Welcome to another interesting edition of Forms and Patterns. I'm so honored for the opportunity to connect with you at this moment, bringing the word of God's grace to you building us up together by the word of God, and establishing our feet as ministers of the gospel. In this podcast, we'll be concluding what we started a few weeks ago, looking at The Dimensions of God, That Make Any Human Fulfill Ministry. By the help of the Holy Spirit, we will be looking at the various dimensions of God that have the ability to make any human, male or female, fulfill the assignment of God for his life or for her life.
Let's go to the book of Isaiah chapter 11. We will read from verse 1-5 and from there, we will zero in on the dimension of God that we require to fulfill our ministry. This is the concluding dimension. And I want us to pay good attention to the things we'll be hearing so that we will be established in the truth. Isaiah 11:1-5, the Bible says:
There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse,
And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.3 His delight is in the fear of the Lord,
And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,
Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
4 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor,
And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins,
And faithfulness the belt of His waist.
From verse three to verse five, we can see the exploits of the life of the one that the Bible is talking about. If we look at verse one, what the Bible shows us is the humanity or the human dimension of the man, the vessel that God is talking about, the Bible says “there shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse.” Jesse was not an analogy. Jesse was a man that lived in the land of Israel. Jesse was a man. And the Bible says “there shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse.” That's number one. Number two Bible says, “and a branch shall grow out of his roots”, not its roots, to give me the impression that it's about a nonliving thing, or an entity that we could just call a tree.
But the Bible shows us that there will come forth a rod from his stem, so that you don't think it's all about a tree, the Bible says, “of the stem of a Jesse.” So, Jesse being a man, you know, the rod that comes out of the stem of a man as to be human, he says, “and a branch shall grow out of his roots” his root, not its root. So, we also understand that this is about a man. And one thing we must note about this is that in spite of the things that we realize about this man, in Isaiah chapter eleven verse two, Isaiah chapter eleven verse one is the foundation upon which Isaiah chapter eleven verse two is built. So, there wouldn't be the relevance of Isaiah chapter eleven verse two, if there is no Isaiah chapter eleven verse one.
What am I trying to say? When you remember the story of Jesus Christ, every time the Bible calls Him, the Son of Man, even Jesus will say the Son of Man, and then in other instances, the Bible calls Him the Son of God. You see, the dimension of God was with Him, as well as the dimension of man. He needed the God dimension, because He had the man dimension. And this is where we have something in common with Jesus. Just like Jesus, we are humans, we have the human dimension, but we required the divine dimension to fulfill the assignment of God. Even though He was God, He needed to become a man for Him to fulfill the assignment. The assignment was for a man, but God needed to come in the form of that man to fulfill the assignment.
Where I'm going is this. If God needed a man to fulfill an assignment on the earth, even though God needed to pour Himself into that man. It means that even you now, you could be needed by God, even though you require the dimension of God in that assignment. Jesus came from God. The Bible says in the book of Hebrews from verse 5. It says:
Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:
“Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,
But a body You have prepared for Me.In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin
you had no pleasure.Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come
in the volume of the book it is written of me
to do Your will, O God.’”
Now, the will of God is also what we could call the work that God has committed into your hand. Every time God calls you, every time God commits an assignment into your hand, God is making His will known to you. There is a will of God for every human, in as much as there is a work in God and from God for every human. If you must fulfill the work of God on the earth, the first thing is that you must be first human; you must be a man who has the ability to relate with the earth, and ability to relate with the heavens. You must be a man who is not just a thing; you must be a man who has the ability to carry the Spirit of God inside of you. In the book of Genesis 2:7, the Bible says: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”
Another word for living being there is a functioning being, a being that produced a being that works. So, knowing fully well that as a man, you have the innate ability to connect with the earth, you have the innate ability to connect with the heavens. That puts you in a position of relevance both on earth, and in the heavens. So, the point I'm making is, by virtue of your humanity, you are privileged under God to fulfill that task of God on the earth. However, your humanity without God's divinity makes you ineffective, even though you are relevant, it is not enough for you to be talented or to have attributes, you have capacity, you require the divine enablement from God for your natural attributes, to find a supernatural expression, to find a spiritual expression, a spiritual manifestation.
You see, you could have talents, but without the Spirit of God upon the talent, without the dimension of God or without a dimension of God upon that talent, that talent will be dormant, or at best, ineffective. But the Bible says concerning the Messiah in the book of Isaiah, chapter eleven from verse one, “there shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse” just like many of us have come from different stems. For instance, I came from the stem of Adedeji, I don't know the stem that you came from. He says, “and a branch shall grow out of his roots” I grew out of a particular root, that is the human dimension. The reason why you can see me, you know my name, you can say, my name is Gboyega Adedeji, you can relate with me, you can see me you can hear me, and you can feel me in case you have physically around me; is because I'm first a man, I came from a stem, I came from a root.
But if that is all about me, then I will be of little or no use to you today. The reason why you can hear me and you can be blessed, or you can learn from me is because there is a dimension of God that is exerted upon the human dimension that produces effectiveness in me. So, without that dimension of God in my life, even though I could be tall, dark and handsome, my handsomeness will result to nothing. It will add no value to you. The reason why you can get benefit from a life is because a dimension of God is making a dimension of man in me to find a fulfilling expression. The Bible did not stop with a rod from the stem of Jesse, or a branch growing out of his roots. The Bible went on to verse two it says, “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.”
So, that human nature, that human quality that human capacity is experiencing the impartation, is experiencing the quickening of the Spirit of the Lord. He says, The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon the Spirit of wisdom, the Spirit of understanding the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord. And that's where we are zeroing in today. Because in verse three, the Bible says, “his delight is in the fear of the Lord.” The question is: how? Is there any man that is born in the flesh that is naturally in fear of God? No, you grow or you become fearful of God, you get to a point in time in your life that you are in awe of God, not because you were born like that but because there is a Spirit that is at work in you. The Bible says in the book of 1 Corinthians 12, the Bible says, “No one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit and no one speaking by the Holy Spirit can say Jesus is accursed.”
So, it means acknowledging the Lordship of Jesus in your life is by the Spirit of God. Now you cannot have the Spirit of God and say, “Jesus is accursed”. You cannot criticize, you cannot condemn God if you have the Spirit of God in you, what does that tell you? It is the Spirit quickens. It is the Spirit that gives life. It is the Spirit that makes a thing happen, you think the way you think because of the kind of spirit that is in you. If you don't fear God, it is because you lack the Spirit of the fear of the Lord. And the Bible says “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”.
So, you are beginning to get wise, you are beginning to know how to do things and what to do because of the fear of the Lord that is in your heart. Many people have come and gone many leaders have risen up in history, and they fizzled out. And they become forgotten simply because they lacked the fear of the Lord. They did not fear God, not just because they were men. They did not fear God just because they lack the Spirit that makes a man fear God. When the Bible says “his delight is in the fear of the Lord, and He shall not judge by the sight of his eyes”. Somebody could say why? Why would they He be so careful? Why would he be so thorough? Why will He be gentle? Why will He be loving? You know, when you look at the fruit of the Spirit that we have in Galatians 5:22, when the Bible says the fruit of the Spirit is love, is patience, is peace, is gentleness, self-control, endurance, goodness, when you hear those things, when you read about those things, you will realize that there is something that produces them.
You cannot lack the fear of the Lord, and be at peace with men, you cannot lack the fear of the Lord and be patient, and you can’t have self-control without the fear of the Lord. You see, there are many urges in us, there are many desires, the human nature, don’t forget; the reason why you are relevant on the earth is primarily because you are first a human. However, the human nature without the divine dimension, activating it, encouraging it, leading it, propelling it will lead any human, any human irrespective of their title, that such human could have, whether the person is a spiritual leader, or a political leader, such a human will be led into sin will be led into self-indulgences. The man, the woman will be doing things that are not convenient. You remember what the Bible says in Romans chapter one, “because they refuse to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to reprobate they began to do the things are not convenient.”
So, what makes a man to be given over to a reprobate mind is because he is a human, he has the human nature, but he lacks the spiritual nature of God that makes a human to fear God. So, by the reason of the fall of man, a man does not fear God naturally. A man doesn't have self-control naturally, a man can’t be at peace, when a man is troubled, he troubles other people, but when you fear God, you do good. There was a place in the Bible where somebody concluded what he said, he said, “for I feared the Lord.” I think it was about Nehemiah. I want us to go there in the book of Nehemiah 5, I will read from verse 14. The Bible says:
“Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year until the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, twelve years, neither I nor my brothers ate the governor’s provisions. 15 But the former governors who were before me laid burdens on the people, and took from them bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver. Yes, even their servants bore rule over the people, but I did not do so, because of the fear of God.”
“Because of the fear of God.” You see the reason why you are self-control in ministry, the reason why you are patient, the reason why you are full of love for the people, the reason why you have joy in your hearts, the reason why you have peace, the reason why you endure for a long time, the reason why you are faithful. The reason why you're a good person is not because you are humanly good, or because of your human attributes or capacity, or the things you learnt in school. It is because the Spirit of the fear of the Lord is in you. And in case you are lacking in any of the fruit of the Spirit, what you need is the Spirit of the fear of the Lord.
In the fear of the Lord comes wisdom, in the fear of the Lord comes grace. You remember the Bible says “God resists the proud He gives grace to the humble.” You cannot fear God and be proud. When pride comes into your life, when the seed of pride is sown in your heart and is growing, you must notice that at the moment that pride is growing in your heart, you are lacking in the fear of God. So, if you will not be a leader, a minister a vessel of God’s utterance that fear men than God or that seeks to please men and please God, if you don't want to be a man who is partial, a leader who judges partially, you must fear God. The fear of God puts you in proper perspective all the days of your ministry. If your ministry must increase, if your ministry must be established, if you will not go into corruption, if you will not abuse the authority that God has given to you in the Gospel, you must fear God. You must fear God in your secret place. You must fear God in a public space.
When you are preaching the word of God, you must handle the word of God not deceitfully, but truthfully. You must speak the word of God, not to your own advantage, but to the advantage of the kingdom. You mustn’t advocate your own authority, you mustn’t advocate your own empire, and you must advocate the expansion of the authority of Christ in the lives of the people. If you will not abuse your authority, it is because you fear God, and you cannot fear God, by your human ability. You cannot say, oh, today I want to fear God. No, you require the Spirit of the fear of the Lord.
Fearing God is not automatic in the flesh, fearing God is spiritual, you need the Spirit of the fear of the Lord. The Bible says “God has not given us the spirit of fear again unto bondage. But He has given us the Spirit of power of love and of sound mind.” God does not want us to fear men, fear other things but to have power over them. And the secret of that power is your own fear for the Lord. You must fear God and fear no man, don't fear humans. Don't fear authorities, fear God. When you fear God, you honor Him, you do His bidding, you live for Him and you glorify Him in your life. Even though Jesus was the Son, the Bible says “He learnt obedience by the things he suffered”. Why will He suffer things, if He did not fear God.
When the Bible says “Jesus was subject to His parents”, don't you realize that it was the fear of the Lord that made Him subject. The Bible says, “even though He was equal to God, He did not consider equality to God robbery, but he made Himself of no reputation” He subjected Himself. He subjected Himself to the fear of the Lord, and so His ministry was established. Therefore, the Bible says, “Therefore the Lord God has exalted Him, and has given Him a name that is above every other name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee must bow and every tongue must confess that Jesus is Lord.” If God must exalt you, if God must give you a name that is beyond the name that your peers carry around, you must grow in your fear of God and it must be a spiritual fear of God. Don't let it be academic, don't be hypocritical, don’t do eye service. God is Spirit. God does not see the way men see, men look at outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.
God is watching your heart. God is seeking looking for a man on whose behalf He will show Himself mighty. God is knocking the door of your heart. God is looking for a man that fears Him. God is looking for a woman that fears Him, will you fear the Lord? If you will fear the Lord, you must be filled with the Spirit of the fear of the Lord. And I want us to pray at this moment.
“Lord, I receive the Spirit of the fear of the Lord, I fear you spiritually. I fear you sincerely. Bible says “God is a Spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” Lord, I receive the spiritual impartation upon my human nature, that quickens my mortal body into your fear, that quickens your fear in my heart, Lord, I don't want to fear you academically, I don't want to fear you based on head knowledge, I want to fear you spiritually. I want to fear you sincerely. I want to fear you, when I'm alone. I want to fear you, when I'm with the crowd with a multitude. I want to grow in your fear by the Holy Spirit. I receive the Spirit of the fear of the Lord, my ministry is established, my kingdom is established.
I am not dethroned by the Lord. I am not dethroned in glory in influence on the earth, I am established in authority because I remain in the fear of the Lord, I will not make a mess of my ministry, I will not make a shipwreck of my faith. I will stand to the end; I will not abuse my authority in the kingdom. I will not abuse my authority in the church. I will not abuse my authority among the brethren. I will make a foolproof of my ministry. I shall fear the Lord all the days of my life. And I shall become a tree that bears fruit in season and out of season. Because I'm rooted in the fear of the Lord, by the Spirit of the fear of the Lord. In Jesus mighty name, we have prayed. Amen.
Such a great time discussing the dimensions of God that make any human, including you and I, fulfill ministry, by the Spirit of the Lord, we shall fulfill ministry. We shall never lack any of these dimensions. If Jesus required all of them, you require all of them. Every time you are praying, Lord, be thanking God for everything God has given to you. The Bible says “God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness.” God has given them to us and don't forget, God is Spirit. The things God gives to you, they are spiritual. God gives you spiritual things and they make physical things possible. If you lack the fear of the Lord, it is because you lack that dimension of God that is able to make you fear God.
You should think about the 24 elders that cast their crown every time before the throne of God in worship, that's something that they see. There is something that impacts them. There's something about God that touches them, that makes them to worship Him. If you must fear God, you must be spiritually discerning. You must be spiritually connected. You must be spiritually filled up. And by the Spirit of God, you shall fear the Lord all your days in Jesus’ name. Till the next time I bring you another word from the Lord as inspired by the Spirit. Stay refreshed in the Spirit of God, still refreshed in the dimensions of God's Spirit, and fulfill your ministry.
God bless you.
