Growing Up Into Christ

[0:00] Hallelujah. Thank you for tuning in to this powerful message by David Entry at Karis Phase 2,! Our Christ Centred Youth Services. You can never find Christ outside of the open Word of God.

[0:14] May Jesus Christ reveal Himself to you as you listen. Well, let's get into Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 14, verse 24.

[0:38] That henceforth, we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleet of men, and the cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.

[0:55] But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things which is the head, even Christ. From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body, unto the edifying of itself in love.

[1:31] that this I say therefore, and testifying the Lord, that he henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of the vanity of their minds, having the understanding that can be alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts, who, being past failing, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanliness with greediness.

[2:07] that this is the truth that is in Jesus, that he put off concerning the former conversation, the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust, that he put on the new man which, after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness.

[2:47] Here is the reading of the word of God. Father, what we don't know teach us who we are not to make us, where we are not here to take us.

[2:59] Father, let us open the scriptures to our Holy Spirit, and deposit rich divine heritage in our lives, through the teaching of your word.

[3:13] In Jesus name, grant us understanding. And let me speak prophetically into the lives of your people, into this church.

[3:28] into this nation, and into our generation. Thank you, in Jesus name. Amen.

[3:40] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. So two Sundays ago we spoke about how he gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the building of the body of Christ.

[4:02] That until we all come to the unity of faith, to the full, to the knowledge of the Son of God, to the fullness of the measure of the stature of, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

[4:18] That we no longer be children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.

[4:35] Now, in the verse 13 says that we come to the unity of faith, the measure of the stature of Christ, to a perfect man. Say a perfect man. Perfect man.

[4:45] Perfect man. Perfect does not mean faultless, but perfect there mean full grown, matured person. Some of you here, your teeth is perfect in your mouth.

[4:57] While some of us, they've taken some out. You have a perfect set of teeth.

[5:08] You have a perfect set of teeth. So, and some of us, our hair only this side grows.

[5:19] Some of us, some of us, but that's, so perfect there. Amen. Colossians chapter 1 verse 28 talks about how we preach Christ, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom what's the objective, that we may present every man what?

[5:46] Perfect in Christ. So, to come to perfect there means matured. In Hebrews chapter 5, it says that, verse 13 and 14, it said, for every one who partakes only in milk is unskillful in the word, give me King James, in the word of righteousness.

[6:12] For he is a babe. But look at the next verse, verse 14. But strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, who, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

[6:31] What does the next verse say? It goes to chapter 6, right? I think maybe a different translation. I think in the verse 13 and 14 uses, it belongs to those, the perfect, strong meat belongs to the perfect, who have their senses matured or develop to discern between good and evil.

[6:57] So, the times you see perfect in scripture, which means matured, matured, full maturity. So, now that's so important, Ephesians chapter 4.

[7:10] It says that, so we all come to the unity of faith, to the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man.

[7:20] So, let me go to another scripture, in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 16. All scripture is given by the inspiration of God, and it profiteth for doctrine, reproof, for correction and instruction, righteousness.

[7:37] Now, there's seven things that the man of God will be complete. Give us King James. That word comes in. You see, the man of God will be what?

[7:49] Perfect. Perfect. It says that, New KJF says complete. New American Standard Version and then English Standard Version. New American Standard Version will be adequate.

[8:02] So, perfect does not really mean faultless, but adequate, sufficiently prepared. English Standard Version will be competent and then amplified.

[8:15] Amplified says that, so that a man of God may be complete and proficient, outfitted and thoroughly equipped.

[8:29] So, you see, God wants you to be perfect. In other words, God wants you to mature.

[8:40] You shouldn't be in church for five years and you're still in the spirit to look like a three-month-old baby. But it's possible, it's possible.

[8:51] Now, so, in Ephesians chapter 4, you can see how the objective is that we be, so we all get to the unity of faith, to the knowledge of the Son of God.

[9:05] That's so beautiful. I like the knowledge of the Son of God. We know Him. We know Him. And that's what pure teachings do for you.

[9:21] Pure teachings and true teachings help you to know increasingly the Son of God. And then knowing Him brings you to the state of a perfect or a complete believer.

[9:42] Wow, I like that one. Complete, proficient believer. You are complete. Nothing is lacking. I'm not talking about material things.

[9:53] But in yourself as a human being and a child of God, nothing is lacking. Filled with the riches of Christ.

[10:06] So, in place of, in fact, let's use a different translation. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 13. Let's do it for a second. So, we, we, this will continue until we come, we all come to such unity in our faith and the knowledge of the Son of God that we will be, it's either word, but matured in the Lord.

[10:28] Let's do it for another. We are a teaching church. Oh, yes. A teaching church tries to break the text and tries to exige it. So, you open it, you know, sometimes when you are eating satsuma, you take your time.

[10:43] You know, those, those veins or whatever, the wires on it, you have to take your time. So, to exige it is to take your time, open it, dissect.

[10:59] So, you have to take your time and, now, it is, that is the, every good Bible teacher is supposed to be a skillful dissector.

[11:14] Because the purpose of God's word is for it to be dissected, pull it out. So, in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 15, it said, study to show yourself approved.

[11:26] A workman that needs not to be ashamed. That's the, the key word there is rightly. Rightly. Rightly. In other words, skillfully, patiently, rightly.

[11:39] You know, top chefs, they, when they are peeling off tomato, they, they can peel it off and it's just the peel that goes off it.

[11:51] Sometimes they can have a way of, those who work with salmon and fish, they can slice the skin off. It's, and they have a way of, you know, it's so, it's carefully, when you are pulling a thread from something.

[12:04] You know, some people tend to have ladder ties, yeah. It's a one thread, it's gone everywhere. So, you have to take, take your time and pull out.

[12:16] Now, that's how exegesis is. So, actually, in teachings, what I'm trying, I'm supposed to do is pick a text and help you to see the depths in that text, which just on the surface you might not realize.

[12:32] It doesn't have to be something deep I bring on, but it's something beautiful we pull out. So, we don't bring into it. So, I taught you the other time, you either do, when you are handling the word of God, you either do imposition or exposition.

[12:52] Imposition, imposition is, you are, John 3, 16, for God's love, the word I give it to you, look at the future of our belief. You take that text and fold it. God, soul, and see how it's beautifully connected and pull it out.

[13:06] Imposition is go and take a meaning and bring it, yank it and float it on the text. Or sometimes you are preaching, you are trying to say something and you look for a scripture. You drag it into the pulpit and say, that's what a scripture means.

[13:20] It doesn't mean that. It's so important to read your Bible. Oh, no, soul, not read your Bible. Take time to study your Bible in order to teach.

[13:33] Because it's a very delicate work. And it's not just, I don't want to call it a gift. It's a discipline.

[13:46] Anyway, let's get back to maturity. So, till we all come to the unity of faith. Let's go to English Standard Version, please.

[13:58] Until we all attain the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood. Wow. So, we come to maturity.

[14:11] We say maturity. Maturity. So, perfect man in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 13 means a mature person. Why have I belabored this point? The verse 14 says that, that we henceforth be no more children, which I actually spoke a lot about in the previous.

[14:29] So, you see, when you become matured, you are no more a child. So, the teaching is supposed to help us to mature.

[14:40] So that we henceforth be no, or I like the word, that we henceforth be no more children. That means we used to be children, or everybody will be a child at some point in time.

[14:54] Or have been a child. Some are still children. Some are 27-year-old children. Yeah.

[15:06] And you are blaming your mother. And blaming your father was not there. And so, you are still behaving like a child. But I see God helping us all. Now, we henceforth be no more children, to us to and fro.

[15:19] We took a lot of time to explain it. Carried about with every wind of doctrine. By the sleet of men and by the cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.

[15:30] Let's look for English Standard Version. The last word is this. Okay. By human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

[15:47] Let's look at the New American Standard Version. By the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming.

[15:59] One of the translations. Okay. Let's look at Amplified before we come. It says, by the deceitful scheming of people ready to do anything for personal profit.

[16:11] By the cunning and trickery of unscrupulous men. One of the versions used errors. Errors.

[16:22] Wrong. When something is wrong, an error. Error. Okay. Okay. Amplified. Classic. Okay. It says that. The prey of the cunning and cleverness of unscrupulous men.

[16:41] Gamblers engaged in every shifting form of trickery in inventing errors to mislead.

[16:52] So they invent it to mislead. So it's used the regular New King James or King James. Invent error to mislead. It's also cunning, deceitful plotting.

[17:06] Now, when, where am I saying all these things? Opposite of error. What's the opposite of error? Something is correct.

[17:16] What's the opposite of false? Anything that is an error is falsehood. And so to be able to counteract falsehood, you need truth.

[17:32] To be able to deal with infantileness, you need maturity. All right. So he says that what's, when you are infantile, the things that work against you is the flakiness, instabilities, to and fro, being tossed to and fro by wind of teachings.

[17:54] Today you hear this teaching, you hear. Wind of teachings. You oscillate between opinions. You are not stable. Wind of teachings. Wind of teachings. Wind of teachings.

[18:04] Wind of teachings. Wind of teachings. Today you believe in that. Tomorrow, even me, I'm not quite sure about. It's very unstable. It's a childishness.

[18:15] Torn to and fro by every wind of doctrine and the cunning or the trickery of men. They are tricking you, but you don't know. Because you lack maturity and maturity requires knowledge of the truth.

[18:36] The younger you are, the more vulnerable you are because you are not very conversant with the facts. In the same way, when you are spiritually not maturing, you are easily deceived by what people say out there.

[18:51] How people say out, ah, okay. I met a gentleman, just, he said, what does it take to go to heaven?

[19:04] I said, yes, just believe in Jesus. I said, no, but only believing in Jesus. You can't, he said, you can't say only believing in Jesus because, that's for only believing in Jesus. There are other things you have to do, the things the Bible says, you have to, he said, you have to make sure you stop your sins.

[19:21] And be, and I use the word, and try not to sin. And I said, oh, you only say try. You go, how about the ones you are not able to try to do?

[19:32] How about that? Then nobody will go to heaven because there's nobody. Today, I saw a text, if I read it, 1 Kings chapter 8, verse 46. I think 1 Kings chapter 8, verse 46.

[19:43] It says there's nobody without sins. Yeah. Yeah. When they sin against you, into brackets. Let's read the brackets. Where is Solomon praying to God?

[19:55] That's not, this is Solomon praying to God. Everybody has sinned. So, the people are so ignorant. First, they are saying something I didn't finish.

[20:08] Some excavators, some archaeologists, they excavated something in Israel, and they said the tomb of Jesus' family. Yeah. Yeah.

[20:19] Yeah, they said they excavated Jesus. It's about 15, 20 years ago, so not too long ago. They've excavated Jesus' family house, and they have seen Jesus' bones.

[20:34] So, he's in the grave. But Christians, don't worry, he resurrected in his spirit, not in his body. And, and some people, some Christians say, oh, okay, that's true.

[20:45] You see, you see, anything I talk about. That's why nobody dead or alive will be able to talk me out from preaching the word.

[21:01] Whether you like it or not, whether you are excited about it, whether you don't like it, whether people are clapping, they don't clap, whether people are, oh, hey, so, oh, this is boring.

[21:13] I will preach. So, that somebody can mature. And they said, oh, but Christians, don't worry, it's not his spirit.

[21:29] But, and it was reported in the news and the newspapers, people were waiting for things like this. Later on, after careful investigations, it was found to be even false.

[21:40] They didn't even find any tomb. Some people made it up. And they had to render apology. They made it up. But already some people have bought into it already.

[21:51] Ah, that's true. I've been waiting for this. That's, you see, when you, if you don't grow in the truth, you are not spiritually stable. That is why every church should be focused on teaching the truth of God's word.

[22:09] Not what is true. The only thing that is true is that sanctify, John 17, 17. Sanctify them by your word.

[22:20] Let's finish it. Your word is true. I can't hear you. Your word is true. Louder. Your word is true. Sanctify them by your word. The word is true.

[22:32] The word is truth. Yeah. Yes. So, when we talk about truth, we are not talking about anything outside of Scripture. This is black. It's true, it's black.

[22:43] But that's not the truth we are talking about. That's not the truth here. We are talking about the truth, biblical truth, the truth of life. Well, so, back to the text.

[22:55] It says that we are no more deceived. Then verse 15 says that, hmm, let's all read verse 15 together. What is the truth in God? Wait. You see?

[23:07] You see? Verse 14. Verse 14. Verse 14. That we henceforth no more be children tossed to and fro by what?

[23:17] Every wind of doctrine, teaching. And not just that, by the slit of men and the cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive.

[23:30] They are lying in wait. And they have plotted something to deceive you, to trick you out of place. It says that, so, when the errors to deceive come in, when you are no more a child, it doesn't easily get you.

[23:46] But rather, look at the 15th, but rather, we speak the truth. We speak. Mature people, they speak the truth of God's word in love.

[24:03] Speaking the truth in love. The difference between religious people and godly people, religious people will speak the truth with hatred.

[24:16] When you see someone living in falsehood, there's no need to hate them. And when you are speaking that, you don't speak it like you are an enemy of the ones you are speaking to.

[24:29] Some people can preach out of hatred and anger. But I said, speaking the truth in love may grow up.

[24:43] Watch the direction of growth. Did you see that? Some of you who are a little bit familiar with basic biology.

[24:57] Basic. And maybe germination. You sow a seed.

[25:09] So let's say, beans seed. Okay. Or apple seed. Or tomato seed. Or something. In the ground. Do you have to put the seed.

[25:20] Take your towel and put it. In a certain way. Or you just open the ground and throw the seed there. Okay. When you are. In fact. In those days, farmers. They spread the seed.

[25:33] You don't have to make sure. You know, the seed will have an eye. Like bees. See, the eye. That's where the germination will start from. So the eye. You don't have to make sure the eye is facing up.

[25:44] Even if you put it down, the eye faces down. This is where it's going to germinate. Right? And I put it like this. That means it's going to grow down.

[25:56] Have you seen anything growing down before? Apart from roots. Even if you put it like this, how is it going to come? If you put it like this, how is it going to come? If you put it like this, how is it going to come?

[26:07] It's natural. Because it looks, it grows away from force of gravity. Towards the sunlight. It will always.

[26:18] So direction of growth will be towards the sunlight. Sometimes when you put a flower in a dark place. And then there's a little bit there. By the time you realize, oh my goodness.

[26:30] It begins to grow into the light. Oh. Speaking the truth in love may grow up into Christ.

[26:48] We are growing up into Christ. Your objective, your driving, your drive, your motivation. This whole thing is so Christ-driven. That your growth is not so much just about accumulation of information.

[27:05] Not amalgamation of revelation. But it's about growing into Christ. The whole body fit.

[27:16] Look at verse 16. We'll come back to 15. But growing. It said, from whom the whole body fitted together. Body fitted. Fittily joined together. And compacted.

[27:27] By that which every joint supply. According to the effectual working. In the measure of every part. Make it the increase. Give me a different NIV.

[27:37] Make it the increase. Or makes the increase. It says that. For. From whom the whole body joined and held together. By every supporting ligament. Grows.

[27:50] The whole body grows. Grows. There's something that I want you to note here. Which I probably may be okay. Either we go to new. Okay. Let's go to N.A.

[28:02] New American. Standard Version. Let's see if. Okay. So I think that NIV will do better. To do it better.

[28:13] In a sense. Because there's something. All right. So now. Let's go to verse 15 in NIV. The 14.

[28:23] Is it? We came from 14. Right? Then we will. We will no longer be infants. Tossed back and forth. By the waves. And blown here and there. By every wind of teaching.

[28:35] And by the cunning. And craftiness of men. In their. Deceitful scheming. The next verse. Instead. Speaking the truth in love.

[28:46] We. We will. In all things. Grow up. Into him. Who is the head. Not Prince. King Charles.

[28:57] Who is the head. Christ. Is the head. The church has one head. Christ.

[29:08] Is the head. Of the church. I will come back. And comment on that again. But. Because we are in NIV. Let's all read the verse 15 together. Let's go. Instead. He said. He said. He said. He said.

[29:18] In the truth in love. He will. All things. Grow up. You see. With your head. Touch your side. So. We are growing up. Where? Into the head.

[29:29] I want you to see something. Growing up. Is like this. Okay. Into the head. So. Growing up. Into the head. Is like. The head.

[29:40] Is like. A whole realm. Where you grow up. Ooh. Into the head. Now look at the next verse. Who is the head? Then it says.

[29:50] From who? From Christ being the head. So from the head. The whole body. Okay. This is. This is so beautiful. Look at this. I promise you.

[30:02] You will like this. Amen. You will like this. So. This is. The head. This. Where is his body?

[30:15] This is. Okay. This one. And this one. Which one is his body? Which one is his head? Heads. Body. Heads. Body. And. The. The church is.

[30:26] The body. Of. The body of what? Christ. And who is the head of the church? Christ. Okay. And it says that. Now looking at verse 15 again. It says that.

[30:37] Instead. Speaking the truth in love. We will. We will. In all things. Grow. Up. Into him. Who is that? So we all grow.

[30:49] It's like the growth is going into the head. Right? Now look at the next verse. From the head. From the head. The whole body is joined.

[31:01] Joined and fit. Body. Joined and. Held together. By every supporting ligament. grows. Grows.

[31:12] And builds. It's a. So this body is growing. By virtue of the father. Is joined to the head. The body grows. Even though. The first growth.

[31:23] Is we're growing to him. And from him. Whatever. Is flowing from him. Now causes the body to. The. Are you getting. The usefulness.

[31:34] The usefulness. Of the body of Christ. Is the supply. From the head. So first of all. We must grow.

[31:44] Into him. And then from him. Flow. On earth. Am I. Making sense. Thank you sir. That's the only way I can.

[31:55] And in Ephesians chapter. Chapter 2. Verse. No. Let's do chapter 1. Verse 22 and 23. Then we go to chapter 2. Chapter 1. Verse 22. It says that.

[32:05] After God raised Jesus Christ. From the dead. And seated him in. Heavenly places. He put all things. Under Jesus' feet. And gave Jesus to be. Oh come on. Come on.

[32:15] He gave Jesus to be. Over all things. To. Look at the next point. The next verse. The church is his body.

[32:27] The fullness of him. That filleth all things. In all. So. The church is his body. And. He gave Jesus to be the head. Okay.

[32:38] Now I think it's better. We go from the verse. 20. 20. 20. 21. Which he worked in Christ. When he raised him from the dead. And seated him.

[32:48] At his right hand. Where is Christ seated? Right hand. Where is Christ seated? Right hand. At his right hand. In the heavenly places. Where? All. So he seated.

[33:00] Far above. Principalities and powers. And might and dominion. And every name that is named. Not only in this age. But also. That which is to come.

[33:11] Verse 22. And he put all things. Under his feet. So this is talking about Christ. When he put all things. Under his feet. He seated in heavenly places. But the key word there.

[33:23] Is end game. So. Christ. Was on earth. He was raised from the dead. Sitted in heavenly places.

[33:34] Far above. Principalities and powers. And. Was given. To be the head of the church. I think about it. So.

[33:45] The head of the. The church is on the earth. But his head is in heaven. Yeah. Yeah. And so. All the. Power. And the wisdom. Within the church. Is not coming from the earth.

[33:56] So. Our oppressions. The source of our oppressions. Is not earthly. The source. Of our. Efficacy.

[34:08] Effectiveness. Power. And impact. And influence. Is coming from the head. Which is. Above. And so. For the church. To have.

[34:19] Its function. And flow. And affect. Society. And affect. This generation. And affect. The earth. We must be. Very well. Linked. Into Christ.

[34:29] And that's where. The growth. The impact. The function. Is coming from. But first of all. For the more. Oh. This is what it means. We are on earth. But the more.

[34:40] We are connected. To him. The more. We get to. Be impactful. On earth. So. We grow up. Into him. From him. We grow up.

[34:52] Into him. And then. From him. We begin to have. An impact. Because. Everything from him. Is far above. Principalities. Far above. Powers.

[35:03] Far above. Dominion. Far above. Might. Nothing can. Make us. Subject. We grow. We grow. We grow.

[35:15] Into him. From whom. The whole body. Fiddly. From whom. The whole body. Let's go. New King James now. From whom.

[35:26] The whole body. Join. And knit. You know. Knitting. What was the meaning of knitting? To knit something. It's so intertwined.

[35:38] Carefully. Moving together. Huh. You can't. It's not easy to separate. It's not. If you try to separate. One effect. Too many other things. So it's knit together. Like.

[35:48] It's like. We are. The body. Of Christ. It says that. From whom. From whom.

[35:59] The body. Joined. And knit together. By. What. Every. Joint. Supplies. According to the effective working.

[36:11] By which. Every part. Does. Is share. Causes. Growth. Hmm. Let me show you something now. From whom.

[36:23] The body. The whole body. Causes. Growth. Of the body. For the edifying. Of itself. I'll explain it.

[36:34] I used the two. First sentence. Connected it to the last sentence. In the middle. Joined together. Joined together. Watch this.

[36:45] I hope I'm not confusing. So. From whom. The whole body. The body is joined. To Jesus. And then it says.

[36:55] From whom. The whole body. I want to. I want to. See. When you look at the text. Very carefully. All right. Let's go to. New American Standard. And the English Standard Version. And I'll come.

[37:05] So we make sure we are. Aha. Now. Being fitted. And held together. Is describing.

[37:17] The state of the body. Not the state in between. It's describing the state. Of the members of the body. More than. The connectivity. Between the body. And the head. Okay.

[37:28] It's not a connectivity. Between the body. Fitted together. There. It's not talking about. How the body is fitted together. To the head. It's talking about. How the. Members of the body. Are fitted together.

[37:41] Am I making sense? Are you sure? Please. If I'm not making sense. Let me know. So that I'll try and. Find better ways. Of making sense. And not be. Boring. So.

[37:53] When you look at the text. Text again. It says that. From Jesus. I prefer to. Make it clear. From Jesus. The head. The whole body. That's brackets. The body.

[38:04] Being fitted. And held together. By every. By what. Every joint. Supplies. So what. Keeps us together. Is what. Every joint.

[38:17] Say joint. Now. Every joint. That tells you. I'm not talking about. The joint. Between. The head. And the body. Because that will be. One joint. Yeah. Yeah. But when you say.

[38:27] Every joint. You are talking about. Different joints. Yeah. And it's only the body. That has got different joints. How many of you know. You have different joints. You have joints here. Joints here.

[38:38] Joints here. Joints here. Joints here. Now. Look at the text. It said. From Christ. Whom. The whole.

[38:50] Body. Okay. So from him. The whole body. Now. The next statement. About to be made. Is concerning the body. Not concerning the body.

[39:00] And the head. Concerning the body. So. The whole body. Now let's look at the body. The body is being fitted. And held together. By that which.

[39:11] Every joint. There are several joints in the body. And. Watch this. Joints. Is two things coming together. All right. The joints. Supplies something for the body.

[39:23] The members of the body. Their parts. Don't necessarily supply. It's their joints. That's why. You can't be effective. In the body of Christ. Until you are part of something.

[39:36] Because. It's our joints. Our koinonia. That is responsible. For the growth. Of the body. It's that. Fitted together.

[39:48] And. Fitted. And held together. By what. The joints supply. So the joints supply. Something that holds the body together. Wow.

[39:58] That's why. You have to be very weary of gossip. Yeah. That's why you have to be very. Watchful. Of anything that divides us. Yeah. Because our strength.

[40:11] Is in our joints. Wow. The strength. Of the church. Is in what. The joint. Supplies. That. Watch this.

[40:21] Not only the strength. The function. The function. And the effectiveness. Of the church. Has a lot to do with. What the joint. Supplies.

[40:32] So the joint. Must be good joint. Joint. Well. Service. Well. Because if you service. The joint well. It will supply something. To make the church. Effective. Wow.

[40:42] Wow. So the body. Being fitted. And held together. By what. Every joint. Supplies. There's a power. Behind. All the supply.

[40:53] According to the proper. Working of. Each. Individual. Part. So if I'm working well. And it's working well. Our joint. Supplies. For the effect.

[41:04] In the church. No one. Human. Being. Can. Represent. To the church. The church. Is. An.

[41:14] Us. Thing. U.S. It's us. The church. Is a community. Of the saints. Or the redeemed.

[41:25] Community. The justified. The community. Of the justified. The community. Of the. Redeemed.

[41:37] The community. Of the forgiven. Hmm. The community. Of the saved. We are the saved people.

[41:48] The community. Of God's people. We are a community. It's not an individual. God is not interested. In working with individuals. That's why.

[41:59] It's not good for man to be alone. God. Where are you going to go alone? Who is. Who are you working with? Who are your. Who are your team members? Anyone who cannot work with the others.

[42:12] Cannot be beneficial to the body of Christ. Even when Jesus was sending them. He sent them to. To. To. Wise. by that which every joint supplies based on the fact that the fact that you are an individual in the body and I'm individual doesn't mean being together will produce anything.

[42:37] What we are producing is according to the effectual working of my part. So as you effectually work, is that in the Bible? According to the proper working of each individual part.

[42:51] So if I'm working my work with Christ well and he's working his work with Christ well, as soon as Satan doesn't like our joint because it's a big problem for the devil.

[43:03] Satan loves our disunity. He loves it when we fight amongst ourselves. He doesn't have to work. He'll just go and sit down, cross his legs and be sipping afternoon tea.

[43:17] They are fighting. Then he said, why are you still fighting? Then he goes, she doesn't like you. Haven't you noticed that? He wants your boyfriend. Don't accept it.

[43:28] Don't join the crowd with her. Fight her, fight her. Then he said, yes, I was thinking about you. You didn't like me. The other time, listen to you. Then he starts fighting. He says, yeah, do my job. The body will never grow in our function.

[43:41] And so first of all, for me not to fight you, I have to grow into him. So I grow into him.

[43:53] You grow into him. As we grow into him, our koinonia becomes automatic. I become effective individually. He becomes, and once we are joined together, it becomes an unstoppable force.

[44:07] It's like an atomic bomb in the camp of the enemy. It's like a nuclear weapon in the camp of the enemy. Because it is dynamic.

[44:19] It's efficacy and it's functioning. Say, the truth is there are a lot of people in churches, or in the church, who don't understand what it means to be a Christian.

[44:35] They are in church just for social reasons. Many Christians are living earthly lives, and that's all.

[44:47] Why? Because first of all, to live the heavenly life, you have to grow up into him. When you grow up into him, then from whom, from whom you can live a proper, the more you grow up into him, the more you can be useful, effective in his church.

[45:12] Am I teaching? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Oh, I like it when the Bible begins to speak. from whom the whole body joined.

[45:29] from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

[45:46] See the love there? In love. You remember I said earlier in the first part of the verse 15, speaking the truth. Look at verse 15. It says that, but speaking the truth in love, the body ends up edifying itself in love.

[46:03] Now, that love there, let me take you a little bit further. That love there is not your feelings. It is the love of God in Christ, according to Ephesians 1, 4.

[46:18] So we will be blameless in him, before him in love. So it's the love of God in Christ. Romans chapter 5, verse 8, for the love of God is shed, Romans 5, verse 8 says that, for God commended his love towards us, in that whilst we are...

[46:35] So God's love is displayed, is put in Christ. So there is love. It says in Romans chapter 8, verse 37, it says, neither...

[46:46] Verse 37, you don't like that one. It says, nay, in all these things, we are more... Let's go 38, 38, 38, 39. Ah, for I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angel, nor principality, nor power, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from...

[47:11] Oh! Hallelujah! Shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!

[47:25] Somebody shout hallelujah! Angels can't separate us from it. So, the love of God is in Christ.

[47:37] He said, he said that, um, the love of God, so, when we talk about love there, we are talking about the love of God, which is in Christ.

[47:48] Which has become the Christ, the love of Christ in us. Oh! Do you understand?

[47:58] Do you understand? Romans 5, 5. Romans 5, 5. Help me, read it out. Let's go. And our Lord does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given us.

[48:14] So, this love of God, which is in Christ, has been poured out in our hearts. It's not your own love. It's not the love you bring to the table, but the love of God in Christ, which has become the love of Christ inside you.

[48:29] It's the love of Christ, not just love for Christ. His love. His love. God's love. It's different from your love for God.

[48:43] Loving God. This is God's love. So, when I am relating with you, the more I grow up into Him, the more I relate with you in the love that comes from God.

[48:56] Because if God loves you and I'm in God, I won't have a choice, but bye. by implication, natural, default. If I, the more I grow up into Him, the more by default I love those He loves.

[49:13] Ah. So, then the body edifies itself. You step up by toe and I'm very disappointed you did that.

[49:26] But in two days, or a day later, or hours later, I've grown into Christ and rather, I'm developing more love for you. I'm developing more love for you. I'm not talking about romantic love.

[49:39] I'm talking about sexual love. Attraction love is not what we are talking about. We are talking about unconditional love. Yes. You don't have to do anything to deserve it.

[49:52] You don't have to be nice to me. The more I grow in Christ, you don't have to be nice to me for me to have the love of God for you. Amen. That's why growing into Christ is non-negotiable.

[50:06] Amen. And the foundation is the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry. So we all come to the, for the beauty of the, to all come to the unity of, until we come to the unity of faith and we come, until we come to the universe, that to the knowledge, I know the son of God.

[50:25] I know the son of God. And to a perfect man, to the measure of the fullness of the stature of Christ, that I'm no more a child tossed to and fro by every weed of doctrine and cunning deceitfulness of crafty men, whereby they lie in way to, but speaking the truth in love may grow up into, in all things, into him who is the head.

[50:50] Ah! From whom now? So you can see that, it tells us the function of the church before it tells us the operations of the church.

[51:02] The purpose of, it describes how we are built in him. Then it begins to tell us our oppressions, our oppressions, our behavior. So then when, the more you grow into him, the more you don't, we don't have to advise you about your behavior.

[51:17] Right. Right. Wow. Every time we need to talk to you and tell you, it doesn't matter, it's okay. And don't you forgive her, forgive him. Don't you just say hi.

[51:29] Just say, come on, just grow up a little bit now. Ah! In Nigeria we say, ah-ah! Ah-ah!

[51:47] In Lagos we say, wait-see! Wait-see! Wait-see! the reason for spiritual maturity that will grow into him when you are born again your body is not excused from troubling you but what helps you go in is your growth in him so you are living a natural life here but with this heavy earthly life from a heavenly source your people see you natural but you are heavenly in nature the source the base the foundation of your behavior is heavenly in nature and because it's heavenly in nature is heavy in expression hallelujah so he says that we grow into him from whom it says that from whom the whole body being fitted and knitted to get fitted and held together by what every joint supplies according to the proper working of its individual path causes the growth of the body for the edifying of itself in Colossians chapter 2 verse 19 Colossians 2 19 and not holding fast the head say the head from is it either from something always comes from the head from whom all the body nourished and knitted together by joints and ligament with the hinge that is from gross with the increase that is from gross that you see we hold fast to the head from whom you see that from whom all the body gross the brackets are like a parenthesis that sorry the commerce so sometimes in English language in English literature, you can use a dash depending on what statement you are making.

[54:15] Some statements, like this statement for instance, you see, after the head, okay, from whom the whole body, no, after the body, you can put, instead of comma, you can put a dash.

[54:29] You can put a dash and then you can put one dash. You need another dash. So it's the same as using brackets. So sometimes you can use brackets or you can use dash or you can use comma.

[54:42] Here, they use comma. So that nourish, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, you can take it out. Not ignore it, but the statement can continue.

[54:55] So it says that, and not holding fast to the head, from whom all the body, from whom all the, yes, that's right, you got it. From whom all the body, you see that?

[55:08] So all the body grows with the increase, increase that is, the body grows with the increase that is from God.

[55:26] In 1 Corinthians chapter, 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 6, he said, I planted, God, Hallelujah!

[55:41] Hallelujah! I planted Apollo's water but God gave the increase! There is a certain increase that comes from God.

[55:55] The devil can't do anything about it because it's above his pay grade. It's above his level. Now, if I'm not happy about maybe some Russian soldiers in Ukraine, what can I do about it?

[56:12] That's how people demonstrate. That's all they can do. That's all they can do. You can't go to Russia and say, Putin, come here. Then slap him. Move yourself. Or you can't go to Ukraine and say, hey, Russian soldiers, move!

[56:26] You can't do that. It's above you. Even the British armed forces, the head of British can't do that. American, the army general of America cannot go to Russia and say, stop it.

[56:43] It's only the president that can talk. It's above their level. In the same way, there's a certain increase that the church can produce and the church can have. That is directly from God.

[56:55] It's above the level of the devil. Wow! It's above his level. But you can't have that increase until we begin to hold fast the head. Our connectivity holding to the head.

[57:08] Holding fast the head! Holding fast the head! We grow with an increase that is from God.

[57:19] God! Thank you! Are the scriptures not so sweet? I have been reading my Bible like this since I got born again.

[57:37] And I don't know why many people after a few years you're a pastor you can't there are pastors who can't even read their Bibles. I'm wondering what they're teaching and most of them they go and read and do some what somebody say you will be blessed.

[57:50] I see miracles coming away. I say please please enough can you explain what the text is saying? Explain what you go to uni you go to lectures and then your lecturer comes you say some of you will pass your exams very well.

[58:09] I'm telling you I'm telling you you will do very well. when I look at the way you are studying you will do very well. You will do very well. You will do very well.

[58:19] You will do very well. In the name of our principal you will do very well. You will do very well. Okay so we'll continue on the lessons next and then we play music and then we begin to rejoice we'll do very well.

[58:34] We'll do very well. We'll do very well. And then lecture is over. And then you go. And they ask you how was lectures ah we had we had fun.

[58:46] We had an amazing time. So which of the topics have you covered? Oh don't worry we will do very well. We will do very well. We will do the modules we will do very well in the modules.

[58:59] And when the exam comes after you fill we tell you know you have to believe. Have positive thinking. Don't be afraid. You see so we keep hiding people without giving them the tools biblical tools for enjoying the increase that comes from God.

[59:25] Increase with the increase that comes from God. Verse 17 it says that we don't not be like Gentiles. let's already out loud.

[59:37] Let's go. First Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 5 first Peter chapter 4 verse 3 let's read it out loud.

[60:00] Did you see that? The Gentiles who do not know God there's a way they live. If you cross them they will cross you. They live based on their natural instincts.

[60:14] We have to live based on our heavenly life. Heavenly life. So what we are listen what I'm talking about is not an ideology it's a heavenly reality which you can only experience when you hold fast onto the head.

[60:31] As you grow into the head you can experience it. Else these are all ideas. Ideas. Oh yeah that's why I like it but it cannot be your experience. So it said that in the passionate last talking about unbelievers like the Gentiles who do not know God their life is full of lust.

[60:51] 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 3 1 Peter chapter 4 4 we have spent enough of our past life doing doing the will of the Gentiles when we walk in lewdness in last drunkenness reveries drinking parties and abominable idolatries now living new living translation for we have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy their immorality and lust their fisting and drunkenness and whack and their terrible worship of idols in our modern day idolatry is not about bowing before statues it's about caving to idols internet idols movie idols we call them celebrities they are influencers they show you how to think in spite of whatever god's word is saying please put it aside my icon says this you dress based on how your role models are doing you attire yourself you treat women just the way the guys you are following treat women that's your world you come to church you are one person but right after church you are living like a gentile you are living no wonder you are not causing increase in the church no wonder even though you are active in the church you are not productive in

[62:38] God no wonder you are still struggling with your personal lust you can't forgive your ego is easily bruised anything is about you you didn't like the way someone spoke to you you didn't like the way she was looking at you you didn't like the way she likes a guy even though you said!

[62:58] she said something about you it's oh this I say! there's more in this can I after!

[63:10] he said this! I say! Ephesians 4 17 Ephesians 4 17 this I say therefore this I say therefore and this I say therefore and oh so I'm doing two things what are the two things I'm doing so it's not just preaching testifying is like I live it it's my life Paul is not just a preacher what he said he live it I testify I live it it's my experience experience if you want if you want to be excited about spiritual experience not how something came up on you and you feel and then you saw it's like there's light he's coming that's what people like and most of this modern day apostles that's all the preaching is focused on and something appeared to me and then the keyboard goes and then you begin to feel

[64:33] I'm telling you God and then they speak some complicated words words that don't open up scripture but that's what people like they like experience that's not the kind of experience I'm talking about I'm talking about your testimony of living the life the scripture is speaking about the life the scripture is a personal testimony that ends up validating your message this I say and testify that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind Romans chapter 1 verse 21 futility of their minds because though they knew good it is God though because although they knew God they did not glorify him as

[65:34] God nor were thankful but became futile in their minds their thoughts useless vain thinking vain thinking that does not produce the increase of God increase that does not produce the life of God Ephesians chapter 4 again quickly go to the verse 16 verse 16 yeah so increase in love then the verse 70 says that I say this and testify it's like he's about to start something because he has given a description of the nature of the church and he's about to enter into the function the function of the church and then he will give the details of the behavior in the church so he's beginning to this I say therefore in testifying the Lord that he should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds it's not behavior but it's their mindset the mind

[66:39] Bible talks about how the God of this world has blinded their minds 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 3 and 4 the God of this has blinded so their mind can be blinded there are people who can see but they can't see they look but cannot see it says that whose minds the God of this age has blinded that's a serious thing so they are making decisions and making comments in the futility of their mind they look at you and say you are in a court yeah future minds future minds courts don't produce change character godly character like yours in the futility of but why are you always going to church see some people tell but me I also go but I don't do it like your own your own is too much in the futility of some might be born again but they are living in the futility of their mind like gentiles you know people who are they've been going to church very committed but their life is like gentiles when it is bride d'ashawa you can tell this is a gentile when it is somebody's birthday celebration you can tell this when you start dating them you can tell

[67:59] I'm dating a gentile oh boy run for your life if you want to save your ministry run girl run for your future ministry life because all the signs that this guy is a gentile are showing he's in church but he's a gentile somebody receive something to give Jesus free thank you for choosing to listen to this message by David Entry we hope you were blessed by it you can connect with David Entry on all relevant social media platforms including TikTok and Threads there's also many more messages to listen to from David Entry on all relevant streaming platforms and on the Karish

[68:59] Church app be blessed