EVANGELIST SOLA OKI
I JOHN 1:1-3(KJV) : ” That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) 3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”;
EPHESIANS 4:11-13(KJV): ” 11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:”
I John 1:1-3 tells us about what we should preach and why we should preach. We need to declare the things which we have seen and heard from God. We are not qualified to declare the things we have not seen and heard. The things we see and hear become part of us.
We preach so that those we preach to can have fellowship with us. Preaching is a way of making people know the things we know and believe. That is the only way we can relate with them properly. God does not want segregation in the church; He wants us to know the same things so that we can be one. When we don’t have common knowledge of things relationships become very difficult. God did not intend for the church to be in categories having super-spiritual brethren and sub-spiritual brethren. We come to church every day so that we may all come into the unity of faith. We should purpose in our hearts never to live a sub-normal Christian life.
We preach so that people can have fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. We all need to leave where we are. We need to leave the valley and journey to the mount. It is not the will of God for us to not know beyond what we are taught. God does not have favorites; He wants everyone to be like Him ([biblegateway passage=”Acts 10:35″ display=”Acts 10:35″]). God’s intention is to make all of us come up in our spiritual lives (Colossians 1:28). God relates with us the way we relate with Him ([biblegateway passage=”James 4:8″ display=”James 4:8″]). We need to move beyond fellowshipping with one another to fellowshipping with the Godhead. Many people seek God so that He can solve their problems, defeat their enemies and give them the good things of life. However, there are so much more in God than all these things.
JOHN 4:39-42(KJV): ” 39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. 40 So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his own word; 42 And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.”;
JOHN 1:35-41(KJV): ” 35 Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; 36 And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! 37 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38 Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou? 39 He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.”
The Samaritan woman left her water pot to declare to her people what she saw when she encountered Jesus. If you are truly born again, you must be able to preach. If you don’t know what to preach, just preach your salvation experience. The Samaritans believed the woman’s testimony initially and then they upgraded to believing what Jesus said and they recognized that He is the Messiah. We must move from quoting our pastors to quoting God. Your strength is not measured by what you hear from people; it is measured by what you hear from God.
We cannot harvest the nations without having fellowship with ourselves and with Divinity. We are not in the Old Testament where God visits seasonally; He is always here with us. We must learn to cultivate His friendship. Ministers of God must come to a place where they lose their disciples to Jesus Christ just like John the Baptist. We must know that the best kind of fellowship our followers can have is with God. Prayer is one way by which we get to relate with God. In the place of prayers, we get to encounter God and He transforms our nature. We should relate with God so much that we pick whatever He says. We must leave the place of Divine Visitation and Divine Encounters to the place of Divine Fellowship. We cannot harvest the nations when we are not in constant fellowship with God. Psalm 91 talks about dwelling in the secret place of the Most High not visiting the secret place.