PASTOR OLUWASEYI OSANYINBI
PERFECT LIBERTY MINISTRY, ONDO
MINISTERS’ SUMMIT: THE TESTIMONY OF LIGHT
DAY2 EVENING SESSION
“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the LORD.”
2 CORINTHIANS 3:18
The witness is supposed to see something in order to make him effective in witnessing. What we know normally as the Word is what we speak. But the Word is a person. Jesus Christ in his omniscience had to descend to our level to become life and later stepped him down as Light. This was done in reverse so that we can know the Light to access life. If you don’t see properly you cannot be a right witness. Every witness is supposed to see.
[biblegateway passage=”John 1:6-16″ display=”John 1:6-16″]
The problem people have is that people still see Jesus for the human existence. John the Baptist needed time to see and understand clearly Jesus as Christ. Not just as his cousin but he understood that Christ had been before him. John’s kind of priesthood was not in the order of the Levite priesthood. He was standing as a priest of another order. The reason of baptism was to identify the Christ.
If you have not seen God at all, you can’t be a right witness, because a witness must have seen. People can spend the rest of their lives in church and not see Christ. The church of Jerusalem could not see beyond the veil, they did not see Jesus.
[biblegateway passage=”EPHESIANS 3:3-6″ display=”EPHESIANS 3:3-6″]
Then Paul came to the scene and Paul got born again. He saw Jesus and had a commission. Paul preached Jesus in Antioch and it affected their conduct, the people of Antioch began to live as Paul preached and people around them noticed this and they were first called Christians (Christ like) in the church of Antioch. Paul saw Christ as the embodiment of mystery. You cannot understand the New Testament if you don’t understand the Old Testament. When Paul used to know Jesus, he knew him as Jesus of Nazareth. But when his eyes were opened he began to see Jesus as Christ.
Paul was arrested because of an assignment, he took him time to sight Christ and every time Paul sees Christ a new Light dawns on Paul and he simply spoke and wrote about it. The Jews have no program for the Gentiles and because of this, there was a fight among the Jews when Paul said the Gentiles should be fellow heirs.
We should know that our witnessing are specific. Paul was not a witness to the Jews. His witnessing was for the Gentiles. Paul could be effective because of the sight he had. We need to begin to see Christ. Until you see Christ you can’t be a witness. Apollos began to preach Jesus in the context of baptism but when Aquila and Priscilla started teaching him more about Christ, his eyes opened and began to see. There must be something you must see about Christ, otherwise you cannot witness about him.
“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”
1 JOHN 1:1
[biblegateway passage=”REVELATION 1:1-15″ display=”REVELATION 1:1-15″]
“And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”
EPHESIANS 6:17
You first hear about Christ and then believe. But we cannot remain believers, we should begin to have Godly experiences not just believing. Paul was not just a believer he had vast knowledge. Paul had acquired life from his fellowshipping with Christ and that fellowship began to affect his mortal body.
John the beloved began to know Christ afresh aside from the Jesus he used to know when he was the disciple of Jesus. The warfare is a revelation of Christ and an understanding of his being. We can know doctrine and still die without seeing Christ.