Today we are considering something. It's important to us as individuals because it is directed to us as individuals. We could hear this word as a group, but we must treat it individually. So, we are considering On Becoming a Tree of Righteousness. So, the goal is not becoming trees of righteousness, the goal is becoming a tree and that identifies you and I as individuals, so you become a tree, I become a tree. Do we understand? So, we are not dealing with trees, we are dealing with a tree and that is you, that is me. Let's go to the book of Isaiah chapter 61. And from there, the Lord will be taking us to other places. Isaiah 61:1-3:

 

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
² To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
³ To ^]console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

 

The Bible says “to give them”, and then the later part says: “that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that may be glorified, that he may be glorified.” Is it that “they may be glorified?”, No! That He May be glorified. Now, I'm sure we are familiar with these verses. There was even a time I think, in Luke when the Bible quoted that Jesus was given the scroll, and He found where it was written. And then He read it. He said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me” when he was done Bible says “the eyes of everyone that was seated, was fastened at Him” because, they knew the implication of Him saying, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” He said, “this scripture is fulfilled in your midst.”

 

So here, we know that Jesus aligned Himself to the fulfillment of this prophesy. When Jesus emerged, He aligned Himself to the fulfillment of this prophecy. I don't know where you are right now, I don't know if you have emerged. I don't know if you are going to emerge. But the truth is, there is a place for you in this prophecy, there is a place for you. As there was a word to the Lord Jesus Christ, there is a word to you and I here. It says “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me”, and it began to mention what the Spirit of the Lord is meant for. And he says, “To preach good tidings, to proclaim these and to do that, to give those who are mourning beauty for ashes, that they…”

 

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to do so much in their lives that they may be called. Please, Ma, can you call me a doctor? Why? Is it because you don't wish that I can become a doctor? Why can't you call me a medical doctor? She said because I am not qualified. Thank you, you know, she even embarrassed me, and she didn’t even say you are not. I was expecting that she will say because you are not one. Why should I call you who are not? So, Sir, you are called who you are. And she even now answered like a disciple of Jesus Christ. She said because I am not qualified.

 

So, you are called because you are either qualified or pre-qualified. Calling does not come to you because they just want to call you. This is a very important truth that must settle in our hearts. I cannot look and see you now and because I love you or like you and I say you are a nurse and say “nurse, come nurse, nurse so, so, so and so come.” You will be looking at me like is this man alright? Or I look at you and say “Pharmacist, so, so, and so come”, “Engineer so and so come.” I cannot love you so much, and then call you a name that you are not. So, the Bible says the ministry of Jesus would be so prosperous in the lives of the people, that the people will be called TREES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, and that suggest to us that the people have become trees of righteousness, so they will be called one. So, until you become a tree you are not be called one. That's the truth. Until I grow up to the point that I become a tree. Nobody will call me one.

 

Do we understand that bases? So being called a tree of righteousness suggest that a man or a woman has become one. That man was not a tree of righteousness before, that man or woman has only become, simply because Jesus has done something repeatedly in the life of that man or in the life of that woman. Jesus said, the Bible says, the prophecy concerning the Messiah, “the Spirit of the LORD God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me”, the Lord has singled me out. The Lord has sent me to preach good tidings to the poor. So, I am meeting them in their poor state. Note it. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, so, I am meeting them in their brokenhearted state; to proclaim liberty to the captive, I am meeting them in their captivity. Can we see it now? And the opening of prison to those who are bound; I am meeting these ones in their bondage, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn.

 

So, I'm meeting some of them in their mourning state, to console those who mourn in Zion to give them beauty for ashes, I am meeting them in their ashes. These who would become trees of righteousness were not trees of righteousness. They were a rejected people, they were a city forsaken, and they were abandoned; they were oppressed. But this is a people robbed and plunder their circumstance is nothing to envy. But Jesus, by the prophesy is saying, I'm meeting them in that state, but I have a plan for them. Although, they are a people that cannot be recognized or identified for anything now but I am making them a tree that will be identified as a tree of righteousness. You see that name; “tree of righteousness” is an identity, a qualification. It qualifies them. They are trees or they have become trees and what they produce is righteousness.

 

So, when you are looking for righteousness in a nation, the Bible says righteousness exalts a nation, and sin is a reproach to any people. When you are looking for righteousness in a community, in a family in an organization, you come to them. When you are looking for a few guys, a few people who can do the right thing at the right time, you'll find them. Before we put righteousness at a level that is only approachable by the bishops and the Popes; understand that the basic implication of righteousness is you are doing the right thing at the right time. You are in the right place doing the right thing, there's something about your life that is right. So, you have become a tree and what you do is you produce fruits, and the fruit is identified as righteousness.

 

When a people look at their politicians and say “these politicians are corrupt”, so they are trees also. But the fruit they bear is the fruits of corruption. So, when they sleep and wake up, all you find when you come to them is corruption. When you come to them, they are corrupt. When they come to you; they are corrupt. They are like that rock when they pounce on you, corrupt, when you pounce on them, corrupt. Let me say that again. When you hit a corrupt politician, you will hear corruption, corruption that’s the sound. When the politician hits you, you'll be hearing corruption. So whichever way it is corruption, why? They have become trees of corruption. And so, they will be described as such. When you call a person, a kidnapper. He's not because he kidnapped once. That's not the only reason, it’s because that's what he does repeatedly.

 

A bandit, a bandit is one who is a professional at what he does. A terrorist terrorizes, a plumber does the work of the plumber. He does it repeatedly. So, when you become a tree of righteousness, it is because not just once repeatedly people can find righteousness on you. When they come to you, they get righteousness. So, they call you a tree of righteousness. So, you don't become righteous. Or you don't become a tree of righteousness overnight. The whole world will not identify you as a man of righteousness. Have we had something like a man of rebellion? Who do we remember that to be ascribed to, Satan a man of rebellion why? Rebellion is repeatedly found in him. So, when you find a man, a woman of righteousness, it is because righteousness is repeatedly found in you.

 

The goal of God is not that you suddenly become righteous, or you occasionally produce righteousness. Today, when you find a brother Gboyega in a good mood, you will find righteousness. Oh, when you come tomorrow you find him in a bad mood, you will find un righteousness. That is not the intention of God. He says, “To give them beautiful for ashes, to preach to them.” He says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach good tidings.” I preach good tidings, not that I have preached good tidings to them; I preached good tidings to them. It is like I repeatedly share the word, the good news of the kingdom to them. And because I do these things to them, they have therefore become trees of righteousness.

 

So, when you come to them in the night, in the morning, in the evening, you will find the fruit of righteousness on them. That's the goal of God. That January is your most righteous month is not the glory of God. The Bible says “that He may be glorified”, that you become a tree of righteousness means people can find righteousness or you 365 days of the year, and God will be glorified in your life. That's the goal. So, in case you want to also to also ask, He says “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me”, you know who said that? What is the importance or what's the relevance of that one that said that to my life? It is important in my life and to my life till I become, I Gboyega Adedeji become a tree of righteousness. So, Jesus is relevant, indispensable in my life till I become a tree of righteousness. Okay, for some of us that are meditating. Let's quickly go to Ephesians chapter four before we come back here. Ephesians chapter 4. I will read from verse 7, I will jump to 11. The Bible says:

 

“But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. ¹¹ And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry. For the edifying of the body of Christ. Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.”

 

Grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Who gives the gift? Christ. Thank you. And He, who is He? Christ. The same one who gave gift, is the same one we are expected to come to the measure of the fullness of His stature. So, the Bible says “till we all come.”  These ministries will stand “till we all come” not just till sister Lara comes, or bro Biola comes, or sister so, so, and so comes. But till we all come to the fullness. The first word is to the measure. You know, when you want to cook for women that want to cook. Usually, an average woman will measure rice every day when they want to cook it, like you know, should we cook rice? They will say yes, how many cups? I'm telling you how they ask me in my house. They don't ask me how many cups. They just ask me do you want to eat rice? I will say yes. Then I will hear, “go and cook two cups, go and cook three cups.”  That means go and cook three measures of our kind of measurement, that cup of rice.

 

So, until you fill the first measure, you don't say you have accomplished one measure. So, if for instance, somebody says “go and cook three measures of rice, three cups of rice” and you now cook three half cups of rice have you done the justice? In fact, you have not done rightly, you have done wrongly. So, if you have not done rightly it means you have done ‘un-righteously’ it as simple as that. So, the will of God is not that we become half cups of Christ, half measures of Christ; we come to the measure of the fullness of Christ. So, Jesus is relevant in your lifestyle, till you attain the measure of the fullness of His stature. So, becoming a tree of life does not drop on you like ripe pawpaw or does not come into your life overnight. It takes time. It takes time. It's a process. Jesus would walk in your life; Jesus will speak to you; Jesus will heal you of your broken heartedness. When you get into captivity, Jesus would get you out. When you enter into prison, Jesus would get you out, Jesus will work in you, work through you, till you become a tree of righteousness. Till you become!

 

So, how long will I see the workings of Jesus in my life? Till I become a tree of righteousness. Till the whole world see me as a man, a woman that produces righteousness. It’s not as if righteousness is like a stain that splashes on me, and that sticks No, it is my production. It is what I produce. Let me just say this quietly. Do we know that none of us love people to splash our bodies with saliva, but we all produce saliva? Do we understand? Out of your abundance you produce saliva and it is your own saliva, especially the one that you accept. It comes from you. Sorry, have you ever thought about let me produce some saliva? As it ever come to your consciousness? Ma, do you consciously produce saliva? It comes that's it. A tree does not say let me produce fruit it produces fruits, and you produce fruit after the order of your identity of your nature. Now there's something else that we will see that makes a man a tree of righteousness. The truth is before we die, we will all become trees. But I cannot guarantee that it will it will be trees of righteousness.

 

See, there is no corrupt man on earth. There is no politician, no spiritual leader or religious leader. No man that is making waves in any nation on the earth who is not a tree. No woman who is not a tree. Every human that is making waves in any kind of wave is a tree. We only differ in the fruits that we produce as trees. So, it’s not in doubt whether we will become trees. What is in doubt is whether we will become trees of righteousness. Remember, the Bible that says “many are called few are chosen.” Many can produce fruit as trees, but only few are able to produce the right fruits. And so, they are the righteousness. They are the trees of righteousness.

 

So, let's go to Romans 8:28-30. The Bible says:

 

“For we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. ²⁹ For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. ³⁰ Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, and these He also glorified.”

 

I'm sure we remember that it says in verse 29, “for whom He foreknew He also predestined.” So, let's jump to 30. You see, the area that I'm always excited with is in between “predestination and called”. That's where many of us are in the whole world. Many of us are lost in that jungle. We have been predestined but we tell ourselves I have not been called. I've interacted with men and women in my life who will tell me they have not been called. I don't always agree. The reason why I don’t agree is because I know they have been predestined. But can you see that there is almost an automatic transition from been predestined to been called. It's just a matter of time. The materialization or the evidence or the reality of the call could take time, but you have been predestined. And by virtue of your predestination, you have also been called.

 

Because you can't see certain attributes, certain fruits in your life, you say I've not been called. But that does not mean you have not been predestined. For those who understand computer, another word for that predestined is pre-configured. That doesn't mean when the manufacturer was releasing you, the configurations were not already put in place only waiting for an advanced user. A user that has knowledge and understanding to maximize. Many of us have devices, mobile devices, and any kind of devices that we are yet to maximize. We don't even know how to maximize them. Yet they have been pre-configured by their manufacturer to do much more. If you ask an old woman in Nigeria that is using a touch screen, apart from doing one or two things, she doesn't use it for any other thing, yet this same thing can become a computer to her. So, there is something that is called pre-configuration. It has been concluded and completed by the maker only waiting for a user to become conscious of its presence, and then to maximize.

 

So, you can say from now till tomorrow, God has not called me, I will only be smiling, because I'm also waiting for the day you will come to the understanding and knowledge that you have only been configured aforetime, you have not yet been conscious of your details, of the details of your configuration, which we will call predestination. Okay, the English was more computer than normal. Imagine you been given a latest laptop; it can do so much. It processes fast, everything is great. But you don't know much about computer, please, what will you do? Is it not typing? Typing A, B, or C. I know some people here that are still typing.  But you're carrying a machine, a machine that can transform the world, but you don't know how to use it. Why, is the fault the computer’s fault? No, it is your own knowledge. All things that pertain to life and godliness has been given to us. But we have access to them through the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

So, you have been called but the challenge is, you are not yet conscious by reason of understanding of your calling. Why do I say you have been called? Because I know you have been predestined. See the way the Bible puts it there. “For whom He knew or whom He foreknew, He also...” You remember what God said to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:5, “before I formed you in the womb of your mother, I knew you.” The Bible says “For whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed.” You know, when we were talking about “till we come to the measure of the fullness of Christ.” He says “to be conformed to the image of His Son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” So, it means whoever Christ was, and is, we have been pre-destined, have been conformed. Yes, we have been pre-destined to be conformed to that, that Christ is.  Let me say it again, Bible calls Him the firstborn among many brethren. Meaning, whatever God is able to do with Him, and through Him, God is able to do with and through you.

 

So, God is only using Him as a model of what is possible. So, when we are talking about you and I becoming trees of righteousness, it is because we have a Lord, who is already the tree of righteousness. So, when we now grow in the measure of His stature, we ultimately become trees of righteousness after the order of Him. So, when God was pre-configuring us, when God was configuring Sister Benedicta, God was not looking at a woman that will just come to Nigeria. God was looking at Christ. God was saying, okay, this is Christ. Okay, Benedicta, alright. In the fullness of time, you will become like Christ, you will talk like Christ you will walk on water like Christ in the fullness of time. As you grow in understanding, you will start realizing that what Christ has done you can do. Jesus says “the works that I do, you will do greater works than this you will do, why? “Because I go to the Father.” Because you have been raised up unto God after the order of Christ, you must measure yourself by Christ, not by any other thing. There could be many trees, but the model tree is Christ Jesus, the tree of righteousness.

 

Now, I just want us to look at something so that we understand that becoming a tree of righteousness is not what God wants us just get it done anyhow. No. There is a how. Isaiah chapter 28, verse 16, we want to see Jesus as the tree of life. You know, Bro Biola led us to pray that “blessed are our eyes that see”. So, when I say we want to see Jesus as a tree of life don’t say “Bro Gboyega has seen it” I will see it too. Say “Lord, help me to see it too”. My eyes are blessed because they see. Isaiah chapter 28:16. Now we have read this verse countless times, but let's understand it in this context.

 

Therefore, thus says the Lord God:

“Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation,
A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation;
Whoever believes will not act hastily.

 

God is the one saying it behold, “Behold, I lay in Zion, a stone for a foundation.” Now for many of us that are advanced students of the word of God, who do you think God was referring to here?  Christ! Because there was even a time the Bible says “the stone that the builders have rejected as become the chief cornerstone.” And God called Him a tried stone, a precious Cornerstone, a sure foundation. So, I lay in Zion, the question is what Zion? We have come to Mount Zion, Hebrews, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, we have come to Zion. So, wherever God tabernacle the city of the Lord, the habitation of God is the Zion and God is saying, “I have laid, behold I lay behold like open your eyes, and see that I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation”. So, when I was building Zion, I used that stone as my foundation. Do you see foundations? The place we are in, how many of us have also seen the foundation? We don't know the foundation we can’t see, but there is a foundation. Before we could have a building, there is a foundation it is possible for you to enjoy a building and to be unconscious of the availability of the presence of a foundation.

 

When Adam and Eve entered the garden, they entered a city of the Lord. But there was a foundation. What does a foundation do? What is the basic responsibility of a foundation? We have builders, if nobody is talking sir, I come to you. Sir, I'm shiny my eyes, what is the basic like the elementary responsibility Foundation? It carries the weight of the superstructure, so foundation is the sub structure, it carries the weight of the superstructure. So, the things you can see are carried by the things you cannot see. Have you never read it in the Bible? By faith we believe that the world was framed by the word of God, and the things that we can see from the things which do not appear, which are not visible. So, even though Adam and Eve entered the place God has built, there was the foundation that God used to bear the weight as long as that foundation remained, the infrastructure of God, the planting of God, the garden of God remains. So, you that you now know that God doesn’t build without building foundation, you must now understand that there was a foundation at Eden that carried the entire weight of Adam and his kingdom. Without that foundation, there will be no influence for Adam. See it, without that foundation, there will be no influence for Adam.

 

Let us go to the book of Genesis 2:8-9. The Bible says: “The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. ⁹ And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” So, Bible says “out of the ground, God made every tree to grow.” But in that garden, that same garden that trees grew, the Tree of Life was there. There were trees, but the Tree of Life was there and the tree of knowledge of good and evil was also there. And God said, all trees that are in this garden, eat from them except, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now when Adam and Eve sinned against God, in chapter three, from verse 22. Genesis 3:22, the Bible says:

 

“Then the Lord God said, beyond the man has become like one of us, to know good and evil and now less he put out is and take also of the tree of life and eat and live for however, therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. And so he drove out the man, and He placed Cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden, and a flaming sword, which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.”

 

The Tree of Life was so important that when man fell, God guarded man against it. God guarded man from it; God prevented man from using it from enjoying it. Because if man had gone into it, if man had fell on the tree of life, in that fallen state, man will remain corrupted for life. There will be no more remedy. So, God said “eat the fruits, feed on trees, but don't go to the tree of knowledge of good and evil”. Do you notice that God didn't say don't go to the tree of life? Because they needed to feed on the tree of life, if they would live, the tree of life therefore became like a foundation for them, it became the bases for their lives, it carried the weight of their living. You know you cannot rule, if you don't have life. If you are the richest woman in the world, but you don't have life, what's the relevance of the influence? So, they needed the tree of life, the life that comes from the tree of life for them to exercise authority. So, when they sinned, they could no longer feed on the tree of life, because they are now corrupted because they have fed on a wrong seed. I'm sure we know that inside every fruit lies seed. And the fruit is what a tree produces, let's see the sequence.

 

A tree produces fruit, inside the fruit that trees produced lies the seed. And you will become a tree of your own seed. They fed on a wrong tree, they fed on the fruits of the wrong tree. So, the wrong seeds were sown into them. Now, if they should be allowed to feed on the tree of life they will now live on, in that wrong state for the rest of their eternity. And God said “no, in this state they are, they can be redeemed. If they should feed on the tree of life, they can’t be redeemed.” So, we can see what happened. So, there was a tree of life that was there. Now when you read the Bible, in Proverbs, and wisdom is saying, “I was there by me God did this, by me God did that.”

 

In John chapter one verse one Bible says “in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God”. All things were made by him”. “Nothing was made by God that was not made through Him.” So, we can see the place of the word of God, we can see the place of wisdom. And then we can see the place of the tree of life. See the tree of life. And Bible says, “and God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life”, and you're seeing the Tree of Life, the breath of life, all these things are connected together. So, Christ was at Eden, and Christ was the foundation of the dominion. As long as men fed on Christ at Eden, they lived. But the moment they left Christ and they were feeding on a wrong tree consuming a wrong fruit, they were getting wrong seeds into themselves. And so, they became wrong trees eventually. Can you see the sequence? Alright.

 

Let us quickly see Hebrews 12:11. The Bible says: “No, chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful. Nevertheless, after wards, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” Afterward, it yields the peaceable fruits of righteousness to those who have been trained by it, those who have been fed by it, those who have listened to it. One thing we mustn't forget the tree of righteousness, the fruit, now we can see fruit of righteousness, and then the seed of righteousness. There is a statement I want us to note. Okay, let's read Philippians before we go to the next, the last and the most, and the next important thing. Philippians 1:9-11, the Bible says: “And this I prayed that you loved me about still more and more in knowledge, and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, and that you may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness, by Jesus Christ, to the glory and the praise of God.”

 

The fruits of righteousness are by Jesus Christ, to the glory of God. So, when we are thinking and talking about fruit of righteousness, we are thinking and talking about the tree that produces that fruit. The model tree of righteousness, do you understand? So, if the Bible says the fruit of righteousness are by Christ, Jesus, then that also implies that Christ Himself is the tree of righteousness. So, when you become like Christ, you are becoming a tree of righteousness yourself. Jesus said, when a disciple is perfect, he will become just like his master. Now, when you plant two trees together, and especially there is a big tree, a big tree that has been there for like twenty-thirty years, and then you now plant a smaller tree beside it. So, the same kind but you plant them close, but they are like twenty-five, thirty years apart. So, when this smaller one eventually grows, it will become just like the bigger tree. So, the bigger tree becomes like the future of the smaller, and becomes an example for growth.

 

So, when you want to see how you will be when you grow, you see how your model is that now that He has grown. Now when you want to see how it shall be for you, when you are glorified, you see how it is for Him in His glory. Christ in you, Christ in us the hope of glory. It has not yet been revealed what we shall be. However, when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, and so your glory is not the order of things around you in Nigeria or wherever you are in the world. Your glory is after the order of the glory of Christ, because you are a tree just after His kind, and what is the reason? You know when you want to start, when you want to start, maybe a cocoa plantation or any kind of plantation that is a fruit a crop plantation. You can start with one tree. When that tree grows to a point it starts producing fruit. The seed that you get from the fruit can then be used to multiply right? So, from Jesus there were 12. From the 12. There were 120, from 120, 3000, from 3000. We are where we are today. And so, the question is: how has Christ reproduce Himself in you?

 

 

 

HOW GOD EXPECT US TO BE COME TREES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

 

“Now then we are ambassadors of Christ, as to God were pleading to us. We implore you on Christ behalf Christ with Christ, the tree of righteousness, on Christ behalf, be reconciled to God.”

2 Corinthians 5:20

 

Okay, please, when you are reconciled to God on Christ behalf, what do you then become to God? If Christ; we know Christ is the tree of righteousness, and on Christ behalf you have been reconciled to God, who do you become unto God? Do we understand? Okay, some of us are still thinking, is this equal to like that. Sister Anjola, did you like mathematics? No, I’ve already seen it. Alright, 2 Corinthians 5:21 says: “for He made a new thing to be seen for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Okay, in between, we might become the righteousness of God in Him. You can replace it with “that we might become the trees of righteousness.” Did you see that? For He made Him who knew no sin, to become sin, or to be sin for us. And the essence the goal is simple, that we might become the righteousness of God. And I said you can put that we might become the trees of righteousness of God. Because whether you put tree or you don't put tree, you're just trying to qualify it. When you become the righteousness of God. It is because you're also producing fruits of righteousness.

 

God does not want you to become a seed of righteousness, and then die as a seed. He wants you to be planted. Remember Isaiah chapter 61, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting. So, until you, a seed, is planted to the time or to the point that you become a tree; God is not glorified. So, the goal is simple that I might become a tree of righteousness. Now Romans chapter 1, verse 16, we want to see the two in a way of becoming a tree of righteousness. How we who were once in the word become trees of righteousness. Romans 1:16-17, the Bible says:

 

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel ^[a]of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

 

Another word for the gospel of Christ is in the preaching of the word of Christ. In the sharing of the news that Christ shared with us. Christ told me this, and I'm telling you, this is what Christ told me this is what Christ has shown to me is what Christ said to me. That's the good news of Christ. That's the gospel. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed. From faith to faith as it is written the just or the righteous shall live by faith. In the Gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. In the Gospel, the righteousness of God is planted. In the Gospel, in the preaching of the word, the righteousness of God is sown in the hearts of men, till they become trees of righteousness. So, the Bible says, “How will they believe except somebody preached to them?” How will they believe? In fact, in that same Romans chapter 10, I think verse 17, it said, so Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. And they need to believe if they will ever call on God, and trusting God.

 

So, if they must believe, what must happen? They must hear. We are not dull of hearing. We are blessed because our ears are blessed. Our eyes are blessed. We see with our eyes we hear with our ears; we know things that are mysteries to the multitudes they are clearly spoken to us. Christ speaks to us plainly, and because of the things we hear, we are established as trees. You see, the mystery is this: you could think a seed is planted and then abandoned, maybe or maybe not, it could become a tree. As seeds, we only become trees, when we are repeatedly sown. Let me look for the write word to put it. There's a verse that will read that we substantiate that now. Those who have become corrupted in this world, children that we know people that we knew in our neighborhoods when we were growing up, and that today they have become yahoo boys or whatever now, they don't think straight they do bad things. Do you think or do we think they accidentally became those bad guys or bad women? No.

 

A girl that thinks that sleeping with men is normal, what’s the big deal, did not get to that mode suddenly. She gets to that mode over time, repeatedly hearing the same thing. Either the mother is repeatedly telling her, “you use what you have to get what you want. Why are you beautiful, you think I am beautiful for nothing? I'm beautiful so that you can be beautiful, you are beautiful so that you can take care of me at old age.” The same thing, the same message the same words, you hear words to the point that they shape the man the woman that you become the determine the man that you have, they determine the life you live. The words you hear repeatedly becomes your identity, it becomes your preoccupation, you say, I want to become a lawyer because of the things I've heard. I want to become a doctor because of the things I've seen. A child who realizes that because of lack of doctor, his mother dies, just for something that is little, will say and having been hearing that bad doctors are everywhere, he or she could just conclude I must become a doctor so that I will save my people. I couldn't take of my mother because I was not let me become a doctor. Why? He or she has seen, he or she has heard. Words have shaped his choice; words have shaped her choices. So, your choice is a product of the things you hear and the things you hear they shape the man or the woman you become.

 

Now Jesus preached in John 6:68. Jesus had been speaking, speaking and He was speaking some strong, strong words. Bible says multitudes left Him. And then He turned to the 12. He said, are you also going? And Peter said, to whom shall we go? And this is instructive for us, for you are the one that has the word of eternal life. So, somebody will say what, Peter are you saying that you have not heard Jesus enough? Couldn’t you become a great man at this point without Jesus? He says to whom, shall we go? Although, we have heard you, to whom shall we go because you are the one that is able to speak continuously. You are able to speak continually into our lives. The word that we give us a life beyond now, do we see it? So, you don't become a tree because you had a great word yesterday, a great man of God spoke to your life last night, will not make you into a tree. You become a tree by the things you hear repeatedly, you become a tree of righteousness because of the nature of the words that are spoken to you.

 

So, if you hear the words of righteousness repeatedly, you become a tree of righteousness, you produce fruits of righteousness. So, how do I become a tree of righteousness? I must situate my life, myself to a place, a platform, a point where the words of righteousness freely flow into my spirit. The word must flow. You see, even though you are a born again Christian and you expose yourself in spite of your born again, if you expose yourself to the words of un-righteousness, if you a born again, a pastor, a bishop, expose yourself to the words of unrighteousness for a week; you will begin to bear wrong fruits. Okay, how does it look like? This word may not be for everybody. You are born-again brother, you're born-again sister, but you watch Nollywood for like a week repeatedly; every day Nollywood. What happens?

 

You know, Nollywood is filled with all manner of people, people that don't believe in God, people that believe in God, partially, people that are fake people that are pretenders and then, they write scripts, they act to the point that their words become your words. You are meditating in your room, what they said in the last film is what you are thinking, your life we flow after that pattern. You will start cursing people because they curse people. The way they dress becomes your design. You say, “let me also look good”. How did it jump in to you? By the things you expose yourself to, it’s a matter of time one week is enough. We can experiment in case we will not lose our salvation eventually. You know, that's a wrong, a dangerous experimentation but, you can try it. If you think I'm not, in case because you know the reality is that it has happened to us. If you want to be sincere. You know, there are things you can expose yourself to for a week to pray would become difficult for you. And when you're praying, the nature of your prayer would have been shaped just for one week.

 

So, if you want to remain a tree of righteousness, you must pitch your own tent to the place you hear the word of righteousness. Peter was so careful, Peter said “to whom shall we go?” There were Pharisees, there were Sadducees there were High Priests in those days. But they said to whom shall we go? In fact, when Jesus began to do His ministry, the Bible says He spoke differently from the Scribes. He spoke as one that has authority. It takes a man a woman of authority to make you into an authority. And Jesus spoke as one that has authority, He spoke the truth, He spoke the truth of God clearly. So, the least they can become is to become the truth. No wonder Jesus said I am the truth and the way I'm the life. So, when you listen to me, you know the truth, you will know how to live your life. So, Jesus, at a point Jesus said, “as the Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, those who feed on me, we live because of me”. If you want to be a tree of righteousness, you must feed on the tree of righteousness. It takes a like to beget like, like father, like Son, like mother, like daughter, you will become, you will raise after your own order. If you sit down under Christ, you will soon become like Christ.

 

Becoming like Christ is not in doubt for you. It's in time. When people saw the boldness of the apostles, Bible says and they knew they were unlearned men. They had not gone to the University of Cambridge, they concluded that these ones must have been with Jesus. So, they were producing after His kind, they were producing after His. If you allow your children to feed on anything, they will produce after a kind. You will be shocked and you will say: me a pastor, how can my children be behaving like this? Have they been listening to you? Even though you're a pastor, they've been listening to unbelievers. When the school bus was bringing my children to the house today, from where I was, I was hearing the music and I said “they don't listen to the this in the house.” They don't listen to this in the house. But now the school bus gave them that experience, from very far away. So, you have to canter that kind of wrong worship with a good worship.

 

You know, I'm pointing to my wife now. That's the truth. If you don't want a wrong seed to grow, you must allow the right seed to grow. When the wrong seed is being sown by the enemy. You must sow the right seed. You must sow the right seed. Spend your time in a place that grows you into righteousness and then you won't have to beg, you won't have to struggle. Righteousness will flow out of you. For that is the plan and the purpose of the Father for you and I. That we become trees of righteousness.

 

I believe you have been blessed.

Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Gboyega ADEDEJI!

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