Transcription
Like the eagle watching the direction of the wind, and then it stretches its wings, that's what we call soaring. It does not fly. The eagles—your father tried fighting physically; they destroyed him. Your mother tried doing business; they destroyed her. Your siblings went to school; God masters got PhDs, but God said, "I don't open, I don't receive, and I don't give." The Lord said, "Joshua, stop wasting your time. It's not about Nigeria; it's not about recession. Find a priest quickly. Find a priest, one who is an ark bearer. Don't just try to breathe on your own. I know you can fight, but this is priesthood."
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Listen carefully. It is the foolishness that has destroyed many proud people in our generation. The Bible says, "By a prophet, the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt." It is not human worship; it is the mystery of priesthood. The priest, the ark, the trumpet equals the falling of Jericho. When Jericho falls, you can fight with whatever you have. When Jericho falls, your pure water can make you a millionaire because Jericho has fallen. When Jericho falls, one job can bless you, but until Jericho falls, anything born outside it is a waste of time. I never fight physically; physical battles are the last. It is foolish to begin your journey to victory fighting physically.
Look at Jesus on his way to the cross; he spent time in Gethsemane because he knew it was not about wood and nails; it was about spirits. Satan came to him in Matthew chapter 3, Matthew chapter 4. Satan left him, came back to him in Peter; he defeated him, came back in Judas; he left him. Something was playing out, and Jesus knew that he needed to settle certain things. When he went to that cross, Satan did not know that certain dimensions of priesthood, the order, the protocol of priesthood had been kept.
Let me tell you, hear me: any man that understands priesthood, even if he's a herbalist, are you getting what I'm saying? The people in the world know this, and they triumph from one level of victory. There are business people in this nation that will never do anything until they make sure there is an ordinance of priesthood that goes ahead of them. Life is too fierce to be physical, no sir. Are we together? You try getting a baby physically; it doesn't work. You go to the hospital; doctors do their best; it doesn't work. You try and try. Let me tell you, when you try a thing once, twice, three times, and it doesn't work, just stop. Stop wasting your time. Stop immediately.
The Bible did not tell us that one person was killed when Jericho fell. The people—the same spirit that fell the land rendered the people helpless. Even the weakest of the members of the army killed somebody. It was never about the sword; it was about victory. When the ark wins, you win. The only possibility for your failure is that the priesthood is not there. Show me the priesthood that has risen to speak over the ordinances. Our forefathers, as uneducated as they were, understood the mystery of priesthood. Till today, many of them we laugh at, yet they keep getting results.
Everything that was lost shall be returned unto me. Everything that was stolen—[Music]—everything that was lost shall be returned to me. Everything that was stolen shall be resolved. The Bible says everything written in scripture was for our learning. That story was not just written there; God intended that someone with the eyes of the spirit can see and teach a people that you don't win battles with swords. Swords only help you possess your possession; swords only help you manifest victory; they don't create victory. What creates victory, brothers and sisters, is the priesthood. What manifests victory is your sword.
It is true that the horse is prepared for battle, but the horse does not fight until the priesthood goes. The nation of Israel would be going for war, and they would carry swords, and then they would carry priests with a trumpet. Look how silly it is to be going to fight. They can wipe a whole nation, yet there are some people with some irritating regalia, and the painful part is they are never behind; they are in front—the priesthood. They are afraid, but they know what they carry; they depend on the ark.
Left for me, you will kill me, and the enemies are laughing and saying, "You have come to fight us like this." Priesthood! Our generation is a very arrogant generation; that's why we may never get results. Many young people just—I'm not saying anything is wrong with intellectualism. We have demeaned ourselves from the reality of the realm of the spirit. Do you know you look at certain people, and you are even annoyed? Because in all honesty, you see the efforts. I'm correcting you now; you have been doing it wrongly. You have been fighting a neighbor. Even if the neighbor leaves, provided Jericho is there, it doesn't matter who comes back; the battle is the same.
Listen, if Jericho is still there, leave Zaria and travel to Lagos. Leave Zaria and go to the U.S. Right from the airport, there, trouble will meet you. But crumble Jericho and remain in your village, and watch the protein of Jericho look for you and come. It is not by strength; it is by strategy. I show you a strategy tonight to command strange signs and wonders: it is the mystery of the priesthood.
Do you know why Saul lost his throne? Are we Bible students? Do you know why Saul lost his throne? Who can tell me why he lost his throne? Saul did not lose his throne necessarily just because he offended God. Saul lost his throne because he offended a pattern, an order of operation. He waited; there was a man occupying the priest-prophet office who was supposed to be the one to offer incense, and they waited for him. The king said, "Look, you are wasting our time; the people are destroying him. Is he not the same God we all serve, the same God?" And he offered the sacrifice. When Samuel came, he said, "No, you have done foolishly. If you had allowed me to come, God would have established your throne forever. But now that you have done this, the throne is taken away from you." Just for the sin of violating priesthood, a man lost his throne without a knife. No knife; nobody fought him, but he lost his throne.
He tried to do his best to still respect him; he was sitting in a physical throne, yet he had gotten up in the realm of the spirit. Show me the job in the realm of the spirit; otherwise, stop wasting your time with CVs. It will not work. Are you getting what I'm saying? You just get off physically and go and harass your unbelieving loved ones. "I've come to you; repent! You must repent!" You are fighting physically, and all of a sudden, you receive casualties. But when you invoke priesthood, someone goes to bed in the night and sees a stranger coming and says, "It's time for your salvation," and the person is already convicted. Here you come, and you say, "Look, I want to talk to you about..." He helps you and says, "Jesus, I've been waiting," because Jericho has—are we together?
You meet your destiny. Destiny—Jericho covers his eyes. He is the one, but he cannot see you, and you pass. But when Jericho falls, like the Prodigal Son, as prodigal as that son was, while the father saw him, the father said, "So what have you been doing? I hear you are being repentant." He held him; he said, "Leave the matter of the past now. Let me put a ring; come be restored." For by the arm of flesh, Coinonia will no man prevail. You will never get a job just by physical pressing; believe me, you will never prosper just by doing all of these things.
There are many men of God—some of you are here—wonderful men of God. They are trying to win the battle and rise in ministry physically. "Please invite me; here's my complimentary card. I'm a sound man of God by God's grace and balance. I'm this and that and that." You are, and Jericho is looking at you and saying, "It doesn't happen that way." Jesus knew this. Imagine Jesus going around and saying, "People, come and listen to me." For 30 years, no one was interested in listening to him. But when he engaged the mystery of the priesthood, he came out of the waters; a voice spoke, "Hear ye him!" Publicity or no publicity, everywhere Jesus went, men followed him.
Are we together? The Bible says, "They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness." Let me tell you, many of you, your victory is already established in the realm of the spirit, but the system for translating it—we are there wasting time doing a lot of things. Many of our loved ones—some of you are here—you thought that, okay, by the time you get a job, it will be all right. You got a job; you found out that the salary was not enough. You prayed for promotion; as promotion came to you, all of a sudden, Jericho says, "That's not how we win. I'm still here standing."
But tonight, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus Christ, let me tell you, you will watch Jericho, just like Babylon, fall before you. [Applause] When you hear people testifying, ah, try to understand what made the miracle work because most of what they were doing, they had done it before. "Master, we have toiled all night." Jesus said, "No, it's not the net that catches fish. You've been with me; you don't understand how this thing works. Master, we have toiled all night." He said, "But I know there is a relationship between you and that fish." And Jesus said, "Cast your net." The net will be cast, but not before he speaks. The civil committed, but not before the priesthood. It is after.
Are we together? You will try to have the child, but when you continue the way you are doing, you will keep miscarrying forever. It's not an insult. Let me tell you this: without the presence of God, there is no human intelligence that has the fortification to destroy an altar whose foundation is spiritual. Let me repeat myself: without the presence of God, spiritual intelligence, there is no human manipulation that sustains enough power to crumble an altar whose origin is from the realm of the spirit.
What is fighting many of us? It's not physical, brothers and sisters. I know you are born again; I know you love Jesus Christ, but the mystery of covenants are territorial. Yeah, Jesus has come to your heart, but he must come to your life. Just because you received him into your heart doesn't automatically mean you are free. Potentially, you have come into a kingdom with infinite possibilities, but Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 18 says, "Having their understanding darkened." This is Paul teaching the church in Ephesus. He says, "Alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them."
The tragedy is not that God lied, but that their understanding is darkened. And so, by reason of the darkened understanding, they have been alienated from the experience of that life. It is not enough to say Jesus died; it's not enough to say I'm born again. If that were it, brothers and sisters, many of our loved ones who have been born again for decades should not be very well. I watch people under the influence of manipulations that are not of an earthly origin, and I watch the folly of men, how we do our best. I was once like that, but no more. I'm born again; I've repented. I've seen the foolishness of fighting things physically.
It has to be from the realm of the spirit first, not from the realm of the spirit, whether first or not. The other is first from the realm of the spirit. When you plant a seed, it doesn't start growing outside until the growth happens there. That is the path you cannot explain. When it starts coming out, you can now water it, but the growth here doesn't need your watering.
Listen, there are powers that until the mystery of the priesthood and the ark fight, some of us will never experience progress in our lives. We wake up in the morning; we sleep late at night; we are sincere, but nothing is working. Are we together? Every time a blessing comes, trouble must ferment itself around the family and drain everything. The moment you are rising spiritually—how many pastors and churches and wonderful people are like that? When you are rising, Satan doesn't fight you. You will think you are victorious. The programming—he knows how cheap the programming will bring you down, so he can as well allow you to rise.
You find out for a season everything is working well because it's like a string. You will reach a limit; it pulls you back. Are we together? "Oh, I want to marry you." No problem; you will even be happy. Three days later, everything scattered. "I'm going to give you a job," and you find out that Satan does not need to fight you. He already fought you with the presence of Jericho, and God said, "Guys, the goal is not to stay in Jericho, but you can't let Jericho stand and reach where you are going. Don't pity it; bring it down."
There is a—don't just look at the fence; there are thieves in that place, the trust in that place. And he said, "Let me show you; it is not by physical fighting. You don't have any physical weapon that can bring down that face." Brothers and sisters, Jericho sang flat. The Bible records it flat.
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