Infinite Fellowship Ministries

The Elements Of Glory (Part 3): Sermon By Bishop Gobanga

These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. 

John 17:3-5 (KJV)

Jesus was the pinnacle of ministry after thirty three and a half years and was in transition to go back to the Father. Verse 5 points out that Jesus was yearning for the Father and not for material things. He understood that all He wanted was the Father and intimacy with the Father. He missed the dimension and depth that He experienced with God the Father before He was made into flesh and was on earth.

Before Jesus came on earth, He was abiding in the bosom of the Father – the interior sediments of the Father.

Jesus yearned to go back to the Father. Jesus wasn’t interested in people celebrating  His accomplishments. It had nothing to do with the achievements He made in ministry.

The only way we can walk in glory is to abide in God and being in union and intimacy with God.

Unity with the Father is the entrance into glory. The climax of success in ministry is divine relationship with Jehovah God. Our achievements fade compared to the majesty of His glory. Our gifts are as good as nothing unless they are anointed by God and bear fruit.

And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 

Isaiah 6:2 (KJV)

The righteousness of God is the display of the glory of God in action. Righteousness always judges what is wrong.

For I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. For I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

Leviticus 11:44-45 (KJV)

When God’s glory comes down with His righteousness, judgment comes down. The glory of God is all that God is – His attributes. The weightiness of God is His glory.

In the New Testament dispensation, God desires that we see Him. To see God’s glory, our flesh must die. God desires that we lead lives of surrender. When you reach a point of seeing God, material things don’t matter.

Glory refers to His gravitas. It is the culmination of God’s character; the summation of all He is. We cannot exalt one aspect of God at the expense of the other. He does not mute one attribute when He is expressing another. For example, when He rebukes it does not mean He does not love. The glory of God is His beauty that emanates from His character, His attributes and all He is.

The Body of Christ has a problem with encountering God. The Church is focused on benefits and not Him.

You can’t get the benefits of glory without the glory. There is also a need to walk in holiness in order to walk in the glory of God.

Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

Isaiah 6:5 (KJV)

Glory is the nature of God and not what He does. You can’t talk about glory without beauty. Worship has all to do with who He is. God is the fountain of goodness. All the goodness of God finds its definition in His character.

When we worship God, we are able to see the beauty of the character of God in other people.

The goodness of God is defined in His character and not in physical happenings around us.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 

Romans 8:28 (KJV)

Frustration in the life of a believer works to call one to a higher place of holiness in God.

We cannot get the benefits of glory without encountering the glory of God.