Understanding Death by Pastor Lawrence Oyor: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Satan Fights Your Definitions

Satan fights from foundations. The foundation of anything is critical. One of the foundations he fights is your definitions — the way you see things. Once he has dealt with you at the definition stage, he has already finished you from the beginning. Every time you interact with a subject, because your definition is wrong, your interaction is already wrong.

Proof that he has succeeded in most lives: when you hear the word death, are you excited or are you afraid? If somebody says you will die — are you excited? No.

But what if death is not always the cessation of life?

The early saints had a proper understanding of all the forms of death — and that is why they lived the way they lived.

Three Meanings of Death in Scripture

1. Death as Separation

   In Colossians 1:20-22, having made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself. And you who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy, blameless, and above reproach in his sight.

   When the serpent deceived the woman and the man followed — did they physically die that day? No. What happened was a separation. They were cut off from their connection with God. Death can be separation. A marriage can die. A relationship can die. What ceased was not physical life but a vital connection.

2. Death as the End of an Operation or Activity

   In 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 — For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.

   When Adam sinned, a class of experiences came. Death came — meaning a whole category of existence was switched off. That is why places where Revival breaks out, even the crops respond to the life — because life and death are not limited to human beings. All creation was affected.

   

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   Pastor Lawrence Oyor

   Davidic Generation Church

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   By man came death — meaning the end of the activity of life, in all its dimensions.

3. Death as Transition from One Version to Another

   In 2 Corinthians 4:16 — The outward man is perishing, but the inward man is being renewed day by day.

   When Paul said I die daily, he was also saying I live daily. As you shut down propensities of the flesh, you unlock new propensities of spirit. From glory to glory. It keeps getting better, your senses keep getting sharper.

   Death is the reason why it takes months to hear your spouse clearly. Death is the reason why ordinary believers cannot hear God's voice consistently. The more life a person has in the spirit, the higher the class of experience available to them.

   When you want to update an operating system, you must first uninstall the old one. Of necessity, something must die for something to live. Anytime you see death, do not only think cessation of physical life — think transition from old to new.

   That is how the early church saw physical death. Why are you crying that someone died? The moment they left the body, they picked up another one — transition from an old body that can cough and sneeze, to a new body moving at the speed of thought.

Death Is Necessary

Death is painful in a generation that hates pain. A generation that hates pain is a generation that hates death. However, death is necessary.

Unless a grain of wheat falls and dies, it abides alone. But if it dies, it comes back up with plenty of fruit for all to enjoy.

Everyone you see blessing lives around the world — celebrate them with the consciousness of the deaths they died for that life to be produced. The man who prays for 12 hours in a stretch did not come out the same. The sacrifice of that prayer session produced a level of encounter that others had not yet caught up with.

For the gospel to rest on the shoulders of men in the early church — they were dead men. Men that could pay any price. It is not a price if you are already dead. You are feeling the cost of obedience because you are alive to your own desires. But when you die to self, there is only one option. Compromise is not even a consideration for the dead.

The Will of God Prospers When You Die

Too many prophecies — personal ones, territorial ones — are hanging, waiting. They will not come to pass until we die to the things that are standing in God's way. This is not a one-time event. It happens every day by your choices.

When they tell you that if you do not compromise, they will not promote you — you are not even going home to pray about what to do. Because you are dead. There is only one option for the dead.

God wants to take you inside this season. He wants to put a death to everything standing in his way in your life. When that death is complete, your life will start — the version of your life that God designed, the version that matches every dream and vision he has shown you.