[0:00] Welcome. Thank you for choosing to listen to another destiny-changing word by David Entry from one of our Revival Seeking Youth Services. If you want to control your world, catch the word. Be blessed.
[0:16] I want to continue with a plan. I spoke about how the plan of God did not start now.
[0:32] It started before man was created. So, the Bible says that when he was about to make man, he said, let us make man in our own image and according to our likeness.
[0:59] Because he had a plan for bringing man on the earth. He's a God who plans the beginning to the end.
[1:17] And he factors in a lot of eventualities. So, some of you, you messed up or you went off and are back.
[1:29] God covered all that in the plan because he knows you. He doesn't trust you. He knows you mess up. But because he has a plan for you, he covered that.
[1:41] You know when manufacturers, why do you think they say one year warranty, two years warranty? Because they know that there are times that this thing will go wrong. When you buy a new car, usually, they give you three years warranty.
[1:57] And with some of the manufacturers, if the car breaks down, because it's a new car, they can't tell. If the car breaks down somewhere, all you have to do is there's a number.
[2:09] The car comes with a phone number. All that number, wherever you are, they will drive there. They will come and fix it. If they can't fix you, they'll replace the car for you and make sure you are fine.
[2:22] One day, I was driving around Vauxhall and the car played up. It started stopping. So, I limped it home. I called them, the manufacturer.
[2:33] They said, this is not mechanic. It's like, it's not AA. It's the manufacturer's own special. They come and take care of you. And if they come and check, the car is not good.
[2:45] They, you have priority at the service station. They take you straight. They, they check you in and they arrange a case-seeker for you. Why? Because it's a new car. Why? They don't trust things that have been made.
[2:57] Things that, they intend to make it work well. But, that's nature. And you don't even trust yourself. Let alone God.
[3:11] So, God knows that you would dip. Before you even come and meet Christ, you have met different boys. Or different girls.
[3:22] Some of us should be thankful to God that you are now in Christ. But, God planned for you before you showed up. Now, it will be necessary and helpful for me to pick up from a particular scripture and explain it forward.
[3:41] Like I was teaching you the other time last week. About how the prostitutes, Rahab and David, Bathsheba, all those guys were in a plan.
[4:00] God was not behind their behavior. Their wrong behavior. But, the providence of God. Please. Providence of God is more powerful than the miracles of God.
[4:17] Do you understand what I mean? So, God opened the Red Sea. Red Sea opened and they walk on dry ground. Wow. Dead person raising back to life. Those are miracles. But, providence is when they hated Joseph.
[4:31] And, they said, let's get rid of Joseph. By them getting rid of Joseph. Actually, God was, that's the way God has planned. To use that to take him to the height. So, they planned to do their own thing.
[4:43] Little, potty-faced wife didn't intend the promotion of Joseph. Joseph. He, Bible says, she cast a longing eye on him.
[4:53] What? That's one of the things that can be common with women. So, those of you young men who want to do ministry. When you are in ministry and you are standing on the stage, you look more desirable than you originally are.
[5:10] When people are on the stage, especially in ministry, there is a kind of glory that comes on them. That is not intrinsic.
[5:22] It's an honor that God puts on people. Young men who want to do ministry. One day, a senior minister told me that when church girls tend to like church leaders.
[5:37] Some of it is genuine, but it can grow into something else. We love you.
[5:47] We love you. We love you. We love you. Ah, ah, ah. Then it goes into your head. You also want to be called Papa. That's the only reason why you want to start a church.
[6:00] Money and be called Papa. Oh, yeah. Don't forget, when someone is in a good church, I'm starting one. One of the reasons is money, and two is to be called Papa.
[6:13] Bible calls it the pride of life. Eve, Genesis chapter 3, when verse 4 and 5, 5 particular. When she saw, when she saw that, when, verse 6, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and it was pleasant to them, and a tree desirable to make one white.
[6:33] It gives you a certain status. 1 John chapter 2, verse 17. It says that all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the pride of, sorry, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
[6:53] The pride. You want to be seen a certain way. Some people want to just marry, so they can make a statement. So then, even when you are even walking into a ditch, you are more concerned about pride.
[7:08] The pride of life. That's why people can come to church, and they will not take the step they want to take, even though God is talking to them.
[7:20] They want people to see that. That's not me. That's for me. I'm fine. You will be drinking Igbo and Shio. And the pastor said, there is someone here. Yesterday, you were drinking Igbo and Shio.
[7:31] Come forward, let's live. Ah, no. I have to. People have been doing outreach. People think I'm very spiritual. I can't afford to go for it. Pride of life. Pride of life.
[7:43] Just all the things in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. It's the same thing that Eve. The same thing has never changed.
[7:55] Eve said, the tree was good for food, lust of the flesh. And he said that it was good to the lust of the eyes. And a tree desirable to make one wise.
[8:08] Pride of life. Three. These three. The trinity of sin. So then when you, when you are, that's why you want to, you are in a healthy, spiritual, well-fed church.
[8:29] And you want to start a church for yourself. My branch of, a church. Why do you want to be a head pastor? It's because of either thinking that there is money in this thing.
[8:40] Try it. Number two. Pride of life. Pride of life. There are people who, other pastors, some of those pastors, I don't think they have been doing work of God.
[8:55] And I tell them, wait church. Are you a leader? Come, if you come to our place, we'll make you a leader. We'll make you. There's a guy. His wife said, when you go there, the pastor has told you to make you a pastor. Why are you staying in a church?
[9:06] They won't make you a pastor. Foolish wife. He followed. I'm trying to say, pastor, I'm sorry. I don't know what came up for me. You don't know. Pride of life. But you see, when you are in church leadership, you look adorable.
[9:24] When people are on stage, they look more glorious than they originally are. When people are in ministry and in the flow of their ministry, they look more powerful.
[9:41] They look more put together. They look more attractive than they originally are. That is why most of the times, when you live with a person, you'll be shocked that, is this the same person?
[10:00] So, the truth of the matter is that in spite of our ups and downs, God has planned and he took into consideration your mannerism and idiosyncrasies and misdemeanors.
[10:17] So, he took into consideration, do you are likely to do this? There are some things, if you do, you lose your place. There are certain things you might get another chance.
[10:28] It depends on what you are called to do anyway. So, somebody can go and fornicate and still come and end up becoming a top Christian musician. Another person can also go and fornicate and because of the kind of assignment on his life, his ministry is supposed to change lives across the nation.
[10:52] This one is a local singer. This one is an international singer. A local singer maybe went a wrong direction and recovered and came back and is continuing.
[11:03] But you can go a wrong direction and there's no point of return. Why? Because what God has called David went to Bathsheba but it still continued.
[11:15] Something went to Delilah and that was the end. That was it. Sometimes, Lord, you compare David and his predecessor, Saul.
[11:30] Saul just went to sacrifice when he had not been asked to sacrifice. God said, obedience is better than sacrifice. 1 Samuel 15, verse 22.
[11:43] Obedience is... And because of just that, just that, he was rejected. He lost the throne permanently. David murdered and took somebody's wife and he still went on.
[11:58] So, you see, don't compare yourself with others. Because every one of us has a very unique, exclusive, peculiar assignment.
[12:11] You might look like one of the people but you are just not a number in the crowd. You are unique because God purposely planned you. But every time he plans you, he has a recovery version of you.
[12:27] He has a backup version of you. There's a backup version of David Amge. If I don't give the work my best and I begin to take it for granted and I begin to allow sin into my life, God has...
[12:43] He doesn't have a problem removing me. It's not you. It's God. It's God who chooses who will be the leader. It's God who chooses who he will use.
[12:54] You can pray. You can command answers. So, three people are praying for a second. One person pray. You also pray for yourself. They don't have to pray. God, you prayed.
[13:05] No one respects you but you prayed and God... That person gets healed. It's not coincidence. Because God knows the heart. There is a plan for your life.
[13:17] You don't have to live your life like someone who doesn't know where he's going. If you don't know where you are going, where you can get anywhere you think that's the place. Wherever you are, I think that's the place.
[13:30] But when you know where you are going, it doesn't matter what people offer you. You know I'm on a mission. Now, coming back to the plan. So, I told you about how David and all of them, God had planned from eternity.
[13:47] And because of that, we also come into the picture. God has been working from the days of Adam, fulfilling his plan. Jesus came.
[13:57] They worked until Jesus came. And we continue the work after Jesus has come. And so, you are never an accident. If a Bible, post-Jesus Bible was supposed to be written, what I mean is, post-church, after the church era has gone, Bible has to be written.
[14:14] Some of us, your name will feature. I don't know whether in a positive light like Peter or negative light like Jesus. I pray that, God, if you are writing another Bible, which will never happen, Lord, let me make it.
[14:31] I want to live my life such that I will make it into the Bible. Like David made it into the Bible. Like Moses made it into the Bible. Like Saul, Paul made it into the Bible.
[14:42] Like Peter. Like Nathaniel. Like John. Like Timothy. There are a lot of other people who lived at that time. Even Jesus' disciples. Some of us don't remember most of them, some of their names.
[14:54] So, where are they? What happened to them? They were just part of the script at around the time of Jesus. And they went and did God's work. But when it comes to the redemption story, they were not part of the records of redemption.
[15:10] God has a plan. And you feature heavily in the plan. I said, God has a plan and you feature heavily in the plan. Lift up your right hand and say, God has a plan.
[15:23] And I feature heavily in the plan of God. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Let's read the text. And I'll pick it from there.
[15:34] Colossians chapter 1. Verse 25. That's the problem I tend to have when I'm reading the Bible.
[15:50] It's like I bump into a word that I say, oh, wow. This thing is too strong to just read over it. Sometimes I can spend one hour reading one verse. It is what it is.
[16:05] Whereof I made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God. The Amplified. The Amplified.
[16:17] In this church, I was made a minister according to the stewardship which God entrusted to me for your sake, so that I might make the word of God fully known.
[16:34] So that's the ESV. The ESV and new American Standard Version. And then we go to new living translation. ESV. Of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God, which was given to me for you to make the word of God fully known.
[16:53] New American Standard Version. Of this church, I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God, bestowed on me for your benefit.
[17:05] Oh, that sounds nice. According to the stewardship from God, bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God.
[17:18] It says that I, okay, new living translation. God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you.
[17:30] He calls it responsibility of serving the church. But he said that I, wherefore, I am a New American Standard Version. Wherefore, of this church, I was made a minister.
[17:44] Say, I was made a minister. I was made a minister. You don't make yourself a minister. You are made a minister. I was made a minister of this church according to, you know that word?
[18:00] Stewardship. Everybody say stewardship. What's the Greek word for, translated as stewardship? Some of you, by now, I suppose that you have the Bible app that shows you the Greek as well.
[18:15] I don't know if you have got it. Let me see by hand. You have got a Bible app where you can find a Greek word. Some of you are fantastic. That's nice to hear.
[18:27] Some of you, I lift your hand. If you don't have it, the pride of life. Let's do it again. One day, a pastor was going to preach. He was teaching on something.
[18:39] Something. And he told the church, next week Sunday, I'm going to preach a very powerful message. And I want everybody to read 1 Corinthians chapter 18.
[18:51] And then when I come next Sunday. So when he came, he was about to preach. He said, how many of you were able to read 1 Corinthians chapter 18? A few hands went up. Many hands went up.
[19:02] And the pastor said, great. Today, I'm going to preach on the spirit of lies. Now, there's no 1 Corinthians chapter 18. So I know that now I can preach to the liars in the church.
[19:14] How many of you have the Bible app that tells you, helps you to see Greek words as well?
[19:27] You have to try and get it. Because you have to be a good student of the Bible. So what is the word, Greek word translated stewardship?
[19:41] Or dispensation? Oiko no Maya. Let's all say that together. Oiko no Maya. Say that again. Oiko no Maya. Matthew chapter 5 verse 17 or verse 18.
[19:55] Or chapter 13 verse, chapter 11 verse 13. Yeah, Matthew chapter 5 verse 7. Pastor, where is this all going? Don't worry, find out very soon. Let's all read here from the screen.
[20:08] Destroy what? The law. The what? The law. What is the Greek word translated law? Nomos.
[20:23] No, or noma, or noma. Nomos. Nomos. Does it ring a bell? No. Deutro. Oiko.
[20:36] Oiko. Nomos. Oh. Okay, let's see. Hebrews chapter 3 verse 6. But Christ has a son over what?
[20:53] Over his. Over his. What is the Greek word translated house? Oiko. So, oikos.
[21:05] Nomos. What's nomos? What's oikos? House. So, oikonomia has to do with? Huh?
[21:17] House of law. Mm-hmm. Kind of. Yeah. That's technically, yeah. What else would you think it would be? House of law. The law that governs a house, which is similar to a house law.
[21:31] Yeah. A household law. So, oikonomia is a household law.
[21:43] A law that governs a house. It shows how the house is run. And oikonomia is translated in English by every nation as economy.
[21:55] So, they say that that is the economy of UK doing. When we talk about economy, it's not the exchange rate.
[22:08] Economy affects the exchange rate. The value of a pound is influenced by the economy. What's the economy? The resources of this nation, which is a house.
[22:20] How it is managed. The law that governs. Okay. The money is going to be doing the streets. This is going to be doing here. This is going here. That's why you need an economist to see. Okay. This is going here.
[22:31] If you spend more money here, this is what will happen. If you have more jobs here, if you start building a lot of houses, there will be more jobs. And when there are more, it's all management of household resources.
[22:41] But there must be a governing system. So, it's like a plan to manage things of a house. So, oikonomia is oikos.
[22:57] The normals of oikos. The law that governs a household. And the church is a household. The house of God is a household.
[23:10] And now, how is God distributing his or dispensing? You, you, do you fall? Have you forgotten how you used to be before you started doing church?
[23:23] How? At what point in time? I mean, sometimes you used to have this problem. And after a period of time, you realize there's no more problem. But sometimes you can't put your finger on exactly.
[23:33] Those who only want deliverance, pray for me to fall. And afterwards, it will change. No. It takes a certain time. But sometimes you can't even put your finger on. When the thing changes. Why?
[23:44] Because the more you are in church, God has got a dispensation system. Now, when we say dispensation system, system of dispensing, dispensing, distributing, supply.
[23:56] Supplying what? Supplying himself. Supplying his life. Supplying his grace. Supplying his riches. Into his people. For what? So that the people can do his work.
[24:08] And as you are doing his work, the distribution process continues. So when you look at a country's economy, every country's economy is determined heavily by the natural resources and by the workforce.
[24:24] So the more people are working, and the effective tax system, actually. That's what makes working the tax system. The more people are paying taxes. If you are not working, you can't pay tax.
[24:36] But when you are working and you pay tax, can you imagine if this is a nation, and only these people are paying taxes. We don't have to use the money that is coming from here and use it to manage everybody here.
[24:52] But can you imagine if these people are also paying taxes now, a third, two-thirds of the nation is paying taxes. Can you imagine? We use this a lot more money. We can manage everything, and this wants to help them more.
[25:06] But can you imagine if only the last role are not paying tax, and everyone here is paying tax. You would say this nation is a wealthy nation. Because the economy is booming.
[25:20] Is that what I'm saying? Think about it. You are in church, and you are not serving. You are not helping the economy.
[25:31] You are not helping the economy of the house. The more people are serving. So you, if you are a faithful steward of God, it's your job to make sure that you are encouraging, challenging, admonishing others to also be taxpayers.
[25:52] For the economy of the nation. And when I say taxpayer, I'm talking about an effective worker. And what is interesting about doing the work of God is, the more you are, when you are doing God's work, it's not God's work until God is passing through you.
[26:11] So anything you are doing, God then passes through you to supply grace to others. So this lady who came to church as a drunkard, came to church as a bitter person, a mad dog, now has become a sweet person, forgiving person.
[26:30] When did that change? It's not only the preaching. It's the entire system. Whilst I'm preaching, some people are on the sound. Whilst I'm preaching, someone is waiting by the keyboard. Whilst I'm preaching, some people are on the camera.
[26:42] Whilst I'm preaching, some people are managing the light. Whilst I'm preaching, some people are helping people to get decent seats. Whilst I'm preaching, some people are ready to take care of the first timers. Whilst I'm preaching.
[26:53] So it's a whole system. It's not only the preaching, but it's everybody working. Oh, come on. I feel like preaching is part of the plan. It's part of the plan.
[27:06] So God is going to reward you, not based on the way you are preaching, but based on how you fulfill your path. Wow. For the plan. Fulfilling your path.
[27:19] Oh, thank you Jesus. Fulfilling your path of the plan is called M-I-N-I-S-T-R-Y.
[27:32] It's called what? M-I-N-I-S-T-R-Y. I can't hear. It's called what? M-I-N-I-S-T-R-Y. It's called what? M-I-N-I-S-T-R-Y.
[27:42] 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 1. It says that, let's not read it out loud from the screen. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.
[27:53] Hey. We have it. Since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy. So, having ministry is an extension of mercy. Because you are not qualified.
[28:06] But God decided, you know what? I have a plan and I'm going to include you just like Rahab. I'm going to include you just like Perez's mom was her name, Tama. I'm going to include you just like Bathsheba.
[28:20] I'm going to include you just like David. I'll just include you. David didn't plan to be a king. Hmm. He was minding his business.
[28:31] Then God told the prophet, go to Jesse's house. Appointed one of his sons. His father even knew that this one is not one of the kings. This one is not the king God is looking for. They brought all his older brothers and they were tested for kingship.
[28:46] And God said, no. His father said, that's all my sons. And the prophet said, don't you have at least all your sons? Then he remembered, oh, there's one. It's in the field. But he is not part of what I'm expecting.
[28:57] He said, the prophet said something. He said, we will not sit down until he comes. Go ahead. We will wait for him to come. See, when God has a plan for you, he has a way of making the son stand still.
[29:11] Oh. Oh. Oh. Someone said to Jesse, are all these your young men here? Then he said, there remain yet the youngest.
[29:23] And there he is keeping the sheep. Someone said, send and bring him. For we will not sit down until he comes here. Because I came. He, watch this. He came on a mission.
[29:35] He has been given an assignment. And an oikonomia. When an oikonomia gets to you, it becomes stewardship. So you, stewardship is, stewardship is God's plan that now is in your hands.
[29:52] You're doing it is what is called ministry. So ministry is actually stewardship. Paul, listen to, look at this text again. First, second Corinthians chapter four, verse one.
[30:03] Having received this ministry. Paul, since we have this ministry. Paul didn't, he wasn't just a preacher. Paul was not just a preacher.
[30:14] He didn't only have message to preach. He had ministry to fulfill. And the ministry to fulfill was to teach the message. Someone receiving something?
[30:29] Ministry. So when we started, the first text we read in Colossians chapter one, verse 25. He says that, of this church, I became a minister. And my ministry is built on the stewardship of God.
[30:45] Or the stewardship from God. Listen to how he puts it in first Timothy chapter one, verse 12. He says that, thanks be to God. He says, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has enabled me because he counted me faithful.
[30:57] So put, hey, yeah. Hey, yeah. What does it mean to be put in the ministry? It means that you have been given an opportunity to build the church.
[31:09] You have been given an opportunity to do the oikonomia. You have been given an opportunity to carry, this is interesting, to carry out the plans of God.
[31:23] So someone goes to UN from Russia to go and negotiate with UN on some deals or sanctions.
[31:37] It's not all of Russia who goes, but one person. And he's not speaking for himself. That person is called the Russian ambassador to UN. Because he speaks.
[31:48] So whatever he speaks, it's like the president of Russia has spoken. They work hand in hand. He is not permitted to say anything of his mind. Even if he doesn't agree on principles, on the policies of the government, he is there on the behalf of the government.
[32:04] So he's not meant to speak his mind. You, when you are doing ministry, it's not about your mind. He said, have accounted me faithful and put me in this ministry.
[32:15] In the book of 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 5. He says that, not that we are sufficient in ourselves to think of ourselves, to think anything of us, but our sufficiencies of God.
[32:32] Look at verse 6. The ability to minister is not coming from God.
[32:46] So when you clap for me, I should be humble enough to know that this thing is God. The clap is not, oh, I don't deserve a clap. Because the ability to do something to make people clap, if it is of God, then God did it.
[33:01] God is the one who makes anybody able minister. Don't think it's your schooling that makes you an able minister. Don't think it's your parenting that makes you an able minister.
[33:12] Because you are close to a pastor, doesn't mean you can do ministry. Because you know I have some pastor friends, doesn't mean you can do ministry. Because you have colleagues who are now in ministry, doesn't mean you can do ministry.
[33:24] Because God has to give it to you. You have to recall, in Ephesians chapter 3 verse 8, he said, To me, who am less than the least of the saints, is this grace given, that I should preach the unsearchable riches of Christ.
[33:42] The grace was given to me. I can't boast of it. I can't boast of it. He said, what do you have? And you did not receive.
[33:52] And if you receive it, why would you boast about it? He said, God has made us able ministers. 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 6. Who has made us able ministers.
[34:04] Not of the New Testament. Not of the letter. But of the spirit. Of the spirit. Say of the spirit. Of the spirit.
[34:14] So ministry, true Christian ministry, it starts from your spirit. Get spiritual. Girl. Start putting emphasis on your humanity.
[34:26] That's not what may God use you. I'm a stammerer. I'm a stammerer. So you are going for lessons. Speech lessons so you can preach. Please. Much as that might not be bad.
[34:38] You have to know that it's not your eloquence that may God use you. Amen. God can use the dam to impregnate Elizabeth.
[34:52] You don't know how multitasking a man needs to be to be able to do some things. Magadosh.
[35:07] Women most of the time are naturally multitasking. So they expect that from their husbands. The first time I started driving, when I was taking lessons, I was wondering, how can I change the gears?
[35:22] Because I need to see one. But I have to keep my eye on the road. And then I have to look at the pedals. Hey, this is a very complicated multitasking demand. I have to look at.
[35:35] I used to wonder. How can I see gears? One, two, three, four, five. And then reverse here. I have to look at where I'm going. But I need to keep my eye on the road.
[35:45] Then I have to look at speedometer. And I check. Hey, what? Ministry is more complicated than that.
[35:57] But that's why you can't do it by yourself. That's why you can't do it by yourself. First of all, God has to put you in the ministry.
[36:11] And if you are a genuine minister of the gospel, there's one thing that will always come to you. Thanks. Coming from your heart. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you.
[36:21] That's why it says that. I thank Christ Jesus our Lord. Who has, who has, who, because he counted, enable me, has enabled me. Say enable.
[36:32] Enable. You know sometimes you have to enable notifications. Follow it. You have to go on your phone, the settings, and enable a setting function.
[36:43] Enable automatic notification. If it's disabled, it can't happen. And you are wondering, why is my phone, it's not doing it. Because it's not enabled. You are comparing yourself to someone who is doing ministry and blessing people.
[36:56] And you are wondering, but I can't sing better than her. But why is it that I'm not, because you have not been enabled. There is, you have to go to settings.
[37:10] You have to go to settings and look for that particular music ministry app. And what are the settings?
[37:20] Your private time with God. Your private prayer with God. You are getting to the settings. How come you have come to church, you are ministering, and you have not gone to the settings? Because when you wake up in the morning, usually the default position is disabled.
[37:36] Disabled. You have to do ministry. You have to do ministry. The human default position is disabled. So you have to get into the relationship with the Holy Ghost to enable it.
[37:51] As soon as you start interacting with the Holy Spirit, ministry gets enabled automatically. And so the setting of any minister is your private time with God.
[38:05] If you don't have private time with God, you can't go far in God. The problem is a setting problem. Not setting, C-E-R-T.
[38:20] But I'm talking about setting, S-E-T-T-I. You have to go to the settings. And your problem is settings.
[38:31] Because by factory default, we are set to be disabled, not to do ministry. You arrived disabled. That is why you have to...
[38:43] That is why you have to learn how to sit under the ministry of an enabled personnel.
[38:55] The more you are exposed to the ministry of an enabled personnel, grace flows into you faster. And it begins to enable that disablement.
[39:08] Because it's that we... Not to count anything of ourselves. But God, 2 Corinthians 3, again, verse 6. It says that God... It says that we also have...
[39:20] Who has made us able ministers of the new... You have to be made able ministers. When it comes to church life, you need exposure to someone who is already enabled.
[39:37] So, in Ephesians 4, verse 1... Prisoner of Christ, verse 2. If you talk... Verse 2, it says that... With lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, burial with one another.
[39:51] It says that that's what we should do. Verse 3. Endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit. Endeavor. Put in an attempt to keep the unity of the Spirit.
[40:04] It's not your unity. It's there already. The Spirit has granted a certain unity in the church. What is that unity about? It's called oneness. The real Greek word is translated in some versions as oneness of the Spirit.
[40:17] I probably think maybe New American Standard Version or English Standard Version might use oneness because those versions tend to get a bit closer to... But then it says that...
[40:28] Which version is amplified using oneness? Make every effort to keep the oneness of the Spirit. Say oneness. Oneness. When you are born again, you have oneness, not unity.
[40:39] Oneness. Not uniformity. There's a massive difference between uniformity and unity. You have unity. Oneness. Not just unity. Oneness with others.
[40:50] When you... You see, this light on the floor, those at the back, you might not see it, but this is even better. These intimidators, they are called intimidators, these moving heads, they can turn them on and they all start...
[41:04] And when someone goes to the back and switches, there's one power that goes to all of them. You switch one... Okay, I want to turn this one off. So you go and disconnect the power.
[41:14] You forget these are all linked. Because there's something... They have oneness. It's the same current that is flowing through all of them. You can't touch one and not affect the other.
[41:26] When you attack a genuine Christian or a genuine church, you are attacking all the other churches. The way you get excited about that brother's fornication, you get excited about that sister's pregnancy and you are busy talking about it.
[41:40] You don't know that when you attack a Christian, you are attacking all other Christians. It's only Christians who don't understand some of this. They don't... They're not inside. That's why you're busy condemning other Christians so quickly.
[41:52] Anyway, it's called oneness. Say oneness. And it's said it's your job to keep the oneness of the Spirit. You can't generate that oneness. The Holy Spirit generates the oneness. So keep the oneness of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
[42:06] That is why every church, every church needs some level of peace. Let's drive the gossips out. Let's drive the people who create contention, who are always undermining and they are disloyal.
[42:19] Let's drive them out because it says that he leaves me beside the still waters, not the rough waters. When people come to church that they want to rough the waters, it's not of God. If you want to make problems, please leave us alone.
[42:31] Go away. Leave us alone. Go. Leave us alone. We want to operate in peace. He said that keep the endeavor to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
[42:42] He said, maybe you don't know. There's one body. There's four. We have many bodies. It's only one body of Christ. There's only one Holy Spirit that we all have.
[42:52] There's only one hope of our calling that we all have. One hope. We are all going to heaven one day. That's all. One Holy Spirit is not a different spirit. No. If you are in Christ, the same spirit, one body, one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one baptism, one faith, and one Father.
[43:15] Seven. One Father of all. One, one, one. Seven. And this is where our oneness comes from. So you can't do anything about it. The fact that you are born again and born again, we share something in common.
[43:27] We have oneness. And we have to keep the oneness. Hallelujah. We have to keep the oneness. But watch this. Then it says, but to every one of us, grace is given. Ha! So, your grace is different from my grace.
[43:41] When it comes to oneness, it doesn't go into the grace. Because the things God will be able to do through my life is not what he will be able to do through your life.
[43:53] So he said, grace. Grace here is not grace to be saved. Not saving grace, but functioning grace. Ministry grace. Ephesians chapter 3, verse 8. Unto me was the grace given to preach.
[44:05] Ha! Unto me was grace given to preach. So grace is given to do. How come you are singing without grace? Ha! How come you are singing without grace?
[44:17] No wonder it's only your bum you keep shaking. There's no grace on you. How come you are on the cameras without grace? That's why you only take people's thighs.
[44:30] Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
[44:40] Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Then he says, Satan is using you to attack the church. Grace, he said unto me, is this grace given to preach?
[44:56] So when people say, God bless you, I bless my life. Remember that it's not me. It's the grace. It's the grace. It's the grace. I am a steward of grace. I am a steward of grace.
[45:08] It's the grace. Shout the grace. Steward of grace. Steward of grace. So he says, but when it comes to grace, there are levels.
[45:22] When it comes to the Father, same. Spirit, same. The body, same. Baptism, your baptism was not different from mine. We are all baptized into Jesus, the same. Same.
[45:33] Christian baptism is the same everywhere. When it comes to baptism, same everywhere. When it comes to hope, same. When it comes to faith, in other words, putting your faith in Jesus. The way I got saved is different from the way you get saved.
[45:45] It's not different from the way you get saved. I put my faith in Jesus, I'm saved. You put your faith in Jesus, same faith. Okay? But when it comes to grace to function, it depends on some conditions.
[45:59] He said, the conditions that determine the grace to do ministry is determined by the measure of the gift of Christ. Now, measure means that a certain level, a certain amount.
[46:13] And it says, the kind of grace you operate in has a lot to do with the measure of the gift of Christ. So now, we have to investigate what this gift is about. And we understand in verse 11 that to some, he gave, verse 8, verse 8.
[46:28] Verse 8 said, when he ascended on high, he let captivity captive and he gave gifts. So he's trying to now talk about, let's talk about this gift. Because the gift, as for oneness, we've got all got it.
[46:39] But grace to be different, it depends on the gift. So that means the gift is crucial. The gift is... Your Christian life has everything to do with the gift you're exposed to.
[46:53] As for a lot of things like oneness, the seven ones, we all have at the same level. But it's like qualification.
[47:06] If you want to work at the bank, or let's say hospital, your qualification matters. In the hospital, some are says.
[47:18] Their qualification is way above an ordinary doctor or an ordinary surgeon. Right? And some are just surgeons. Some are just doctors. Others are general doctors.
[47:29] Others are nurses and consultants. So when you're a consultant, you are a sir. So consultants, an eye consultant is way above a doctor of the eye.
[47:46] Which is different from an optician. As for opticians, it's not what I'm talking about. So listen to this. It has to do with the degrees you have gone.
[47:56] So your quality and your value in this economy in the hospital, the hospital job, has a lot to do with that qualification.
[48:07] But when it comes to we are human beings and legal migrants or British citizens, that's why we all have papers. So we can all go into the hospital because if you have a document, you can work.
[48:19] But now that we have documents, now qualifications are what will determine your death height. And the height of your impact is what also determines the nature of your reward.
[48:33] So there are some rewards that go to shepherds. Like 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 1 to 3, or chapter 3, verse 1 to 5.
[48:44] When Peter, chapter 5 rather. When Peter was talking to the elders of the church, he says, I thought, fellow elder, a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed.
[48:55] Look at the next verse. Shepherd the flock of God which among us, serving as a father, not by compulsion, by willingly, not for dishonest gain, but eagerly.
[49:09] I don't know why pastors don't read this one. Shepherd the flock of God which among us. The next verse. The next verse. You don't like serving.
[49:45] And it's your character from home. And it's come to church. We are trying to wash it out and get grace to guide into you. God, grace doesn't come into vessels that are not workable. Or wishable.
[49:56] But watch this. Entrast it to you. Be examples of the flock. Look at the next verse. This is a serious one. And when the chief shepherd appears. Who is the chief shepherd? Jesus.
[50:07] When he appears, you will receive. Talking to the pastors, the shepherd. Say you will receive a crown. It's not to general congregation. This crown is for shepherds. He will give everybody according to his labor.
[50:20] But this particular crown, if you are not a shepherd, he won't get that crown. There's another crown Paul spoke about in 2 Timothy 4, verse 8. He says that for the good of God, verse 7. Therefore, there is greater for me.
[50:32] A crown of righteousness. That one is to be given to all those who also look for his appearing. So that one is a bit general. But the shepherd's crown is a different one.
[50:43] So I'm telling you, your reward is determined by your impact in the kingdom. And your impact in the kingdom is determined by the grace that you are operating. And the grace that you are operating is determined by the measure of the gift of Christ.
[50:57] So what's the gift of Christ? He said that verse 8, Ephesians chapter 4, verse 8. Therefore, when he ascended on high, he led captivity and gave gifts unto men. The next verse is a parenthetic statement.
[51:08] So let's leave that out. Verse 11. Verse 11 says that to some he gave woe to be apostles. To some prophets. To some evangelists. To some pastors and teachers.
[51:19] Ah! Ah! So is that a gift? The more I'm exposed to that, not friendship, but ministry of a pastor.
[51:30] Jesus. The more I am exposed to the ministry of an apostle. Not by apostle by title. Apostle by function. An apostle, a prophet, an evangelist, and a teaching pastor.
[51:46] He says that these are the gifts. This is what is called the gift of Christ. Now verse 7 says that back unto each one. Everyone. Everyone. Now your grace upon your life to do the work of the ministry.
[52:01] It's at the mercy of your measure of the gift. The proximity of the. You don't listen to pastors' messages, but you want to do great work. You are joking. I have to do the work of the ministry of the ministry.
[52:15] For the night coming when no man can wait. I don't get tired. I don't get tired. Because I understand if I want to be effective in the plan of God. I have to expose myself to the means of grace.
[52:28] And I'm talking about functioning grace. Just to throw light on what we've just read. Unto each one of you grace is given according to the measure. According to the measure of the gift of Christ.
[52:46] To some we give apostles. Some prophets. Some evangelists. Some pastors. Teachers. For what? That is very determinative. Look at verse 12. For the equipping of the saints.
[52:57] What are the saints? The Christians. Those of us who we all have oneness. Oneness. Said for the equipping. Some translations say for the perfecting. Colossians chapter 1 verse 28.
[53:08] Said him we preach. Admonishing. Teaching and admonishing every man. To present everyone perfect. So the preaching is supposed to.
[53:19] Perfect there doesn't mean infallible. Perfect means matured. You have not come into full state. Of how you should operate. You have come into full state. Of what Christ expects of you.
[53:31] At this stage of your walk with Christ. You are two years in Christ. But you are operating under. About one and a half months. Level. You are seven years. Like your auntie.
[53:41] Seven years. Or 20 years in Christ. And he's operating. Like at three months. Three months. Level. See. He has not been perfected. Second Timothy chapter 3 verse 16.
[53:54] All scripture. Paragraph at your nooses. All scripture. Is given. By the breath of God. And it is profitable for doctrine. It is profitable for instructions.
[54:05] It is profitable for doctrine. For reproof. For correction. For instruction. Righteousness. This is what the next verse. That the man of God. Will become complete. That complete is perfect.
[54:18] That complete is matured. Thoroughly equipped. Did you see equipped? Prepared. Now. I have to. The only means. By which I can prepare you.
[54:29] Equip you. Supply more grace to you. Is through the effectual teaching of God's word. It brings. It's like broadband. Super broadband. Fiberoptic broadband.
[54:39] Of grace dispense. Of the dispensation of grace. Of the. Oh. Oh. Of the. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.
[54:50] Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.
[55:02] Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.
[55:12] Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. searchable riches of Christ. As he's dispensing, the riches of Christ is what is coming into you.
[55:25] Then suddenly you begin to realize, as time goes on, you keep listening to this preacher, you are changing. This is what I live for. The oikonomaya. And I'm a dispenser of grace.
[55:36] He says that to every one of us, grace is given according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Then he says that to some he gave all that for the first twelve, for the equipping of the saints, for the work.
[55:51] Did you see that there? You remember ministry? You can't do ministry until you have come into contact with a minister of grace. Who is the gift of Christ that equips you, that cathartizles you, that perfects you, that builds you up for the work of the ministry, you want to do the work of the ministry?
[56:20] Who is teaching you? Who is speaking the words of truth to you? Because you will be disabled. You won't be enabled outside of the exposition of God's word.
[56:34] You see how important the preaching of God's word is? Him will preach teaching and admonishing all men to present all men or every man perfect.
[56:49] What? It's only preaching that can do that. And the preaching and the teaching must must preach Christ. As I taught last Sunday, you can preach and not preach Christ by yourself.
[57:02] 2 Corinthians 4, verse 5. It said, we preach Christ and not ourselves. We are not preaching ourselves. You can be a preacher and you are opening the Bible, quoting quotations, 17, Matthew 17, Luke 1, verse 10.
[57:17] But you are preaching yourself. When you finish, wow, this guy is amazing. Wow. They go back to fornicate. They go back to gossip. Their lives are not changing because you spoke but you didn't release Christ.
[57:33] That's why some of the outreach doesn't work. You are doing evangelism but you just finish squeezing breasts. And you haven't repented.
[57:49] You haven't repented. You want to go and finish outreach because you promised you are going to do outreach and then after the outreach go and finish. Finish here. Because she's got free art.
[58:01] It's hard. The free art comes once. It's like an eclipse of the sun. Comes once. So this free art, we have to make use of the free art.
[58:13] And so you have gone out. You started squeezing breasts and pulling it and then using fingers and afterwards you go and do your preaching and evangelism. You see, Christ is not flowing through you.
[58:25] That's why after preaching people begin to curse the church. Because you thought all I said because you are not a vessel. You are not a vessel.
[58:36] Or if you are, you are a polluted vessel. Anything that is passing through you becomes dirty. So the grace is not flowing because of the infiltrations in your life.
[58:51] You are preaching but you are not reaching people. you are not reaching their spirits. You are singing, you are not reaching their spirits. You are only reaching their soul.
[59:01] I like this song. But it's not changing them. Because worship comes from the spirit, not from the mind. You can never know the Holy Spirit just from your mind.
[59:13] You can know things from the Holy Spirit without your mind. It says that that you may know what Ephesians chapter 3 I think 17 that you be filled with all the fullness of God.
[59:32] And there's a place where it speaks about what is beyond knowledge. It speaks about where you will know what surpasses knowledge. That's it. The love of God that you will know.
[59:43] Do you say that? To know the love of Christ which goes beyond knowledge. So this is not intellectual knowledge. There are things you can know without your mind being involved. Your spirit will be communicating.
[59:56] You have communication in your spirit. But many of these things cannot happen when there's so much pollution and infiltration in your... If I were you, I would sign out and close my Twitter account.
[60:08] Because it's not helping you. I'm talking about you in particular. You delete Instagram from your phone. Delete Instagram from your phone.
[60:20] That tells me you are very serious. Delete it. I'm not saying everybody. Listen, some people are fine. But some of you are not fine. TikTok is messing your world up.
[60:33] TikTok. TikTok is messing you up. You don't want any of these church people to know what's been going on behind closed doors on TikTok. Close their account.
[60:46] Close their TikTok account and save your ministry. Save your ministry. You want to do ministry? God, Christ, trusted you.
[60:59] Putting you in the ministry. Why are you spoiling it? He puts you. He said, he enabled me because he counted me faithful. First Timothy 1, 12.
[61:10] I thank Christ Jesus, my Lord. Who has enabled me because he counted me faithful. Why do you let? He has just, you haven't shown faithfulness, but he has credited you with faithfulness.
[61:23] You are spoiling it with TikTok. Oh. Oh. Yes. I spoiling it with TikTok. I mean, your affinity for bottles is strong.
[61:39] It's serious. It's radical. Your affinity for boobs is serious. When ladies are standing in front of you wearing t-shirts, you can't stand it.
[61:51] But if you don't activate it and chain it in your private viewings, you can come out and you are standing there. It really doesn't have that impact on you.
[62:04] And you are rather receiving ministry. Am I preaching at all? What is your settings? It's affecting your settings.
[62:16] You know, there are some things you change. We have heating at home. When sometimes you turn it on, you set the heating. But every time, by the time it comes, it's going back.
[62:28] I'm trying to find out how to set this thing properly. Because after some time, it goes back to the zero setting. You set it there, it starts getting heated. After some time, it's going back. Ha! I thought I turned it on, you go back, it's like that.
[62:40] But I don't have time to really nail the thing. And some of us, your setting is being spoiled. After the first thing, you have been reset on a good platform.
[62:55] Why are you going back? It's not that I want to go back. But what you're exposing yourself to is destabilizing the setting. Unto every one of us, grace is given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
[63:15] To some we give, pastors, teachers, and all that. For the equipping of the saints. For the work of the ministry. For the work of the ministry.
[63:26] For the edifying of the body of Christ. You see where it's going? The plan of God is to build the body. To build this church. Now it says that for the edifying of the church, you are someone God uses to build the church.
[63:41] because why? You have been equipped by your exposure to an apostolic ministry, evangelistic ministry, a prophetic ministry, pastoral ministry.
[63:51] verse 13. So that, so we all come to the unity. We started with verse 3. We have the unity of the spirit.
[64:04] But now, we are coming to the unity of faith. So we all come to the unity of faith and to the knowledge of the son of God. Do you see that? To a perfect man, the measure, this is what God has planned that at this stage of your work in him, you should be at this level.
[64:22] But you are found wanting. So till we all come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. So a mature person, not being, look at this, 14 as I am.
[64:34] That we should no longer be children tossed through and fro by whatever someone says. There are some people when they say, oh, I'm 90, I'm tired, I don't even want to come to church, I just realize that, they are children.
[64:51] They are still spiritual babes. That's why you change churches like Uber drivers. Spiritual babes. What kind of Christian is this? You keep changing church.
[65:02] You're in that Afro-Nation church and then you are in this Afro-Disney. Then you are in Second Love and then you are in this area. You are in the Afro-Ware. Settle down!
[65:18] That we are not being tossed by sports, that not being tossed to and fro, that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine and by the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.
[65:35] You don't get tossed. You are stable. You are not inconstant. You are not flaky. You are not undependable. Ministry. Ministry is putting ministry.
[65:46] Don't let him down. Build yourself. Expose yourself to pure teaching. Expose yourself to pastoral ministry. Take me home. Listen to my messages. It's not every message you listen to.
[65:58] That's also important. Don't eat everything. Don't eat everything. Just know a balance that children normally they stay on one. Sometimes even SMS or something like that, they stay on a particular one.
[66:10] Because it's act email. So it doesn't destabilize their system. It's important. You are eating here. You are eating here. Say, oh, this person is coming. When we have service, you are going somewhere because a big name is coming. You are not spiritual.
[66:22] A big name is coming. So what are you going to do for? Is this not where God has placed you? You are following names. You are following names. And you don't even listen to the one who feeds you. You don't listen to the messages in your house.
[66:37] Did you receive something? Yes. God bless you for listening to this powerful message. May the power of God be evident in your life.
[66:50] Don't forget to like and subscribe to Carous Church on YouTube and listen to more messages from David Entry on all relevant streaming platforms. You can also connect with David Entry and our youth ministry at Carous Face 2 on Instagram and TikTok and at Carous on Campus on Snapchat so you are always up to date.
[67:06] Be blessed. And now I'll get you in the next videos of the eine Plus