RELATIONSHIPS ARE POWERFUL, THEY ARE ADVANTAGEOUS CONNECTIONS.

THE EASIEST WAY TO SUCCEED IN LIFE IS THROUGH RELATIONSHIPS.

RELATIONSHIPS ARE CURRENCIES; THEY CAN PURCHASE THINGS, THEY CAN PURCHASE PEOPLE AND THEY CAN PURCHASE CONDITIONS INTO OUR LIVES.

IF YOU CAN BE BLESSED BY ASSOCIATION, THEN YOU CAN ALSO BE CURSED BY ASSOCIATION.

-Apostle Joshua Selman at Koinonia on ‘BLESSED BY ASSOCIATION’ (Part 1).

Lift your hands to Jesus. Wave it to Him as a sign that you believe, that you have a life that is invisible. Give Him the praise!

Good Evening Everybody. I want us to thank the Lord in one minute. Find a way to say thank You as best as you know to. Thank Him for His marvelous hand in our midst. Thank Him for the manifold manifestations of His grace. Nicodemus came by night and said, “Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these things except God be with him.”

Father, we give You thanks. Marvelous God, we thank You for Your wonder working power across the nations of the earth. From continent to continent, You have proven again that You are God.

Hallelujah!
While I just came in and I sat down there, I just saw a vision. In this vision I saw a family weeping. I don’t know what for and I saw this in my vision and I just thought that when I come up, I will just speak a word of encouragement. I don’t know what family may be here, it may be our global family. But God will make a way where there seems to be no way.

Let me speak to that family; there are times when you may not see the wind. There are times when you may not see the rain. Yet, by an act that only God can define and describe, the valley shall still be filled with water.

Listen, we are people who understand the principles of the Kingdom and I’m committed to teaching us the principles of the Kingdom but the presence of God can never be exalted above principles because there are times you will do everything right and it just will not work. At that point, you do not need formulas, you need Jesus. It takes the know-how to be able to go and fish. It takes having a good net to catch fish, it takes a functional boat to catch fish. But there are times you can have the knowledge, there are times you can have a good boat. There are times your net can be good, there are times you can even be on sea and you will still not catch fish. At that point, you need to leave the idea of being a fisherman. You don’t need fishing at that point, you need Jesus. He is the only One who can make a sea that has no fish at the instance of His word. We must never exalt principles above and beyond His presence. He is still the Monarch of the universe.

In God’s economy, one plus one should be two. But there are times where one plus one plus God equals whatever answer He puts there. Whereas, ordinarily one plus one should be two. When God wants to change the equation, He adds Himself; one plus one plus God. Three men in the fire plus one looking like the Son of God and these were men that the fire had no power over. So there is no reason to come to church and feel downcast and feel discouraged. Now, it may not be for everybody but just allow me a minute or two to just bring that word. If God showed me that vision, it means that there might be someone who came to church and you have just come and say, “Lord, I love You and I will not stop loving You. But can You at least show me a token of Your mercy. Let me know that these things work”.

The Bible calls Him our ever-present Help in time of need. Find strength in the name of Jesus! The God of Heaven is still alive, let it be so for you in the name of Jesus!
God bless you again. It is good to see everyone, please be seated.

It’s always a delight to be in the presence of God. In His presence, the Bible declares; there is fullness of joy and at His right hand, pleasures forevermore. Just two, three functions very quickly and then we will get to the ministry of the Word. I welcome everyone very specially in the name of Jesus who is the Son of the living God. Thank you so much for coming. The Lord honour you. We have a very wonderful woman of God in our midst, amazing to see her. Ladies and gentlemen, please help me to welcome Chioma Jesus. Blessings to you, we love you. Thank you so much. An amazing woman of God who has been a blessing to everyone.

Let me start by appreciating our medical team. As you know, yesterday they had some time visiting the IDP Camp at Apo with quite a lot of people and I was very humbled and touched when I saw the photos and it is a test run to our humanitarian services that we will be doing. Remember that we are light and salt and then, it was a very humbling experience. We had the privilege to dig and to build a very quality bore hole for them, medical attention, food and shared the love of Jesus with them. That for me, I was very encouraged. So medical people, thank you so much. May the Lord bless you in the name of Jesus Christ.
Amen!

The Lord will grant us grace to do more for His Kingdom in Jesus name.

It will not tire me to reiterate the scripture, Jeremiah 3:15, “that I will give you pastors or shepherds that are according to my heart and they will feed you with knowledge and understanding”. So, primarily the assignment of every man and woman of God as far as building the believers is concerned, is to feed them with knowledge and understanding.

God has helped us; week in, week out. We have considered a number of areas, touching across several areas of Kingdom lives, to the end that we may be grounded in the knowledge of God and then be established in truth. Let me encourage us before we deal with tonight’s topic; you must be very intentional about ensuring that the truths that are communicated do not just fall on deaf ears.

For a long time, we’ve had people in the Body of Christ who are not ignorant but they still lack results because the discipline to take that which they have learnt under God and to engage it appropriately to produce results for them, most people don’t have that staying power. So, you must be very committed to you growth, you have a responsibility under God to see to it that as the Word of God comes, your heart becomes like the good soil that is able to produce thirtyfold, sixtyfold and hundredfold. The good soil represents those who heard the Word and understood it. It is dangerous to continue listening to truth after truth, reciting them, supposedly you are aware of them and then your life does not capture results. Eventually, your Christian experience will be full of frustration.

So, make up your mind that every time you approach God to learn, you are learning so that you will have understanding and then, you’ll obtain grace from God. That is why at the end of every discussion, every communication of truth, the Lord grants us grace to be able to pray. That prayer is obtaining grace from the Lord.

Tonight, I’m teaching on a topic titled:
“BLESSED BY ASSOCIATION”
I want to show you by the Word of God tonight, the power, the price and the necessity of having strategic relationships and associations.

Proverbs 13:20
We are discussing relationship as one of the mysteries that are made for the rising and excelling of believers in this Kingdom. As you all know, we rise in this Kingdom on the strength of the mystery of the truth that we have found and know. When we apply these truths, they are called the mysteries of the Kingdom. They sustain the ability to lift us beyond our current level and bring us to a point where our lives can become true reflection of the glory and the grace of God.

Definitions of Relationship:

1. Relationships are advantageous connections, that are mutually beneficial to all the parties involved. That means when you say you are in a relationship of any sort, it means that there is a connection between you and those persons that is advantageous and that it must or should be mutually beneficial to all the parties involved.
2. The easiest way to succeed in life is through relationships. When the Lord brought us to this City, I saw this in the most explicit and most truthful way that can ever be seen that the easiest way to succeed in life is through relationships.
3. Everything in life multiplies on the basis of relationship. This means multiplication is only made possible because of relationship. It is your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ through the experience of new birth that has made you today a recipient of eternal life.
4. Relationships are currencies. This means that, they can purchase things, they can purchase people and they can purchase conditions into our lives.

Genesis 12:1-3, Genesis 13:1-6
God called Abraham in Chapter 12; Lot went with him. The result is, everything God did to Abraham, you know the difference because one person decided that he will be blessed if not by divine ordination, then he will be blessed by association.

Jonah 1:1-15
If you can be blessed by association, then it also means you can also be cursed by association.

Mark 4:37, Matthew 4:18-20, Acts 4:10-13
Associations and relationships matter, as far as our growth and our excelling in life is concerned. Most people have been very careless about associations and relationships and sadly to their peril and to their detriment; I hope that by this teaching, God will wake us up again to see that among the factors that needs to be in place in my life and your life, for us to truly be able to rise to our full prophetic potential in Christ is the ability to understand the implication of associations and relationships.

Understanding the Biblical principles of relationships is the key to being truly blessed by association. Church Gist. That means if you desire to be blessed by association, then you have to submit yourself to understand the Biblical keys that make for sustainable relationships (Amos 3:3, Proverbs 18:24).

Friendships and Relationships are a harvest. If you do not sow that seed of friendliness, you cannot have that harvest. Many people desire to have profitable associations and relationships that make for their excelling and advancement, but I think largely, believers have not been taught the Kingdom principles that make for relationships. There are business people today who have no business being wealthy and blessed except that they were wise and foolish enough to follow wise people and by their followership, they entered a haven whose impact for them will be transgenerational. There are many people whose lives were correct until they met certain people and certain relationships. Relationships matter; your eternal destiny can be determined purely based on relationships. That because of how powerful relationships are, a man can literally spend the remaining part of his life in hell or in Heaven, simply because of relationships.

I’ve had the honour and the privilege by reason of the work God has committed to my hands to talk with very successful people, extremely successful people and I am amazed, every time I talk with them, the major part of their discussions is centered around relationships, more than ideas. In my presence, you will see them interrupt our conversation, making all kinds of calls and laughing and sometimes, in the middle of something serious, they take their discussions very serious. Now, I’m wondering; if these people placed that much value on relationships, could there be something that we do not know? Because there are many believers, the only relationship you have is God. That is wonderful as far as your spiritual growth is concerned, but you are learning here now that when it has to do with living in the cosmos, you are going to suffer as if it is not God, you gave your life to. That’s why God is teaching us these things to help us.

There are many people today who are in positions, where based on the opportunities that God brought to their lives, they should never be in that state; financially, spiritually, in influence and so on and so forth. Many of us have loved ones around us and we have people around who continue to live mediocre defeated lives in the presence of many people who can provide leverage for them. They have not been taught the excellency of relationships. Woe betides a man who is left alone to sought your destiny out without anyone to come and assist you. There are many people today, if they do not pay the school fees of their children by themselves, there is nobody to help them. If they do not take the journey by themselves, there is nobody to help them. Relationships are powerful. My life today, by the privilege of God’s grace is a product of relationships. I have learnt the power, value and the excellency of relationships. For many of you, this is the answer to your prayer. You have depended on your skills, degree, whatever it is and neglected man and those beliefs that, “all I have is God and my wisdom, I will find my way through life”. Except that you find out that you get to a point where you are pegged at a level and you may never be able to make constructive progress.

I know people who may never really have anything to present except that the one thing they have is that they have mastered relationships. Relationship can be a stream of income. You literally can live on relationships. Relationships are powerful, they are people today who have earned a life time income simply because of those connected to them. Do you know that if by tomorrow morning, you suddenly appear a millionaire; verify, people will never say what do you do? They will say, “where do you go to?” This one is not what you did, this one is you must have met someone. There are results that they are not about what you did, it was about someone that you must have met. When Solomon had that encounter with God in the night, he woke up by the very next day and there was such display of profound wisdom, his fame went about as proof that he was no longer alone.

There are principles that we must know and engage. If relationships are this powerful and if they hold the key to our rising and excelling, I said this that when the Lord moved me to this City, I was surprised to see the model of growth and excellency in this City, that when you find individuals grow and excel, it is without exaggeration; 70 per cent relationships more than even competence. In this Kingdom, who hates you does not matter but who likes you matters.

Unbelievers across the globe understand this; they know the power of relationships. You see them investing in relationships with the determination of who you can almost call a fool and sometimes you are tempted to say, what is this level of investment and sacrifice? Except that when you begin to see the value that comes from that sacrifice. It is believers and church people that are largely careless over relationships just because we have God, the Holy Spirit and the Word of God; we have consistently displayed nonchalant attitudes especially towards profitable relationships.

• I pray that tonight, it will change in the name of Jesus Christ.

There are great preachers today who based on the investment of the spirit upon their lives, they should not be at the level they are now. I’ve had the honour and privilege of meeting a few people and I am amazed at how gifted these people are across boards whether in fashion, politics, comedians etc and you are wondering; how could someone be this gifted and remain at this level? I tell you; they have not found the power and the excellency of being connected and blessed by association. I have seen people who have spent time with God in prayer and fasting to access certain levels of graces and then, others who came by sincere followership, entered into that dimension of grace cheaply. An example; Elijah and Elisha. Elisha was not supposed to be a prophet. There was no prophecy about him being a prophet.

Elisha was a farmer, probably trying to take care of his family. But he made up his mind that, “I may not know my way around my life and destiny but this one thing I will do, I have found a man who seem to know what he is doing and I will follow foolishly”. The sons of the prophet were just there receiving lectures and arguing who will be the next prophet and this one followed sincerely. I cannot begin to tell you testimonies after testimonies of seasons that opened in my life spiritually and other wise, all because of relationships. Very profitable relationships.

There are three kinds of relationships and associations:

1. General Relationships. Every day you meet with people, every day you get to the bus station, office, bank, restaurant etc. You interact with people in the market place and the Bible demands that you honour all men. There are general relationships. You can meet someone for the first time in the market and within five minutes, you gist and laugh as though you were born from the same place and after saying bye, you may never see the person again.
2. Seasonal Relationships. These are relationships that are so ordained for seasons and the key to maximizing these relationships is to position yourself through discernment, to know what to receive within the time allotted. For instance, there are some of us that God on account of His desire to lift you, He will carry you and keep you in the house of an uncle or an aunty, put you under the care of someone to train you. You will not be there forever, but that relationship was for a season. Because in His mind, He saw that that is the only atmosphere where you learn character, discipline and diligence. You can spend your six years there complaining and say my uncle is a wicked man, rather than discerning that time is ticking, I should learn quickly what I need to learn. The man you call a wicked man, has never begged for bread. He is still with his wife, prays in the morning and night. These are the things you should be learning. God took you from wherever, oh Moses and kept you in Pharaoh’s house to learn something that you will need later on.

Many of you have aborted seasons of greatness in your life because you did not discern relationships that came in certain seasons; politically, ministerially and so on and so forth. Rather than discerning to say, why did God bring this person? Some of you, God gave you jobs not because of the salary, there was something and someone you need to meet there and you have a-three-year span to learn it. You spend two years complaining and right now, you have about three months left. You need grace to catch up quickly. There are certain people God took to serve (NYSC) in regions they do not want, He kept them there to connect them to certain people, so they could learn certain things. Every time you are in an uncomfortable environment, know that God allow you there to see something. It is a stretching to build you.

Many of us have had to recycle seasons in our lives because we could not discern seasons. There is no great man I know who will be honest with you about the story of their lives and you cannot capture in that story, times when there were kept in seemly uncomfortable positions. Seasonal relationships are largely the kind of relationships that God uses to prepare us for destiny.

3. Destiny Relationships. These are relationships that do not die because there is prophecy on them. These are people who are part of the overall equation of what God is doing in your life.

All of these relationships happen to us every day and we must have the discernment to know; who is in my destiny and sent by God, beyond my current level. If you do not know this; many people especially those who are not Christians, they know the value of what I am telling you, they will go out of their ways to consult with diviners, “help me check, who are these people who should be in my life?” There are people who there is no reason why they should be in your life now and God will still say, “keep them”. Because their relevance is not yet now. If you have the discernment to be patient, the next twenty years of your life can be secured.

Your ‘God bless you’ of yesterday, your helping someone lift a Bible yesterday can be equivalent to the job of your five children. You may not know. There are people today, the only bad thing that will happen to them in their lives is hell fire but as far as this earth is concerned, they will never suffer on earth again because they have stretched like an octopus.

They have mastered relationships and put together systems and structures that immune them from failure. Perhaps, the only place they missed is, not acknowledging the Lordship of Jesus but as far as the earth is concerned, they have sorted their destinies. Every time they make calls, there are memories of their investment in the lives of too many people for them to be ignored. Like Gideon, they will make one call and 32,000 people will come and say, “we remembered in 1971, you treated us well. What do you want?”

There are cleaners today who have become billionaires because they honour their way through cleaning into wisdom that blessed them and those who were raised in the same house, who trivialize the opportunity, do not learn anything. There are men of God today, who when they started ministry, they didn’t even know they will be men of God.

They started as secretaries, cleaners and every time, they will go and watch the man of God pray, three hours because you are the one who cleans the room, you have that access to see his personal life. “Wow, so this is how this man prays?” You will now go and start doing you own prayer too and one day, fire falls on your head. From a cleaner to an apostle. Many of us today, God gave us a chance for beautiful and a great destiny. We lost it out of lack of discernment. But thank God you are in church.

There are people today who in their old age, they may not even have any responsible children but they will never beg for bread, because in their youthful days, they were mothers to too many people for them to beg for bread. The ones taking care of them today are not even their biological children but because of someone who stayed in their house and mama treated that person as though he/she was their own child, the child vowed that one day, you will laugh because of me. Ten years later, he comes with a car and house and people say this is too much. “No! If she could see that glory in me ten years ago, then I will invest in her life for the remaining part of my life.” Relationships are powerful, they are advantageous connections.