A Healing Church by Apostle Emmanuel Iren: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Come into God's template for the New Testament church

A lot of people have not come into God's template for the New Testament church

The difference between the Old and New Testament has to be deeper than the blank page that separates them in your Bible

Many were still struggling to embrace the full package of God in Christ. There were mental models, especially for those who practiced Judaism, that were difficult to set aside

Illustration: the Passover lamb

Every year you got lambs and slaughtered them as Passover lambs. Then you receive the revelation that Christ is the true Lamb of God John 1:29

You can know it theologically. But when that time of the year comes, it takes conviction to say, I don't need a lamb, the true Lamb has already been slain

It's easier said than done. You don't know the hold tradition has on people. Your whole body will be itching

Same when Muslims receive Christ. When the time comes to buy the ram and slaughter it and you don't buy it, that is where true conviction is tested.

To rest and say what Christ did is enough. That is partly a mental battle

The flow of the supernatural has been democratized

Many don't understand the dispensation of Christ. Once, if anyone was filled with the Spirit, it was a priest, a prophet, a king or a judge. It was the exclusive reserve of an elite class

Joshua saw some people prophesying and went to report, like an overzealous classmate in primary school. Moses' reply Numbers 11:26-29

We don't seem to understand the privilege of speaking in tongues. In the upper room 120 people spoke in tongues as the Spirit gave utterance Acts 2:1-4. How radical and revolutionary that was

If you're not careful you live in the new as if you're in the old

Many New Testament believers have never exercised the provisions of God in Christ by the Spirit. They have read things in the Bible they have never tried Mark 16:17

But when you hear some sounds under your bed, you run and call your pastor. It's a mental model

Refusing to grow

Many in church have refused to grow in their own ability to hear from God

That is why a man of God can tell you something you have no inner conviction about and you embrace it hook, line and sinker

Two people who love the Lord fall in love, want to marry, and one's parent says let's first ask a prophet.

The prophet looks at the shape of the guy's head and says no, he's not the one

I have seen people in serious marriage crisis because they entered a marriage they had no personal conviction about, and didn't even like, because some pastor or prophet said that's the person.

Marriages that no longer exist

Why was it possible? People in the new still want to act like they are in the old.

You are treating your pastor like a herbalist. You are a syncretist. The same way some treated their dibia in the world

You have not grown in your personal relationship with the Lord. You don't believe in God's personal commitment to guiding you as his child

Illustration: the golden calf

Israel followed Moses faithfully through the plagues and the Red Sea. Then for 40 days, 1 month and 10 days, their prophet was on the mountain and they built a golden calf Exodus 32

Someone's argument: if in 40 days without your man of God you turn to idols, all the while the man of God was the idol.

His leaving created a void. The golden calf was to replace Moses

Many New Testament churches are acting like Old Testament churches

Someone said Apostle Iren doesn't know how gifted he is. He should use his gift more and hold healing services more frequently

We had the highest attendance of all time as a ministry. I'm glad people hear there's a healing service and come expecting God to move

But the destiny of this ministry is to raise a healer out of you

A lady came to church for the first time with her boyfriend. The boy is a member of a cult.

She was in my DM screaming and freaking out, saying she walked to him and turned back. Her mind almost went. God has spoken

Paul's prayer for you

Ephesians 3:14-19

Paul has established the revelation of God in Christ in chapters 1 and 2. Now he is praying for you. See his heartbeat

Ephesians 3:14-15

First and foremost, this is powerful already. He wants to awaken a consciousness that as a believer in Christ you belong to a big family, and some of them are in heaven

Illustration: Job's double

Everything Job lost, God gave double Job 42:10-13. 7,000 cattle, God gave 14,000. I don't remember the exact numbers. Seven children, and God gave seven

Logically that's not double. But indeed it is, because the ones who died before are still alive. Seven more and now you have 14

You can play church and not truly believe this. John 11:25-26 Do you believe this?

So that when you lose relatives you mourn like those who have hope 1 Thessalonians 4:13

Your relatives are not in your past, they are in your future. This is our conviction and our hope

I have siblings, some on earth, some in heaven. Those in heaven are now on the grandstand, witnessing all that God is doing through us. They are part of the same family

Ephesians 3:16-17

This is serving God with your mind

You can have the life of Christ, but there is a totally different experience where Christ dwells in your heart by faith. It's a faith work, a consciousness, a faculty surrendered to Christ

Ephesians 3:18-19

Only then can you come into the fullness of God

By saints he means those in heaven and on earth. The family in heaven is Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Elijah, Paul, Peter

In your spiritual development you come to a place where, even if there are things they understand better because they are on that side 1 Corinthians 13:9

There are things we come to rest in so that there is no difference

A corporate knowledge: what Moses now knows and what we know. What Peter now knows and what we know. When he says saints he is not talking only about the living

There are things Paul knows more than me. But there are fundamental, foundational things we should have come into rest with Paul even now

What is it they know that we also know? Fundamental things about Christ, his power, his saving grace, what he can do

Don't wait till you get to heaven to come to that comprehension with all these saints. Come into rest on some things and begin to serve God with your mind here

Hebrews 11:39-40

Hebrews 11 tells of the heroes of faith. By faith this one, by faith Moses refused. But it doesn't end there

Not only do we share understanding. There are things we are now tasting that they never got the opportunity to taste

The saints in heaven looking at every one of us filled with the Holy Spirit will find it shocking. Jealous, in a good way

Once you saw somebody filled with the Holy Spirit maybe once in a generation. Between Malachi and Matthew there were 500 years with nobody speaking inspired speech

He's God. He can choose not to move in a generation and nobody will question him

Do you know how special it is that you know him and hear his voice? The simple dreams warning you about things to happen

Once you had to be a king or called to some special duty to receive from God. Now the flow of the Spirit has been democratized Joel 2:28-29

Nobody is left out of this move. These are the days Joel prophesied about

You don't have to hold a title to be a man or woman of God

When the devil is moving funny in your house, step in and say no. Don't wait for your pastor

When the devil is trying to strangle someone in the night in your house, don't wait till the next morning to call me. It might be too late

Walk into that room, point at that person: In the name of Jesus, Satan, you have no hold in this family

That's the New Testament anointing, the New Testament grace. Nobody is left out

In the upper room even Mary was arguably a new convert, because during Jesus's earthly ministry she wasn't quite a fan John 7:5

Peter, James, John and 117 other people. The Spirit rested on all their heads. How did they know? If only one could see, he would see on everyone else but not on his own

There was no mirror, but everyone's eyes were opened. It can happen in a service that the Spirit is moving and everyone can see it

There are people who function in the office of prophet, but everyone can prophesy because these are the last days

You can sleep and have a revelation about what will affect your destiny in the next two weeks

A good man sees evil afar off and hides himself. The person the devil has positioned to swindle you in the next 2 months, you can see in a dream

The vehicle you are not supposed to enter this week, you can see it in a dream.

The food you are not supposed to eat this week. Sometimes these things are the difference between life and death

Testimony: Pastor PJ's dream

Somebody he knows very well dreamed he was in the office. Somebody said help us pull down that thing in the ceiling.

He climbed and an equipment fell and cut off his neck. He woke up

Days after, in the same office, the person came the same way and said help me pull it down

He said, I know you, sir, but this email I'm sending is very urgent. If I don't send it, third world war will start

The person got angry and said, all right, you go and pull it.

As that person climbed, exactly what he saw in the dream happened. The equipment came down and cut off his neck and he was screaming

• He reveals secrets to you. Hidden things about your family, about your life.

Psalm 91:1-5

If you don't grow your faith

Something you may not have heard a pastor say before.

Because of the tapestry and design of the New Testament, if you don't grow your faith, there are troubles you will enter that no man of God will be able to bring you out of

It is no longer a matter of how powerful the man of God is. What you are going through is a symptom of your disobedience and your refusal to grow

Acts 17:30

There are miracles God will do accommodating your ignorance. He knew he was the bread come down from heaven, but to cope with their ignorance he fed the multitude twice

When they wanted to make it a constant practice, he said choose your priorities differently John 6:27, John 6:49

That's why sometimes you enjoy extraordinary grace. It looks like you have no prayer life but you pray and things happen

Then after a while it looks like this thing is not working again, because the days of ignorance God winked at

You must now build a prayer life. You must build a life with God. You must serve God with your mind. That one is a work. Nobody will do it for you

Some come to church every Sunday but have never gone 10 days without missing a day of prayer

Prayer has a cumulative effect. There is mileage in the things of God. Somebody who takes over a car can check the mileage and see how far it has journeyed

Prayer is a journey. Some have mapped the whole world in the secret place. Some have gone several laps around the world and you are still where you started

Maturity needs personal discipline. Our discipleship must be New Testament based

Jesus trained his disciples as if he would not be with them forever.

Coming down from the mount of transfiguration and hearing they could not cure someone, he said, how long shall I be with you?

That is the training of a New Testament teacher. He wants to train you to be effective in his absence

Faith in the New Testament is not just trusting what God can do when your pastor is around

My training curriculum is focused on what you can do without me

What gives me joy: there are branches of this church I have never stepped into. Same culture, same flow of the Spirit. Someone was in one city one week and another the next. Same thing

With cell churches and flagship churches we have crossed 100. I can't visit one every week in a calendar year, and I don't need to

This has been democratized Ephesians 4:11-13

There is a sense in which I will continue to be a guide. But there are things you will never need me for

I can't be beside you when you're scrolling on your phone to say, this is false teaching. The Spirit of Christ is in you. You don't need anyone to teach you 1 John 2:27

Even if you will always have a teacher, there are things you will never need anyone to teach you again

I won't be paranoid that you will watch something asking how do we know there is a God, and that your faith is shaking. You have passed that level

There is a realm where you ought to be teachers. What defines that realm is how you handle the word. You must now start doing it

Illustration: the deep end

I like to throw people into the deep end. In our school of ministry, it doesn't matter how much theory you teach until you throw them into the deep end

Somebody I told to preach got on stage and after a few minutes was panicking. He asked the choir to lead a song. They thought revival was about to start

He ran back to the room and called me, sir, I can't do it. I said, my friend, go back there

I would rather you preach nonsense than give up. If you give up you won't climb that pulpit ever again. I would rather you do it afraid

There are things you need to learn about power and the flow of the supernatural. But don't come to a point where a demon is manifesting and you want to run. Run for who?

Move of the Spirit in your house

When God wanted a man through whom everything we see today would be initiated, he chose a family man, not a preacher. Abraham was a family man

This legacy was passed from family to family, not from church to church. There must be a move of the Spirit in your house

The problem with many of us is that we saw God move first in church. That is a problem

Some people have become so used to idolizing a man of God

Brothers were fighting for the prayer of their dad, not the prayer of their pastor. Families are deeper

I was talking to one of us who went to the village and heard things about his lineage. He saw the person who is by far the richest in the family

When the grandfather was dying he gave inheritance to everyone except him. In the will he said, I'm not going to give you a penny, but I release this blessing

That person is wealthier than all of them put together. This is not a pastor.

There is a staff passed from generation to generation, not to the firstborn but to the leader. They spot the leader prophetically and write it in the will

That's not a church, that's a family

Almost every key thing God wants to do in this church, before I announce it, some of my friends in this church will see it. One of them will dream

When I was supposed to move to Abuja I was frantic about how to announce it to the church.

During praise and worship a young guy, still an undergraduate, came to my wife and said, I came today because the Lord said pastor is leaving us

In his school they don't use phones. Nobody could have gossiped. That's what makes this church special

A celebrity came to our island church because I was ministering. He wanted to see me but I was busy.

As he was walking out, somebody spotted him and the Lord gave a word of knowledge. Told him five things. His knee was shaking

A man of God sent me a message: I sense you should reach out to this celebrity. I saw him in a vision.

He is in a state, and I sense you are the only one who can talk to him. I reached out and he has kept in touch ever since

We dream dreams. We see visions. We walk in clarity from the least of us to the greatest.

That's our heritage

Some people have never experienced New Testament ministry before. So when we say hold hands, pray with your neighbor, don't despise that person

In 2 Chronicles 20 when Jehoshaphat organized the meeting, it was one brother who had the prophecy.

Somebody just stood up and prophesied, and Jehoshaphat, who was king, went with what that person said. They formed their battle strategy by what that guy said

I had a prayer meeting at about 6:00 a.m. When we were done I asked my spiritual children, what did God say?

What did you see? In the New Testament church, sometimes God sovereignly shows someone who is not the leader

Disciplines of a person who serves God with his mind

1. Discipline in the content you receive into your soul

   Proverbs 4:23 is the work of a customs agent. A customs agent makes sure contraband doesn't enter the country

   There must be a customs agent in your heart. Some information is contraband. Some exposures are contraband. Some things you ought not to see, some data you ought not to engage

   Job made a covenant with his eyes Job 31:1

   2 Timothy 2:15-16

   Sometimes it's only the first half of the instruction we embrace. Some of you know the previous verse by heart but not this one

   It tells you what to diligently receive and what to shun. Both disciplines are important

   There is information you should hear often and information you must block your heart from. Some people, if you follow them, you can't have a strong walk with God. They will weaken your faith

   The problem with many church people is they hear the word of God but also a lot of nonsense. There is what to embrace and what to shun

   Mount a customs agent at your eye gates. Make that covenant with your eyes

   What you see regularly opens your heart to possibilities. Exposure is one of the most important secrets of power

   If the doctor gave you a verdict, there are people who survived that thing. And probably people who died by it.

   What you focus on might be the determining factor for your lot. It just might be

   For people trusting God for healing, I send them reports of people who have been healed by that thing

   Two weeks ago I prayed for somebody in Manchester with stage four cancer. The latest report is that it is almost nonexistent.

   With the person's permission I forwarded the scan, before and after. Use your eye to see

   Whether you believe it or not, there is no sickness without a cure. None. When God does it for you, you won't even be the first

   But you must believe it and expose yourself to that conviction

2. The discipline of prayer

   If you pray only when you feel like praying, you don't have a prayer life. The discipline is you show up every day

   An apostle told me of an encounter in heaven. Some major decisions on earth regarding the body of Christ were to be made and people stood in different queues.

   The first queue was the fathers, the second some men of God

   When he was brought in for the first time, he saw that I was seated there. I had been there for a long time

   I think it was Jeremiah who challenged some people: I have not seen you in our councils

   There is a kingdom version of who goes. One thing that solidifies your intercessory ministry is that God knows he can count on you

   Psalm 50:5 He knows you will be there. Build the discipline. Create a structure that enables it

   Illustration: school

   If the discipline was to wake up on your own and read the same books from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., how many of us would not have finished school?

   I would still be in primary 6

   You say you will read those books on the shelf. Tomorrow. Then tomorrow comes. Tomorrow again

   Structure is more powerful than discipline. Going to church is structure. Having somebody who will go to church with you or check on you if you don't go is structure. Morning devotion is structure

   Before anybody comes to the point of struggling in prayer, simple things that used to bless them stop blessing them. Do you remember when you read a devotional diligently, those few sentences, and were blessed?

   The devil first deceives you that you have passed this milk, you want strong meat. Now you have gone 3 weeks without praying

   I judge maturity by how simple things bless you. Truly mature people are touched by simple songs.

   When a simple song you've known touches somebody, you have to check the lyrics again. It's deep like that

   I have preached in the presence of fathers who carry a pen and write. What do you have to learn?

   Don't just say I will start praying. What structure will enable me to pray even if I don't feel like it? A service unit. Friends you have a day of prayer with

   Do something unavoidable. Every time we sit to watch a football game we pray after. I will not brush my teeth until I've prayed. That's structure

   Even those few minutes, at the time you are most vulnerable and least feel like praying, will change your life

3. Meditation on the word

   A lot of people don't understand how important this one is Deuteronomy 6:8-9, Joshua 1:8

   You must have side projects. You curate your exposure based on your destination. When I prepare for a meeting I create a playlist. There are things you must see and expose yourself to regularly

   Have you ever seen somebody do something and that was the end of mediocrity in your life?

   Sometimes God uses our tendency to compete to challenge us into our destiny. He will raise someone close to you

   Testimony: the locked door

   When I began pressing into God as a student, a close friend called me into the room and said sit down. He locked the door and put the key in his pocket

   He said, you will not leave this room until you tell me what you are doing.

   I said, we started praying together, you saw the whole journey right under your nose. It must have provoked him

   Hebrews 10:24

   Make sure you have the right friends who can challenge you. Some friends you will keep and your marriage will not last. Some friends you will keep and your money will not last

   Friends who remind you about priorities. We have a generation that doesn't understand friendship.

   Friends you cannot be yourself around, you pretend to be richer than you are, you can't tell them you are going through a tough time

   Pick friends who provoke you to love and good works. Just as there is provocative content in Satan's camp. Some content will sexualize your brain. Some will desexualize it

   Some friendships will set you on course in destiny

4. Demonstrations of power

   Whether or not you ever hold a mic in your life, make sure you see the power of God at work in your life

   Establish a pattern through your example that God answers prayers. Make sure your children don't have to come to church to learn that

   Testimony: the car

   A Christian parent heard God say give out your only car. They gave it out

   Every morning devotion this man led the children, let us ask God for a car. That went on for one year, 2 years, 3 years, 4 years

   One morning one of the daughters said, I don't want to pray. Why? Every morning for all these years we've asked God for a car. It's like God is not hearing us

   The thing pierced his heart. He told her God hears, don't worry. Hearing the story later, I could tell it touched him

   Days after, I was walking past my closet and the Lord spoke clearly. Buy a car and send to that family

   Then he told me to do something I had never done before or since. The person delivering the car must be on a video call, because God wanted me to see their reaction

   By providence, somebody had come to my house a few days before with a car. I said you have a new car. He said no, it's for sale, I'm just driving it

   I called him: I'll send you the money now. Go and give the car to that family and get on a video call

   I saw a grown man cry. He pointed at his daughter and said, I told you. I told you. I told you

   You don't need to tell that lady ever again in her life. Later I called for the backstory.

   She had said she doesn't want to pray, God doesn't hear. See how God did it in a dramatic fashion

Be the strong man in your family

Our exposure to spiritual warfare has usually been to tell people about strong men in the family.

But Jesus used the same metaphor, a strong man guarding his goods until a stronger man comes and takes away all his possessions

There are also strong men on this side of eternity. Make sure you are the strong man in your family

I am the principality. That seat is already taken. What I say goes. I have commanded a blessing on my lineage, an irrevocable blessing.

Lamentations 3:37

This was not happening in a church. This is a father talking to his children

Genesis 48:15-16

Jacob is about to die, so he is exposing family secrets. There is a reason why we can't be stranded. There is a reason why somehow there is always a way

There's a reason why I should have died in an accident and did not. A reason why that sickness should have taken my life and I did not die

This is a family secret. The angel who was with me, with Abraham, with Isaac, that angel will start following you from today

This is not an impartation in a church service. This is a family meeting. A father talking to his children

What heritage will you leave for your children? Cars can spoil. The economy can become so bad that the money you left behind can't do much

God has made this church a company of prophets. You must have angelic encounters repeatedly

Matthew 18:19

A simple prayer of agreement. If you have anything, turn to the people around you and pray for them or receive prayer. Tell them what it is

Hold hands only. Don't lay hands on anyone's head