The Journey To Maturity And Power (jeremiah 6:16) by Apostle Joshua Selman: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Mark 6:33-34

Jesus saw much people and was moved with compassion towards them because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. And in response to their state, he began to teach them many things. The teaching ministry is an act of compassion. He saw them — they came, they ran looking for him — but he knew at that stage their destinies would not emerge unless they were taught.

Knowledge as the Foundation of Greatness

2 Chronicles 27:6

Jotham became mighty because he prepared his ways before the Lord. He became a mighty man because he set in place the right order, the right formation of things. Knowledge comes to bring order to our lives so that we will be mighty through God, mighty in God, and relevant as far as God's program is concerned.

Daniel 11:32

2 Peter 1:2

John 17:3

Impact starts with knowledge. Grace and peace are multiplied through the knowledge of God. It always starts with knowledge — then from knowledge it goes to transformation, then empowerment.

Six Foundational Truths for Walking in Dominion

Every believer desiring to become mighty in the spirit and in destiny must build on six fundamental truths.

1. Know God the Father and Jesus His Son

   John 17:3

   Proverbs 9:10

   It is important to have and to press for a personal, functional revelation of God Almighty and then Jesus His Son. Confidence in life and destiny will be predicated not just on principles — principles derive their value from knowing the person who set those principles in motion.

   The triune Godhead have very distinct systems of operation. There is a dimension of power revealed through each member of the Godhead:

   • God the Father — When you want to study sovereignty, invincibility, immutability, and creative power. The first revelation of God in the Bible is God created — to give frame from out of nothing. When you want to become a creative spirit, you study how the Father created.
   • Jesus the Son — Everything that has to do with redemption, resurrection, and the display of the love of the Father is learned through the study of the Son. You cannot get resurrection power from God alone — that has to do with Jesus.
   • The Holy Spirit — When you want to study the power of replication and the power of witness, you study the Spirit.

   There are three basic ways to learn about God:

   1. Through His nature — a revelation of His character. You can describe a man by describing his character. This is the first way to study God — investigate His character.
   2. Through His principles — called His wisdom. When we see the way the cosmos operates, when we see how man as the zenith of creation functions, it is a display of His wisdom and helps us learn God.
   3. Through His works and power — Ephesians 1:19. Paul does not just want believers to have power; he wants them to know it. When you study the power of God, a dimension of the revelation of God comes through that study.

   The richest capture of the revelation of God in Scripture is found in Psalm 103.

   The benefits of knowing God:

   • Capacity and strength
   • Empowerment to do exploits — not to talk about them or wish for them, but to do them

2. Know Who You Are in Light of Who Christ Is

   Ephesians 6:10

   1 John 3:2

   This looks very elementary, but not knowing it will leave a believer defeated — confessing realities they will never come into the experience of. Second only to the knowledge of God, every believer must know who they are in light of who Christ is, because the Bible says as He is, so are we.

   The believer in Christ is beyond a human. The believer in Christ is beyond a mortal species.

   There are two ways the Bible gives the believer identification:

   • Based on our oneness with Christ — The Bible calls us branches connected to the vine; joint heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Amplified says: Draw your strength from your union with Him. Ephesians 6:10
   • Based on our functionality — How we operate and exercise authority as believers

   Social media is a voice — it attempts to sell an identity. Failure is a voice. Process is a voice. It will mold a person into things inconsistent with the Word of God. It matters that identity is pegged on what God has said, even though the full manifestation has not yet come.

   Now are we the sons of God — not tomorrow, though it does not yet appear.

   The fact that something is not yet visible does not change the fact that it is a reality. That revelation — as subtle as it is — gives the staying power to go through seasons until destiny emerges.

   There are three seasons in a man's life before destiny is manifest:

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   1. The season of discovery
   2. The season of preparation — where one lives in the silence of God
   3. The season of appearing

   2 Corinthians 4:17-18

   Light afflictions, which are but for a moment, work in believers a far exceeding and eternal weight of glory. The problem is often the appearance, not the reality. A believer is still a son of God even when still growing — differing nothing in result from a servant, but still growing.

   The Greek word logizomai means to reckon — to bring oneself into a consciousness that although a reality is not yet manifest, it is true.

3. Know Your Prophetic Destiny in Christ

   Hebrews 10:7

   Jeremiah 1:5-12

   Jeremiah 29:11

   In God's grand scheme of things, every believer must understand their prophetic destiny in Christ — their assignment and God's desire for them as far as destiny actualization is concerned.

   Jesus went to the temple, was given the scroll of Isaiah, opened it, found the things written concerning Him, and declared: Today this scripture is fulfilled.

   God called Jeremiah before he came forth from his mother's womb and ordained him to be a prophet to the nations. When Gideon was hiding, God did not call him the man who was hiding — He called him by his destiny: Oh mighty man of valor. It is in God's character to call the things that be not as though they were.

   There is confidence when a person finds their place. Jealousy, backbiting, and a competitive life end when a person knows there is a space for them.

   From a theological standpoint, all believers have a corporate mandate. But within that corporate mandate, there are allocations based on:

   1. God's predetermined counsel — there is a pre-ordination for every believer in Christ, a script designed before arrival
   2. Level of alignment — alignment can push a believer to a realm where God can trust them with certain assignments even beyond their original script
   3. Emergency redistribution — when through carelessness, disalignment, or a problem of structured fatherhood a territory lacks sons and daughters, God will look for available vessels and grant extra grace, or relocate someone else to that territory to help

   Philip went to Samaria and preached Christ. He walked in signs and wonders, but his capacity was limited in the spirit. He knew there were dimensions he could not reach, and sent for Peter and John. When they arrived, it was not what they said — it was what happened when they spoke. This is beyond performance; it is ranking in the spirit. There are certain weights that no matter how yielded a person is, they cannot push without time and growth.

   The resources of a vision follow its discovery. If a person has not discovered the vision, the resources will be limited. There are some things one was not supposed to pray for — they were supposed to gravitate at the instance of discovery. When a person finds their place, some resources follow.

4. Know the Mysteries of the Kingdom

   Matthew 13:11

   Leviticus 9:6

   Job 38:33

   No believer can walk in dominion without taking the time to structurally study the mysteries of the kingdom. The word mystery does not mean hidden — it means classified, privy to a group of people. The kingdom operates by mysteries.

   The mysteries of the kingdom represent the bodies of spiritual knowledge that, if engaged with understanding, bring the believer into the experience of dominion.

   Every dimension of the glory of God that a believer seeks to see manifest in their life is supported by a body of light. Dimensions of glory do not just open at the instance of desire — there is a body of spiritual truth connected to every dimension of the glory of God. That knowledge precedes the glory. The manifestation of the glory of God in any area is proof that the laws connected to that glory have been engaged.

   Consider a light switch: no matter how long darkness has been, once the right switch is found and pressed, there is a response. Finances have a glory that should be revealed. Health has a glory. Ministry has a glory. But that glory is not manifest just because it is desired — there is an exact body of truth already connected to that result.

   This is the thing that the Lord commanded that you should do — and then the glory shall appear. Leviticus 9:6

   If the glory does not appear, it is a sign that the pattern connected to the glory has not been kept. The glory never manifested in the tabernacle in the wilderness until Moses observed the pattern to the last peg — then the glory of the Lord came as a testimony.

   The area where darkness still prevails is the area where the mysteries have not been understood.

   When it comes to knowing God, the press to know Him is infinite — even in eternity, learning continues. But when it comes to dominion, the body of truth responsible for dominion is exact and finite. It can be held. It is called the keys of the kingdom. Like a medical curriculum that can be exhausted and a degree awarded, the body of knowledge connected to dominion can be comprehended.

   Job 38:33

   Do you know the laws of the universe? And can you use them to regulate the earth?

   There is something a believer can do with God that makes help come. There is something that gravitates favor regardless of the hostility of the territory. There is a way things work. There is a way growth happens. There is a way longevity happens.

   Jeremiah 6:16

   Stand in the way and ask for the ancient paths. Where is the good way? Walk in it and you will find rest for your souls.

   There is a way to power. There is a way to grace. There is a way to influence. There is even a way to rest — a man can enter his Sabbath here and now. It is based on what is known. The difference between the experience of two believers is not the will of God or the love of God — it is the degree to which each has taken responsibility to press into the knowledge of God.

   Every dimension of glory sought is supported by a body of light. That light, when engaged, releases a grace component. The proof that a revelation has truly been caught is that the grace that backs it begins to speak in a person's life. No matter how many scriptures are known, if that grace cannot speak, the believer is still wanting.

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   The absence of grace to defend what is proclaimed is the reason ministry becomes difficult. The gospel was never supposed to be so hard — it was designed to be communicated in the presence of evidences. A witness must have a token of truthfulness called evidence.

   The assignment given: write every aspect of life where mastery has not been gained, then study and investigate with the humility of a student.

   1 Corinthians 8:2

   If any man thinks he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.

   Beware the knowing only mentality. Apollos was great — fervent in spirit, taught the way of the Lord — but he knew only the baptism of John. Acts 18:24-28. When Aquila and Priscilla saw his zeal and sincerity, they expounded to him the way of the kingdom more perfectly.

   Acts 19:1

   Paul came to Ephesus and found disciples who, despite being under mentorship during the full dispensation of the Holy Ghost, had not even heard that the Holy Spirit had come. By Acts 2, the Holy Ghost had come. By Acts 19 — 17 chapters of the wonder-working power of the Holy Ghost conquering cities — and yet these disciples knew only the baptism of John.

   It is possible to be zealous in one area and completely blind to what else God is doing that would bring completion. This is called lacking the whole counsel of God.

   Satan looks for the area of deficiency. Like a lion that does not chase the strong of the herd but waits for the lame or the young, the enemy studies vulnerabilities. He looks for where the light of God has not gotten in a person's life and builds his work there.

5. Study Man as the Zenith of God's Creation

   Psalm 8:4-6

   Psalm 115:16

   Every believer must study man — not merely as the believer in Christ, but man from an anthropological standpoint, as the zenith of God's creation.

   The earth has He given to the children of men.

   Everything in the program of God happens because of man. Men are the bridges between prophecy and manifestation — and between prophecy and destruction.

   • God's purposes advance to the degree to which He finds a man
   • Satan is empowered to the degree to which he finds a man

   Isaiah 6:8

   God was looking for a man — Who shall go for us? And Isaiah said, Here am I. Send me.

   If God says yes and man says no, the yes will remain in the realm of the spirit. The spirit and the bride say come — but if there is no bride on earth to echo back, there will not be manifestation. God intended for Jesus to come but needed to pass through the womb of a virgin. The same question Mary asked was the same question Zechariah asked — yet one was shut in silence and the other was honored. Mary said, Be it unto me according to your word. Her cooperation was required.

   There are some battles that do not need to be fought if men are properly understood. Consider the distinctions:

   • If facing Goliath — engage and fight
   • If facing Saul, Pharaoh, Ahasuerus, or Nebuchadnezzar — do not fight. Their increase is tied to those very people. No matter how angry or how certain the anointing is, there are men who — though not born again — are still gatekeepers. God has placed the keys in their hands by His predetermined counsel. These cannot be bound and cast out. God must grant favor with them for certain gates to open.

   Proverbs 16:7

   When a man's ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

   Nehemiah was a cupbearer of the king and wanted to rebuild the Jerusalem wall. He kept serving until the king noticed his countenance and asked. Then the king wrote letters and gave permission. Believers sometimes become foolishly zealous and fight men who are actually part of God's grand program. Killing every gatekeeper leaves no one positioned to open the gate.

   There is a law of relationships — the world of men. It is not enough to be spiritual. A believer must know how to relate with men within the cosmos. Some are angry people but still hold needed keys. Some are emotionally erratic but are still gatekeepers.

   Adaptation is proof of honor. There are times a person must bend over backwards — not because they are a fool, but because they respect where they are going.

   Elisha was told twice by fellow prophets that his master was about to be taken. They acknowledged it prophetically. The training was working — yet they received nothing. The man who followed quietly received the double portion. Elisha adapted, served, and honored.

   Men are vulnerable. They will promise to help today and change their mind tomorrow. Peter told Jesus not to die — but looking beneath the surface, he was calculating economic disadvantage and the loss of what he had left behind. After the resurrection, Jesus had to restore Peter three times at the shore:

   John 21

   Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these? — three times. Then Jesus made a statement: When you were young, you went where you wanted. But as you mature in the spirit, someone will hold you and lead you to places you do not want to go.

   Independence is not maturity in the spirit.

6. Know Your Adversary, the Devil

   1 Peter 5:8

   2 Corinthians 10:4

   Ephesians 6:12

   Many believers cannot walk in victory because there are gaps in knowledge regarding the enemy. A thorough understanding of demonology — the theological framework for understanding demons, fallen angels, and the kingdom of darkness — is essential.

   Man was not the first being to inhabit creation. Adam was the first created in the image and likeness of God — but he was not the first. There were inhabitants before him. Science has documented artifacts and geological formations older than the dispensation of Adam. The Bible itself speaks of dinosaurs — they once existed. What is recorded in Genesis Chapter 1 was not original creation in every instance but a calling forth of things back to order following judgment.

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   The Kingdom Of Power

   by Apostle Johnson Suleman

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   Understanding authority, power, and jurisdiction:

   • Power — the ability to act
   • Authority — the legitimacy to use power. Authority is conferred — it comes from someone higher. An armed robber has power but no authority. A military officer has both.
   • Jurisdiction — the territory within which authority is valid

   Hebrews 6:13

   God searched for one greater than Himself and finding none, swore by Himself. God cannot have authority in the way created beings do — authority requires a government above that supervises usage. Every other person, minus God, must have both power and authority.

   When God gave man authority, He described the frame of our jurisdiction. Believers do not have authority in the throne room. Believers do not have authority over spirits bound in Hades. Principalities do not enter men — there is only a particular set of unclean spirits that can possess men.

   There are wandering spirits — those who do not go to either paradise or Hades because of the way they were formed. These corrupted the original design of man. The law of appointment says it is appointed for man to die once and go either to Hades or paradise. But certain spirits exist in a perpetual state of torment because they lack that destination, and the only refuge available to them — according to the law of territory — is a human body. This is why, when an unclean spirit leaves a man, it goes through dry regions and returns seeking entry.

   Fallen angels do not enter human bodies. There are different classes of spirits with different offenses and different operations. Some spirits are bound in everlasting chains. What led to the judgment described in Genesis 1:2 — the void, the darkness, the formlessness — was the anger of God in response to the rebellion and corruption that preceded Adam.

   Genesis 1:28

   Be fruitful. Multiply. Subdue. Replenish.

   The word subdue implies there is an adversary. The word replenish means to bring back again. These are not neutral words — they signal that Adam was entering a contested territory.

   Satan attacked man because what he craved — the image and likeness of God — was what God gave to man. What Lucifer wanted was what God gave. That is still the pattern: what Satan is truly after is not a person's finances, job, or title.

   Satan steals passion. He steals zeal. He steals fire. He steals strength.

   He brings depression, frustration, and blindness to prevent a person from finding light. By touching visible things — finances, family, health — he hopes to eventually reach the soul. His strategy is to make a believer cost God to His face.

   Consider Job. What was taken from Job in the beginning were the things being cleared away so Satan could reach the real thing he wanted. Job refused to give it. His wife said, Curse God and die. And Job said, Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. That is why Job lost nothing at the end — everything came back. His fire was never taken.

   No matter what attacks in a person's life — if the fire is still there, if the hunger is still there, Satan did not steal anything.

   The greatest stature of a believer is the one who remains faithful even through tears. Not giving praise to see results — but trusting even without results. There are three levels of victory:

   1. Victory that avoids the storm from coming
   2. Victory that brings a person out of the storm
   3. Victory that causes rejoicing even in defeat

   All three are called victory.

   Faith delivers two things — not one:

   1. The testimonial of trusting God through storms — a good report
   2. Promises obtained

   Hebrews 11

   Not everybody called an elder obtained promises — but all of them obtained a good report. Faith is not exclusively about obtaining what was trusted for. Trusting God through a storm that did not lift is still faith, and there is a compensation system for it.

   The theology that says if it does not work, it cannot be God leaves pastors without messages for bereaved families. Every time Satan strikes, the thing he is looking for must not be surrendered. The death of Stephen was noble — he had reason to die angry. But he looked up, saw the glory of God and Jesus standing, and said what Jesus Himself said: Father, forgive them.

   Ephesians 1:17-18

   The prayer of Paul was for the eyes of understanding to be flooded with light. Ignorance is not an excuse in the spirit — it will cripple and incapacitate. The program of God appears to suffer not because of insincerity but because truthful activities are not supported by knowledge.

   Knowing the four spirits that fight the anointing of those being raised:

   1. Pride — vainglory
   2. Lust
   3. Mammon — the spirit of money that corrupts at the point of increase
   4. Dishonor — the refusal to accord value to those who went before

The Grace That Defends What You Know

Every revelation caught is accompanied by a grace component — a grace that empowers the believer to defend what they know in the spirit. The box of the post office in the spirit opens and light shoots forth — that light is the grace that supports every revelation.

The proof that a law is ignited in the spirit is not the number of scriptures memorized. It is that the grace that supports the knowledge rests upon the believer immediately. This was what the sons of the prophets were waiting to verify when Elisha took Elijah's mantle and struck the waters — as soon as the sea parted, they said: The spirit of Elijah has rested on Elisha.

It was not what he said. It was what happened when he spoke.

Strength for the Journey

Isaiah 40:29-31

Knowledge is wonderful, but a time will come in every journey of destiny when a person knows they should go forward yet lacks the strength. Son of man — stand up upon your feet. The spirit entered Ezekiel, set him upon his feet, and then spoke.

One of the greatest blessings from the Holy Spirit is not knowledge — it is strength. Capacity.

Jesus already knew everything that would happen to Him. But where knowledge reached its limit, it was strength that carried Him through. Even He needed Simon of Cyrene to help carry the cross — He lost strength.

The wear and tear of life, disappointed expectations — these deplete the spirit. Even a tanker carrying fuel has its own compartment that can run dry. A pastor, a minister, a prayer warrior can reach a point of depletion regardless of what they carry for others.

The Season of Appearing

There are three seasons in a believer's evolution:

1. Discovery
2. Preparation — the hardest season, where the believer learns to live in the silence of God
3. Appearing — the season of grace and visibility

The season of preparation is where God will speak about every other thing but the believer's own matter. The silence of God is a language — He is teaching a person to trust His voice, and then where the voice is absent, to trust His presence.

There are times God is in the boat and will not speak. But the fact that He is there is the basis for security.

Mark 4:35-41

Jesus Himself said, Let us go to the other side. As soon as the journey started, He lay down and slept. Water entered the boat. The disciples woke Him in offense: Do you not care that we perish? He rebuked the wind and called their response unbelief. What they would have seen, had they kept quiet, was a dimension of God they missed.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego gave the opportunity to see what those disciples could not see — a fourth figure walking through the fire. Once His presence is there, even the fire has no power.

The Law of Honor and Spiritual Fatherhood

There are three things that make a spiritual training ground work well:

1. The presence of refined apostolic and prophetic voices — they set the template for what God is doing
2. A culture of honor — graces and mantles move at the impulses of honor
3. Unity — not fragmentation, not individualism, but partnership in what God is doing

Authority in the kingdom graduates at three levels:

1. Authority over things
2. Authority over territories — the king, the captain
3. Authority to steward God's program for a dispensation — the highest level, given to very few

Genesis 28:16

Jacob said, Surely the Lord was in this place and I did not know it. The lack of discernment regarding where God has worked cost Jacob twenty years of misery and confusion. When he returned in Genesis 32 and discerned the kairos season, he held on through the night: I will not let you go unless you bless me. He prevailed as a prince and received his new name.

Younger ministers — anyone who teaches rebellion against what God is doing and against the people who created the foundation for a ministry is destroying that person.

No baby cuts the umbilical cord by himself. Those who held the mic before must be honored. The labor of heroes past — spiritual and natural — is the ground on which every present-day ministry stands.

An indicator of spiritual danger: the young person who, upon receiving a little anointing, stops listening to anyone, dishonors fathers, and insults those with more history in God. Their grace is already evaporating.

Apollos was exceptional — but limited. When Aquila and Priscilla expounded the way more perfectly, he received it. That spirit of receiving, adapting, and honoring is what keeps grace intact and growing.

Altar Call

The teaching ministry is an act of compassion — but it is also an invitation. Every gathering that includes teaching includes at least one person whose destiny turns on this moment. This business of salvation is a serious business.