Line upon Line(The Power of Structured knowledge)
By Apostle Joshua Selman

You will be shown in this teaching why many believers do not have knowledge that is aggregated enough to produce victory and dominion, and how it is possible for a believer to be in an atmosphere of abundant spiritual knowledge and yet not be able to translate that knowledge to power and victory.

Isaiah 28:10, Luke 1:1-4

One of the factors that distinguishes the christian faith from every other faith practice is that we have beyond a set of rituals to honour and live by. The christian faith is built on the possibility for a functional relationship with God.

Having a functional relationship with Jesus Christ is related to but distinctively different from having the knowledge of scripture for helping us to know God and understanding His ways.

The bible has the richest capture of the revelation of God and the most concise description of the ways of God, but the bible is not God. There is the word of God as person and the word of God as the logos of God(a compendium of the thoughts and the speakings of God)

Believers need both encounters. For you to experience a life of victory, power and grace, it is important that you press to encounter God as a person reveal through Jesus and by His spirit and to encounter the word of God as a compendium of the thoughts and the speaking of God and that compendium is captured in what we call the bible.

Classically speaking, the bible is not the word of God, the word of God is contained in the bible - Like carrying a tray containing a plate of rice, the tray is not the rice.

The dynamics of growth in the kingdom

The gifts you receive when you get saved are

1. The forgiveness of sin
2. The gift of righteousness
3. Zoe - The life of God. This is beyond mere existence, a summation of every component found in God that upgrades God to the God class(the goodness, wisdom, power, grace of God,

The greatest need of every unbeliever is salvation

The greatest need of a believer is transformation.

And the need of a transformed believer is empowerment.

For transformation and empowerment to happen profitably, there 3 ministries you must be exposed to

1. The ministry of the holy spirit John 16:13, 1 Corinthians 2:10 - 12 - a major part of your prayer affair is a spirit business. The theology of prayer was primarily supposed to be for fellowship
2. The ministry of the word 1 Peter 2:2, Acts 20:32
3. The ministry of a teaching priest

   The devil has legitimate access to anyone who is not in Christ. The immunity of anyone who wants total freedom from satan is not church but Christ.

   2 Chronicles 15:3&5

   There will always be spiritual chaos when there is no teaching priest

   Acts 8:29 - 40

   He does not replace the word but He gives guidance and perspective to your understanding

The word of God is the principal tool for the believers' enlightenment and transformation.

When the word of God does not gain supremacy in your life particularly as a preacher, you will have to route the transformation process of believers through a means that is not scriptural and even though sincere, the chances of encountering a familiar spirit is very high.

The bible contains:

1. Promises 2 Peter 1:4
2. Principles Matthew 13:11, Job 38:33
3. Prophecy 2 Peter 1:19 - 20

There is a way and manner to engage the word that makes it profitable to you, but there is also a way and manner to engage the word that makes it unprofitable to you.2 Timothy 3:16, Proverbs 4:20 - 21, Hebrews 4:12

Factors that make the word of God impotent to you

1. Mark 7:13 Tradition: The stiffness of mind to accommodate spiritual things - that means you create a mental mode that the word of God must fit before it is received.
2. Luke 8:12 - 14 The heart condition: Whether as rebellion or lack of passion
3. Hebrew 4:1 Faith: The unwillingness to translate knowledge to action through obedience so that it delivers
4. One of the major reason why believers may have a lot of spiritual information but are not able to use it produce a life of victory grace power and dominion is that our knowledge is mostly random, disjointed, non-sequential, incomplete and sometimes not balanced Ezekiel 37:7

   If the bones were not placed in the right place the army cannot stand straight.

Examples of an approach to scripture that cannot produce profit.

1. The teaching on the gift of the spirit before salvation
2. The teaching on holiness and consecration without first teaching on the power of the cross. The only immunity to flesh, satan, hell and the grave is the power of the cross.
3. The teaching of faith as only a means of receiving from God. The bible leaves believers to have desires, but those desires have to be consistent with the will and the program of God Matthew 26:39, Hebrew 11:39

   Even if you do not get your desires, your believing is counted for a good report

4. Teaching people to live long without connecting them to God's program and agenda. Longevity as a spiritual truth was not supposed to be thought in isolation of God's program - that is the justification for longevity.

The believer only becomes powerful to the degree to which your knowledge is structured, built, understood and engaged so as to deliver.

Assignments:

1. Write out areas in your life where you are yet to experience victory.
2. Take an inventory of your life and inventory of your knowledge bank - vet your understanding of victory and dominion, vet your understanding of the kingdom, God’s prophetic program and see the degree of light you have or otherwise.

Psalm 24:3 - 4