gonna be a great famine, and this famine will cut throughout all the world. This famine happened in the days of Clabius Caesar. And once this guy was prophesying, you would think that these people will be thinking immediately that child, homo, what you go do now? Famine, they come, homo. Go and save. Go and save. Go and save. Yo, what will you do? I I have some things.
We have to gather for our families to show you how well they have been taught. Look at what happened the next verse. Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to headquarters. Oh, God. They were not concerned about themselves. They heard a prophecy about farming, and what came to their mind is Cai, our brothers in Judea, might not be well-to-do. Let's help them. So we need to ask questions. What was the content of that teaching that made them so selfless, that made the self die? That when they heard the prophecy of damnation of doom, they were not thinking self preservation.
They were not thinking self sustenance. What happened to them in one year? Don't they have needs? Will the farmer not affect them? What was the content of that model? Jesus. Because whatever it was, a larger percentage of the church has lost it. That is the problem today. The first century church understood that conversion was only a doorway. Conversion was never the destination.
They understood this. And so when a man received Christ, that was just the beginning. He was then placed into the formation furnace where he would now be taught the words and walk the ways and reproduce the works of Jesus. Conversion was the raw material. Discipleship was the processing plant. But in our day, we have built factories that gather raw materials, and we call the gathering itself the product. The church is like a producing plant. The church is like a grinding machine. Are you with me? Yes, sir.
The pepper is not the product. Grinded pepper is the product. So we don't gather pepper inside the grinding machine and be celebrating that our grinding machine could contain pepper. And when we find out that the pepper has gotten to the top, we now say, ah, we need a bigger space for this pepper. We now go and buy a larger grinding machine. Pour more pepper there and say, our pepper business is growing. We need a bigger space for this pepper. We now go and buy. That's what we have been doing. There's no processing happening.
There's no product coming out. But we are celebrating the gathering. People are coming every time and they are gathered, and they are worshiping, and they are excited, and they are doing things, are going about the metrics. But you don't see the product. You don't see the product. Go to offices. You won't see the product. Go to politics. You won't see the products. Enter universities.
You won't see the products. Yet, all of these people come to touch every Sunday. What are we now coming to do? Why are we now gathering? Why are we now coming? Galatians four and verse 19. Paul was the one that was speaking. He says, my little children for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you. Paul was not satisfied. He wasn't satisfied with the fact that they had had the gospel and they had given their lives to Christ as we would call it.
He wasn't satisfied. He was not satisfied that they had joined the community of believers, that they had joined the church. He wasn't satisfied. His burden was deeper than that. He says, I'm laboring over you. I'm laboring over you. I know you have received Christ, but there's a labor in my spirit. I'm not content with what I'm seeing Because there's a mandate we received. And the labor is not that we increase our churches. The labor is not that we have more people in churches.
We count how many people came to church on Sunday. The labor is until Christ be formed in you. And he says, this process is taking me through labor. Give me NLT. I feel as if I'm going through labor pains for you again. And they will continue. The pain I'm feeling for you, the pain I'm going through because of you will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives. Yet these were believers. These were people who had accepted Jesus, who had benefited from his ministry, who had been saved. But he says, no.
This is not the product. This is only the raw material. When you are an unbeliever, you could not even be processed. So the first miracle was that you became saved. Now you are fitting. Now you are material enough. Now you are ripe to undergo processing Because there's a product. And the version of you I'm seeing, Paul says, that's not it. A convert is not all that I saw until Christ is funding you. That is discipleship.
Christ formed in your thinking. Christ formed in your appetite. Christ formed in your choices, in your decisions. Christ formed in your actions. Christ formed in your relationships. Christ formed in how you handle money. Christ formed in how you respond to pressure. Christ formed in how you walk. Christ formed in how you study. Christ formed in how you lead, in how you serve, in how you forgive, in how you endure, in how you speak.
In how you work. In how you are diligent, Christ formed in you. Christ formed in you. Christ formed in you. A convert may have accepted Jesus. But a disciple is being shaped by Jesus. A convert may have entered into the kingdom. But the disciple is being trained in the culture of the kingdom he has entered. A convert may say I've given my life to Christ. But the disciple says, my life is no longer mine to govern.
A convert may still insist on personal preferences. But the disciple is learning surrender. Learning obedience. A convert may still build his life around conveniences. But the disciple is learning the inconvenience of following Jesus. Are you with me brothers and sisters? That's where many believers must be honest. Many are converted, but they are not discipled. Many believe in Jesus, but their lives are still shaped by the same things that shaped them before they met Jesus. Their anger is still cultural.
Their ambition is still worldly. Their relationships are still fleshly. Their money decisions are still driven by fear, by greed, by competition, by survivor. Their private life still has no government over it. Their emotions still rule them. Their bodies still dictate to them. Social media still disciples them more than scripture. Their friends still have more influence over their choices than the holy spirit. They've submitted their soul to be discipled by cosmos. They are still victims of the same thing that they were victims of before they came to Christ.
And the terrible thing about this is that a man can live his life twenty, eighty years in church and remain a convert. Romans chapter 12 and verse two. The Bible says, don't be conformed to this world. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. This world is not neutral. This world disciples people every day. This world is teaching people what success looks like. It is teaching people what beauty should look like. Can't you see? Look around you.
This world is teaching people. It's discipling the soul of men. People are interacting with this world, and they are deciding in their hearts how relevant they are, how beautiful they feel, how successful they appear, whether they have failed or whether they have not. It teaches a young man how we should behave when he has money. A young lady how to behave in a relationship. He teaches a young woman how she should define our value. So it's not as though we don't have values or our values have been corroded. It is that we have just accepted value systems that the world gave us, And it is weak, fragile, and means absolutely nothing when compared to the standard of Christ. Because the word is conforming so many people. It's teaching so many people how to chase visibility.
How to worship pleasure. How to normalize compromise. We excuse listeners as do it with the norm. We mock purity. So if a man were pure, if a woman is a virgin, it looks weird that a woman is a virgin. It looks weird that a man is a virgin. The world will teach us that men are polygamous by nature. Nothing they can do about it. The world will teach us rebellion, how to despise correction. How can a man of God become an authority over you?
Don't you have it? This of yourself. Don't you have it that of yourself? And we call submission. We call it chains. We call it bondage. And we call rebellion freedom. So if you are not being discipled by Christ, don't assume that you are not being discipled at all. You are being discipled by something other than Christ. Because culture is discipling you.
Even poverty is disciplining you. Suffering is disciplining you. Your experiences are disciplining you. They are teaching you something about life, something about God, something about yourself that is other than what Christ has called you. Lust is disciplining you. Greed, fear. The survival system of Nigeria and Africa in general, discipling so many people. Making them believe that life is all about escaping hunger, making money anyhow you can make money, surviving pressure, and chasing after pleasure. Being whatever it is necessary to get ahead. Doesn't matter who you bring down, doesn't matter who you step upon as long as it guarantees that you will rise.
You will see stupid memes a night with Jesus a 100,000,000 naira. And you don't know that these things are disciplining your soul. You will read a lot of comments on a night with Jesus, okay, even Jesus will be angry if I don't take the money. And you are reading things and smiling and smiling and smiling. I don't know that something is being cultured in your soul. Something is gradually being cultured in your soul. Somebody who is discipled will look at such things and is. Because the bible puts God and mammon side by side. And there is to be no comparison. You cannot serve two masters.
This is not a reasonable choice to ask me. Just go and ease and... What stupidity? But then things like that excite you because your soul has been discipled already to be excited by things like that. So if you are not being discipled by Christ, don't assume that you are not being discipled at all. That's why a believer can speak in tongues in church and still cheat in business, still cheat in the exam. A believer can lift his hands in worship and still be lying in his workplace as a normal thing. Still be stealing money. Still be living in hypocrisy. Still be dishonest about his choices.
Dishonest about his choices. Yet praying in tongues loud and clear. And it is possible to spend many years in church. And your life is not experiencing transformation. That's the painful thing about it. But there's a particular young man that came to me to come and tell me, apostle, I want to report myself. I've been going through this and going through that and going through this and going through that. And before he came to report himself, a friend of his who had seen him expressing the stupidity, lost wives that he has been corrected for. I'd already come to report him out of love. And this person has not transformed.
This person has not changed. Out of fear that let this person not come and report me. He then comes to give his own version of the story. And the real thing, that was the real thing, he missed out of the entire story. And I asked again, are you sure that this is all? He said, yes, sir. Yes, sir. Because there is somebody else apparently within the church involved in that same thing. So let me protect the other party. It's foolish when people think about it.
And the negative consequence of this is that people will look at the life of those two people for instance and now start concluding that that is how the church is. I mean, we've heard several things like that, even in examples Christian network, where you would see two people who attend church, and just because they attend church, you would assume that they've been discipled. So you would see them pressing themselves against one corner. And the guy is marauding his way against the girl's body. I said, is that not? He is the one. Does no one go to this year. That's how they are. That's how they are. That's how they are.
That's the pain of having people who are not discipled. It's a pain because they bring a stain upon the name of the Lord. They are not Christ representers. Because you see, the thing with Christianity is that we are serving Jesus and he's alive, yet men cannot see him. We are the closest expression of Jesus that we are preaching. That is why he said the word became flesh. That means the God you have been calling on to all this while, Look at me and you would see the God. I am the perfect image of God. That's what the Bible calls him, the express image of God. That is what the believer now is.
The believer now is the express image of the Christ. That is why it matters that Christ be formed in the believer. So your conversion process did not end the day you became saved. If it ends there, you would spend many years in church and your life will still be irritable, irritable to those who have not accepted this Jesus. You will live in lust, live a useless life because it will be obvious that discipleship is failing in your life. And you would think that it is a secret. You would think nobody nobody knows. Nobody knows. You'd come to town and come and pray in tongues, but somebody is pressing you in the corner. Do you know that a lady came to this church?
And came to me to come and see me. And said, Pastor, I brought a seat. My boyfriend's birthday is today. Can you pray for him? I said, Sorry, how old are you again? She said, Oh, I'm just 18 years old. I'm 17, going to 18, so I'm already 18. When will you be 18? In a few months' time. It is well with you.
Who is this your boyfriend? That Liassar is a good man. No. He's a very good boy. He's a very... We met in this. He's a this. He's a black man. He's a Christian. He's a Christian.
He said this. He said that. You can go. Don't worry. I'm not sowing a seed. She's there with you. And she left. I was praying at home and she just came to my mind. Why? I was wondering why did she come to my mind?
Because just a week before she came to come and associate for boyfriend. She had come to submit to me and said, want to submit as a spiritual daughter. And I asked her, I said, have you prayed about this thing? You see, what you're asking for? What you're asking for is that there'll be shaking. Because fatherhood is not a title. And sonship is not a title. Do not make a man a father you cannot obey. Sir, I've prayed about it. Sir, I'm sure.
I saw you in my dream. You came with a mantle. You put it on my head. Let us pray. It was a week after she's coming to me to come and sow a seat for boyfriend. And so I was praying and I saw her. She flashed across my mind. Why is she flashing? And this happened again. I forgot about it.
It happened again during the day. She came, flashed across my mind again. Mister Mike saw a guy. So I sent her a message. Where are you right now? And she told me I am in... Mentioned in another state. Uh-uh. Where are you exactly? Actually, when I came on Sunday, I was actually traveling to see my boyfriend to celebrate his birthday.
So where are you right now? I'm with him, sir. With him where? In his house, sir. How? He's not a student. You told me the student. He lives alone, so we are together. But, sir, nothing is happening. Be back here now.
Now, immediately. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Meet with me. And when she met with me, that was the last time she came to church. You think I will rub her head and say hey. Because you cannot follow Jesus, and Jesus cannot remove and detach your wants from your soul. How then are you being discipled? How then are you being discipled? You still have such attachment attachment to the flesh Governed by intense lust.
This is a 17 year old foolish girl. What what could have discipled the soul of someone to be that stubborn and that foolish and that lustful? Especially at a young age, as to decide that because you were corrupted, you were offended. Because you were instructed, you were offended. But it's not a surprising thing. Because Jesus, when he was done speaking, the bible says many of the disciples turned and left him. Then he faced the chaff and said, will you also go? Will you also go? Because I know that these things are hard things. Many cannot bear it.
You cannot bear that what I'm saying is confronting your flesh. You only agree with me as long as I agree with you. And the moment the words I begin to speak, start confronting areas of your limitation, areas of your weaknesses. It looks as though apostle is attacking you. Then you have an issue. Until my only guise is you, spirit keep brooding over me till I look just like you. Us, us. It's not a sweet song you sing. Something you think about. Till I look like you, till I harm like you.
Spirit keep brooding over me. So the question I have is, when he's brooding over you, what do you think he's doing? He's seeing weaknesses and seeing limitations and seeing all kinds of nonsense soul and he's saying write on. Write on, daughter. Write. Write on. Write on, on, daughter. That's why you brute. I say you brute. I call one of my daughter to my house and I said, and I said, and I said, you are meant to be somebody that is this and that and that, but up until now you are not.
Are you not meant to grow? You are still you still have emotional baggages. You still you are still dealing with this and that and that. She left my house and became offended for many weeks. The cash for everybody. What do you think the holy ghost does? Have you heard about the chastisement of the spirit? The chastisement of a father to his son. But you know this is what discipleship handles. That's why so many people hate it.
So when we tell people, join the workforce, become a part of a small group, I will still get there very soon. They hate that idea because what they want is just Sunday Christianity. That part where they can hide in the church and nobody knows them. So you can raise your hand, but nobody knows that there are many altars that are raised in your soul, the way your hand is raised. Altars you want nobody to know about because you don't want them to disturb you. All this thing, don't... Nobody should disturb me. Only want to come, sit down somewhere, and disappear. Nothing is happening to your life. I can guarantee you this.
Because 15% of the profit of discipleship is what happens on the pulpit. Who passes an exam? Getting 15%. 10 to 15% of our responsibility at the church happens on the pulpit. Because in as much as we come and tell you what is possible, somebody must still hold your hand. Until that thing becomes applicable in your soul. I use this example to teach some people. Let me read it for you. Who can, who doesn't know how to knot a tie? Raise up your hand.
You don't know how to knot a tie. At all, not that you have an idea. You don't know at all. How to knot a tie, raise up your hand. Now very good, look at me. So you come to church and the teaching is how to knot a tie. And I tell you, take the tie as long as it is. It has a long edge and a short edge. The long edge has a wider circumference. That is the triangle end of it that is wider than the other hand that is smaller.
Then put it across your neck. And when you put it across your neck, ensure that you put it across each other and then take the longer hem that has a wider circumference and put it inside the loop you have found. And when you've put it inside the loop, put it across each other and then roll it across three times, then put it inside the loop that it forms. Now can you not a tie? Who can not a tie here? What I'm saying is equal to you? Yes. But if you cannot not a tie, do understand what I'm saying? No. Do you think you will live here today and go not a tie?
What have I taught you? Discipleship is now somebody who can knot it. We now say that thing Apostle was saying, let me show you. Now why you put it across your neck? Remember he said, that's discipleship. It means it does not happen on the pulpit. You cannot therefore hate the idea or submit to the idea of being lost in one corner and think you are being made. That is not how making happens. And you will stay long carrying this idea that you are a Christian for long. And there will be plenty rubbish in your soul.
And you will know. You will know. Because even after you have been taught prayer, and you are excited, you are jumping. After you go home, somebody must still ask you, have you prayed today? And as I got home, I'm just feeling the echo and pray now. Go and pray. Tell me when you have finished praying. That is the making process. It's how men are made. That's why they would come to Jesus and they will tell Jesus.
Sorry, Oga. Why do you speak to them in parables? And Jesus will say, it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom. And what you call the parable of the sower. From verse three down to verse 10 or nine. Was to the audience. Everybody heard it. A sower went out to sow, some seeds fell by the wayside, some seed fell among tongues, some among this, some among that. And then on the good ground, 30 fold, 60 fold, 100 fold. And I can imagine somebody saying, king 100 fold here, what's some seed, what's wayside, what's this?
Confused. But discipleship does not happen on the pulpit. The moment they left, those who have been discipled now came to Jesus. And told Jesus, our order, all this thing wey they talk, e no claim oh. Jesus now started another sermon in verse 19. To just the truth. All the multitude were not there. It was the truth who he then told. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom. And does not understand, does this resemble a sower went forth to sow?
Some seed fell. It was now explaining because this ones must understand. It matters that this one must be able to apply what has been taught to their life. It matters. It matters. Go and see this again and again in scriptures. In Matthew, I think 17 or so, when they could not cast out that guy that was suffering from epilepsy and paralysis and all of these things. And they tried their best to cast out that demon and they couldn't cast out the demon. Then Jesus came back and when Jesus came back, the people that were there said, we came to your disciples and they couldn't cast out the devil. And the moment they said that, Jesus looked at them and said, oh, faithless generation.
You would think that that has already answered the question of why they could not cast out the demon. Is that not so? Yes, sir. Oh, faithless and perverse generation. How long will I be with you? You would even think that Jesus was angry with the disciples. Why could you not cast out? Oh, faithless generation. And when Jesus finished casting out the demon, all of them came when everybody left and shared testimony. So Oga, sorry oh, why could we not cast out that demon?
Jesus would have said, but I just told you now that you were faithless. That means faithless generation was not for the disciples. And the disciples knew that it was not for them. That's why they would come back to him and say so because we we... If I don't have faith, I will not try that thing what tried. Something pushed me. What is the issue? Tell me this thing now. Tell me now. Because you cannot just come and say how what we have been suffering to do since.
How did you do it? I remember another time they came to Jesus. In this place, Jesus said now you are wise. Let me now show you a principle that they don't know. It all started by telling them, because of your home belief. So the problem now wasn't faithlessness. The problem now was home belief. For surely I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, so Jesus was now telling them that even if your faith was as small as a mustard seed, that small faith could still tell a mountain be moved and the mountain will be moved. So it's not great faith that works miracles. It's faith.
The problem, however, is that the faith was corrupted because alongside your faith, there was also unbelief. So unbelief was serving as an impurity. Even though there was faith. So in verse 21, Jesus now says, contextually, this kind goeth not out. Not this kind of deliverance, not this kind of demons, not this kind of infirmities except by fasting and prayer. It is this kind of unbelief. Because that is the context of the conversation. The issue you were having was unbelief. Let me teach you how to get rid of unbelief. Fasting and prayer.
So the more you fast, the more you pray, the more you'll find out that you will keep on realizing that with God, nothing is impossible. A revelation will break out in your spirit. And I can imagine Peter listening. Peter listening. Peter saying, okay. I'm getting this thing. I'm getting this thing. And the moment he looked at them and said, give you authority over serpent. Peter said, yes. I have authority over serpent.
And at some point, Peter will stand by the beautiful gate and meet a man who is lame for thirty eight years. And he will look at him and say, ah, I don't have silver. I don't have gold, but such as I have. But this was the same Peter that could not heal an epileptic man and came to his. That's why Jesus told them, make disciples. Don't just make people who hear this sweet sermon. Make disciples. Don't just make don't just make people who hear what is possible but can't do it. Amen. Amen.
Amen. Amen. Make disciples. The last These people came to Jesus and they asked Jesus, master, master, master, teach us to pray. I love those guys. Teach us to pray. We used to see that you used to withdraw yourself a lot. That's how discipleship happens. The crowd cannot ask him that question because the crowd does not even know that he prays. Do you understand what I'm saying?
We we've seen this thing oh. Teach us to pray. As John even taught the disciples, ah. Jesus said okay, when you pray, pray in this manner. That whole sermon was available to you because some disciples asked. It wasn't a sermon on the mount. It wasn't a sermon to the people. So that you will understand the weight when Jesus said, make disciples. It means whatever I did to you. He came to them and he breathed on them.
Jesus looked at him and said, get thee behind me, Satan. He called Peter Satan. And he's not bothered excluding himself. You would have been offended. He said get thee behind me, Satan. You see you are an offense to me. Because you are not mindful of the things of God. But the things of men. I can imagine Peter. I don't want you to die.
Peter, why are you sad? He said, it was, I don't know. That is going. But he asked them, will he also go? Will he also go? Because that's the making process. It's it's a process. It's a grinding journey because there's a product we are looking for. And if at the end of the day, we don't have that product, it means discipleship has failed in your life. That's the meaning.
Guess it? Product. The product must be reflected in the environment. It must tell in the surrounding. It must tell in the society. It must tell in the nation. It must tell in politics. It must tell in media. It must tell in entertainment. One of my girls came to me and said and said, ah, apostle, apostle, a brand reached out to me.
Popular brand, a television network. Popular brand would have become a breakthrough. And said we should promote a particular thing for them that they are about to do. I said, that's awesome. So what is it about? It's called Stripper's Corner. Sorry. What? Stripper's corner. This is a sample video.
Send me a sample video. So what do you want to do? Because I won't tell you, don't do it. Ero, let me see if if something has prospered in your soul. Let's So I don't want to do it. But I don't know what to tell them. I say, hey. You are you are sensible. You will tell them that it's not in your values. There's no need to lie.
Don't say you're not available. Otherwise, they will bring worse next time. The next one they will bring is prostitute corner. Right now, tell them that it does not align with my value system. Thank you so much for considering me for this. I appreciate that, but it doesn't just align with my values. There must be a difference that a disciple is being made. Or would you because of money? Compromise on everything that you have been taught. Because you were only taught in church.
It was in the pulpit. So when you have to make the decision, there was nobody there who could. Give me Isaiah. Isaiah, you you will hear a voice behind you saying this is the way working it. Give me that scripture. Not everybody who comes to church is being discipled. That's the reality of the matter. Not everybody who comes to church is being discipled. Erase this delusion that because he's in church, any brother that approaches me knows God. Nobody comes to me and tells me, brother sister, you are the one I want to marry.
And you assume that because they came from church. Isaiah 30, start from verse 19. I want you to see something. For the people shall dwell in Zion and Jerusalem. You shall weep no more. He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry. When he hears it, he will answer you. And what is the proof that he will answer you? Next verse. And though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, which is the reason why you were crying for help in the first instance because you've been in adversity and affliction, but when he hears your cry, he will answer you.
How will he answer you? Your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore. But your eyes shall see your teachers. It means if your high does not see your teacher, you will continue in affliction. And you will continue in adversity. Now I know that we quote that scripture a lot. You will hear a voice behind you saying, holy spirit, as I'm going right now, let me hear your voice. It's not the holy spirit's voice and it's not the voice of God. Your eyes shall see your teachers is the context of the conversation. Next verse, it then says, your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, this is the way.
Walk in it. From who? Your teachers. It is whenever you turn to the right or whenever you turn to the left, you will hear this is the way working. Do you know what I mean? Give me MSG. Let me see. This is it. Next, one, three. Go.
So who is urging you on? Start from verse 20 of MSG so that you would see this very well. One, two, three, go. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. It means when you're about to turn like this, a voice will tell you, error. This is the right road. Walk in it. That's what the Bible is saying. You're about to walk left.
He says, no. This is the right road. Walk in it. You're about to turn here. This is the right road. Walk in it. This is discipleship. But not everybody in church is being discipled. John six and twenty six, the bible says, Jesus was confronting the people who followed him for bread. Look at what he told him.
He says, most assuredly I say to you, you seek me not because you saw the signs, but because you're head of loaves and you were filled. That means not everybody around Jesus was following him for Jesus. Some followed him because of what they could get. Some followed him because their stomachs were filled. Some followed him because ministry was solving a need that they had. But when his words became hard, their loyalty began to collapse. And John chapter six and verse 66 to verse 68 now says, from that time, many of the disciples went back and walked with him no more. Then Jesus said to the choref, will you also go away? But Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
I think this is one of the clearest dividing line of Scripture. There were people that followed him until the world confronted them. And there were people that stayed as long as the bread was available. There were people who remained while the atmosphere was comfortable. But when Jesus began to speak at the level that demanded surrender, they went back. That's the difference between a convert and a disciple. A convert may stay while things are convenient. A disciple remains because he has found eternal life in the words of Christ. A convert may follow as long as God is answering his prayers very fast. A disciple follows even when obedience is costly.
A comeback may love the miracles. A disciple love the Lord. A comeback may love the crowd. A disciple love the truth. A convert may love the benefits of Christ. A disciple bows to the government of Christ. That's why if Christ and the revelation of him being built in your soul is not what brought you to church, if it was the quality of the music, a faith that is built on music will collapse when there is no music. If food brought you, a faith built on food will collapse when there's no provision. A faith built on hype, built on the pop culture. It will collapse when life becomes hard.
And if your faith was built on the charisma of a man because the apostle is a very charismatic man or the pastor is very charismatic, in the day when the charisma is absent, on the day when the man is absent, in the day when the man is unavailable, your faith will collapse. If the only thing holding your faith is the personality of a man, an event, an emotion, a song, a conference, a a a prayer mountain or the excitement of a crowd, then you are not yet being discipled. Give me substance. Give me proof. Give me evidence. Sometimes I think it may help also if can meditate on the songs we sing. You know, some people some people think that they are strong because they are always around strong meetings. So there is a kind of meetings that they always look forward to. The man of God, there's a there's a way he must speak in tongues. And there's a way he must be talking.
When he starts talking like that, that guy starts becoming excited. He starts becoming charged. Is where the tongues must be roaring. The guy will lose his balance system. The ah, God is here. And he he measures his strength. By how often he's in those kind of atmospheres. But the real test of discipleship. Is how you behave. When there is no atmosphere.
What governs your life when nobody is watching you? That's The real test is what governs you when nobody's watching. What happens when your body wants to see? What happens when money enters your hand? What happens when you're offended? What happens when you are frustrated at work, Frustrated in your office. Frustrated by a lecturer. What happens when your boss treats you unfairly? What happens when your business is under pressure? What happens when everybody around you is compromising and they call it wisdom?
They call it wisdom. What happens? That's the real test. Because you will find that somebody can be praying in tongues in church, but when they find themselves in the circumstances, they will they will fail ultimately. In fact, the real test of discipleship is what happens when you are at home. Going through experiences from people who obviously do not understand the call of God upon your life. And because they don't, normal treatment feels to you like persecution. Normal treatment. How they will treat everybody feels to you like persecution. Because you feel as though everybody should understand your consecration.
Want to spend time in deep worship, deep in the presence of God, deep in fellowship. But have no worship plate. The ingrained inside the church church system system. And And not not be be discipled. Discipled. Are you with me? John chapter eight thirty one. Are you bored? Good answer. Otherwise, are not being disciple.
Don't mind me. John chapter eight thirty one. Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed him. So who was Jesus speaking to? It is important to note that the people that he's speaking to are people that believed him. And what did he tell them? If you abide in my... I'm about to show you something that will become deliverance to many people now. Stay with me. If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed.
Then look at what follows immediately. You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Jesus did not say, if you hear my word once. He did not say if you enjoy my word. He did not say if you quote my word. He said, if you abide in my word. The disciple is not the one that hears the word from the pulpit. He is the one that abides in the word. He is the one that remains under the word until the word becomes the law of his life. That is the disciple.
That's why he says, then are ye my disciples. So to abide means that you stay. You don't visit truth and then return to your old pattern. You don't hear the truth and then return to your old life. You don't hear what was taught and return to your old way of living. You abide means you stay. You stay. You don't admire the truth from a distance. You don't receive light and then postpone obedience. You remain there until your mind is renewed.
You remain until your appetite changes. You remain there until your choices begin to bow. You remain there until excuses begin to die. If you abide, you remain there until what used to control you starts losing its power if you abide. That's why many believers are not free. Even though they have heard sermons. Because somebody might wonder, but apostle, you told me to go and listen to free indeed. And I listened to free indeed, but I'm still badly with masturbation. Even after listening to... You actually go and listen to this message.
I've listened to it. Because you would expect that if you are missing to it, then you should be free. Because what Jesus said is, you will know the truth. The truth will make you free. But the no there is not that they are supposed to come to teach you the truth. You now know it. You are now free. That's why it starts from abiding in the word. That means the truth you have not abided in cannot make you free. That's where the problem is.
That's where the context of the conversation begins. Jesus said the truth makes free, But first he said if you abide, it means truth does not liberate a casual believer. Truth liberates an abiding disciple. The problem why your circumstance continues is not that the truth is weak. It is that you are not abiding because you are not being discipled. The problem is that many people don't stay. Don't stay. They don't stay long enough on that truth for it to break the structure of bondage in their lives. So a person can attend church for many years, ten years and still remain childish if he never submits to formation. Because time does not automatically produce maturity.
Exposure to to to to all these things that we see in this place does not automatically produce transformation. The fact that you are engaging yourself in so much activity does not automatically produce growth. Because a child does not become a man because he has stayed long in the house. He becomes a man because growth has happened. In the same way, you don't become a disciple because you have been long in church. You become a disciple because Christ has been formed in you. He's being formed in you through obedience, through correction, through truth, through community, through surrender. Hebrews chapter five and from verse 12 to verse 14 rebukes believers who by reason of time ought to have become teachers, but still need someone to teach them again the fundamentals, the first principles. But then solid food belongs to them who are of age, who are full of age. Those who by reason of use has exercised their discernment to discern both good and evil.
Maturity therefore is not defined by how long you have been around spiritual things. It is measured by exercised senses, trained discernment, practiced obedience. That's the danger of being a raw material that's not processed. Because raw gold may be valuable, but cannot function as a jewelry until it passes through fire, it passes through shaping, until it passes through design. Raw cassava cannot become garini because it was harvested. It has to be processed. Raw wood does not become furniture because it cut it down. It has to be processed. In the same way, a believer is not useful to the full measure of God's intention simply because he has been gathered to the church. He must be processed.
So the further you became a believer does not mean you are useful to God. And that processing is not always comfortable. Sometimes the word will cut you. Sometimes collection will humble you. Sometimes accountability will expose you. Obedience will even cost you sometimes. Sometimes the process will confront the version of you that you have defended for many years. But that is how Christ is formed in you. The old shape must give way for the image of the son of God in your life. Second Timothy chapter two from verse 20 to verse 21.
The bible says, in a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but of wood and clay. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from the letter, it will be a vessel of honor, sanctified, and useful for the master. It means the issue is not whether you are in the house. In a great house, there are many vessels. So we know that you are in the house. The issue is what kind of vessel are you becoming in the house? There are vessels that are present, but they're not prepared. There are vessels that are available, but they're not useful. Not useful for honor. Discipleship is God's process of making a believer useful for the master.
Are you with me? Yes, sir. Your future will demand a version of you that casual Christianity cannot produce. And if you do not present that pattern to your future, your future will look nothing like what your today has seen. Your marriage will demand formation. Your marriage will demand discipleship. Your assignment will demand formation. Your handling of money will demand formation. Your leadership will demand formation. The places that God is taking you to will demand formation.
Your influence will demand formation. Your ability to stand in a corrupt environment will demand formation. Your capacity to survive pressure without losing Christ will demand formation. Are you with me? Yes, sir. Don't be a shadow believer. A shallow believer may survive what is easy, but he will be exposed when life becomes demanding. When persecution comes, you will know a shallow believer. When money comes, you will know a shallow believer. When delay comes, you will know a shallow believer.
When opportunity shallow believer. When power comes, when influence comes, when disappointment comes, when suffering comes, only the man that has been formed will stay. People leave churches for many reasons, for stupid reasons, to show that they are not being disciple. So the question is not do you attend church? The question is, are you being discipled? Ask your brother this. Are you being discipled? Ask your neighbor with concern. Be sincere. Act as though you are passionate about the person.
Ask, are you being disabled? Are you being disabled? Are you becoming more like Christ? Is the word God changing your decisions? Is correction shaping your character? Is obedience becoming your lifestyle? Are you being discipled? Is the work of the flesh losing authority over your life? Are you being disciple... Is your pride being broken?
Is your appetite being purified? Is your mind being renewed? Is your life becoming evidence that Jesus is not only savior, he is lord. Because if he's Lord, that means he's your owner. That means he owns your life. He owns your life. He owns your life. You see, we have chipping that word discipleship so much that we no longer understand what the word itself means. Even as I come to a close. Let me attempt to define the word for you.
We've lost so much value. The word has lost weight in the amount of those that use it. We have reduced it to a Sunday school class. So we think discipleship is what happens when I come to church. There's a one hour class and I go through it for five weeks and I say I've done through discipleship because we call it discipleship class. And at the end of that class, you are given a certificate. I have a discipleship certificate. I am a disciple. But we have reduced it to that. A six week course.
And because we have reduced the word, we have reduced the experience. And now an entire generation now believes that they have been discipled when in truth they've only been informed. Discipleship in its original biblical weight is not a class. It's not even a curriculum. It's not a program. Discipleship, I will define it in two words. It is covenant apprenticeship. What did I call it? Let us always register your spirit for moment. Apprenticeship, meaning a long range, hands on, life on life process where a master craftsman shapes a younger man into into the image of his own skill.
Covenantal, meaning it is bound by oath. It is bound by sacrifice. It is bound by commitment that cannot be easily walked away from. So you'll find that from this statement, discipleship a is not something you attend. It is something you are surrendered to. It's a life. It's a process you submit to. It's a sacrificial process and sometimes it's a painful process even. It is covenantal apprenticeship. An apprenticeship cannot happen in the air.
Apprenticeship requires a visible pattern. It requires a man. It requires a system. It requires a structure. It requires a community. It requires a process that your life submits to under Christ. Write it down. Apprenticeship requires a man, A system. A structure. A community.
And a process. Five things. That your life submits to. Your life submits to a man. Your life submits to a system, a structure, a community, and a process. Can you say it with me? What's the first thing your life submits to? Number two. Number three. Number four.
Number five. Under Christ. You cannot claim to be an apprentice if there is nobody you are learning from closely. Nobody watching your great... Your growth. Nobody correcting your errors. Nobody observing your application of truth. Nobody helping you to interpret your struggles. Nobody holding your hand until what you heard now becomes how you live. There's got to be.
If this does not exist in your life, you are not being discipled. It is important that I say this before I close. That's why Paul said in first Corinthians chapter 11 and verse one, he says, imitate me. This is a man speaking. Paul the apostle, imitate me just as I also imitate Christ. He did not say imitate me blindly. He didn't even say follow me blindly. He did not say make me your Christ. He said imitate me just as I also imitate Christ. That means in true discipleship, there is a human pattern.
But that human pattern is only valid to the degree to which it reflects Christ. There's a man you follow, but you only follow him as he follows Christ. There's a life that you observe. But that life must be pointing you back actively to the life of Jesus. There is an authority that you submit to. But that authority must be under the authority of Christ. Imitate me as I imitate Christ. That means that if at any point you notice that my life has gone out of the bracket of the auspices of the authority that Christ has and that I'm submitted to, you have no reason to continue to be loyal to me. Your imitation of me and your followership of me is only as I follow Christ. When I begin to say things that are outside of the authority of Christ, do not imitate me.
And men of God must not be ashamed to say this because it puts us in check. It makes the people know that we are human beings who can make mistakes, that we're not perfect ourselves, that it is possible for me to be excited and say something that is off putting. And then you come and meet me having done your own study and say, apostle, this that you said, Jesus did not say it. Because the principle is imitate me as I imitate Christ. No man of God must make himself half our omega. We are submitted to Christ, and the people that follow you follow you because you follow Christ. If your life pattern falls outside of the trajectory of Christ, you have no reason to continue to be loyal to a man of God. This is scripture. Are you with me? Yes, sir.
Yes. The pattern is imitate me as I imitate Christ. Christ is the example. I'm only a reference of him. Philippians chapter four verse nine. Look at what he says. It's still Paul that he's speaking. Says, the things which you learned and received and heard and saw where? David say in Christ. In who?
In who? In me, in the man. This do. And the God of peace will be with you. He's a man that is speaking. If you don't like what I'm saying, you are not a Christian. Because this is bible. Because there are people that celebrate rebellion. Celebrate rebellion as freedom. All this spiritual father thing.
All this man of god thing. All this this thing. Keep quiet and read your bible. Don't be stupid. Don't let the world disciple you. Read your bible. Don't just speak arrogantly because you have an opinion. Do you understand what I'm saying? The fact that you can talk does not mean can talk the right thing. Thing.
Do your study. This is Paul speaking. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw, this is five things he mentioned. The things you learned, the things you received, the things you heard, the things you saw. How many? Four. This do. Look at discipleship. That means this thing was not pulpit ministry. Because they learnt it.
Then they received it. Then they heard it. And they saw it in him. This too. These two. And the God of peace will be with you. Paul was not only transferring information to them. He was embodying a pattern. They didn't only hear his message. They saw his life.
They saw his discipline. They saw his endurance. They saw his suffering. They saw his humility. They saw how he handled pressure. They saw how he looked at with people. They saw how he served God. He served the gospel in the flesh. They saw these things. They saw him walking amongst them.
He was the one that said, listen. Listen. We are well within our right to demand from you physical offerings and gifts in exchange for the spiritual labor that we do. But we have put all these things off that we don't become a burden to you. So we decided that we should walk, and they became tent makers. They saw Paul walking, doing business, going to work, preaching in church. These things you saw. I can't be walking there, you'll be lazy. Paul was the one who said, if any man does not walk, let him not eat. He has a foundation for saying it because even me, though I could extend my right and thought you come and give me, I still chose to walk.
I've become the reference. If any man does not walk, let him not eat. Do you understand what I'm saying here? That's why discipleship cannot be accurately done solely from the pulpit. What we do on the pulpit is 15%. It is important. Very important. But it's not enough. Because when this teaching give you direction, it gives you revelation. It gives you correction.
It gives you corporate instruction. Discipleship requires more than this public preaching for you to be able to apply the truth practically in your life. The pulpit can declare the truth to everybody. Discipleship must help you apply the truth personally. Personally. The pulpit can expose the standard, but discipleship must work with you until the standard becomes your life. The pulpit can preach forgiveness, but someone must ask you, have you forgiven that person? The pulpit can preach prayer, but someone must check on your prayer life. Grow that prayer life with you. The pulpit can teach holiness, but someone must help you confirm the patterns that keep on dragging you back.
The pulpit can preach that you have authority in Christ Jesus. But one day you will go with someone and say, let's go and do evangelism. And you will see the authority in Christ Jesus being expressed. You will see the person flowing in word of knowledge. You would see as you are seeing it, as you are going, you will not be asking questions. Whilst you were speaking, something came to my mind. I was hearing something like something like maybe this person's mother is trying to go abroad. I was not sure. Next time, say it now. Because you are learning.
You are learning how to apply what you have been taught directly and practically to you. Do you understand what I'm saying? Yes, sir. In Acts 20 and verse 20, let me show you something. Acts 20 and verse 20, we stop here. This is Paul speaking again. He says, how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you and taught you publicly and from house to house discipleship. I taught you publicly, but I didn't stop my teaching you there. Do you understand what I'm saying? I didn't stop my teaching you there.
Not Sunday alone. Not pulpit alone. Public teaching gives you the corporate direction, but house to house ministry brings the truth into personal spaces where lives can actually be formed. And if the only spiritual structure that you are exposed to is Sunday service, then you are not being discipled. I'm saying it for the fifth time or sixth time or whatever. You are being preached to, but you are not being personally formed. You are hearing the word, but who is checking on how the word is being made flesh in you? Who is checking on it? You are receiving revelation, but who is helping you process obedience? You are receiving this thing.
You are shouting amen. But who knows the areas where you are still struggling? By lifting your hands in worship. Who knows the habits that are still ruling you? You are present in the crowd, but who can call your name and speak about your growth? Are you with me brothers and sisters? Jesus preached to multitudes, but he discipled men closely. The disciples were present in his public ministry. They heard his sermons. They saw his miracles.
They were in his crusades. They were in his gatherings. They were in his confrontations with the Pharisees, with the Sadducees, with scribes. They saw his ministry to the sick. They saw it. They saw his teaching on the sea. They saw his public demonstration of power. But that was not the only place that they were formed. They were formed when they walked with him. They were formed when they ate with him.
They were formed when they asked him questions. When they failed in his presence and he will correct them using their failure to teach them a lesson again. Sometime we will disappointed in them. Oh, you have little faith. And then he will teach them again. And then he will help them again. They will be rebuked by him. After being rebuked by him, then he will send them again in tools. Go in tools. Go and heal the sick.
And when they come back, they are excited that they were healing the sick. They are afraid they were seeing miracles. And then he will tell them, hey. Hey. Hey. Don't be excited because the sick and demons and all these things listen to you. They're excited because your names have been written in the book of life. They will pretend that they don't understand. But the guy is happy because he is all results. He just went to one blind guy and put the blind guy eyes open, and his eyes was open.
He came to Jesus excitedly. Jesus said, calm down. Calm down. They excited because your name is written in the book of life. As though you have taught them what the book of life is. As though they understand what the book of life is. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. When he was sinking in the sea, he was there holding his hands.
If it is thou, bid me come. Come. Use your faith in doing this. And what is using his faith to do it? It comes to a point where his faith is struggling. But it's about to sink. And Jesus comes and says, yeah, come, come, come. Don't worry. I like how you have started this thing now. I remember one of my guys.
Wanted to have a meeting. Some time ago. One of them. And they told me about it and what they were trusting God for. And after he had, you know, he told me, and I was, I just said, go, don't worry. Apostle, please speak words. We believe that this thing will happen. We are stretching. Go. Inside the meeting, they came to me and said, Apostle, this is the problem now.
The problem is that this is still there. This is still there. In fact, we've not solved this problem. We've not solved this issue. These people are still coming. There's so much abuse to be sorted. And we have tried, but it's not just coming together. Blah, blah, blah, blah. And the people that brought these people, that's after the meeting was over. I have none.
So how much is left? So trust God. Trust God for it. Walk in faith. Trust God for it. Apostle, you won't believe what happened. You won't believe what happened. Expecting that. Okay. Now what failed?
What did not work? Because you are going through something and you would fail in it or not allow the failure to crush you because the faith is still growing. The faith is still growing. That's the reason why we would tell people that trust God for your school fees and trust God for these things and at the end of the day we still help them with the school fees and help them what we can help them with. Is that not so? Sometimes we allow them to grow Because that's the model. Sometimes we leave them alone. Are you getting this thing I'm saying? Mark three and verse 14. The Bible says that he appointed the 12 that they might be with him.
That he might send them how to preach. Before he sent them, they were with him. That phrase is powerful. Be with him. Be with him. Be with him. Don't be in a hurry to live. They put it for discipleship. Be with him. That's where life begins.
Thank you, Jesus. In the crowd, you can hide. In discipleship, you are known. In the crowd nobody will notice your inconsistency. Whether you pray today or not pray today or you fasted or you not fast, nobody will know. Whether you're tied or you're not tied, whether you gave it, nobody will know. But in discipleship your patterns are seen. In the crowd, you can look spiritual for two hours of service, three hours of service. In the crowd, you can receive a word and go home unchanged. But in discipleship, someone follows up on that word.
Someone ask you what you did with it. Ephesians chapter four and verse 16. The Bible says that is how the whole body grows. By what every joint supplies according to the effective working by which every part does its share. Growth happens when joints are connected. A disconnected believer can never receive the full supply of the body. A believer who only comes on Sunday and disappears the rest of the week is starving himself of the very supply that God placed in the body for his formation. As the reason why you must never be a member of a church, a member of this church, a member of any church who attends on Sunday and that's all. Sunday attendance alone can make you very familiar with the atmosphere, but it will not form your soul. We will know your face but will not know your life.
And that's what really matters. You will receive information and revelation and all these things. But you are not being accountable to anybody. And where there's no accountability, many things will grow in darkness. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 17. Look at what the Bible says. Obey those who rule over you and be submissive for they watch out for your souls. They watch out for your souls. That's what the Bible says. They watch out for your souls.
That means your souls need watching. It's not because your soul is weak in a shameful way. It's because the sheep survive by being shepherded. Your soul has tendencies. That's why it has to be watched. Your soul can drift. Your soul can be deceived. Your soul can be hardened. Your soul can be proud. Your soul can be offended.
Your soul can become cold whilst your body is still attending church. You can lose the fire on the altar. So there are people that watch out for your soul to ensure you are neither hot nor cold, to ensure you are constantly aflame, to ensure you are consistent, to ensure you are growing, to ensure all areas of your life are whole. Submission to them and to this process is not weakness. Weakness. It is wisdom. Be wise. It's not the worship of a man. It's allowing God to use men. To use structures, to use spiritual systems, to train you on the Christ.
And a believer who cannot submit in this manner is not being discipled. You will repeat cycles if you reject correction. You will repeat cycles if you reject submission. A believer that hates accountability will remain a child forever. A believer who only wants the word but does not want any kind of oversight is choosing a dangerous version of independence. That is not the liberty we have in Christ. Proverbs 12 and verse one says, whoever loves instruction loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid. Scripture does not flatter also. He says it is stupid. A man who cannot be corrected is stupid.
A man who cannot be corrected cannot be discipled. A man who is always offended whenever his life is questioned. Or whenever choices he's making is questioned. He's not being discipled. That's why God plants people in spiritual families, not just in gatherings, in families. Because in a family, you are not just being fed, you are being raised in a family. Not only welcomed, you are corrected in the family. We don't only celebrate you, we train you in a family. You are being watched in a family. You are known in a family.
You grow within the context of a family. That's why the Bible says God has put the solitary in family. So when a church creates structure and systems like small groups, like discipleship classes, like follow-up systems, mentorship structures, and accountable communities, several churches have these different platforms of discipleship. It's not because the church wants to disturb your freedom. It is because your growth requires structure. And the church understands you cannot grow outside of this structure. It's because there are people who have been poured into so that they can pour into you. It is because no matter how serious a believer is, if he wonders, know he cannot do much. If he interprets life, know he cannot do much. If he fights battles alone, he can't do much.
If he make decisions alone, he can't do much. Second Timothy chapter two and verse two. Paul says, these things that you have heard from me amongst many witnesses, commit unto faithful men who will be able to teach others also. That's the system of transmission. Teach others also. One life receives truth and becomes formed by it and carries that truth into another life. That is the system of transmission. That's how we know even that discipleship is prospering in your life. Are you with me? Yes, sir.
That's how we know. You must locate the system that God has placed around you for your growth and submit yourself to it. Move beyond that Sunday Sunday Christianity. Small groups is where discipleship happens, small groups. That's where you can be corrected. You allow spiritual parenting. You allow your life to be observed. Stop hiding in the crowd and calling it humility. Stop avoiding accountability and calling it privacy. Stop it.
You know, this is the reason why we tell people, do the believers boot camp. And why do we tell them to do so? Because when you join the believers boot camp, you are within the disciples Christian talk anyways. Different tongues have the way they do theirs. But you are ingrained into a system where discipleship happens, where the training happens. So the workforce system for us is not just a place where you come and carry chairs and arrange speakers. That is the system where we can now watch your growth. Within that system, there are subgroups. There is someone over that subgroup who is being poured into, Who is also a reflection, who is being taught, who is being discipled to disciple. And the same thing now works when your own life now prospers and more people come.
You too are now being discipled to disciple. That's what Paul says. Here the things we have committed to you. Because discipleship is a reproduction. We are reproducing something inside of you. And if the product is fully formed, you should also be able to reproduce that thing in the life of others. In fact, you have not been discipled until you can disciple somebody else. A genuine disciple who has truly been discipled can teach somebody else and teach them into making them disciples too. That means it has nothing to do with being a pastor. We should be able to hand somebody over to you and say, raise this believer up.
We'll put the person three months and give them to you. It has nothing to do with age. It has everything to do with the fact that you have been discipled. If your life becomes like this, any leadership position that you ever take in your life will be a blessing to those who follow you. Either you are in school, as a student, become a departmental head or whatever, and you are a mid disciple. You become a president of your department of faculties. Oh no. People's lives will be transformed. Because your life has been transformed. Do you understand what I'm sharing with you?
Yes sir. Because your life has been transformed. A lot of us have received the holy spirit. We have the holy spirit. But the holy spirit does not flow through our lives in the way that we want him to flow. And plenty people have that burden in their heart. They see how the holy ghost flows through the life of people. And they desire that expression that even when I speak, this thing happens. Even when I pray, this thing happens. You know, Paul said, he said, my speech and my preaching were not with enticing words of man's wisdom.
They were in the demonstration of the holy ghost and power. That means Paul was saying, when I was speaking to you, as I was speaking to you, the holy ghost was flowing through my words and impacting the lives of men. That means the holy ghost and his flow in the life of man is like physics. How current flows through conductors. Are you with me? If you understand this that I'm teaching you, you will now understand the physics of the spirit. Because if the holy ghost is like current flowing through conductors and your life is the channel. Your life is supposed to be the conductor. In physics, you would now be taught that there are different types of materials that have different kind of conducting experiences, that not so, or conductive levels. Some materials have several impurities that makes them insulate us.
So they resist the flow of current. That's exactly how a believer can resist the flow of the holy ghost. So it's not as though the holy ghost is not there. It just cannot flow. Because there are plenty resistances within his soul. That's why Jesus said, the prince of this world came to me and found nothing in me. That means there was no impurity. There was no resistance. So the holy ghost could find free expression. He was a superconductor.
That's the reason why a woman can say, if only I can touch the hem of his garment. It's not for everybody. If they thought to good, nothing will happen. The reason is because you have not become a superconductor. The holy ghost cannot find free expression through you because there is still several obstructions in your soul. Those obstructions are meant to be purged. That is the why we go through the process of discipleship. When a man is being discipled and this thing is succeeding, there are distances in his soul will start clearing off. As they are clearing off, he will start seeing expressions of the spirit in and through his life. It has nothing to do with being a pastor.
He will go home and people will know that there's something different about you. His life will carry an aura. His life will carry a presence. His life will carry... It will be obvious. It will be obvious. They will look at him and tell you a pastor. Said, I'm I'm not a pastor. Something is different about you. Because our generation calls anybody that carry this aura, pastor.
No. I just carry the presence of God. I just carry the presence of God. And I can carry him to my business. I can carry him to my workplace. I can carry him when I'm talking to my employees, when I'm talking to my employer. I can carry him in that manner. When I'm writing projects, when I'm writing proposals, when in the presence of an interviewer, I can carry him in that manner. Rise up on your feet. Are you blessed?
When this process prospers, that is when a man becomes usable by God. So this thing we shout, Lord, me, use me, use me. He wants to. In fact, there is gravity of usable men. The problem is not that there are no available vessels. There are available vessels. The issue is with the usability. Is that those who are available cannot be used. So there is a cavity of men. That's why creations wait for the manifestations of the sons of God.
These sons have become superconductors. There's no resistance against the flow. The holy ghost just moves. They become potholes and gates in the spirit. Can you close your eyes? We are done. They have closed. Close your eyes. You know, the burden that the holy spirit gave me for this meeting since Friday was this. Was this.
It's supposed to be a prophetic service. But the holy spirit told me that this is what he wants to do. He wants us to make men. He wants us to remind ourselves. And he wants people to submit to the process of discipleship. And so what I want you to do is close your eyes and pray that the Holy Ghost should help you as you submit to the process of discipleship. Make disciples. That is the command that was given. Make disciples. Make disciples.
Can you say help me precious holy spirit? Help me as I submit. Today, I make a covenant of submission with you precious holy spirit. Declare it. If you really mean it anyways, because you never want to know nothing about it, there's no point saying it. Absolutely no point saying it. But if you've heard what I've said and there's a conviction in your soul, a conviction in your heart that this that I'm saying pertains especially to you, and it has formed a kind of correction, a kind of instruction, a kind of rebuke in your soul, and you you can bear witness in your spirit that apostle you really came for me. I've been hiding within the crowd. I've been postponing obedience for so long, and it is delaying the making problems in my life. Now I submit myself.
Now I make an allegiance today. I make a covenant with my destiny. I make a covenant with the holy ghost, and I declare today that my life takes a turn for the chief. My life takes a turn. My life takes a turn. My life takes a turn. Come on pray. Be serious about it. Be serious about it. Be serious about it.
We declare in the name of Jesus. Going do do that. That. We ourselves to that process. Submit ourselves to that system. Submit ourselves to that structure. In the name of Jesus. Thank you because you've answered our prayers. In Jesus name we've prayed. Thank you for listening to this message.
We trust you have been blessed. You can get more life transforming messages from apostle Emmanuel Boluatife on our Telegram page at DCN Media channel. You can also stream the messages on Spotify, Ocho Mac, and Apple Podcasts. Connect with us via our social media platforms on Instagram at DCN underscore nations, on Facebook at Disciples Christian Network, on X at DCN Central, and on TikTok at Disciples Christian Network. You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel at Disciples Television. If you have a testimony from this message, you can mail us at disciplecngmail dot com. God bless you.