Notes from Sunday 8 December 2013..
Speaker: Pastor Nnamdi Ihejimba
Key Passage: Matthew 13:1-14;
“On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. 2 And great multitudes were gathered together to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.
3 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. 8 But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”
11 He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:
‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,
And seeing you will see and not perceive”
The kingdom of God is a kingdom of power and glory. His glory and power are ever increasing. It is an everlasting kingdom, guided by secrets which are only available to the chosen ones.
In Matthew 13:10, Jesus the ultimate consummate of the kingdom said that the kingdom of God has secrets or mysteries, but these have been given to us. The secrets have been given but we choose whether to receive them or not. If you choose not to receive the secrets, they never will be yours. But Jesus warns that whoever does not have an increasing knowledge of the kingdom secrets, even the little he/she has shall be taken away from him. It is the knowledge of these kingdom secrets that determine the extent to which we can manifest the kingdom power and glory. Let us therefore search out these kingdom secrets one after the other as time permits us.
Secret 1; Separate darkness from your light (Genesis 1:1, John 1:5-7)
In Genesis 1, we read the account of creation. Creation was an empty formless mass covered up by darkness; nothing good could come out of it until God called in light and separated darkness from the light. From the illumination, or through the illumination provided by the light, God could now call forth everything that is good out of the formerly empty and formless mass. Jesus is the light of God (John 1: 1-4). So all creation remains an empty and formless mass until the light of God is called in. Since light reveals everything, it is in this light that every good thing is made manifest. So to manifest the kingdom power and glory, you must separate darkness from your creation, only then shall good be revealed. (Isaiah 9:2 and Matthew 4:16 and Ephesians 5:8).
Secret 2; Carry your fire with you, it will illuminate your path way (Luke 3:16)
As soon as God commanded in light, darkness could not exist before Him. There was only morning and evening. The light of God was present at all times. Even when man was formed, the bible says in the cool of the evening, God would walk in the garden (man’s first home) (Genesis 3:8). But look at the turn of events, Adam committed treason and created around himself darkness to hide away from God (Ephesians 5:8). When he was in the light, he could pick up revelations with ease (Genesis 2:23). However, when Adam created darkness around himself, he only could see naturally and talk naturally. He lost the power (the light) to command other creation and he became a fugitive to himself. Since the first man turned away from the Light to darkness there was no other way to re-introduce the Light except by way of the flesh. So the light became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father (John 1:1-5).
When the light was present originally, the Holy Spirit was withdrawn with the Father. But in His coming in the flesh there was a limitation due to the flesh, so the Holy Spirit had to come back specifically on Him, to mark Him out as light in the midst of darkness. In His flesh, wherever He went, darkness could not overwhelm (comprehend) Him. So apparently, He was carrying fire with him. By His example, this same fire was released on the day of Pentecost to all flesh, so that darkness will not be able to overwhelm us, even though we are in the flesh (Luke 3:16, Matthew 3:11, Acts 2:1-3). Fire consumes everything. When we carry the fire of God in our lives, no darkness or works of darkness will survive around us; because the fire will consume it. It is the fire of God that marks us out for manifestation. It is the fire that results in power and glory. It was the fire upon about 120 people hiding in an upper room, which created a commotion in a whole city and brought the city’s attention to a group that was hitherto un-noticed. It is the fire that makes the difference in our lives, in ministry and in the kingdom. It is only those carrying the Holy Fire on them that will survive the days ahead; and revival can only happen with an aggregation of this Holy Fire.
Secret 3; Your connection determines your content
Your content determines your thought and your thought determines your confession (Matthew 22:35, Proverbs 4:23)
Secret 4; If you have thought of it, then speak it into existence
A closed mouth is a closed destiny. (Genesis 1:2, Proverbs 18:20-21, Proverbs 13:3, Proverbs 21:23, and Matthew 12:36).
Secret 5; Wisdom is profitable to direct
Grasp firmly what the will of God is, be not foolish and thoughtless (Ephesians 4:18, 1 John 5:14-15). (Proverbs 2:12-17, Proverbs 3:12-18).
Secret 6; Build a bridge
There is a valley between your spoken reality and your experiential reality. You can make a bridge to walk over the valley by your actions and perseverance (1 Peter 3:10-12, Proverbs 13:3, Proverbs 18:20-21, Proverbs 21:21, Ecclesiastes 3:10-14).
Secret 7; Command your morning
Paint the picture of your expected future on the canvass of your day because it’s a new day and His mercies are new every morning (Psalms 143:8-10). Intercessory prayer life is one secret to winning the war with the power of darkness in these last days. We must all rise up to command our morning before the circumstances of our lives are over taken by the power of darkness.
2014 is going to be a year of great orchestration of events both in the spiritual and physical realm. There shall be a great acceleration of manifestation of diverse forms. We shall need divine speed and super grace to meet up with the times. Its only by the knowledge and application of these and other kingdom secrets that we shall be able to reign in kingdom power and glory.
Secret 8; A Rested Soul is a Thankful Soul
I pray we do not fall short on His purpose for our generation
