Understanding and engaging priesthood - Pastor Olaopa Olajide Michael — Pastor Olaopa Olajide Michael

Whom beyond the heavens, my feet is sustained in thee. Container of clay, not of flesh but spirit form. Now I am a priest unto God of Salem. Whom beyond the heavens, my feet is sustained in thee. Container of clay, not of flesh but spirit form. Now I am a priest unto God of Salem. Salem, Salem, Salem, Salem, Salem, Salem, Salem, Salem. Whom beyond the heavens, my feet is sustained in thee. Container of clay, not of flesh but spirit form. Now I am a priest unto God of Salem. In Jesus mighty name you have prayed. In Jesus mighty name you have prayed. I want us to pray once again. Now, uh, when we read the Bible, Jesus speaking to his disciples once, told them that, uh, he was speaking to the people in parables, and the disciples came to him and said, "Why do you speak to these people in parables?" And he said, "Unto you it has been given to know and to understand the mysteries of the kingdom, but to them it has not been given." Seeing they will see, they have eyes but they will not see, they have ears but they cannot hear. Now, this means that, uh, the disciples were given access into the revelations of the kingdom, access. However, when you begin to read scripture again, you realize that a day came again that Jesus said to his disciples, "It says, 'I want to speak to you, you cannot bear them.'" And he said, "When the spirit comes, the spirit will guide you into all truth and bring to remembrance the things that I have taught you and it will guide you into all truth." And you might be wondering like, if if you are a Bible student, you should be wondering, Jesus said to them earlier that it has been given to them to understand the mysteries of the kingdom. Now, Jesus is coming again to say that, "It says, 'There are things I want to say to you that you cannot bear.'" And you only understand those things when the spirit has come. That is because that spirit that will guide you into all truth. And then if you read the book of Luke, after Jesus resurrected, the Bible says that there were two individuals that were journeying on the way to Emmaus, and Jesus joined them. And these two individuals were discussing the things that happened in Jerusalem, and Jesus began to talk to them and said, "Oh ye of slow heart, slow to understand." And the Bible says that he began right from Moses and the prophets, he began to expand to them the things concerning him. These people were his disciples, even though they had access to the revelations of the kingdom, somehow, there are certain things that were hidden from them. And if you read through scriptures, uh, read the book of John again, certain places in the book of John, you will see the Bible saying that Jesus was saying to his disciples that he needs to go to Jerusalem and die, as has been prophesied. And the Bible says that the disciples did not understand because this saying has been hid from them. Now, this is just to tell you that even though access has been given to us to understand the things of the kingdom, there's a possibility that we might still not comprehend the things that God speaks to us because of several reasons. But Jesus said that, "The day that the spirit will come, he will guide you into all truth." And on the day, the day he appeared to them after resurrection, when they were having a meal in the house, the Bible says that he broke the bread, and he opened their mind that they might understand the scriptures. So, it means that even though there is a legal access into, uh, understanding the mysteries of the kingdom, there is still a need, there is still a need for a, I should I call it, a higher level of access to be given to you, whether for you to understand certain things in the kingdom. This means that it is not everything that God speaks to us that we understand every single time. It is not all the time we understand the speakings of God. It is not all the time, even though we are in the kingdom, even though we are in the kingdom. And that's the reason why the Bible says that when the spirit comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will guide you into all truth. That is, when the spirit comes, he will give you what it takes, he will enable you, he will give you, quickening your faculties so that you might be able to comprehend everything that God communicates to your heart. Amen. Amen. Now, we are going to pray to God and ask the Lord this evening, and ask the Lord to quicken you. The Bible says that Jesus speaking to his disciples said, "The the the flesh profiteth little, but the spirit gives life." Can you open your mouth and ask the Lord that, "Lord, you will quicken me tonight. You will quicken me tonight. Let your Holy Spirit quicken me tonight. I do not want to stay in this atmosphere and, yes, not understand the things that you speak to me. Quicken me today. Quicken me today." Can you pray? Can you pray? Can you pray? Quicken me this evening, Lord Jesus. Quicken me this evening, Lord Jesus. Quicken me this evening, Lord Jesus. There's a tendency that I can stay in the environment of the word of the Lord and yet the word of the Lord will be scarce. Quicken me this evening, Lord Jesus. Quicken me, Lord Jesus. Quicken me, Lord Jesus. Quicken me, Lord Jesus. Let my faculties be open to understand. Let my faculties be open to understand the things that you wish to speak to me. Can you pray? Can you pray? Can you pray? Can you pray? Can you pray? Can you pray? Quicken me this evening. Quicken me this evening. Can you be intentional with that prayer? Can you be intentional with that prayer? Quicken me tonight, Jesus. Quicken me tonight, Jesus. Let my spiritual ears be open. Let my spiritual eyes be open to behold the things that you have for me this evening. Channels of my spirit, open up. I am with the Father, open up. No boundaries, no limits, open up. Channels of my spirit, open up. I am with the Father, open up. No boundaries, no limits, open up. Out of the mundane, to where I am more than, for things that we are made, we are made from things unseen. There are realms of the world, for my world to see, dimensions found only in Jesus Christ the Son. Channels of my spirit, open up. I am with the Father, open up. No boundaries, no limits, open up. Channels of my spirit, open up. I am with the Father, open up. No boundaries, no limits, open up. Let our spirits be open up to you, Jesus. In Jesus mighty name you have prayed. Come be seated. Good evening, everybody. Good evening, everybody. And you are welcome, somebody, we are back to church. Somebody comes to church again this evening. You are welcome, somebody, we are back to church. You are welcome to church again this evening. All right. Uh, praise God for another privilege to be here. Last time I was here was, first of all, this. We are here again in the presence of the people of God. We are here again in the presence of the people of God. All right. Uh, our theme for the month is understanding and engaging priesthood. Am I correct? Praise God. Now, I believe, uh, throughout the month, emphasis has been laid on so many things and I don't want to rush something simple tonight. I would like to love to emphasize on the consecration of a priest. However, I believe that all through the month, uh, emphasis has been laid on that extensively and there might be no need to go over that again. Amen. Amen. Because, uh, one of the things you must understand is what makes a priest a priest is the separation. Praise God. It's not the activities that makes a priest, it is the separation. Read the book of Hebrews, Bible speaking says that every high priest is taken from among men and ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he might offer both gifts and sacrifices unto God. So you see, the foundation for priesthood is actually the separation. Which means that when we discuss priesthood, one of the things that should be emphasized is the consecration of the priest. Amen. Amen. Amen. Now, I want us to read a scripture before we move on. Can we go to the book of Hebrews? Book of Hebrews chapter 5, verse 1. All right, we'll read it together. Book of Hebrews chapter 5, verse 1. Are we all there? Are we all there? If you are there, say amen. Amen. If you are not there, say amen. Hebrews is in the New Testament. It's before James, after Philemon. And so that you can be fast, you can use the content, the index in front of your Bible. Hebrews chapter 5, verse 1. All right, can we read those together, one to go? Now, for every high priest taken from among men. Now, notice the word taken. Taken. You see, the priest will not be a priest if he has not been taken from among the people. What do I mean by that? What actually makes priesthood effective is the separation that happens. If the priest is the same thing with the people, he does not have a priesthood. Praise God. If the priest is what? The same thing with the people, he does not have a priesthood. What makes his priesthood strong is the fact that he has been separated from the people, taken from among them. The word is to take him from among them. And the sense of the taking is not just that, uh, he has been called, is that organically, his life has been separated totally from the lifestyle of the people. Amen. God has to separate the priest from the people. The priest has to live a separated life that is different from the life that the people are living. Simply put, the the standard of the life of a priest is higher than the standard of life that every other person lives. Praise God. Praise God. And no priest will be effective in his service until that separation has taken place. So it means that even in the New Testament, when the Bible says that, "You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation." You see, the Bible was careful enough to say that, "You are a royal priesthood." Immediately after that, it says, "You are a holy nation." And if you understand what holiness means, I've said it to us many times that holiness simply means to be separated unto one thing. Amen. It means to be separated what? Unto one thing. Now, if you read the book of Leviticus, there's a place in the book of Leviticus, while the Bible was talking about the sacrifices that were made for anyone that has leprosy. I want to bring out something from there. The Bible was saying that if leprosy breaks out of somebody's body, and how many of us know what leprosy is? We all know what leprosy is. Like a a a deformity on the body. Now, the Bible says if if it breaks out on anybody's body, the Bible says such a person is unclean. Am I correct? By the standard of the Old Testament, such a person is unclean. However, the Bible says in the book of Leviticus, the Bible was saying that if actually, the reason why the person is unclean, I want to let you know now, is because that person that the person's body is no longer in one, is no longer containing just one thing. Something else has defiled the body. Praise God. There is a defilement, there is something, there is a strange thing that was not on that body initially, coming on the body. But if you read the book of Leviticus, the Bible says that if paraventure that leprosy breaks out in a way that it covers the person's whole body, that you cannot see his original skin again, the person is no longer unclean, he is now clean. Amen. I don't know if you understand that. That leprosy that made the person unclean in the beginning, the Bible said if the leprosy spread to the point that the leprosy has covered his entire body and there's no trace of his original flesh again, he will become clean. Now, you might be wondering, how does that work? It works like this. It means that what the Bible is actually trying to teach you is that consecration, holiness, means one thing, just one. When they are when you have joined two things into one, it is no longer unto one again. That's the principle that God was using to teach them. So, your body is not clean because there are there's another foreign body on that skin. But as long as it is only that leprosy that's on that person's body, just that leprosy alone, it will be clean. Amen. Do you understand what I'm saying? So, what you call a dilution is that you bring two things together. Am I correct? You try to mix them together. That's what the Bible is trying to show you. Anything that is holy is of one substance. Amen. It is of what? Of one substance. So, that's the idea in that issue of leprosy, that the body of that person now, as long as that leprosy is the only thing on that skin, it is of one substance, it becomes clean. But when the leprosy is is on his body and his original skin is still there too, there is a dilution. Amen. Now, we don't have we don't have one again, we now have two. But if the leprosy spread to the point that the original skin is covered totally by the leprosy, there's only one thing on that skin now, so it becomes holy again, becomes clean again. Amen. So, when you talk about holiness, it means separation unto one, to be of just one thing. So, when we say that the priest is separated from among the people, he is taken from among the people. He is taken so that his life can be separated unto only one thing. And that is what you call holiness. Amen. Amen. So, the Bible will tell you that in the in the Old Testament, they have a tabernacle. They have articles in that tabernacle, cups, there were cups, there were spoons, there were tables, all manner of things. That cup, that table, all those things, they are cups like every other cup, but yes, they are not like every other cup. Amen. The difference between them and every other cup is that those cups were consecrated unto one thing, and that thing is God. That is, God is the only one that owns the right over those cups. He is the he he he owns everything that has to do with that cup. The only thing that that cup can serve is God. So, that was the mistake that this King of Babylon made. He got drunk one day and decided that he was going to drink from the same cup that only God was meant to drink from. And God said, "You have passed your boundary." Because those cups, because the guy thought this these are just ordinary cups, but he did not understand that it has been separated for God alone. Praise God. So, even if the cup is dusty, there's dust on the cup, it is still holy unto God. Amen. Even if there's dust inside this, it is still what? Holy unto God. It is still meant for the service of one, not two. So, the king, uh what is his name again? The son of, son of, he was happy, he was drunk. So, he said they should bring the cups from the temple of Jerusalem and they drank from it. And instantly, they handed on the wall and say, "You have been weighed, you have been measured. You have been found wanting, instantly." Because you don't share God's possession. Amen. God does not share His possession with any other thing. When the Bible says that, when Apostle Paul was speaking in the New Testament and he said, "Your body is the temple of the living God." That, the scripture was saying in vain that our God is a jealous God, that is anything that belongs to God, God is jealous over it. Praise God. Anything that belongs to God, God is what? Jealous about it. If God says that this thing is my own, you don't share it with God. You don't. You don't attempt to share it with God. So, when God calls you a holy priesthood, a priesthood, a royal priesthood, the implication is that you have been consecrated only onto one thing, which is what? God. And it means that no thing else must share your life with God. Amen. God must not be must not be drag his pace with any other thing in your life. If God is drag his pace with anything in your life, it means that you have not yet coming to the experiential life of a priest. Because the first offering of a priest that a priest offers is his life in the New Testament. Amen. Even in the Old Testament before the priest can make any sacrifice for anything, he has to first make a sacrifice for his…