Message 1
Minister: Pst Tayo Ladejo
Galatians 4:1-7 – Sonship is a New Testament biblical concept that is achieved by adoption. Adoption is a Jewish ceremony that entails wearing a ring and a robe on a child- an example of this is seen in the story of the prodigal son. Through adoption, we become heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. In essence, we are legal sharers of all that belongs to God. In Psalms 103, there is a list of all that we are entitled to as heirs of Christ. They are legal rights and privileges that we have access to by the redemptive work of Christ on the cross. They are our rights and we should enjoy them. We need to know who we are in Christ Jesus, so we can enjoy all our rights in Him.
The inheritance is the main package of the redemptive work but our rights and privileges are by-products. As much as the right and privileges are ours to enjoy, they do not constitute the core of our faith. Becoming like Jesus should be our main focus. We cannot be partakers of the inheritance in God if we do not know Him.
Our growth and maturity in the spirit are pivotal to coming to our inheritance in Christ. God cannot afford to commit the inheritance into the hands of infants, He wants us to become grow until we are fully mature. The hallmark of maturity is character formation. God wants us to imbibe the mind of Christ and jettison carnality. It is infancy to lead a church and not expose them to the activity of the spirit to mature them. Heaven is not interested in numbers but in the solid standing of the Church. God wants people who are deliberate about coming into His activities and imbibing the mind of Christ. The Church must submit herself for the nature of Christ to be formed in her so that she can be built. When we mature, all that the Father has prepared for us will be handed over to us.
God is not interested in having people that will blend with the culture of the world; He needs people that will interface with the world to influence it. This is the reason Christ must be daily formed in us. The more we allow the formation of Christ in us, the more capacity we have to fulfil His glory.
Heirs are different from servants. Servants are paid off but heirs own the space. We are heirs and to become stakeholders in the kingdom of God, we must engage in certain processes that will result in our freedom. Freedom is the right of sons and there is a process to it. Some of the conditionalities of freedom are restrictions and boundaries.
Boundaries are observed when we submit to spiritual authority while restrictions are introduced when we yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit. By following that order, the authority will be entrusted to us, you don’t grab authority by force. Governmental authority and influence come from a vulnerability that is a product of obedience.
God allows us to go through trials of faith so that He can shape our internal configuration. He wants to be the one who directly controls our hearts. Sometimes, He allows our egos to be crushed. Other times, He allows people to betray our trust not because He wants us to be shattered but because He wants us to be made.
Through scriptures, we can be trained in the ways of the Lord. This training is by knowledge. Additionally, we can be trained by the Holy Spirit through experience. The help of the nations will only come from Zion. Therefore, Zion must submit herself to be made. It is going to be a tough dealing but we must be ready to go through it.
God wants us to have the same experience as the prodigal son. He wants us to come to that point where we die and resurrect and then become fit to handle the riches of the kingdom. The kingdom of God is like Open University where you study at your own pace. You can decide whether to study a particular course for twenty years or two years but the most important thing is that you must complete all the courses. If you do not complete the whole course, the signet of authority will not be given to you.
Matthew 16:19 – The key of the kingdom is given to sons, people whose wills are buried in the Father’s demands. Their transactions are all about what pleases the Father. They bind only what the Father has bound and lose only what the Father has loosed. God is raising a people who will make a difference in their generations with the heavenly glory and riches available to them.