Kingdoms are named after houses. For example, the House of Windsor rules England, and the House of Saud rules Saudi Arabia. The House of God rules the universe. The Gospel of Mark put it this way, "And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand." (Mrk 3:25, KJV). In Matthews rendition, he does not use the word house but kingdom:
Mat 12:25 (KJV) And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:
Some years after the church or House of God was born, the enemy tried to introduce divisions, and Apostle Paul stood against it as a wise master builder. True builders do not tear down what they are building. Apostle Paul was not building a denomination to himself, but the universal church to and for His Lord Jesus Christ. He thus spoke sharply against divisions:
Rom 16:17 (KJV) Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.
1Co 1:10 (KJV) Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
Paul taught that divisions and a party spirit were a sign of carnality (living by sight or the senses instead of by faith) and spiritual babyhood.
1Co 3:3-5 (KJV)
3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
He contended that the church that engaged in such could only feed on spiritual milk and not meat.
1Co 3:2-3 (AMPC)
2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not yet strong enough [to be ready for it]; but even yet you are not strong enough [to be ready for it],
3 For you are still [unspiritual, having the nature] of the flesh [under the control of ordinary impulses]. For as long as [there are] envying and jealousyand wrangling and factions among you, are you not unspiritual and of the flesh, behaving yourselves after a human standard and like mere (unchanged) men?
This is the danger of carnality. It reduces those who are called to live a higher life after the standard of God to "behaving yourselves after a human standard and like mere (unchanged) men."
A Last Assignment for Morris Cerullo
Before the departure of the great man of God, Morris Cerrulo, he was given an assignment by the Lord to travel to a conference and to prophesy to Reverend Dr. Chris Oyakhilome Dsc. Dsc. DD, the President of LoveWorld Inc. (aka Christ Embassy). Please note the word "Love" in LoveWorld. Below is a summary transcription of the prophetic word:
“Pastor Chris, if you could come here for just a moment. Where is he? I love you. Everybody's told you they love you, and I believe they do. I don't think I've ever felt in any conference the spirit of love. It's a real tribute to you, but I want to give you a word from the Lord. About a month ago, you came into my spirit. And the Lord, I don't know why He gave this to me. Maybe in His divine providence, He knew I would be here, but I didn't quite know yet myself. I saw an anointing on your life in the spirit—you weren't anywhere around. You were probably in Nigeria when I saw you in the spirit. And the Lord said to me, you tell this man I have ordained him to bring a spirit of unity to the ministry that I have raised up in these last days. He will be an instrument to unite the body not separate the body.
I want all of his pastors to come and surround him now. Surround and make a circle around him—united in the spirit, united in the spirit. You will fulfil your prophecy, your destiny. You haven't raised this man up just to be a healer, you haven't raised him up just to be a preacher, but you have raised him up and placed within him the Holy Ghost …”
Paul taught that spiritual authority is according to spheres of influence (2 Corinthians 10:13). In legal terms, I am referring to the ambit of authority or jurisdiction of a servant of God. Every servant of God has a sphere of influence, and they are not to overstep their bounds as Apostle Paul said he’d stayed “… within the limits of our commission, … without making a boast of work already done in another [man's] sphere of activity ….” (2Co 10:15-16, AMPC). That sphere could be a specific local assembly. Every commission and charge has limits. The spirit of God will extend a commission from a neighbourhood to cover a city, and from that to an entire nation or several nations, subject to hard work, fruitfulness, faithfulness, and other factors. This promotion (which comes with more responsibility) is all the work of the Holy Spirit. “And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.” (Heb 5:4, KJV). Here is how Paul described his apportioned sphere of activity versus Apostle Peter's.
Gal 2:7-8 (AMPC)
7 But on the contrary, when they [really] saw that I had been entrusted [to carry] the Gospel to the uncircumcised [Gentiles, just as definitely] as Peter had been entrusted [to proclaim] the Gospel to the circumcised [Jews, they were agreeable];
8 For He Who motivated and fitted Peter and worked effectively through him for the mission to the circumcised, motivated and fitted me and worked through me also for [the mission to] the Gentiles.
In the eighth verse, we see that it is the Holy Spirit of God who motivates and makes one fit for the assignment and works effectively through that person for the mission to cover their allotted sphere of influence. When we study Paul's life we see that this “promotion” or expansion of authority is progressive. Paul did not just get born again and go straight to ministering to Gentile nations. The kingdom principle is "He who is faithful in a very little [thing] is faithful also in much" (Luk 16:10). If a person is not faithful in little, it will be irresponsible to commit a much larger sphere of influence to them.
One factor that promotes the expansion of spheres is increased spiritual knowledge and wisdom.
Mat 13:12 (AMPC) For whoever has [spiritual knowledge], to him will more be given and he will be furnished richly so that he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
This is more than mere head knowledge—gnosis. Divine wisdom is a controlling force, so the person does not only know the right thing to do, but they actually go ahead and do it. This is doing knowledge out of the rightness of God. It's knowledge with doing, experiential knowledge. It's the outworking of excellence.
Now, did you note from the prophecy given by Apostle Morris that God had increased Pastor Chris's sphere of influence to cover the global or universal church, not just at any time in history but in the crunch time—the last days?
I [The Lord] have ordained him [Pastor Chris] to bring a spirit of unity to the ministry that I have raised up in these last days. He will be an instrument to unite the body, not separate the body—Morris Cerrulo
Before this, Morris Cerrulo had never met Pastor Chris. This is important, or else it could've been said that both of them cooked up the prophecy. Pastor Chris wanted to meet him earlier in life, but the Holy Spirit restrained him and said that when the time was right, He would cause Morris Cerrulo and others to reach out to him. This prophecy is one of the proofs of the apostleship and global influence that God has given to Pastor Chris in His church worldwide.
Where do we find the Oil/Spirit of Unity in scripture?
Psa 133:1-3 (AMPC)
1 A Song of Ascents. Of David. BEHOLD, HOW good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
2 It is like the precious ointment poured on the head, that ran down on the beard, even the beard of Aaron [the first high priest], that came down upon the collar and skirts of his garments [consecrating the whole body]. [Exo 30:25, Exo 30:30]
3 It is like the dew of [lofty] Mount Hermon and the dew that comes on the hills of Zion; for there the Lord has commanded the blessing, even life forevermore [upon the high and the lowly].
The Holy Spirit has set Pastor Chris aside as one "to bring a spirit of unity to the ministry that I have raised up in these last days" and as "an instrument to unite the body, not separate the body."
And between October 25th and 27th, 2024, we saw a manifestation and expression of this prophecy. Pastor Chris Oyakilome and Pastor Benny Hinn, two of the great Apostles and Elders of our day—with credentials to back it (John 10:38, Matthew 11:4-5, Galatians 6:17)—united on one stage and ministered to a global audience of an estimated 7 billion people from Asese, Nigeria.
Recall I asked you to remember the word Love in LoveWorld? Now listen to the following remarks that Pastor Benny Hinn made about Pastor Chris when it was time to pray for families. Also, remember the words of our Lord, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (Jhn 13:35).
The family of God is uniting—which means she's growing, maturing and being perfected, and thus she can stand. A house divided cannot stand, but a house united can. This is the church the Lord is building, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
TRANSCRIPT: What Pastor Benny said about Pastor Chris
Pastor Benny: I love this man a lot
Pastor Chris: I love you Sir.
Pastor Benny: and, listen, listen. Are you gonna behave?
You need to pray for him. Because, look, look, you know, I have been in ministry. It'll be 50 years this year for me. And in fact, this December 7 is 50 years. I can't believe it, and in 50 years I've never met anyone like him. No, I'm serious. I've never met anyone like him. He's the most loving and generous man I've ever met. This is a fact. It really is a fact. And he, he is full of love. That's all there is. Full of love. And he loves the Lord so much. And, and you see it.
He doesn't like me saying these things about him, but he's a man of love and, you know, we as pastors and ministers, not everyone likes us, you know. But that's just, it just comes with it. It just comes with it. So, when they say all manner of evil against you, rejoice, you know.
But I've gotten to know Pastor Chris, I think, better than most people, truly.
We met in 2016, and since then, when I got on my knees to pray with him, I was in California, you were in Lagos, and on our knees—he was crying on the phone, and I was crying in California on my knees, and I could hear him crying on the phone. The Lord was so with us as we prayed. And every time we pray together, it's just the same thing. This man loves Jesus with all of his heart, that's it. That's what makes him so special to all of us.
