I Will Build My Church (The Architecture) by Apostle Selman
I Will Build My Church (The Architecture) || RHEMA FEAST DAY 4 || Apostle Selman
Part 1: I Will Build My Church (Re-Defining The Church) by Apostle Selman
Breathe Upon by Apostle Selman
Acts 3 KJV, Acts 4:33 KJV
The emphasis on redefinitions. The emphasis was on redefining the church.
Matthew 16:13-18 KJV.
Redefining the church definitions:
1. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ, as Jesus intended to be is his strategy.
So the church is first God’s strategy. The only strategy known on earth that sustains the power to drive God’s program, God’s prophetic program to fruition. The only power, the only strategy known on earth to be able to withstand the gates of hell, the arsenals of hell is called the church.
2. The church has to do with men and women who have come into Christ.
Those who are of faith, those who belong to Christ, those who have been joined to Christ and they have become one spirit. So anyone at all from any nation, any tribe, any tongue who’s come to Jesus, declared his lordship over their lives, they are born again, the Bible corporately calls those people the church.
3. The church now represents the institution.
The institution that the Bible calls a pillar and the ground of truth. The church by God’s design should be the richest and the purest custodians of moral excellence.
The richest and the purest custodians of love, the fruit of the spirit.
So the church is a strategy. The church represents men and women who are in Christ.
And the church is also an institution.
If the church is built on any other foundation aside Jesus Christ, it is not his church and it will not stand the test of time.
Jesus said, “The church that I build that becomes formidable, dexterous, victorious is a church that is built on this revelation of Jesus as Savior, as Lord, and of Christ.”
For Jesus to be savior means that you must have a revelation of his substitutionary sacrifice as a representation of the father’s love. The response to that revelation is that you surrender your life totally receiving his life in exchange for yours.
We call it the new birth experience
There are three gifts you receive when you come to Jesus, declaring his lordship:
1. The forgiveness of sin.
2. The righteousness of God in Christ.
3. You receive the life of God
The revelation of Jesus as Lord is a comprehension of the extent of his dominion, the extent of his power. 1 Chronicles 29:11-12 KJV.
It was a declaration of the might and the majesty of God and then of Jesus
When you have a revelation of the lordship of Jesus:
1. Bible faith is built. Fear dies.
Now you are confident enough because the one who owns the heavens and the earth is the one who backs you and regardless what sentiments that your background or whatever it is has brought to your life the revelation of Jesus as Lord becomes for you an equalizer to rise to thrive to excel and to dominate in life.
2. Compels you now to worship him.
You don’t worship the savior. You receive the gift that the savior brings. But you worship the lord. The lord. The lord. The one who is the owner. Psalm 24:1 KJV, Psalm 110:1 KJV
3. Messiah.
It revealed his divinity. How that even though he appeared in human flesh, he was not flesh at all. He was in every way God and he was united with the father. He represented the power of the Godhead.
That revelation introduces to your life the ministry of the Holy Spirit. That’s the revelation that turns ordinary men to signs and wonders. That although you are frail, frail, trapped in this mortal body, but if you understand Jesus as the Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to bear witness to that revelation and turns you to a sign and a wonder.
Hebrews 3:1-4 KJV
There’s a formula that Jesus intended for the church to be built by and he left us with an assurance if that if we walk in keeping with that pattern with that architecture then there was a guarantee that the church will be so victorious the gates of hell would not prevail against it.
1. God builds the church through men.
So he’s the builder but he builds his church through men. And it’s very instructive that we understand this.
- God builds through men.
- He builds destinies through men.
- He builds men through men.
- He builds his church through men.
- He advances his program through men.
So in building the church, the pattern is first to focus on the men that he will use to build the church. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ in any territory is at the mercy of the men who the Bible calls wise master builders.
The Bible lets us know that this project of building the church although it was and is God’s initiative although it was and is God’s idea the technology for achieving that dream that goal is that God must find first a people not many but a people who he will build by his spirit then empower them to now build a church.
The church of the Lord Jesus Christ will never be built to become of stature and to become a victorious entity if the men who will build the church are not available or are not worked on by God.
2. He finds himself a people.
Sometimes it could be a man, sometimes it could be a family, sometimes it could be a group of people. And then he begins to walk upon them. Until the builders are ready, the building cannot be ready. The building of the church is at the mercy of the builders. They must understand his blueprint. They must understand his architecture. 1 Corinthians 3:1-10 KJV.
As mighty as God is, he depends on men. Two kinds:
1. The men who will now build the church.
They are part of the church, but because of the uniqueness of their assignment, they are isolated and worked upon, prone, purified, and
2. Then, given access to the blueprint.
The architecture, the pattern, the formula for building the church.
3. Then they are empowered and commissioned
To now go and begin to build a church. You call them men of God.
For some, you call them intercessors. For some, you call them apostles. You call them leaders. For some, you call them teachers or teaching priests. Regardless what you call them, that’s their assignment to be master builders.
Paul says that everyone is allowed to be a builder provided you desire to serve the purposes of God. But that you can be like the virgins a foolish master builder or a wise master builder.
And that what makes you a wise master builder?
Is the degree to which you conform to God’s architecture.
The wise master builder:
God has a picture of the kind of people he calls the church. And to achieve that goal of building this formidable men and women, the Bible says in Ephesians 4:7-9 KJV, to get that plan done.
You are not a good master builder until you have the architecture at the palm of your hands. Ephesians 4:11-13 KJV
You will not be able to build people to God’s standard until you can receive the blueprint from him.
Your journey of spiritual growth is not ended until you become a witness. You start as an infant. Then you grow as a believer, a young believer, then a transformed believer, then an empowered believer, and then you become a witness who is now sent to bring others and help in that building project.
The reason why the church seems to be far short of God’s standard is because number one the builders with all due respect are not wise master builders.
We have built based on our ideas. We have allowed technology to unnecessarily tamper with the architecture. We have allowed the age to tamper with the architecture. We’ve allowed our feelings, our sentiments, our biases, our prejudices to tamper with the architecture. And so whilst we are about preaching, whilst we’re about teaching, whilst we’re about holding conferences, whilst we’re about holding all kinds of meetings, we are building believers.
But when you look at them in the spirit, you will see all versions of lopsidedness. Something is wrong. Not with your zeal, not with your voice, but the architecture.
I tell you why many times men of God particularly, do not last. The reason is because most times the attention shifts from the building to celebrating the dexterity of one living stone. One stone that has allowed himself or herself to be so furnished. God allows it to be a portrait to other people to show them what they can become.
The refusal of the body to grow puts pressure on a few people until they break down. But something is changing.
God is raising a mighty army. Not just a few people. He’s starting with a few people. He’s used a few people to model his possibilities.
So God builds by finding certain men and women and by the privilege of the election of grace, he begins to work upon them a thorough work, a sacrificial one.
God is still looking for builders. We’re talking of those who will model kingdom wealth that God will raise a man to embody his possibility in that area.
God will raise a man to embody the apostolic. God will raise a man to embody the intercessory ministry and then use those men as patterns
The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is composed of three entities:
1. Christ himself.
The Bible calls him the head of the church. And also, he doubles as the chief cornerstone. Another way of putting it is that he’s alpha and he’s omega.
He when you go to the base of the church, he’s there at the top of it, he’s there. He’s the standard and the reference.
The Bible calls him the chief cornerstone. And then the Bible calls him the head of the church.
2. The church is composed of the wise master builders.
There are men and women who have been so elected by the predetermined council of God. I call them patterns. I call them models. These are men who have been selected by God’s wisdom as a sample. The same way he selected the 12.
The goal was not for the church to be limited to the 12. But in trying to birth that glorious church, he started with 12 men. He mentored them. He rebuked them. He corrected them. He showed them love. He met them in secret. He met them in the open. He met them as individuals. He met them in groups. And then he now mandated them.
Peter was a person who preached a sermon that brought 3,000. And then the apostolic community, they began to grow. They became an exceeding great army. And today we have billions of people across the globe.
And many others who’ve gone before us and many others who will come if Christ carries after we are long gone who continue to hold this banner of righteousness and frontier God’s program.
There are many people who want to be builders, but they do not want to submit to the training that delivers the architecture of a wise master builder.
Just because you have the money to set up a building does not make you a builder.
There is an accreditation. There is a vetting system in the spirit. It takes more than desire.
All be it is a product of grace. But make no mistakes about it. That grace will submit you through seasons of training and pruning.
As builders, if you don’t stay, you will transfer your limitation to those who are connected to you.
I can tell you God is still in need of many builders.
We need to reduce the pressure that is on those who are already doing the job well. You can hardly find dexterously built people across certain regions. Maybe just a handful.
God is looking for serious men, serious women.
But when the spirit of God begins to search for a builder, all of a sudden, you start having dreams, seeing yourself on the crusade ground, and you’re wondering, God, what are you doing with my life? Aha. His hand has come upon you.
When God is ready to make you a builder, here’s what happens to you:
- You receive and
- You manifest his power and his wisdom.
As mighty as God is, there are three aspects of him that if you can transfer to men, you have transferred the fullness of God:
1. The first area to focus on in building the fullness of Christ in men is The Nature of Christ.
And that starts with salvation that they receive the life of Christ and then the fruit of the spirit.
No matter how anointed you are, the real proof that you have met Christ is that his nature must find expression in you
There are many many builders who do not have the nature of Christ. That’s the reason why sometimes they are called wolves.
When the Holy Ghost comes in partnership with the builders to walk men when people get saved.
The next assignment is to allow the word of God and the ministry of the spirit to do a deep inner work in them.
You see, all this unforgiveness, envy, lust, jealousy is proof that the nature of Christ has not found expression in men. And that’s the assignment of the builders.
Don’t just give people commissions without building them. There must be a thorough disciplehip program that builds the nature of Christ in men.
There must be an intentional methodical disciplehip program that builds the nature of Christ in men.
That’s the assignment of the grace of God to empower you so that you conform experientially to the image of Christ.
You do not build the fullness of Christ if you ignore walking in partnership with the Holy Spirit to draw out the nature of Christ.
Pray and say, “Father, do a work in me. Purify my heart.”
So shout loud and clear. Say, “The nature of Jesus.”
Galatians 5:16-22 KJV, Colossians 2 KJV, Colossians 3 KJV, Colossians 4 KJV
Be mindful of who you allow to mentor you. Don’t fight people. Don’t hate on people. But be serious with God and be serious with your destiny to not bend your head over to jokers and unserious people.
Do not allow anyone downplay consecration. Do not allow anyone downplay prayer. Do not allow anyone downplay the word of God. Do not allow anyone downplay character. No, don’t allow that.
Once we trust God to bring redemption, never become part of the campaign that tears down pastors.
Never become part of the campaign that tears down your men of God. There is a cause that follows fighting priesthood.
Every father who served the Lord in integrity and love the Lord. Some of them served him before you were born. They are deserving of your honor.
Whether you are their members or not, when you see them anywhere, honor them so that a generation does not arise, that becomes cost.
2. The Wisdom of Christ.
There are many people who have the character of Christ. But they have not been taught that the character of Christ alone does not reflect the fullness of Christ.
So we have people who will not steal. They will not kill. They love God but they do not have the wisdom to build anything.
Not even men. Being sincere is important but it’s not enough. You need wisdom.
The Bible says wisdom is a principle thing (Proverbs 4:7 KJV). Wisdom here talks of an aggregate of the word of God.
The mysteries of the kingdom that empower believers, kingdom functionaries to manifest the glory of God.
Part of the assignment of the church is to reveal the wisdom of Christ. Ephesians 3:10 KJV
Don’t just be a people of character. Be people who will manifest the wisdom of God. Let me seek his wisdom in education. Let me seek his wisdom in politics.
Import the riches that come from your prayer life. Import the wisdom that comes from your prayer life. Restore that king priest formation. Don’t just be a priest. You are also a king. It takes more than sincerity for kings to reign. They reign by wisdom.
A generation that ignores the wisdom of God is a generation that will remain beggarly forever.
You will not be able to attain unto that kingdom influence to legislate on behalf of heaven.
Lay your hands on your head in one minute and ask the Lord to impart a fresh a baptism of wisdom.
The wisdom of Christ is responsible for mighty works.
3. The Power of Christ (Psalm 66:3 KJV)
Men and women who are not just full of the character of Christ. Men and women who are not just full of the wisdom of Christ, but they are full of power.
It takes power to ward off the arsenals of hell.
The generation that rejects the power of God is a generation that will not be able to birth the fullness of God’s purposes and will not be the portrait of the victorious church.
