God Is Hiring Followers, Not Fans

Does the Bible not sometimes seem confusing? Hold these two prophecies about the last days side by side and tell me they do not look like a contradiction.

In the last days, the mountain of the LORD’s house will be the highest of all — the most important place on earth. It will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream there to worship… They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore.

Isaiah 2:2, 4 (NLT)

You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God… They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly.

2 Timothy 3:1–2, 5 (NLT)

Same last days. So which will it be — the ascendancy of evil, or the ascendancy of good? People becoming more wicked, or people beating their swords into plowshares?

Here is the first thing I want you to see: every prophecy is an invitation from God. Prophecy is not just prediction — it is invitation. God has given two prophetic words about the same days, and He seems to be saying: choose this day which one will be your experience. In these last days you can experience goodness in the midst of evil, love and harmony in the midst of hate and discord, peace and righteousness while sin and wickedness abound.

And notice why the Isaiah prophecy says good will rise: because the mountain of the Lord’s house will be exalted above every other mountain, and the nations will flow into it to be healed and transformed. So where is this house of God?

A place called Bethel

The first time Scripture mentions “the house of God” is Genesis 28. Jacob, traveling toward Haran, lies down with a stone for a pillow and dreams of a stairway reaching from earth up to heaven, with the angels of God going up and down on it — and the Lord standing at the top, promising that all the families of the earth will be blessed through him. Jacob wakes and says, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it! What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!”

Look at what this house of God is. It is a portal — a gateway between heaven and earth, a place where heaven stands open. It is a place of supernatural angelic activity: angels come down to perform assignments. And it occupies real space on the earth — God tells Jacob, this ground I have given to you. In other words: I am making you responsible for My house. This is yours to offer to the world.

The house of God is a Person

Now, when do we see this scenario play out again? Jesus meets Nathanael, who is stunned that Jesus saw him under the fig tree before Philip ever called him. And Jesus says something remarkable.

I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.

John 1:51 (NLT)

The stairway is a Person. What we thought was a place is a Person. Jacob did not know it, but he himself was the stairway — it was upon him and through him that angels were moving between heaven and earth. So the house of God is a Person, and that Person is Jesus. But do not stop there. Listen to what Jesus says elsewhere.

All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.

John 14:23 (NLT)

Do you see how this is progressing? Originally, the house of God is a place called Bethel. Then the house of God is a Person called Jesus. Now the house of God is persons — those who do what God says out of love for God, not out of selfish motivation. What started as a place became a Person, and is now a kind of people.

Why the last days?

So Jesus is saying that in the last days there will be a certain kind of person — marked not just by what they do but by who they have become — whom God so loves that He has no issue making them a house of God. They will be the stairway of heaven, the portal through which heaven invades earth, the place where the power and glory of God are revealed to the nations. And when? In these same perilous last days, when evil seems ascendant, the house of God will pop up here, there, and over there.

When I saw this, I began to ask the Lord: what is so special about these last days? What do we even mean by the last days? And the Holy Spirit asked me to read what the original prophet of the last days had to say.

Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.

Daniel 9:24 (NKJV)

The last days are the days when transgression will be finished — the days when God is bringing an end to sin. That is why we say the last days began the day Jesus went to the cross, because for this purpose the Son of God was made manifest: to destroy the works of the devil. These are the last days of iniquity — but they are the first days of everlasting righteousness. The first days of the anointing of the Holy Place. The first days of heaven on earth.

Fans and followers

So here is the title of this message: God is hiring followers, not fans. Jesus did not come to call people who will be fans of the house of God — who memorize the stories of Jesus, repost His wonderful words, sit in church pews admiring demonstrations of the supernatural, and have a good time.

Who is a fan? An admirer. I am excited about what Jesus said and did. I attend the concerts of Jesus. I wear the merchandise. I name my children after Him. I support pastors and churches — I give my time and money to assist when I can. And by the way, a follower of Jesus does all of these things too. All followers are fans, but not all fans are followers.

A follower goes one step further and says: I want to be like Jesus. I want to be like God in every way so I can live like God every day.

Followers show up at work and announce that the last day of misogyny is here, and the days of the manifesting of the woman of God have come. They show up in families and declare the last days of domestic violence over, and the days of love and harmony begun. They show up in a land of famine and declare these the last days of lack — the days of abundance have come. They show up where there is sexism, racism, and tribalism and announce: no more isms, only love. The house of God is here.

How God recruits

And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him. Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons.

Mark 3:13–15 (NKJV)

The order is the key. First, be with Him — relationship. Then, become like Him — transformation. Then, be sent by Him — mission.

What does it mean to be with Jesus? Those of us who are married know what it means to be with someone. Because I am with my wife, I have adjusted how I communicate with people of the opposite sex. Because I am with my wife, it is not possible for me to work fifteen-hour days back to back. The first evidence that you have entered a relationship with Jesus is the adjustment you have made to accommodate Him in your life.

To be with Jesus is to pray in such a way that your prayers change you. It is to read your Bible focused on what should change in your life. It is to fast not because you want to get, but because you want to lose — lose your anger, lose your fear, lose your sadness. It is to be slow to speak and quick to hear, because you want to manifest God. What God has been to you, He becomes to the world through you.

I almost walked away

Let me close with my own story. I was born again by the age of eight. I taught at our Catholic Bible study group. I became deliverance coordinator for the entire Christian body at the University of Ife, then the pastor who organized a night of a thousand miracles, then senior pastor of a church at twenty-five. And in 2005, I made up my mind to walk away from the faith.

I was deconstructing. I was praying for the sick and they were dying. I was seeing pain and poverty around me. I had seen my own share of church fights. I was struggling with all kinds of sin and addiction. And the straw that broke the camel’s back: I could not get a job.

And Jesus had mercy on me. Stop working on your resume, He said, and start working on your relationship with Me. That was when I heard the words: Follow Me — and I will make you.

I have not yet arrived, but I have left. I am intent on seeing the last days of evil everywhere I go — on being the house of God, the place where the everlasting righteousness and the power of God are ushered in.

Because contrary to what you may have been told, God did not save you to take you from earth to heaven when you die. God saved you so that He could bring heaven to earth while you live. Unless you become a certain kind of person, no place will be heaven for you. But if you become that kind of person, even a hell around you will begin to change into heaven. This is why God saves and redeems us — so the distortions in our being that deform the house of God can be repaired, and the house of God can be built.

“In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house will be lifted high above all hills, and nations shall flow into it.” What is this mountain? It is not a place. It is not a building. It is you.

Fans watch revivals; followers spark them. Fans repost sermons; followers live them. Fans admire Jesus; followers become like Jesus. Heaven is hiring. So as you go back into your city, your school, your workplace — will you be one of the houses of God in this generation? If that is your desire, tell Him so today, simply and honestly: Lord, I don’t want to be a fan anymore. I want to follow You.