The Agenda of God

[0:00] Welcome. Thank you for choosing to listen to this Spirit-filled Word by David Entry. A time to hear God's Word is a time to be visited.

[0:11] May you receive a visitation as you listen to this message. Be blessed. Amen. Hallelujah. Can I teach something briefly? We don't have time, but the teaching is the most important aspect of our gathering.

[0:25] In Romans chapter 1, sorry, chapter 6, verse 1, Last week I was attempting to speak about church growth, how we must desire church growth, because church growth is God's plan.

[0:39] God designed the church to grow. Let's all say that together. God designed the church to grow. Another thing that you can write down which I want to say is, every healthy living thing grows.

[0:54] Every healthy living thing grows. God designed the church to grow because the church is a living entity.

[1:06] And church growth is God's agenda, God's plans. One of the things that make church grow is the people in the church must want to grow.

[1:20] We want the church to grow. I'm talking about numerical growth. We must desire it.

[1:30] We must want it. Say, we want it. We want it. We want church growth in Caris. We want church growth in Caris. We desire church growth in Caris.

[1:41] We desire church growth in Caris. And we will work for church growth in Caris. We will work for church growth in Caris. So, God desires the church to grow. In Romans chapter 16, it talks about a certain lady called Phoebe.

[2:02] A Phoebe. Now, when you study the scriptures very carefully, you will see a certain pattern when it comes to the New Testament epistles.

[2:16] No, apostles. Epistles were written by apostles. When it comes to the New Testament epistles, you will see a certain pattern.

[2:30] Especially the Pauline or Pauline epistles. What do we mean by Pauline, Pauline epistles?

[2:41] We mean epistles written by Apostle Paul. The Holy Spirit came from the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul. Because God does not work on earth unilaterally.

[2:54] He always said, for I sought a man to stand in Ezekiel. He said, I sought for a man to stand in the gap. Mind the gap because God minds the gap.

[3:08] He said, for I sought for a man to Ezekiel 22, 30. So, I sought for a man amongst them who will make a wall and stand in the gap before me.

[3:21] Before me on behalf of the land. I sought for a man. So, God always works with men.

[3:31] That is why the producing of God's word was in conjunction with men. Can you imagine Jesus Christ came all the way from heaven after he had died and gone.

[3:42] And comes to give a revelation to a gentleman called John. And he told him that everything you see. Chapter 1 of Revelations from verse 10.

[3:56] He said, write it in a book. Why doesn't he write to himself? He said, I don't write. God does not write. But the scriptures is script, script, script.

[4:09] Script, script. The scriptures. Para, grapha. Grapha. So, scripture. Okay. Para, grapha. All scripture. Grapha is the Greek word for script.

[4:21] Scripta. So, God does not do scripting. He speaks. And then men write. So, he told him, Habakkuk.

[4:32] Write the vision. I watched to see what he will say to me. And he said, write the vision. He said, then the Lord answered me and said, write. So, we write.

[4:43] God speaks. What you have seen, write. So, God always uses. So, when I talk about Pauline epistles. I'm talking about the epistles God gave us through Paul. He gave some through Peter.

[4:56] For instance, 1 Peter, 2 Peter. It came through Peter. 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Revelation. And the gospel of John. It came from John. The book of Luke came from Luke.

[5:07] The book of Mark came from Mark. The book of Matthew came from Matthew. The book of Romans came from Paul. The book of 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians came from Paul.

[5:17] Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians. 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy. Titus. Philemon. And even Hebrew. 13 of them. They came from Paul.

[5:29] When you look at the Pauline epistles. One of the common things you will see. Is that. Particularly the ones that were written. To churches. So, to Rome.

[5:40] To Corinth. And it always starts with doctrine. As I said. The other time I was teaching. Colossians starts with doctrine. And then he ends it.

[5:51] Adds some duty. Ephesians. Six chapters. First chapter. First three chapters are doctrine. Second three chapters are duty. What do I mean by doctrine? This is how God has done for us. This is what God has done for us.

[6:01] He shows you the reward. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Then he says, okay, you two now. You two now. So, after telling us what God has done. He tells us the duty. That makes us bona fide beneficiaries of what God has done.

[6:15] Now, Romans is not an exception. It's the same. Romans has 16 chapters. Almost everyone was talking about the doctrine.

[6:31] Justification. Sacrification. How God is working himself. He saved us. Romans is such a technically amazing book. You will never see the word church in the book of Romans chapter 1 to chapter 15.

[6:48] He's busy talking about doctrine. Busy talking about what God has done. And what God is doing. And how God has called us. And how we are falling. And how sin cannot have dominion. He's busy.

[6:59] The cross. Explaining the cross. Explaining the position of justification. Explaining how even God used Israel to call us. Explaining how even God used Israel to call us. Explaining how even God used Israel to call us. Then, chapter 16.

[7:12] The last chapter of Romans. You hear the word church five times. Five times in the book of Romans. Verse 1, verse 4, 5, verse 16.

[7:28] Talks about the church five times. Both local church and the universal church. Both of them have mentioned. Why is that? God's work is not complete if you take out the work of the church.

[7:42] All God has been doing from Adam is to produce a church. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, right through to Malachi, Matthew.

[7:55] All throughout the generations. One thing God has always hit in himself was the church. That's why when David said, I want to build you a church. God said, David, how come you stole something that is on my heart?

[8:07] You really strike the nerve. You have done something that resonates with me. And because of that, your name will never be forgotten when it comes to my personal agenda for humanity. That's why Jesus had to be the son of David.

[8:21] David said, I want to build a church. He said, no, no, no. Me, myself, I'm going to build a church. That's the only reason why human beings live. For my habitation. For my enlargement.

[8:32] For my reflection and my counterpart. To be my counterpart. And David, how did he enter your heart? I've never asked anybody. David, okay. You are going to be the father of the one who built it.

[8:45] So, who do you say that the Christ, the son of David is? Who do you say the Christ is? Everybody knows the son of David. This is a crisis.

[8:56] They said, he's not the son of David. He is. But one hand he is. Another hand. The real him is the son of the living. He's the Messiah. The son of the living God. Jesus said, this is the platform I'll build a church.

[9:08] It takes a certain level of revelation. Now, watch this. So, everything God has been doing is to produce the church. That's why I'm telling you. The church is Satan's number one enemy.

[9:21] Yeah. It doesn't mind if you give you a lot of money. A lot of marriage to leave church. If it would mean leaving church, he would do it. He would give you. He told Jesus Christ, if you can bow to me, I'll give you everything.

[9:33] The glory. Because this has been given to me. I'll give you all. When Jesus also begins to say to his disciples, what does a man gain? If he gains the whole world. And he says, oh. Whoa.

[9:44] So, you can actually gain the Matthew chapter 16. Okay. That's Mark's version. Mark's version. Is it 26? If you can't, 1626. You can't. What does it profit a man? If you gain the whole world, they lose your soul.

[9:58] So, Satan does not mind making you lose your place in the church. Don't forget this. Even if he has to give you Mr. World as your husband.

[10:09] Just so he can keep you out of church, he will. Even if he has to make some, he has to clone himself. Watch this. He has to make, Satan has to make himself like a Christian and come and sit in church.

[10:22] So that he can eventually, he will join the choir, join usher or something. So eventually, he will influence your heart to leave that. There are a lot of things going on in the church. Yeah.

[10:33] It's you they are looking for. That's why I said, ravenous wolf will come. They will not spare the flock. They will not. And it says that, take it to the church, which God has purchased with his own blood.

[10:46] God bought the church. The only thing God bought is not even you. It's the church. God, where are you going? I'm going to town. Where? I'm going to shopping center. What are you going to do?

[10:57] I have to buy something. God, but you can't create this. I know this one. I have to buy it. I have to buy it. God. It's going to show. God, can I give you my card? He said, your card can buy this. This one, it's my own card.

[11:09] And my card is the blood. So he gave his blood to buy. It's in your Bible. It's in your Bible. To purchase. You don't understand the word purchase. He bought it.

[11:20] He bought it with his blood. And then when he bought it, he gave it. He left, went to heaven. And then he gave an anointing to certain individuals called pastors. And he said, now you take care of the church.

[11:33] Take care of the church. It's not your church. Pastor, it's not your church. You think you are disturbing the pastor's church. You don't like the pastor. So you want to attack the church. You meet the owner.

[11:44] The owner. The owner will come. So the leaseholder. Free, free, freeholder. It's not the leaseholder. Freeholder. After everything that God has done, it results in producing a church.

[12:03] Because it has always been his eternal programming purpose and plan. What for? To produce a church. Yes. Never forget it. This is my message. I don't mean today.

[12:15] I always preach on this. God's eternal. That's the Bible. The message of the Bible. For God to produce a church called his house. Called his family.

[12:26] Called the habitation. So where is God? It's in his house. It's in the. He said, I will walk among them. I will be with them. They will be my people. 2 Corinthians chapter 6 or so.

[12:38] So now. After all that is written. He now says everything. These powerful revelations I've written. Paul. In Romans. It's not really complete.

[12:48] Without me. Talking about the practical church life. And then when he started talking about the practical church life. He brings. He pulls up a name.

[13:00] Romans chapter 16. Verse 1. He said, I commend. Oh my goodness. He said, I commend to you. Who told you Paul is against women? I commend to you. Phoebe.

[13:10] Our sister. He should have started with Timothy. Our brother. He didn't start with Timothy. He didn't start with Barnabas.

[13:23] Barnabas actually brought him into the. The phone. He said, I commend to you. Phoebe. There are other names that came up. But I started with Phoebe. A lot. Romans chapter.

[13:34] 16. Is a very. You must make sure. You are a Romans 16 type of Christian. Because of all this noise. God has saved me. I'm justified.

[13:44] If you don't find your name in Romans 16. If you don't find yourself. If you don't end up. Procuring a Romans 16 status. God will not reward you. Yes.

[13:56] The reward of heaven. Is based on what we. How. Take heed. How you build. Oh yes. He said, I have. As a wise master builder.

[14:06] I've laid the foundation. First Corinthians chapter 3. From verse 11. Verse 10. I've laid the foundation. Let each one. Take heed. How he builds. What do you think he's talking about? What foundation?

[14:17] Talking about the foundation of the church. God said. No other foundation can anyone lay. Except that which is. Which is Jesus. Verse 11. Which is Jesus. Hallelujah. I said. That foundation is laid. Now. Everybody should take heed.

[14:28] How you build. As soon as you come in. You start building. He said. There are six types of building materials. Wood. Straw. Straw. Hay. Those are the rubbish ones.

[14:39] And then. The good ones. Gold. Precious stone. And silver. Gold. Precious stone. And these things. Gold. Precious stone. And silver. They were in Genesis chapter 2.

[14:50] When God put them in the garden. Bible said that. The gold was there. Precious stone was there. Silver. And in Revelations. The. The. New Jerusalem. The foundation was precious stones. And it says that.

[15:02] For. Ye are precious stones. Ye. First Peter chapter. 2. Verse 5. Ye also. As precious stones. Lively stones. Are being built.

[15:13] Into a holy building. Anyway. So. Now. Wood. Hay. Straw. And then it says that. For every man's work will be tested. By fire.

[15:25] Fire will test every man's work. And if your work is made up of wood. Hay. Straw. It is combustible. Highly. Highly. Compostible. It will fuel the fire.

[15:38] It will be eaten by the fire as fuel. But. Silver. Gold. And precious stones. They actually get better. When fire comes. And look at what it said.

[15:51] It said. The style you are building. Is either. Precious stone. Silver. And gold. Or. The way you are building. Is wood. Is hay.

[16:02] As for straw. Even you don't need fire. It's gone. And there are people. Who are genuinely born again. And now God is questioning you. About your church life. How are you building.

[16:14] Wood. Straw. Or hay. Whilst. Your pastor is determined. That I'll build. With gold. Silver. And precious stone. As a wise master builder.

[16:28] And he says that. The fire will test everyone. Of what sort it is. If your work. If your work. Bends. You will suffer. You will be saved. Salvation is guaranteed. But you will suffer losses.

[16:39] Hey. It's in the Bible. It's in the Bible. You will suffer losses. Suffer loss. But he himself will be saved. Yes. Through fire.

[16:49] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So when you are playing the drums. Instead of being absent anyhow. Think about it. Play with.

[17:00] Play like someone who is building with gold. Build with gold. Pastors. I hope you are listening. Great people. I hope you are listening. Singers. I hope you are. God.

[17:10] There are some people who are present. But they are still building with. Straw. They are early. But they are building with straw. They are early to set up. Building with straw.

[17:23] Yeah. Yeah. You can build with straw. Some others are early to set up and they are building with precious stone. See what I'm saying?

[17:33] Some people are. Some people. Someone came very late. But I say precious stone late. Nice. Because what they have been through to even get here. Where they are traveling from the conditions.

[17:46] If it was many people they wouldn't come. So you can't judge based on just how it looks on the surface. It's only the fire that will judge it. Yeah.

[17:57] Last minute judgment. Now he says that I commend. Oh an apostolic commendation. A whole apostle is about to. Is writing a piece.

[18:08] Is finishing it. And as the Bible talks about the church in the first place. He mentions. He says I'm commending this lady to you. I commend to you. Phoebe. Our sister.

[18:19] Who is a great. Some translations say slave. Doulos. Slave of a church. Slave of a servant of the church.

[18:32] In Sincria. Local church. Local church. He couldn't have gained this status if he was not local church determined. The local church.

[18:44] The only thing that pins you down. And check. Makes us know your real intentions. Character. And strength of commitment. Strength of commitment.

[18:55] Can only. So long as Christianity is concerned. Only be clearly seen within the context of the local church. Yeah. Yeah. Once in a while. It's like a festival. Your Christian life is like a music festival.

[19:09] Yes. Blastonbury. Yeah. Yeah. No. Reading what? Reading festival. You can't.

[19:22] You can't do that. Except within the local church context. When we were growing. They used to sing this song. I think some of you might know it already. Oh when the saints go marching.

[19:32] Oh when the saints go marching. Oh Lord I want to be in the number. Oh when the saints go marching. Tell your granny. Christian granny.

[19:43] Tell her. That now you understand this song. You don't want there to be church. The saints have guarded and you are not inside. The saints have guarded and you are not. You are not there. You are not there.

[19:55] Saints have guarded. It must be a Christian duty that I will not be absent when my saints have guarded. Unless extreme situation may be labor ward.

[20:08] Or something. No. May God not make you end up spending time in hospital apart from labor. Yeah. Because you want to be where the saints have gathered. What are you sitting down doing?

[20:20] You are sitting at home. Watching TV. Nowadays you can watch it later. Yeah. YouTube. Almost every TV has some.

[20:33] Almost every house has got free view. Listen. Even if you don't watch on TV. Your phone. You can watch so many things on your phone. Your phone. Okay. Pastor. I don't know how to watch.

[20:44] Don't worry. You come to church. I will send you a link of what you want to watch. You let me know. I will send you the link. So you can go and watch. But I am saying something to you. Phoebe.

[20:55] I commend to you. I just want to go past the commendation. But it is very heavy. Say apostolic commendation. The apostle said. Listen. Phoebe. I commend her to you.

[21:07] She is our sister. A servant of the church. That is in Synchria. Slave. The church in Synchria. Dulos. Of the church. Look at the next verse. They are now finished.

[21:20] That you will receive her in the Lord. In a manner worthy of the saints. Why? And a sister in whatever business she has need of you. For indeed she has been a.

[21:32] Of me. And of myself. She has helped. The Greek word translated. Helper. Helper. They also translate.

[21:43] As protectress. A female protector. Proprietor. Protectress. Sucker.

[21:57] Sucker. Help. Sucker. Someone who suckers. Sucker. A helper. What other translations have what? She has business and whatever.

[22:09] She has been a sucker. Give us amplified. Let's see if you can amplify that. For she has been a. If she amplified you. Just help her. Let's go to. A new living translation.

[22:20] Let's see what. It will use. Helpful to many. Oh. As soon as I read it. It reminded me of Barnabas. Yeah. How in Acts chapter 11.

[22:32] He went to the church. And he helped many. And the church. Crew. And did well. And then he left. And went and looked for Saul. I think in Acts chapter 11.

[22:44] I believe. Or 9. I think it's 11. Oh. It's 9 or something like. Chapter 9. Or chapter 11. 20. 23. 24. 25. He was a helper.

[22:55] And then. When you talk about Barnabas. You know. The other. Apollos. Apollos helped the church. After he was. Taught the ways of God. He helped the church. And the church was. Mightily helped. Help out the church.

[23:09] Phoebe. Phoebe. And they. Apostle. God. The Holy Spirit. Was recommending her. Through the apostle. Because what the apostle wrote for.

[23:19] Was not for himself. Yeah. Give her. Whatever she wants. Is there a husband she wants. Give her. Your best of men. In fact. There is a guy. Very good guy.

[23:30] Today I was telling pastor. The guy does a good job. Decent guy. Humble. Nice looking. Just that he's not got tattoo. He's decent. And he wants. A good lady.

[23:41] I said leave him with me. So. Please. I'm looking for a very good lady. Should we apply? Like a Phoebe. You can apply. Yeah. You can apply.

[23:52] And then. I'll go to the inverted prison. For. This good brother. But I have to end now. By saying. Building the church. Is top priority for God.

[24:02] People who don't have revelation. Don't know this. They never know this. Pastor. I'm saying this. On record. Many pastors.

[24:13] Don't even know what I'm saying. They don't know. That the church. Is God's top agenda. And priority. Many. Yeah. The Finnish Bible. Is this missing?

[24:25] It takes the heart of David. To discover some of these things. Many don't know. And many people think church is just an organization. Just go.

[24:36] It's your Christian duty. And just worship God. And God will bless you. Oh. Where's the world God? And I had one great man of God. In Africa. Anointed man. He said.

[24:46] People have even outsourced. Their spiritual development. To some pastors. To pastors. And to prophets. And pray for me. And I'll live my normal life. But you pray and be spiritual for me. Be spiritual for me.

[24:58] Yeah. One of the things it takes. To be able to be a Phoebe. So you can make it to Romans chapter 16. One of the things that it takes. Certain level of spirituality.

[25:10] If you are not spiritual. You can't serve fully. Because someone will discourage you. Something will discourage you. You'll be tired. Because you have too many issues for yourself. You are dealing with.

[25:22] Listen. If you met someone who is serving in church. Has served for a while. It's just like marriage. Someone who has been married for more than 10 years. They will tell you that there have been difficult times.

[25:32] Times where I was very discouraged with this person. Yeah. Anyone who is serving in church. Will meet junctions of discouragement. Oh yeah. Junction.

[25:42] Some of you have stopped serving. You used to be very active. Now you are so passive. And you are expecting God's reward.

[25:52] And manifestation to stay constant. No boy. It doesn't work like that. Yeah. But I want to encourage you. It's not easy.

[26:05] But it takes a certain level of. Your spiritual maturity will reflect in your spiritual consistency. It's not how you can scream. But how you can remain constant.

[26:17] Consistent. Be steadfast. And unmovable. Always abounding. In the work of the Lord. You see. You see.

[26:28] It's the work of the Lord now. The work of the Lord. I don't know who I am preaching to. But God. Every blessing of God. Comes with an overall. Of work.

[26:40] So you see overall. You think this is work. But it's blessing. Coming to you like work. Coming to you like a demand and an instruction. God always blesses. By giving instructions.

[26:54] That's how God blesses. And I'm so convinced. That there are people sitting here. Within the. In one year. People will not recognize. You'll be so blessed. You will not fail in life.

[27:07] You will do well in life. Heaven will favor you in life. In Jesus name. Do we have some Phoebus in the house? So make up your mind.

[27:19] And your personal covenant. Sometimes when you are discouraged. Or when something happens. That is. It's very likely to discourage you. Or downgrade your service. Remember. That I want to stay in.

[27:30] Romans 16. He that endures to the end. The same shall be saved. Matthew chapter 10 verse 21. That was. Endured to the end. I want to stay in Romans 16.

[27:42] Brothers and sisters. Your pastor. I'm determined. That I will be on the top list. In Romans chapter 16. That's why. That's why. That's why many places.

[27:53] They invite me. I never look down. I'll just go. I go to a lot of places. It's. Every place that I go. It's not based on what I'll get. No, no, no. And we will be able to. affect our land.

[28:04] Mightily for Jesus. Amen. Did you receive something? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for listening to this message by David Entry.

[28:17] The best thing that can happen to you is being exposed to the word of God. To hear more from David Entry, follow him on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, LinkedIn and subscribe to Karis Church on YouTube.

[28:33] You can also find more information about Karis Church and our upcoming services by visiting karis.org. Be blessed.