I Will Build My Church (Re-Defining The Church) by Apostle Selman

I Will Build My Church (Re-Defining The Church) || RHEMA FEAST 2025 || DAY 4 Morning Session || Apostle Selman

Micah 4:1-2 KJV, Matthew 16:13-18 KJV, Ephesians 2:19-22 KJV

But Jesus himself introduced for us the concept of church and he made a very profound statement.

I have had to come to a very uncomfortable admission that the church as it stands now and by the church I mean the body of Christ as represented either within a territory across a continent is still far short of God’s expectation.

And I’m sure that’s the reason why God impressed it upon the heart of his servant to help us re-examine the structure again and to go back to the drawing board and the spirit of grace to build a church that is truly apostolic.

The average believer has not been able to demonstrate in experience in his life and in our lives the victory that is in Christ that formidability, the dexterity, the intelligence that was invested in prophecy to build the church. We’ve not been able to see it manifest in the life of the average believer.

So what was in the mind of Jesus when he spoke about the church? Was it a gathering of people with men of God who stand behind the pullpit teaching? Was it just a convergence of congregants who indefinitely gather every day? Was that all that was in his mind? What is the mind of Jesus concerning the church?

1. The church is a spiritual strategy.

The church was primarily designed by its definition to be a spiritual strategy. The church in the mind of Jesus, the builder, the architect, the initiator of this concept was designed to be a spiritual strategy.

The only strategy on earth designed by the intelligence of God that sustains the power to frontier the program of God and to ward off the arsenals of hell.

There is no other formation on earth so built known to man that sustains the empowerment and the authorization to drive God’s program, and then to be the principal defense against darkness and to word of the arsenals, the schemings of hell is a church. Jeremiah 51:20-23 KJV

So the church in the mind of Jesus was designed to be his strategy for achieving his program. His strategy for advancing his program.

That means if the church fails then the only strategy God invented there was no plan B he has the power to use anything and everything but he’s decided by his predetermined council and by his intelligence to use the church as his principal and only strategy for advancing his program warding off the arsenals of darkness and establishing his kingdom here on Earth.

Say, I am God’s strategy. I am God’s strategy.

2. The church also refers to men and women. Men and women who come into Christ, men and women who are born of the word. 1 Peter 2:5 KJV

Those who have received the free gift of salvation. Those who have been born of God, born of the word, born of the spirit.

Again, say, “I am the church.” I am the church.

Romans 12:4-5 KJV

So the church refers to men and women not just institutions.

It says for we are many members. We have many members in one body. It says and all members have not the same office.

So we being many are one body in Christ and everyone members one of another.

The church refers to men. It refers to women.

3. The church refers to an institution. 1 Timothy 3:15 KJV.

The only institution that sustains the power to preserve the richest capture of truth is the church.

But no institution on earth is supposed to be an embodiment of truth above and beyond the church.

That means if you are looking for the truth, the authorized institution to both preserve and administer truth is the church.

The Bible calls the pillar and the ground of truth.

Hebrews 10:24-25 KJV

So the church also represents an institution. The institution where believers are raised. The institution where people are discipled.

That is the act of safety. that when people are saved, when they become born again.

When the harvest comes from the world, they are transferred to the church. And when they get there, the work of transformation, the work of what of washing by the water of the word, all of that happens in the church.

If you fail to see the church from these three definitions, then already you cannot be an effective believer. You cannot be an effective witness. You cannot be an effective man of God.

The Bible calls him the chief cornerstone. So the church must be built upon the revelation of Jesus as Savior, Jesus as Lord, and Jesus as Christ.

Any church, any assembly that is built upon any other foundation, if the church is built on the foundation of skills, it will fail.

If the church is built on the foundation of technology, it will fail.

If the church is built on the foundation of gifts, even the gifts of the spirit, it will fail.

If the church is built on the foundation of intelligence, it will fail.

If the church is built on the foundation of politics, it will fail.

If the church is built on the foundation of man-made sentiments, it will fail in building a formidable church.

Jesus said the foundation must be Jesus himself as Savior, as Lord, and as Christ.

The church must be built on Jesus.

You cannot say you are part of the church simply because of longevity of stay in an assembly. If you stay in an assembly for 10 years and you’ve not encountered Jesus as Savior, as Lord, and as as king, even if you are at an admin in the church, you just have a job, you are not part of the church.

The qualification to be part of the church is that you must be joined to Christ.

You can walk in the church and not be part of the church.

You can even preach in a church and not be part of the church.

There is no other name under heaven that’s been given to men by which we must be saved. It is Jesus as Savior, Jesus as Lord, and Jesus as Christ. This must be the foundation of the church that wins.

There’s no limit to what man is able to do. And sometimes we bring our creativity and intelligence as it works for us in architecture.

We come into the church and we believe that because we are so intelligent and because we are serving the program of God, we immediately graduate ourselves into being believers or being Christians because we’ve been around serving in church.

No, there is the door. Jesus is that door, the only door. He said, “I am the way. I am the truth and I am the life.”

Mark 10:18 KJV, John 3 KJV

But ladies and gentlemen, if your life was not built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ as savior, and as Lord and as king, it is not his church. It may be your church. It may be your idea. It may be your invention. Unfortunately and sadly, it may even be your cash cow.

But in order of priority, your spiritual journey is already on the path of petition if it is not built on Christ.

If you can lift your hands and say, “Jesus, you are my foundation.”

Acts 2:36 KJV, Titus 2:13 KJV

 What does it mean for Jesus to be Savior?

• To know Jesus as savior means to know him as love, to know him as redeemer, to know him as the expression of the father’s love to mankind.
• To know Jesus as savior means to know him as an expression of the love of the father. John 3:16 KJV, “For God so loved the world, you and I, and he proved that he loved us by giving Jesus, he that did not spare his son that he offered him freely, will he not much more with him give us all things to enjoy.”
• When you say Jesus is savior over your life, the meaning of that is that you have come to accept and receive him as an expression of the love of the father to you.
• Believing Jesus as savior means that you believe that he came and died for your sins like the Bible declares that he was raised up for your justification. And that if you believe that report, at the instant you believe that report based on the authority of scripture, three gifts become yours immediately.
  • Number one, the forgiveness of sins.
  • Number two, the righteousness of God in Christ.
  • Number three, Zoe, eternal life, the life of God.
    The Bible says that everyone whosoever believes that he should not perish but have life everlasting. If you have believed that Jesus came from the father as the word incarnate, that he walked upon the earth as a man lived a sinless life.
    You believe that for your sake, not for his sake, not for any sin that he committed. That he that knew no sin became sin so that you might be the righteousness of God. If you believe that Jesus died on a tree, the Bible says, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.
    For it is written, cursed is he that hangs on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham, justification by faith, that it may come upon the Gentiles, that we may receive the promise of the spirit through faith.”
• Jesus as savior, a revelation of the father’s love.
   If you want to know how much the father loves you, look at what he gave as proof that he loved you. He did not give an angel. He did not give a suggestion.
  The Bible says he gave his only son.
• To know Jesus as savior means to know the extent of his love for you that for your sake he de-ropped himself even though he was God in every way.
  The word incarnate, the word that became flesh, walked upon the earth, became a slave to mortal men, humiliated by their pride and anger, manipulated men, Satan manipulated men, and they crucify the Christ.
  And when he hung upon that cross, even through the pain, he looked at you, he looked at me, and we were worth the sacrifice. And so, here’s how the Bible puts it. It says the word is nye in thy mouth and in thy heart.
  You have not truly believed that Jesus is savior until you respond by receiving his life. If you are just aware of it as an information, then it’s not become spirit and life.
  The reason why we are not seeing a powerful, glorious, invincible apostolic church is because we’ve thrown away this revelation of Jesus as savior.

The Bible makes a declaration based on God’s verdict that all men have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God and that the wages of sin according to God’s eternal justice is death. Every man by that verdict is doomed to die. The result is to pay for their sins. And unfortunately our righteousness, the Bible already puts a verdict on it that it is as filthy rags.

And so the Bible also says that God does not desire that we perish but that all come to salvation. And he came up with a plan. A plan that had been there in the eons of time but executed in the days of Jesus.

He came as the word de-ropped himself as God and wore the body of mortal flesh walked upon the earth for over a period of 30 years 33 years as a demonstration of the father’s love.

Then he began the process of his passion becoming sin for us. Was beaten and lacerated by wicked men who did not know that he even came to die.

He descended to Hades, the place of the dead and fulfilled the eternal justice, the claims of justice. The Bible says he made a public show of Satan and his cohorts in hell triumphing over them and collected the keys that Satan collected from Adam. He said, “I am he that was dead and now is alive and I have the keys, the holder of the key of David that can open the door that no man can shut and shut the door that no man can open.”

The Bible says he resurrected now not as the only begotten but the first begotten among we the brethren. And when he resurrected, the Bible says graves were open and the saints came and declared the goodness of God.

And then he was exalted and a coronation service was held for him in heaven. The Bible declares, “The Lord said to my Lord, sit thou at my right hand.” And a name was given to him. That name is a declaration. It’s an office. He always had the office, but he had it alone.

But this time around he dropped himself from that office to have it again together with me and you. The reason why he dropped it was because he had it alone. But he did not want it alone. So he dropped himself and walked through the path of earning it by conquest.

So that in Christ as he earned that title I became seated with him, crucified with him, raised up with him. It was Paul who gave us that revelation. And now we are seated with him.

He says far above but this is only the reality of those who come into Christ Jesus as savior. There are consequences of rejecting the gift of his sacrifice.

The consequence is when your time is done and you depart this place without that functional relationship based on the authority of scripture you are doomed eternally.

The only hope for mankind more than welfare, more than a civilized society, is that you place your faith upon Jesus.

Everybody say Jesus as savior.

What does it mean for Jesus to be Lord over your life? What does it mean for Jesus to be Lord over a man’s life?

1. To know Jesus as Lord means to understand the extent of his power, the extent of his dominion, the extent of his influence.
To know Jesus as Lord means to understand the extent of his power. The full extent of his power. The Bible says, “Let this mind,” Philippians 2:5 KJV

It says at that office, at the invocation of that name, everything should bow of things in heaven, of things in the earth. The extent of his dominion, and that every tongue should confess that that Jesus who was savior is also Lord to the glory of the father.

2. Nobody voted him into power. He is not threatened by any man’s pride.
When you call Jesus Lord, you are calling him the suffering one, indomitable, unperturbed by the pride of man.
He can bring the mighty to their knees and raise the poor and place them on a don. Jesus as Lord. 1 Chronicles 29:11-12 KJV.

You will never taste of greatness in this kingdom until you know Jesus as Lord.

The revelation of Jesus as Lord can correct your background. It can correct your lowly estate. You may be weak. You may be nobody. Your father’s house may be nobody. But ladies and gentlemen, the day you encounter Jesus as Lord, he can elevate a man, any man.

There is a revelation of Jesus as Lord. And when he Jesus as Lord the cure to all the curses and all the yolks, the cure to all kinds of enchantments.

I know there are powers. It is true. I know there is witchcraft. It is true. I know there are curses. But, when the Lord of the universe shows up in your life.

– Your response to Jesus as savior is that you surrender your life in exchange for his life.
– Your response to Jesus as Lord is that you worship him and give him the honor that he deserves.

You don’t worship the Savior, you worship the Lord.

I introduce to you the Lord. Not just the savior, the lifter of men. The Lord the redefiner of men’s destinies.

The one who can pick an ordinary man. And turn that man to a sign and a wonder. I present to you the Lord.

Once have I spoken the custodian of the power of the Godhead. The Lord, the one who declares a thing and it comes to pass.

The revelation of Jesus as Lord compels worship to come from you but it also builds your faith.

You want to do exploits in this kingdom in all the dimensions of Jesus, you must learn is to know him as Lord. Then the whole world becomes small and you know there is nothing you cannot do.

And when men beat their chest in pride and say only at my word will you rise, you tell them be careful. When I talk of the Lord I mean beyond a judge. When I talk of the Lord, I mean beyond an attorney. I’m talking about the King of Kings. The Lord of Lords. Someone say, “Jesus is Lord.

” Shout it. Say, “Jesus is Lord over my life.” Say, “Jesus is Lord over my business.” Say, “Jesus is Lord over my children.”

Say Jesus is Lord over my background. Jesus is Lord over my past, Lord over my present, Lord over my future, over my tomorrow. Hallelujah.

There are names that are connected to the Lord. One of them is the maker. Only the Lord can make. He said, I will lift up my eyes onto the heels from whence cometh my help. It says, “My help cometh from the Lord, the maker.” He does not just make the heavens and the earth.

He can make an ordinary man. Get this as a revelation. When you know him as Lord, my goodness, you become indomitable in life.

When you know him as Lord, you will not find a reason to weep again. His lordship is an equalizer regardless your background. Knowing him as Lord gives you the faith that moves mountains.

There are no true landlords on earth. Everyone met land. The real owner is the Lord. And the day he points one at your direction, no power sustains what it takes to stop you.

This is what you get for responding to a call. And I will build my church upon this revelation of Jesus as Savior, as Jesus as Lord, the absolute owner.

That revelation is important because our world today is full of arrogant men. People who arrogate all kinds of things to themselves. It is one thing for a man to go to bed, but it’s another thing for the man to wake up. I’ve said it that the moment you sleep, the power to wake up is no longer yours. Only the Lord sustains the power to tap a man and say, “I give you the gift of another day.”

What does it mean to know him as Christ? 

• To know Jesus as Christ is the word Messiah means to understand his divinity and to understand the extent of his oneness with the Godhead.
• To know Jesus as the Christ means number one to understand his divinity. that although he wore mortal flesh, do not be mistaken by that 33-year-old body, he came from above to understand his divinity.

That’s what Nicodemus came and told Jesus. He said, “I have studied you and the results that come from you, men cannot produce that result. So my conclusion as a Pharisee is that you are a man come from God. You are a teacher come from God.” Was that not the testimony of John the Baptist in John 1:6-7 KJV

The Bible says there was a man even though he was a man. He was sent from God. Can I tell you when you get the revelation of Jesus as Christ you become a replication of that revelation.

So they see an ordinary man very ordinary but your results betray this ordinary frame.

They know that is God trapped in a man. That the Holy Ghost has come in partnership with a man.

That he that is joined to Christ has become one spirit.

You have also become an expression of the Christ. You become a messiah to your world.

You become a blessing, a custodian of his power, his wisdom, his anointing. This right here, is where the ministry of the Holy Spirit comes to produce Christs out of men. He reveals how divine you are.

When the Bible says you are seated with Christ, it didn’t say you are seated with the Savior. It didn’t say you are seated with the Lord. When it has to do with authority and dominion and manifesting power through your life, you need the revelation of the Christ.

• To know him as the Christ is to understand the extent of his power that’s been invested in the saints.

Ephesians 1:15-21 KJV

The church, help those under the anointing. The church is not a powerless political sociological entity. While we offer charity, don’t take us for granted.

God resides within the church. Is the reason why we can say to one, “Go and he will go.” We can say to a spirit, “Give way.” It is not only because we are under the covenant of his lordship.

The capacity to manipulate things to conform to his will is been invested in the church. We are not ordinary.

We are custodians of his power. The spirit of God lives within us.

When I speak beyond the frailty of the words, there is power that is released from that revelation of the Christ.

That is the spirit of God speaking to a man penetrating hearts. penetrating destinies. Jesus as the Christ.

The Holy Ghost comes to be a witness to that revelation.

The reason why the church is powerless is because we know him as savior and we are grateful. The evangelicals brought us that revelation but many of them died. They died while they preached and it looked as if he was powerless because they revealed him as savior but they did not reveal the Christ.

Today by the mercies of God he’s built his body to become matured enough to now be able to host this tripartite revelation of savior of lord and of Christ.

And Jesus said if the church is built on that foundation, it will be so formidable. It is impossible. Satan cannot escape Jesus being savior, then being Lord, then being Christ.

Because there are times the revelation of the Savior brings you into the kingdom. But as a believer, you can be tried. You can be tested. The revelation of his lordship now puts you in a position of authority.

But there are times that all hell breaks out. You need the anointing. You need power.

Acts 10:38 KJV

He went about with power, doing good and healing all they that were oppressed of the devil.

Acts 4:33 KJV

And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.

Micah 3:8 KJV

The church was built with power. The church was officially birthed on the day of power. The day of Pentecost. The Holy Ghost came and announced the church.

But if it’s by the Holy Ghost, you will see a revelation more than Jesus as a man. He came as the Savior. He came as the Lord. He came as Christ. Now that is not all that the church is about.

But that right here is the foundation, the capstone.

Show me any believer. Show me any assembly. Show me any apostolic community that’s taken the time to truly encounter Jesus as savior. Encounter Jesus as Lord. Encounter Jesus as the Christ. And is weak is beggy. No sir. No sir, the weakness of the church is traceable to the faulty foundation.

Every believer is called a living stone. A living stone. That is a description of the kind of architecture that builds that spiritual house. That Christ is the chief cornerstone, but that we all are living stones. That we are fit together to become that spiritual house that can host the glory of God.

Part 2: I Will Build My Church (The Architecture) by Apostle Selman

Originally posted on September 6, 2025 @ 11:55 pm