The Secret of Spiritual Stability- Apostle Peterson O. Abu

The Renewal Life Christian Center is a ministry focused on revealing Christ through teachings and the power of Christ. They address two types of Christians: those experiencing ups and downs in their faith, and those becoming spiritually lukewarm. The teaching emphasizes the importance of abiding in Christ for spiritual stability and fruitfulness. The branches (believers) must depend on the vine (Christ) for stability and continuity. The Renewal Life Christian Center is an apostolic and teaching ministry that anchors on revealing Christ and Him crucified through expository teachings and the manifestations of the power of Christ. It is generally coordinated by Apostle Peterson O. Abun. For further inquiry and counsel, please contact us with these numbers. 234-802-671-9577 or 234-081-024-21675 or 234-807-599-6218 or WhatsApp us via this number. 234-802-671-9577 May you encounter God as you listen to this life-changing word. Praise the Lord. I'm so happy to have a time with you this morning again. My prayer to God Almighty is that every teaching we have been giving to you people here will help you to become spiritual. My calling is in the area of discipleship and I find it fulfilled teaching believers and, you know, counseling them and training them in the pathway of the Spirit. This morning we have a wonderful teaching that would answer so many questions that have been coming to me both from the Brethren online and some of you that have been that are close to me. And I want to say this to everyone of us listening now that this teaching I'm about to give to you is precisely for two kinds of people, two kinds of Christians. And the reason I'm putting this specification is so that in case you think you are not among these two sects of people then maybe your listening of these messages should just be for knowledge. But for those that want deliverance, those that want to be set free and those that want emancipation then please, don't allow distraction. Don't allow anyone to distract you. Make sure that you pay attention because the Spirit of God will be communicating to us this morning. The two sects of people I have in mind while preparing this message is number one, those that have been experiencing rising and falling in their Christian life. So if you are here and you have been experiencing rising and falling, falling and rising, rising this message is for you. Yes, God has prepared this message for you. Then number two, if you are here and you are already spiritually lukewarm or you are on the way of spiritual lukewarmness you observe that for the past few days you are becoming lukewarm then this message is coming for your revival. Yes, this message is coming for your revival. So I want to thank God for bringing this message because I have been receiving questions from a lot of people and some of their questions are like what can I do to maintain spiritual consistency? and some of them are like, ok, I always rise and fall man of God, what should I do to maintain that steadiness in Christ? And you see, there are some things you may want to be able to explain to them and they may not be able to understand because you are trying to summarize a whole teaching within two sentences and that thing is not possible so God has put it in my heart to come up with a teaching like this so that they can listen and then be blessed. Shall we go to the Lord in prayers? Father, we come to you we have come to the fountain of living water we ask Holy Spirit that you communicate your word to us and help us to be able to understand the things you be communicating to us bless us by your spirit and teach us the pathway of the spirit we come against every distraction that the enemies want to raise up against us even as your message is coming to us we silence them in Jesus name we bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ speak to us and bless our lives thank you Father because you are faithful pray in Jesus mighty name I pray quickly, John chapter 15 John chapter 15 what I will be sharing with you is the topic, the secret of spiritual stability what you can practice that can help you to be stable spiritually that you will not just be a rising and falling Christian but you will maintain consistency with God so John chapter 15 I read from verse 1 I am the true vine and my father is the Osman man now here is Jesus speaking remember that Jesus in the book of Matthew Jesus said that the wise became fool by the Pharisees and the Sadducees they became fool, why? because they were not able to understand the kingdom because when Jesus was on earth he was teaching the kingdom life using illustrations and parables so God had to reveal it to babes Jesus was able to interpret those parables to the disciples but not to the Pharisees so the Pharisees were not able to understand the kingdom life because every time they were around Jesus the teachings of Jesus many a times were coming as parables and here is Jesus teaching about the kingdom life but using a parable using an illustration and we are going to excavate and find out what Jesus was trying to communicate in this place of the Bible John chapter 15 from verse 1 I am the true vine and my father is the Osman man every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it that it may bring forth much fruit now Jesus has explained the two kinds of branches in him he said there are branches that never produce fruit and there are branches that produce fruit the ones that never produce fruit Jesus said that his father taketh them away you see there are times that we don't understand the place of let me use the word burden I don't know the right word to use when you are carrying unnecessary burdens to you, you might think that what concerns you is that as long as I am having much things I want my people to respect me you see there are times we need to lay aside burdens unnecessary burdens and the few that are ready to produce fruit you will use them even in the kingdom, the case of the kingdom you gather 5 people, 6 people that are not producing fruit rather they are becoming burden because anything that is not producing fruit will be taking away fruit will be taking away the nutrients that should produce fruit for others so sometimes the father requires that such set of people should be put away should be cut off it doesn't matter if there are only 5 people out of 100 people if there are only 5 people that are producing fruit work with the 5 people Jesus is a principle in scripture you see it over here that the father taketh away the branches that never produce fruit the father taketh them away and this is a principle which should apply in our companies organizations and even in the ministries when you have the people around you and they are not effective they are not producing fruit after several years you take them away because you see we are not after the position we are after the impact that the position produces so understand what Jesus is trying to communicate this is a principle even in our organization if you have people in your organization you have staffs and they are not competent there are times that the organization or the company you are working in we have to sack them that we have to be withdrawn from service you know why? because they are looking for competency so that is what God is trying to communicate to us number one, competency is very important in the place of association because Jesus said I am divine and there are branches he is talking about association so if there are people around you in your businesses in your company in your organizations and they are not competent you shouldn't ignore the fact that because they have been there for years and you should if they have not been competent for years and you have tested them and they are still not productive you let them go you release them because if that thing will move to the next level then we must remove the competency so that is the first thing let us wait for them verse 3 now yea, I claim to the world which I have spoken unto you abide in me and high in you as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine no more can yea except it abide in me that is where we are going to that is the summary of the topic abide in me and high in you as a branch cannot produce fruit except it continually abide to the vine so we cannot produce fruit unless and until we continually abide in Christ verse 5 I am the vine ye are the branches he that abideth in me and high in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me yea can do nothing if a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch and is wither and men gather them and cast them into the fire and their bones verse 7 if yea abide in me and my words abide in you yea shall ask what yea will and it shall be done unto you yea in is my Father glorified that yea bear much fruit so bearing fruit glorifies the Father bearing fruit honors the Father bearing fruit brings glory to God are you with me now? verse 8 yea in is my Father glorified that yea bear much fruit so shall yea be my disciples as the Father hath loved me so have I loved you continue yea in my love if yea keep my commandment that is another point to consider now if yea keep my commandment because he said abide in me but he didn't show us the way to abide but now in this verse he is explaining what we can do to abide the instruction has come that abide in me but then the revelation has come on what to do to abide if yea abide if yea keep my commandment yea shall abide in my love even as I have kept my Father's commandment and abide in his love and abide in his love now you see the connection between the vine and the branches you see that the branches have to depend on the vine in order for the branches to be to remain stable in attachment to the vine the vine is the source the branches are the benevolent the branches benefit from the vine the branches depend on the vine the life and the continuity of the branches is solely connected to the vine without the vine the branches cannot and that is why we are talking about spiritual stability that spiritual stability is all about abiding it's all about the branches abiding to the vine as long as you abide to the vine there will be consistency there will be stability there will be continuity the moment you cut off from the vine you have no life to express because the branches are not self life giver so the branches cannot produce life to themselves they are to depend on the vine for their existence in 1 John 2 verse 28 1 John chapter 2 verse 28 the bible says in verse 28 and now little children abide in him that when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him that is coming and not be ashamed before him that is coming that we might have confidence and not be ashamed before him that is coming we are talking about the secret of spiritual stability and that we have discovered from the pages of scripture that the secret is your abiding to the vine the secret is your abiding to the vine the secret of your consistency in Christ is solely connected to your continuous abiding to the vine and when we talk about the word abide we are talking about stay to stay it means to dwell it also means to endure or to be present and this is irrespective of circumstances that comes external factors that comes if you must keep a consistent spiritual life if you must keep a consistent prayer life if you must have a stable spiritual life with God then your roots must be connected to the vine spiritual stability is all about you abiding for you to be spiritually stable you need to continually abide abiding to the vine is the secret of consistency abiding to the vine is what keeps believers going there is no other way you can be consistent or you can be stable in your relationship with God until and unless you have abided to the vine so you must understand that for a believer to keep a clear record with God and for a believer to be stable in their relationship with God they must understand this relationship between the vine and the branches understanding of the relationship between the vine and the branches is what brings your deliverance because you are comparing your relationship with that of a brother you know somewhere in your church you see many people can outwardly appear to be abiding but then when you look at them with the eyes of God you discover that although they appear to be abiding but they are the branches that never produce fruits and God has it in mind to cut them off so most of us we compare ourselves with believers that have already been cut off branches without fruit or the ones about to be cut off but if you come to understand the relationship that exists between the vine and the branches you will come to understand the secret of you keeping a stable relationship with God now irrespective of the challenges that comes from the external factors towards the branches the branch because it abides to the vine you discover that challenges, external storms cannot pull it off external storms cannot break it off because it is connected to the vine and then when we wait for that in John chapter 15 the Bible says in verse 10 that as long we keep the commandment of God then we are abiding in the love remember that in John chapter 14 verse 15 it said if you love me keep my commandment so one of the ways we abide in Christ is by keeping the commandment of God keeping the commandment of God so you must understand that for us to keep a stable relationship with God we must never undermine the place of obedience to his commandments it is as we obey the commandments of God that we keep our abiding relationship with him so understand this I'm trying to just give you understanding about the vine and the branches so you must get this knowledge that the relationship existing between the vine and the branches is the same relationship existing between us and Christ and if a branch can be cut off from Christ it means that there is no room for eternal security that is unconditional there are people that say no matter the kind of sin you are committing, no matter the kind of life you are living, God will never cast you to hell. Have you read in the scripture now that God said Jesus said that if a branch does not produce fruit the father will cut it off so there is no room for unconditional eternal security every eternal security we have in Christ is unconditional as long as we keep abiding we will not be cut off as long as we keep abiding we will not be cut off before I explain to you the meaning on all before I explain to you on how you can abide let me first of all give you 7 benefits of your abiding to Christ we are going to use the vine and the branches because that was what Jesus used and there are a lot of kingdom wisdom to derive from there the branch and the vine, the branches and the vine now number one, the branch derives refreshment from the vine that is one benefit as long as the branch connects to the vine the branch will keep getting refreshment refreshment comes from the vine so as long as the branch is connected to the vine the branch will be getting refreshment the branch will be getting refreshment there will be daily renewal the word refreshment means renewal daily refreshment everyday you will be getting fresh everyday you will be getting fresh as long as you are connected to the vine you will be getting freshness you will be getting refreshment you will be getting your leaf will never get dry your leaf will never get dry because why? you are getting refreshment everyday daily you are getting refreshment from the vine, as long as you are connected to the vine, you are getting refreshment number two it's your life, life the branch gets its life from the vine so cutting the branch off from the vine is allowing the branch to experience death as long the branch is connected to the vine, that branch will never experience death so as long you are connected to Christ you can't sin because the wages of sin is what produce death so as long you are connected to the vine it's a supernatural ability that comes with the connection that helps you to be able to live above sin so your connection to Christ produces life eternal life number two number three the branch relationship with the vine produces strength you have strength, you have stamina when others are weak, you are strong when others are discouraged, you are encouraged the fire never goes down even though if you have bodily infirmities they see your consistency your passion and your pursuit for God because your strength never comes from you your strength comes from your connection with the vine so when others are complaining of weaknesses, you see yourself refresh, you see your relationship with God refresh you hear God anytime those are complaining, there are people complaining I can't hear God, I'm just weak spiritually I'm just weak spiritually it's not your portion because why? you are connected to the vine so what happens today doesn't happen to you because you are connected to the vine so it is not something you produce you know, people try to do it by themselves no all that the branch have to do just get connected to the vine and then the vine will be supplying strength it is not by your strength but it's by the strength of the vine as long you are connected to Christ it is not by your power that you are able to read the Bible it is not by your power that you are able to pray it is not by your power that you are able to be free from sin it is the strength that comes from Christ abide number four, there will be groups your spiritual group is connected to your abiding to the vine your spiritual group is connected to your abiding to the vine as long you keep abiding to the vine you will be growing spiritually you will be growing so when you see a branch abiding to the vine you see the branch start spreading start growing because there is a source of life connected to it number five such a branch will start experiencing fruitfulness fruitfulness as long the branch is connected to the vine the branch will become fruitful it will start producing fruit because there is a spiritual connectivity there is something that is not coming from the branch itself there is something that is coming from the life an higher life that is able to make that branch to produce fruit so when you connect to Christ or if you are connected to Christ you start seeing yourself producing the fruit of the spirit you start seeing yourself showing the characters of the spirit the character of the spiritual man the fruit of the spiritual man you start seeing yourself demonstrating love these are things that ordinary Christians cannot do because they are not connected to the vine but you see yourself, you start loving your enemies praying for those that despitefully use you blessing those that curse you bless and curse not you start seeing yourself showing love to others though they are paying you with evil there is a higher connectivity to the vine there is a higher life that you are sapping strength from there is a higher life that you are sapping energy from you are not living by the energy of your flesh you are not living by the energy of the spirit of God the energy of Christ because you are connected to the vine he said abide in me and as I abide in you he said just as a branch cannot produce fruit without the vine so you cannot do without me we are solely dependent on Christ number six the branch will start experiencing consistency you see there is a power that keeps a man consistent it is the life of the vine as long as the branch is connected to the vine the branch will start producing life the branch will start producing consistency oh when you go to a branch and a vine you see that you come to the vine you come to the vine you come to the vine you come to the vine you come to the vine you come to the vine you come to the vine you come to the vine you come to the vine you come to the vine you come to the vine you come to the vine you come to the vine you come to the vine you come to the vine there are doctrines there are teachings there are traditions of men you started believing and those traditions, those teachings those philosophies disconnected you from the vine look at you, you are becoming spiritually weak there is a lie you are not believing it has disconnected you from the vine no one can kill Jesus Jesus is our vine as long as we keep abiding to that vine we have life we have the ability not to sin again we have the strength to overcome sin and Satan and sickness abide it produces consistency and the last of it all the branch, you know when the branch is connected to the vine the last thing is hope the branch has hope remember what we read in the book of 1 John 2 verse 28 it says if we abide in Christ it says we will not be ashamed when he shall appear to us you know as long as you keep abiding there is this consciousness there is this awareness there is this intelligence in you that you know that when he comes you are going to make it to heaven there is no fear of dying no fear of dying from the earth to go and meet God because you know that you are abiding to the vine there is no fear there is no fear of his coming you are even expecting him to come because you know you are abiding to the vine if you abide to the vine you won't be able to abide in the flesh to abide in the vine is to abide in the spirit, to walk in the spirit that is another word for abiding in the vine, abiding to Christ to walk in the spirit but how can you abide how can you abide let me teach you quickly, this is a very short message you cannot abide the branch cannot abide to the vine and you cannot abide in Christ until first of all there is relationship relationship, how do we enter relationship with Christ you have to be born again Jesus said to Nicodemus verily, verily I say unto you except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God the Bible says if any man be in Christ all things are passed away and everything become new you see relationship with God is established, is bettered at the place of born again at the place of regeneration it is when you are born again you have entered what we call father son relationship or father daughter relationship as long as you are not born again God is not your father, Jesus is not your father Jesus is not your brother, Jesus is not related to you our relationship with God at this time is based on redemption by creation God is our God but by redemption God is our father so you enter into a father son relationship, a father child relationship so when you get born again you become attached to God by reading of the new birth experience and this is the question I want to ask you are you sure you are born again? are you sure you are born again? is your born again experience genuine? this is something you must understand as long as you are not born again you cannot abide to the vine you cannot enjoy all the benefits that is in the vine you cannot enjoy all the benefits that are in the vine are you born again? you are springing forth from the body of the vine just the way a branch will spring forth from the side of the vine and form its own branches you are springing forth from the body of the vine is your born again experience when you are born again you have the spirit of God in you you have the spirit that brings the connection between you and the father that brings the connection between you and the son the blood line that flows through your blood as a branch is the spirit of God attaching you to the vine you must be born again but this is not just it for those that are born again and you are still experiencing rising and falling you have to go to number 2 you have to fellowship the moment you are born again fellowship becomes the next thing to do when you see a new bouncy baby a baby boy a child just born you will discover that after the mother gave birth to the child and then they left the hospital and they have gone back home fellowship begins between the mother and the child you see the child always crying for the mother you see the mother always giving attention to that child relationship has been bettered fellowship needs to be executed so there needs to be fellowship sharing together the mother gives breast milk to the child and the child cries so there is a connectivity, there is fellowship sharing together between the mother and the child the moment you are born again through the born again experience there should be fellowship between you and God the Bible says in the book of 1 Peter 2 chapter 2 verse 2 as a new born baby desires the sincere milk of the world that he might grow thereby there are 3 things you should give yourself in fellowship when we talk about fellowship, we are talking about communion communion, we are talking about sharing together and there are 3 things you have to do to maintain fellowship number 1, there has to be prayer you pray without ceasing you pray always you keep a consistent prayer life praying depending on God prayer is a heart of dependence on God you pray always praying in the morning, praying in the noon, praying at night praying in your mind because you want to keep your spiritual stability the day you stop praying you are already disconnected from divine so you keep praying you keep praying number 2 studying of the world I didn't say reading, I am saying studying because studying of the word of God comprises of your reading and your meditation and your imagination so when we talk about studying, I am talking about reading and meditation so you study the word not just flipping through the pages of the word but studying the word it goes with meditation the bible says in the book of psalm chapter 1 read from verse 1 downward from verse 3 precisely it said when the word of God has abided in you you shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water because meditation has come into execution you are not meditating on God's word the benefit of it is that it makes the word to be solidified in your heart if you read the word without meditation you won't be able to grasp what the spirit is saying the bible says in psalm 1 verse 2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in the law doeth he meditate night and day the benefit of that is that he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season his leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he dwells shall prosper because he is abiding in the word through meditation he is reading the word he is meditating in the word so everything he does prospers you are praying, you are studying the last of it all the last one is worship you spend time in worshiping God you worship him that lives in heaven you worship him you know when we get to heaven there will not be preaching there I don't think there will be much prayer there but there will be all worship there when we get to heaven, so you start experiencing heaven on earth by through worship, one of the ways you start experiencing heaven on earth is through worship you involve in worship, you give yourself to worship you worship him that lives in heaven if I set a time for worship I know you have a time for prayer I know you have a time for studying have you got any time for worship? have you got any time to worship him that lives in heaven? have you got any time to worship him that lives in heaven? worship you give yourself to worship, you worship him you worship him always you worship him daily then the third of it number one is relationship number two is fellowship number three is obedience obedience is your loyalty to God when you are obedient to God, you become loyal that means you are a loyal follower of Christ if you are obedient to Christ, you become a faithful follower of Christ the moment you start engaging obedience to everything the word of God says you start engaging obedience to everything the spirit of God is whispering to you however you have established a concrete relationship between you and the vine you see nothing can pull you off from the vine when you start practicing this life you can't be spiritually cool when you start practicing this life you can't be spiritually dry no, you can't be spiritually dry there is a strength however you are abiding just three things just relationship just fellowship, just obedience these are the things that makes the branch to attach to the vine not just in attachment the branch starts producing fruits and the leaf of the branch will never wither the Lord is already communicating to somebody here right now that this is what you are lacking and the spirit of God is calling you back to relationship the spirit of God is calling you back to fellowship maybe your relationship with God has been affected and the Lord is saying come back home my son then when you come back when you come back to God and relationship has been restored, then fellowship you start fellowshipping and then obedience which is the crowning of everything all obedience if you abide in my commandments then you have abided in my love obedience to the commandments of God is the effect is like the resemblance the reflection of your abiding so if you are abiding to the vine what we see is your obedience we don't see the abiding because we can't see it in the spirit but your obedience to God's word is the reflection of your abiding the Lord is speaking to someone here the spirit of God is calling you back to fellowship back to relationship, back to fellowship back to obedience shall we bow our head and in prayers open your mouth and begin to talk to the Lord we are not spending much time in this section so just use this time to pray I am going to give you enough time to pray then we come back again just use this time, make sure you are praying make sure you are praying just start amending your ways repenting, repenting, repenting amend your ways tell the spirit of God that you have spoken to me I have heard your word the word of God has come to me Lord I have seen my fallen state I have seen where I have missed it I have seen the cause of my rising and falling I have seen the cause of my spiritual look up Lord I come to you, you have spoken to me I repent make sure you are crying to God now