The Mandate Of Reformation(the Journey Beyond Revival) by Apostle Joshua Selman: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Isaiah 58:12, Isaiah 61:4, Jeremiah 1:9-10

Our assignment as wise master builders is to work with the Spirit of grace and the word of God to build believers methodically toward a predefined end. Your assignment is to submit, sometimes painfully, and endure the pruning, molting, refining and transforming process until you can:

1. Host the glory of God to the degree that satisfies His heart
2. Command victory and dominion through your life
3. Serve the program of God in a way that brings Him joy and glory

Revival and reformation

Revival is real and the nations need it. But in addition to revival there is another layer, a twin brother to it, called reformation. Revival that does not give allowance for reformation will seldom last.

Revival is a restorative process. It brings back to a state after a decline. Its focus is the spiritual state of people and territories: God consciousness, spiritual fire, prayer, love and passion for God and His house.

Revival is like a mother in the spirit. When it comes, it gives birth to another program called reformation. When revival stops at revival, there is no longevity and no completion of what God intended.

An awakening blazes across a church, a school, a territory. People pray, repent, return to consecration. It lasts days or years, then dies down and is preserved as a monument of photos, videos and stories. Years later, young people who saw miracles are married, supporting families and in confusion over what to do with their lives. They may not have backslidden, but they are in limbo.

Revivals fail to deliver maximally because even those who spearheaded them did not know another layer should partner with revival. If revivals do not translate to reformation, they eventually frustrate even those who led them.

The burning bush is only the beginning. If Moses had stayed mesmerized by the bush and taken selfies around it, Israel would have gained nothing. The value of the burning bush is the profit it brought later, the deliverance of Israel from bondage.

God has a prophetic program

God has a prophetic program for individuals, families, nations and the church. Families matter because nations are born out of families. Destruction is incubated at family level and so is transformation. The Bible begins with a family and ends with a family. Jesus came through the gateway of a family.

Three of God's programs:

1. He desires to tabernacle among men

   2 Corinthians 6:16, John 1:14, 1 Timothy 3:16

   Emmanuel means God with us. Now He lives in us by His Spirit. Every believer is the temple of the living God.

2. He desires to establish His government, His influence and values

   Matthew 6:10

   The first "earth" is the earthen vessel, you. It starts in you and then spreads across the cosmos.

3. He desires to reveal His glory and excellence through men

   Ephesians 2:10, 1 Peter 2:9

   Spiritual and moral excellence, socioeconomic advancement. To show forth is the word doxazo, an unveiling of the glory of the King.

Execution depends on human participation

Isaiah 6:8, Ezekiel 22:30

The execution of God's program on earth depends on human participation. God needs men: not just available men, but men with capacity, in functional alignment with the Holy Ghost, with sufficient spiritual intelligence to host His program.

This means God's program can succeed or fail. It can suffer, lag and be slowed down depending on the quality of vessels. Men can willingly refuse. It may not abort the program but it frustrates the pace.

Illustration: you need a lorry to carry your harvest to the city, but all you find is a small Golf. You make do with what is available. God uses available vessels while He builds them, or while He allows others who are interested in efficiency. When He finds aligned and efficient vessels, He guards them jealously because it takes long in the spirit to attain that state.

The neglected operation of the Spirit

In addition to revival, there is a unique operation of the Holy Spirit within the church that equips believers to become change agents, builders, leaders and solutions to their world, not just church members. This dimension has been neglected and not incorporated into our discipleship and training.

Where revival's mandate is executed you see hunger, fire, consecration, love for God's house, passion for prayer and the word. Where reformation's mandate is executed, ordinary Christians become change agents, witnesses, leaders and solutions to their world. When you find prayerful, consecrated believers who seem useless to their world, the other part of the mandate was omitted.

The church in Africa has done well at revival but has not understood reformation. We have vibrant Christians who prayed, studied, fell under the anointing, attended and organized crusades, and now do not know what to do with their lives. Not everybody will have space at the pulpit, so the only way many respond to the hunger is to become pastors, not knowing the cry was for reformation.

A church where everybody is anointed, sees visions and has gifts activated, with nothing to do, is real trouble for the pastor. There must be a definition of job functions. Someone boiling with fire gives word of knowledge and prophecy before raising the offering. He is not rebellious, the fire is too much.

Spirituality can lead to frustration if it is not connected to purpose. What gives value to consecration, discipline and submission to mentorship is knowing you will become a refined vessel God can use in various capacities.

Parallel: graduates with certificates and no jobs. We churn out prayer warriors and fasting giants and tell them to just keep being church members. How many can be head of department or preach at midweek? The missing link to the frustration of many believers is the mandate of the reformer.

Revival is like a baton. Where it ends, it does not stop its influence, it achieves its goal and hands over to reformation. Reformation produces valuable citizens, not just church members and spiritual people.

Two definitions of reformation

1. The process of improving something by changing its composition, behavior or practice to make it better and more efficient
2. Spiritually, the process of utilizing the grace of God alongside the power of structured mentorship to transform a believer, and the church at large, into a force of change and transformation to society

Revival is restorative. Reformation is an upgrade, a transformative process.

Five areas of reformation

1. The unsaved person or unsaved world

   Reformation goes back to where revival started

2. The believer

   Personal growth and efficiency in spiritual things

3. The church

   Helping the church as a corporate spiritual entity understand and fulfill her mandate

4. Society

   Its well-being spiritually, morally and socioeconomically

5. God's agenda

   The successful execution of God's prophetic agenda for the nations

Revival and reformation overlap but differ in emphasis. Revival is concerned with the spiritual health and vibrancy of believers. Reformation is concerned with their growth, efficiency and purpose.

Who is an unsaved person?

An unsaved person does not equal an evil person. We have been subliminally programmed, largely by preachers, to equate non-believers with evil. Some unsaved people are nicer than many tongue-talking believers, with godlike character, empathy, integrity and responsibility. Unsaved just means in need of Jesus. It is different from unbeliever, since there are Christians who are unbelievers.

An unsaved person does not necessarily mean a spiritually useless person. Pharaoh, Cyrus and Nebuchadnezzar were unsaved but at the epicenter of executing God's program. Some of those God has scheduled for your lifting are unbelievers. If Joseph hated Pharaoh, something would go wrong. That is not God's ideal, but it is the reality.

Definition: An unsaved person is one who has not consciously and willfully received Jesus as personal Lord and Savior, has not submitted to His lordship, and does not have the Spirit of God living in him.

An unsaved person can be a millionaire or billionaire, with a wonderful family, and still not be all right. Some have no needs to pray for, but lack eternal security and the peace of the Prince of Peace within. Some Christians are saved but have no victory because they have not experienced the ministry of reformation.

The greatest need of an unsaved person is salvation, regardless of comfort, education or frustration. Poor and suffering people run to Jesus because they are in trouble. Rich or poor, once you are unsaved, your greatest need is salvation.

If an unsaved person is wealthy or morally nice, celebrate God for him. The human will has a dimension of God's power invested in it. People who decided not to be involved in certain things have not been influenced by Satan otherwise.

The church must correct the programming to hate successful unbelievers. Do not fraternize negatively, but do not always see unsaved people as evil. My assignment on seeing an unbeliever, miserable or successful, is to get that person saved, because without Christ life is still in danger. We call them sinners, but God calls them a harvest.

Who is a Christian?

The word Christian appears three times in scripture: Acts 11:26 (the first time), Acts 26:28 (Agrippa speaking to Paul), 1 Peter 4:16 (the final time). It is a generic name for believers in Christ. Say it boldly, do not be ashamed.

Definitions:

• A believer in and follower of Jesus Christ
• One who has consciously received salvation by believing the gospel and placing faith in Jesus Christ. Believing a preacher does not equal salvation, it is the gospel that saves 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, John 3:16
• One who is born again, a recipient of God's life, a partaker of His divine nature
• One empowered by the Spirit to live like Christ and function like Christ, manifesting the fruit of the Spirit in character and wisdom and extraordinary results in function. The most pragmatic definition

Three gifts received when you come into Christ:

1. Forgiveness of sin

   Ephesians 1:7

2. The gift of righteousness

   We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus

3. The life of God, Zoe

   1 John 5:11-12, Colossians 1:13, John 1:12

   All life forms proceeded from God, but Zoe is the most superior dimension, given to man. A mango tree has God's life too, but ours is superior in quality. It upgrades an ordinary man to function experientially in the God class.

   You have been translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son. Empowerment: power to become, to live like Christ and function like Christ.

Further teaching: The Triumphant Christian (3-part series), The Apostolic Christian

The greatest proof of being a Christian

1. Degree of conformity to the character of Christ in experience

   person

   Apostle Joshua Selman

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   The fruit of the Spirit manifesting regardless of background or personality type. The Holy Ghost edits your person. That is why it is called regeneration.

2. Level of spiritual understanding

   The natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit because they are spiritually discerned. If you are a Christian, the word, the kingdom and the ways of God make sense to you. To the natural man they sound like disjointed nonsense.

3. Manifestation of the ministry of the Holy Spirit through your life

   The wisdom and power of Christ providing extraordinary solutions to you and your world.

4. Your love for God and love for men

   1 John 4:20

   The greatest proof. If you say you love God and do not love the brethren, you are lying. Consecration and character are major elements, but check your love life too.

The church: threefold definition

1. A spiritual strategy

   Jeremiah 51:20-23

   God's strategy for taking salvation's message and power to the ends of the earth, for refining and rebuilding men, transforming society, preserving truth and moral excellence, and demonstrating the love of Jesus to the world. Do not think just pulpit, pews and a building. Think strategy.

2. The body of Christ

   Ephesians 4:5, 1 Peter 2:5

   The corporate body of believers bound by one Spirit, one faith and one purpose, headed by Jesus Christ. Each believer is a living stone built into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood.

3. The institution

   1 Timothy 3:15

   The administrative base for executing the great commission and preserving godliness in society. The pillar and ground of truth.

The sevenfold assignment of the church

1. Priesthood and prophetic intercession

   Ezekiel 22:30

   We are enforcers of the will of God on earth, partnering with heaven regardless of the devil, darkness or hardness of heart. We are the principal restraining influence over darkness on individuals, families and nations.

   That Satan has not destroyed your family does not mean he does not want to. Somebody understands the priesthood ministry and is doing it well. Where there are no prophetic intercessors, the program of darkness happens unhindered.

2. Soul-winning and global missions

   Reaching the unreached, taking salvation to every nation and territory. Every true Christian must invest a dimension of life here, as with intercession.

3. Stewarding the maturity and transformation of the saints

   The church exists to build itself in Christ. The fivefold were given to mature the body.

4. Be a revelation and representation of the invisible God

   John 1:6-7

   We are living epistles, the face of Jesus on the earth. If the world hates Jesus, it is because the mirror made it so.

   Illustration: restaurants put their best food forward, never stale leftovers on a dirty plate. They make you salivate. Every believer is a magnet to draw men to Jesus, not by coercion or manipulation but by being an authentic portrait of Christ in faith, wisdom and character.

   May people say, "I always hated Jesus until I met you." When the Bible says God is kind or God is love, the church brings validity to that statement.

5. Stakeholders and active contributors to socioeconomic transformation

   Through productivity, entrepreneurship, enterprise, leadership, medicine, technology and humanitarian engagements. Not passive contributors, not bystanders. The church in each city and nation must see that society does not go down socioeconomically, not just spiritually.

6. Custodians and dispensers of God's supernatural power

   Bringing supernatural solutions that prove Jesus is alive and validate His love for humanity. The highest layers are miracles, signs and wonders, but not the only layer. Science, medicine and technology are the garment the supernatural wears to reveal itself on earth. A leaf turned into a tablet that obeys the pharmacology with precision is a miracle.

   Preachers have done damage by limiting the supernatural to signs and wonders. Embrace science responsibly, not as anti-spirituality. Medicine is not anti-faith. It is an instrument of God's mercy until your faith grows, and growth is gradual.

   If fever or malaria goes on for days and you start hallucinating, call the doctor. It does not mean your faith is going down. Whoever laughs at you when you are treated does not know how God builds. God empowered baby Jesus with the Holy Ghost, yet told Joseph to take Him and run. When Jesus grew, He was not afraid of those things.

   Technology is an expression of the supernatural: salvations through online reach, surgery performed remotely, marriages saved by video calls, flights that cover in hours what took the Queen of Sheba three years. The church is a place of wisdom and should not raise foolish people.

   Medicine, science and technology are still growing and limited. The superior dimension of God's power dumbfounds science, like the resurrection of Lazarus.

7. Sponsors and preservers of spiritual and moral excellence in society

   This is not always the case classically speaking, but God is helping the church.

4 areas the church must focus on for her next season of impact

1. Soul-winning

   We have done well here

2. Discipleship

   We have not done well. God is helping us, but major work remains

3. Raising responsible and productive believers who are valuable to society

   One of the most neglected areas. We raised spiritual believers but not productive ones. You are not just a prayer warrior. You are productive enough to take care of your wife and children.

   A powerful intercessor with five children dropped at different families, and a pregnancy he calls a surprise, is irresponsible. An elder whose children cannot come to church because transport money is lacking is a problem. Productivity and responsibility must be restored to the church. There is a science to productivity, plus the grace of God resting on your life. Suffering is for a while, not forever, and not in the presence of teachings that culture you into victory 1 Peter 5:10.

   Many Gen Z and Gen Alpha hate church, God and their God-loving parents. They saw a zealous father with morning devotion and night prayer while the children slept hungry and the landlord threw the family out. That is misrepresentation of God. Failing to pay rent indefinitely as a lifestyle is not persecution, it is consequence. Persecution is suffering for the sake of Christ.

   Revival is about God, His presence and consecration. Once reformation enters, responsibility and purpose connect. I will never raise believers who are only spiritually vibrant. I will raise valuable and productive people.

   Nobody should see you as a burden. Be the one whose coming brings life, wisdom and gifts. Children are happy to see uncle because he brings blessing. Fifty years in your father's house calling yourself a child, while dreaming of changing the world, is delusion.

   Faith should not produce fools. Pentecostals have abused the subject of faith. Some people's story will not change given their current approach. Their mindset has become a stronghold to their destiny and they will only recycle pain.

   When you refuse to grow while others grow, envy and jealousy follow. Society is full of angry people who did not take advantage of their chance. Do not envy a classmate who is now governor or CEO. The same Lord is rich unto all.

4. Improving the quality of priesthood (preachers)

   The biggest challenge in the body of Christ today is not sin and not ignorance. It is the quality of priesthood. I say this of us all together. The problem in Nigeria and Africa is that everybody believes they are right, with no humility and submission. Pastors hold a major key in the kind and quality of believers that emerge.

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5 shades of lopsidedness in priesthood

1. Consecration and genuineness of love and reverence for God: fear of God, devotion, abstinence
2. Character and emotional maturity: allowing the fruit of the Spirit to flow
3. Doctrinal accuracy and spiritual understanding
4. Level of transformation: broad knowledge and exposure. A sincere man with a faulty belief system raises a lopsided people sincerely
5. Lack of a winning strategy for effective discipleship and raising responsible believers who are an advantage to society

3 reasons the current reformation model has failed to produce wholesome believers

1. It is built on hate and antagonism

   Story: a wealthy man took an economy seat and listened to his pastor's message. The man beside him hissed and said, "I feel sorry for you." We have been taught to hate anything that is not us.

   You cannot hate a people to change them. Church history shows it does not work. We sold hate toward Muslims and non-Christians, then graduated it to denominations. Even a car sticker can bring enemies. It is a cancer and a time bomb that will destroy the church. Pastors frown at each other at airports on the way to programs with altar calls.

   Politicians: do not fight and insult over elections. Use empirical data, statistics and facts. Do not make politics do or die. What kind of servant wants to lead by force?

   To love does not mean to agree or associate with evil. It is to have healthy respect, bless and raise a people. Jesus did not teach people to hate Satan. He had a vision and drove it to fruition.

   Light does not conquer darkness by hating it. Light conquers darkness by shining. The presence of darkness is not why the church is ineffective. Our light is not bright and wholesome enough. The law of love and empathy does a greater job than hate and antagonism.

2. It is built on self-righteousness and overestimation of self

   You reform people by pointing them to Christ, showing that you too are an object of mercy following Him. If I make myself the SI unit, I become a practitioner of a religion that is no longer Christianity. All of us, least to greatest, are students in progress toward the fullness of Christ.

   We must not do what Nebuchadnezzar did. There is unconscious idolatry in the church, building 90 feet statues of ourselves in perception and forcing people to bow. Be a model enough to guide spiritual walk, but never the sole reference of spirituality.

   Build confidence on Jesus, not the man, so when I err I can say sorry without embarrassment. The fivefold are the foundation of the church, not the cornerstone. The cornerstone is Jesus Christ. Otherwise we produce replicas of our errors and limitations.

   Where my life would mislead you, may God open your eyes so you correct it and become an improvement of me. That is good leadership. Honor and love me, but look beyond this man to Jesus. When you find me in error, take correction without fighting or insulting.

   The next generation of preachers should be better than us. A father who wants to be better than his children is not a good father. Pray, "Be better than me." The best of every man is a man.

3. It emphasizes only the spiritual and moral health of believers while neglecting socioeconomic and leadership responsibility

   Spiritual vibrancy and moral uprightness are foundational, but you cannot stop there. A complete reformation model covers four areas:

   1. Spiritual vibrancy
   2. Moral excellence
   3. Socioeconomic strength
   4. Leadership

   Testimony on responsibility: housing, school fees and feeding people from primary school to postgraduate, for many years. Some of their parents, even pastors, never knew or cared. Some of those girls would be prostitutes today.

   We will teach you to pray, fast, love Jesus and be consecrated. But I will also teach you how to win in life, be a great father and a blessing to society. Socioeconomic empowerment becomes a defense to integrity. You can say no to a billion from compromise and say, "Sir, return your money, what you need is Jesus."

   On Monday at the office, they should say, "This is a Christian indeed" because of the results you produce. May we be praying, fasting and consecrated, and valuable to our world. Christian leaders should be refined and reformed.

   An economic head who says Nigeria's problem is demons does not sound intelligent. Satan has a hand, but you do not win in leadership that way. A Christian judge judges by wisdom, discretion and law, not by saying the defendant is possessed.

   May church be filled with CEOs of banks and oil and gas, intercessors, prayer warriors, award-winning fathers and media moguls. After praying as priests, spread the fragrance of competence and value. I will never raise a generation of dummies. Where demons played a role, our priesthood deals with it. Where ignorance played a role, our competence manages it.

   There is an anointing for wealth, but there is a science and strategy to wealth. You exit poverty by productivity, not superstition. Demons bring poverty, but a bankruptcy of knowledge keeps people poor no matter how they pray. I will pray over the seed, but I will also refer you to messages that give intelligence. Grace plus strategy equals victory.

   Directors, managers, entrepreneurs, and those called to intercession like Anna the prophetess: all of us together make an effective body. Church growth is the grace of God, but there is a science to influence and leadership. Fatherhood and motherhood are leadership. If you do not understand leadership, you cannot raise anybody.

   Unemployment: go and study empirically, not superstitiously. Employment is private sector driven, so more entrepreneurs bring more jobs. Sitting and saying "God, just do something" wastes time. The value of grace is that you submit to strategic knowledge.

   Revival must be followed by reformation. Both together produce a wholesome believer. Let your mind rise up from the wheelchair. Rise up and walk. Not just physical healing but your intelligence and mind.

   You become a director because grace was released but utilized, and you became intelligent and competent. Take away superstition. Satan is not that powerful. Our irresponsibility and blaming him for everything empowered him to chain us.

   Illustration: the land is grace at work, but the bulldozers, payloaders and machines clearing it are grace utilized. That is leadership and vision. Leadership was not part of my training, but I read books on leadership as an act of faith because I knew I would use the knowledge.

The altar first, but not the altar only

It starts with the altar, then gets to your spirit, then your mind, then action. Prayer, fasting and consecration we must. The first port of call is the health of our priesthood.

When revival is done with its job, do not reject reformation when you see it. It does the re-engineering. Reformation makes you an excellent father in addition to a prayer warrior, one who feeds your family in addition to a mighty prophet.

Three things we must do:

1. Shun the campaign of hate by politicians, pastors and businessmen, and the antagonism of other denominations and personalities. Love and empathy is a better model
2. Shun overestimation of self. Men of God have gone through all kinds of things and it revealed one thing: we are men. Point people to Jesus Christ, the flawless and perfect One, and be unashamed to say we are not the SI standard
3. Bring balance and completion. The altar first but not the altar only.

Do not leave the altar and start enterprise. You will fail. Consecration, prayer and fasting first. Then be mentored, educated, refined and disciplined. Then grace is released and you are sent as a sign and a wonder.

Servants of the Lord, never downplay prayer, fasting and consecration because there is money. A billionaire's priesthood can be faulty and the devil hits and everything goes down. It does not start with enterprise or principles. In the beginning, God. Not wisdom, not knowledge, not action.

Your prayer life must be vibrant. Love the Lord. Flee every appearance of darkness. Then go for knowledge, submit to mentorship, attend seminars and build capacity so your children will not insult you as a spiritual failure. May your children not ask questions you answer by blaming demons.

The most successful person became successful in the presence of demons. The greatest failure will still fail in their absence. Jesus, the apostles and our fathers conquered in the presence of Satan. Billy Graham did not just pray, he read. As a man of God, do not stand before business people and insult their intelligence. Some people can never be your members if you lack capacity.

The true presence of apostolic and prophetic influence in society is not just signs and wonders. It is an emergence of an accurate portrait of believers: refined, consecrated, reformed, intelligent, bold, purposeful, visionary.

Revival begins a journey. When it achieves its goal of restoring the fear of the Lord and honor to the things of God, it passes the baton to reformation. Reformation does not stop till mighty men emerge. Mighty men means well-rounded believers: mighty in the spirit, in deed, in lifestyle, in results, in destiny.

Salvation is the gateway to reformation. Jesus is the captain of this revival and reformation agenda, behind the making of a well-rounded army that blesses the kingdom and society.