SERMON TITLE: Faith for Christian Ministry

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SYNOPSIS
The church has a mission of raising saints. The church must realize that they are
now people that are of God, and they have also been set apart to do some work,
just as they were called someday to do some work for God.

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TRANSCRIPTS
We must get a vision of what God wants us to do, where he’s taking these
people that he’s entrusted to us. Man has been redeemed, and God intends to
make him a different person from the rest of the people. The redemption process
has come by the cross. Our sins were nailed on the tree. The old man that we
were discussing yesterday, the first Adamic man, was nailed on the tree and
buried. When Jesus rose up on the third day, it was a new person. That’s why we
need to be baptized and rise in newness of life and that’s why Jesus said, a man
must be born again. The old one is rejected. There’s nothing about it that will be
accepted. I call it the death economy, but I’m not preaching that now.
Every person who is not born again, who has not got Christ, is dead, period. He’s
a dead person and you know the scripture, so I don’t need to worry about it. We
have been given responsibility to take the people that God has taken out of death
and raise them from death and help them. Lazarus, he said, take off the death
clothes. The garment that he was buried with, he should take them off. So, we are
going to take off the garments. At least this man, the person who gets into this
door, after we’ve gone out and preached to him and he has come here, we are
going to take off these old garments, open his eyes afresh and when he gets into
it, he must see things new because he’s a new creature.
But we must have a vision of where we are taking him. It is by this process of
glorification. You remember in Romans, he said those he predestinated He called
and those he called, He justified and those he justified, He glorified. And the
glorification process is what we do in the church. The justification has already
taken place. Once the person has confessed his sins, and he’s accepted and born
again, he’s justified. He’s not coming to obey some law before he is justified but
he’s promised to be glorified. So, he’s in the church for the purpose of
glorification.
It is by the process of glorification that the people of God can effectively witness
about Christ. Acts 1:8. The word, the light, and the life. That is Jesus Christ. He’s
the word, he’s the light, and he’s life. You know that from John 1. He’s the savior,
he’s the redeemer, and he’s the glorifier and the glory of God passed to man.
Yesterday we learned all this, but I’m coming down for our purposes, that we
must understand the whole thing ourselves. Amen. As ministers and gospel
workers, we have duty to work towards our own salvation and growth on the
march to the perfect man, Ephesians 4 and while doing that, take on the task of
building, equipping, and leading the church, that is the flock of God, effectively
into perfection as saints, as the body of Christ, and at the same time for the
ministry.
Number one, our task is to build them. The glorification process is one to make
them, saints, people really set apart and holy unto God.
Number two, we should build them into the body of Christ. The body of Christ
is not the organization. Ephesians 2 tells us that God has come to indwell us. We
have become the household of God, and God has indwelled in us so, this body
has become the cover of the spirit of God. That’s why we are the body of Christ,
and Christ is in all of us. So, we who are possessed, or I don’t like the word
possession because it’s a terrible word, who are filled, or who in whom Christ
dwells have provided a body for Christ. So, Christ, the spirit of God, has come to
indwell.
Yesterday we said our bodies have become temples, and each one of us is a temple
of God. That’s why when we meet, there’s a greater manifestation of this Christ
that we have believed, hallelujah. So, we are the body. I’m trying to give a
different interpretation of the body of Christ. We are the people in whom Christ
dwells. The Bible says in Ephesians 2, I think the last two, the last verses “in
whom also you are built together, a habitation of God”. Ephesians 2:20 is my
personal scripture.
We are the body in whom God dwells so if somebody is looking for God, he
should find him in you and I. That’s why we become witnesses of Christ.
As ministers, we must perfect saints. We must realize that they are now people
that are of God, and they have also been set apart to do some work, just as we
were called someday to do some work. There is no guessing the fact that for this
great and heavenly spiritual task, the minister or the gospel worker stands in need
of faith. Faith in Christ, faith in the scriptures, faith in the ministry of the power
of the Holy Spirit and for that matter, faith in our own ability, effectiveness, and
working with the Holy Spirit.
We must also believe that we are capable of working with the Holy Spirit. The
Holy Spirit has come to endure us with power to work, to witness of Christ. We
should understand that we are ready ourselves to be partners of the Holy Spirit
for that purpose for which God has allowed the Holy Spirit to come. I’m not
talking about the modern concept of self-esteem or some kind of self-confidence.
That’s not what I’m talking about. There’s an element of pride in it, but you must
understand that you are now possessed or taken over by the Holy Spirit, and you
are working with the Holy Spirit to achieve certain goals so you must accept the
responsibility of partnership with the Holy Spirit. That you can allow the Holy
Spirit to transmit, get into you, and perform because you are not going to perform
by your human understanding, human knowledge, and human power. That is
human.
But now the agenda is a heavenly agenda and being a heavenly agenda, you need
to walk with the Holy Spirit. You have an ability to walk with the Holy Spirit,
and you must be an effective instrument in the hand of the Holy Spirit to perform
the task that is set before you by God and the secret there is humility. So, you see
there’s no pride in your power or knowledge or understanding, but the secret is
how you can humble yourself that God will use you. When you are humble and
God is going to use you, it is not how much Bible knowledge you have, which is
important of course. It’s not how much anointing you have, which is important of
course. It’s not how strong you are. It’s not how much book knowledge you have
or how many theological degrees you have, it is how to submit to the Holy Spirit
that he will use you.
I’ve been talking about pastors that go to Bible school and learn how to be pastors.
There’s nothing wrong, maybe, but the Bible school doesn’t make you a pastor.
This morning, I was reading about somebody’s Bible school in London, and he
gave me a copy to give him comments, and he said, when you come, we shall
anoint you, and so on. It’s so funny, you know.
He’s a man of my own Bible school, and when I go to London, he asks all kinds
of questions, and after all I’ve taught him, he still thinks that he can anoint a
person. Yes, we anoint people. If I call you and anoint you, things will happen in
your life. Paul was talking about anointing Timothy. But you see, God has to call
the person first, set the person apart first, and God must put some deposit of
himself first in the person, and he gives you the unction to do it, and if you stand
in Apostolic position, whatever you say shall happen, because that authority is
given you as an apostle.
But the apostles, does not speak because of his mind. When I place my hand upon
you, the Holy Spirit will use me to say everything that God the Father and the
Son have declared in heaven, and then it will come to pass. It is not by wisdom
seeing you, I think you can be a teacher, that I tell you to be a teacher. No, God
has appointed you in heaven to be a teacher, and the teacher anointing will be
manifested in you, and the pastors will notice that this man or this woman has a
teaching ability not because he went to University or Harvard. That’s not the issue.
He learned how to educate psychology. That’s not the issue.
We are talking about heavenly calling, and heavenly anointing. That means that
you, as we are speaking now, know that if you have been called, pray towards
that. Jesus said it’s good to desire to be a bishop. Not Jesus, the Holy Spirit said
that. But I always say that even if you desire, the one who appoints bishops must
appoint you. The desire is another thing, and the appointment is yet another. So,
you can desire. If you want to be hired, somebody must hire you. You don’t hire
yourself. You don’t appoint yourself.
We can find it all over the church today. They make themselves bishops, and the
Reverend, Doctor, Apostle, Bishop, nonsense because they want people to know
them and if they don’t have the title, people will not respect them.
As ministers then, we have a duty, and we need to know where we stand. The
truth is that without the Holy Spirit, we cannot undertake the great task.
Acts 1:8, Luke 24:49, John 15:26, and 27, and John 16:7.
The secret of faith for effective, righteous, faithful, and productively meaningful
service is abiding in and working with Christ. Of course, with the enabling grace
and assistance, direction, and control of the Holy Spirit, we are, in fact, joint heirs
with Christ and joint workers. John 15:1-11, and 2 Corinthians 6:1 said we are
joint workers with Christ. You can’t do this work by your human understanding.
You know, one of the things I’ve been telling ministers, especially these men who
believe in management principles and all the rest, you don’t know what God wants
to do in the person, and you don’t know what God wants to do with the church.
So, you cannot bring management principles from John Agomado and co and
come and use that here. It wouldn’t work.
You see, it’s a contradiction. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom. When
you come with all your great abilities, put them outside there, and then let them
be sanctified.
There’s a special anointing that comes, and the redirection of the abilities and
powers, because the Holy Spirit can work in opposite direction to attain the same
goal, or higher goal, but the most important thing that he knows where he’s taking
us, and that’s the critical thing. He knows where he’s taking the church. So, you
cannot, you can only measure by your sight if you do the management principle.
You can only measure by what you can see and touch, but what you can see, and
touch is not important. It’s a spiritual thing.
Yesterday I talked about center and identity. You must have your standing in
Christ and your identity with God must be eloquent. That’s where your personal
conviction is. That is why you can say I’m a gospel worker. I’m a worker of God.
God has called me. (I’m going to be foolish. You know, I don’t like the word
reverend. Reverend. They call the pastors reverend, and you see, I still use
brother. One day we were going to ordain our ministers for the first time. For
many years, I’ve never ordained people. We set them out to work. This collar
thing is a problem for me because of my foolishness. Then the Lord told me one
morning, he said, there’s nothing wrong in being called reverend. The glory that
I have is what is passed on to them, because they stand in my name. Can you
imagine that?)
So, there’s nothing wrong. (If they wear the collar. If they wear the collar,
everywhere they go, people see that these are my people and so everybody also
expects some level of conduct behavior from them.)
When you are in the collar and you get to the railway line or anywhere, they’ll
give you a special place, a place where they know God. If you wear the collar to
the visa ground, they’ll give you the visa. There’s no debate. Now they don’t trust
them because we have abused our authority.
I went to Germany some years ago and I was going to Switzerland. Then I got a
call that my wife was passing through to America and she was coming to
Frankfurt so I should come back to Frankfurt and meet her before she took her
journey, but I didn’t have a visa to go to Germany. In those days, if you are from
Ghana, you don’t need a visa. I went to Germany by air. I got to the airport, but
this guy decided that he will cross-examine me and my credentials, and you know,
my passport had nothing like a reverend, and I was wearing an ordinary shit. He
said, “What work do you do? I said, “I’m a minister. Now, beloved, unfortunately
for me, even my shoulder bag had no Bible in it. The guy didn’t ask me, show me
evidence. He was asking questions. The guy examined me. Immediately I got
word that my wife was waiting there because she was with Ghana diplomatic
team. The guy would not let me go. I had to go back to Geneva. They got all my
things to make sure that I didn’t escape. They got all my things from the plane
with which I came and made sure they put them on another plane. They didn’t
even put it on the same plane I was flying with. They put it on another flight to
make sure that I get to Geneva, before they send my things. The guy was very
strong. I learned my lesson. So, I went to Geneva then I went to the Ghana
embassy, and they wrote a letter to the ambassador at the German embassy, and
they gave me a visa.
At that time, I was not wearing my collar. I mean my spiritual collar. Not that I
had done anything, but the guy needed evidence, and my shoulder bag didn’t have
a Bible, and I said, I’m a pastor.
You must be a gospel worker. There must be a credential. The credential is not
paper or a dress.
Theres a grace God has given me. I get to a point and I’m standing there, and I
need help. I can stand there and not speak to anybody, somebody will just come
and ask, “can I help you?” and I’ll follow and pass through all protocol. That’s
God.
I went to Nigeria. One of my beautiful experiences in Nigeria. Your beautiful
and wonderful country. I went to Aba to have a program. I went to speak in Aba
at a crusade and there was a program back in Ghana, so I had to go back but I
didn’t book a flight. No confirmation. Nothing but I went to the airport and
Ghanaians were leaving. It was almost Easter so there was a rush. Everybody was
rushing. I went and said I wanted a place. They said no, you can’t get a place.
My wife had had an interview, worked with Ghana airways as the PRO so, she
had some contact with the people. So, they knew her a bit. She went there. The
guy just didn’t mind her. You know what I did? I went and stood by the wall.
Then my wife came and joined me and asked, “what’s happening?” but I didn’t
say anything. The next thing I saw, the man said, everybody should leave the
counter. I mean, they were rushing and when they left the counter, he said,
gentlemen, come. I walked there straight. They gave me a boarding pass. No
registration. Nothing.
I went to the airport. Upon boarding the flight, I saw that the people in the inner
circle were more than the space on the flights. And everybody had a boarding
pass. A few minutes then, my wife said, daddy, let’s go. I said, “But they have not
got space, but she said, let’s go. We went. Not knowing, there were only two seats
left. As soon as we got in, the place was full. There was no space for the rest of
the people sitting down.
The miracle hasn’t finished. The next thing they came and started examining
tickets. Not knowing, some people had come from Ghana without visa and the
same plane was asked to send them back to Ghana. 15 of them, so, they had to
take 15 people who had already sat down outside of the plane. The Nigerian
government would not allow those 15 people to enter Nigeria because they had
no visa. When they got to my wife and I, they never inspected us. They just went
to the next one. Our place was secured.
I’m a child of God. I’m talking about the hand of God upon you. I went to Liberia.
I had a crusade in Liberia. We were going back to Ghana. I was in a village called
Cape Palmas to take my flight. And the plane that was to take us broke down.
They brought a second plane. It broke down. One small five-seater plane which
brought the workers to come and work on the plane. The plane was going back
and the pilot went and stood deciding whom he should, out of all the people
standing there pick to go back to Monrovia with him. He looked in the crowd and
said, “You come here. I want you to sit behind me.” The joke is that they had to
push the plane before it went to flight. So, they started pushing the plane. When
we got into the air, it was terrible. A test of faith. Beloved, it’s no joke. Meanwhile,
two such planes crashed but we went. God is God. It got to a point, everybody’s
heart was panting, and you could see that the pilot himself was afraid. He couldn’t
trust his machine. That’s why he said, “I should sit behind him.” I just said, Lord,
I commit the plane to you. I commit the engine to you. I commit the air to you. I
commit the ground, the staff, everything. Now take control but if this pilot goes
asleep and he cannot, I know we will land. As soon as I said that I fell asleep
instead. You see the humor of God. When I came around, there was woman sitting
by me who said, “Can you sleep under these circumstances?” and I said, “oh, I
don’t walk alone.” I’m a child of God and I walk with God so I can afford to sleep.
The woman opened her bag and took a rosary. Now she remembered her God.
She started counting her rosary.
I’m talking about being a child of God, especially a person that God has called.
And as we were going, then I remembered one day, we were going to Kumasi,
and they announced that the plane could not land. So, I was asking the Lord, what
was going to happen? He said, “My son, look down.” I looked down through the
window. The plane in which I was in was in the clouds with a rainbow around it.
And the Lord told me; “you will land safely.” And we landed. So, on this day,
when things were happening, I asked the Lord, “You promised me the rainbow,
if it is true, then let me see the rainbow. This time it was not a circle, but we were
flying in the rainbow. I’ve seen it happen here in America, seeing the plane in
which I was flying in the rainbow.
The other day I was coming here. You had all the flights saying we couldn’t land
in Dallas and when we got to a point, I saw the same plane in which I was moving
backwards. It meant something terrible was going to happen. But the Lord was
with me. I just prayed through.
I’m giving you all this lengthy explanation to tell you that the man that God has
chosen is a chosen vessel and you are a chosen person, so you need to build
confidence and trust in God. There’s nothing to boast about. That’s the secret I’m
trying to emphasize here. There’s nothing to boast about. We can only boast and
glory in Christ. You must build your confidence in Christ. Your relationship with
Christ made very, very world solid, especially when you have a responsibility
towards the church, the flock of God. They are precious to God. The souls of men
are precious and that’s why he died on a tree. That’s why Christ had to die for the
salvation of one man or one woman or nations and if these people have been given
to you to look after, it’s a great honor.
That’s why the Bible says, don’t take them as your children. The pastor has no
right to treat them as if they are his properties.
If you are an usher in the kingdom of heaven, you are an honorable person. You
have the key to the place. Somebody comes from to this place, He meets you, he
meets Christ. But that also means that your visage should not keep the person
away. At the same time, it also means that when the person has power, you must
disarm the person at the gate. You see the two things. You must not dispel the
person, but the person can come with power to come and challenge or do
something so when he meets you, you must disarm the person. “Go back.
Whatever you are, you cannot enter here. I am a child of God.” The usher is one
of the most important offices. Ushering is a very important job.
You can be an usher and the church will never grow. You can have a wrong usher
in the church and when people come, they will never come back because of the
way she/he received the people. The person can even be Satan’s own agent with
a semblance of light around him. You may think “Oh, that person is very sweet
and very nice” but you don’t know how he treats the people when they come in,
They will go and never come back. Is that what you have in the church?
You must be sanctified. When you get this job, you must be sanctified.
I don’t want to go to the other side. To worship God, music is so important and if
you make a wrong chord, you break things. Apart from the minister, it is the
musician. If you see the Old Testament, music plays a very important part, and a
musician must be a person that is truly and fully sanctified. It’s very, very
important. Your prayer life and your standing with the Holy Spirit must be good.
I used to argue with my son. My son is a musician. I said, my son, it is not the
chords, how much you can display on the keyboard, that’s not the important thing
but what is coming through you and how does it radiate in the congregation? It is
not the fineness of the music. The fineness of the tuning is important but what
sound are you creating in the spirit and how does it have impact on the people.
People will go to the street and take music from the street and expect us to worship
God with music from the streets. We are not street culture. This is a holy place.
It’s an abomination to come and defy the holy place with this spirit of the street.
This is not on my note, but somehow, I want to bring you to that point of
understanding that you are holy people. The whole church is holy, but you are
super holy. I’m not super holy by trying to be self-righteous and all over people.
If you are holy and you really are a child of God, you must be humble. The
evidence of Christ is humility and the spirit of prophecy.
Any man who is being used by God or wants to be used by God must be a very,
humble person. I’m going to say humility is not pretending. You dress holy. You
want to please the pastor. And the elders will see you that, “oh, you are a very
holy person.” You must be holy in your spirit. When somebody comes to your
house, he must find evidence that this person is sanctified by God.
I used to teach the girls that when they are going to marry, I wish the men go and
visit them in their homes and see the kind of kitchen and bedrooms they have and
how they organize their own wardrobes. I’m just giving you practical realities.
You must be sanctified and holy unto God. A holy person. Very important.
You know, I was telling brother Joseph, I may treat it this evening but let me give
you a picture. God told me the other day, “my son, man, I created things, and I
can change, and I can transform.” He created man and he changed man. In the
garden of Eden, when we disobeyed, he changed us. Our glory fell. We began to
be dependent on clothing and food from the earth and all the rest of it. That’s the
fallen nature. It’s not the real man but now he wants to transform us and lift us up
yet again to the golden city. The same God is the one doing it. He created us in
one image. When we disobeyed, we fell. He reduced our power and our glory but
today he’s come to return it. He can give you that power now so that you too can
be an instrument to transform other people. You can be instrument through God
can use to transform. You need wisdom. You need power. You need
understanding. You need strength. You need all this. This is in Christ, and he
alone can endow you with the presence of the Holy Spirit and within the Holy
Spirit has all the virtues and the graces you need to do God’s work. That’s why
it’s necessary to know how to work with The Holy Spirit.
You must internalize within your body, your being, how to work with Jesus.
It is necessary. A working relationship with Jesus is critical to do God’s work.
Amen. It’s not just head knowledge of him; there must be something happening
there. Your heartbeat, your mindset and your understanding must be changed.
You must be raised to the level that God can use you as an effective instrument
in His holy hands for his holy purposes and this understanding must be settled in
your heart.
This is the key message and requirement in this whole matter. Looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith. In all these things, look unto Jesus. I’ve been
telling people; Jesus is not a model. He’s not a model we draw. You see brother
O.C and you see how brother O.C. does things and then you also copy it. You are
following brother O.C. according to your perception of understanding and ability
to copy.
We don’t serve God that way. Christ is not a model to be copied. Christ’s life is
spirit in us, so he manifests in us. We don’t imitate him. You see the difference?
Christ is not a model that you follow. “If Christ were here, what would he have
done?” That’s a foolish question. Christ is here. He’s in me. What is he doing?
The question is not what if Christ were here, what would he have done? Christ
has not left anywhere. He’s here in me. So, what is Christ doing? What is Christ’s
answer to the issues I’m facing now? That is the answer.”
Looking onto Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. This is what the Lord
has directed me as I said earlier for us to deliberate upon namely, Faith.
Before raising the flag, let me re-echo the high ground of the basis of the mission
task and the goal of the calling and standing of ministers and gospel. God is
gathering building and working towards the growth, maturity and the perfection
of the people of God in the fullness of the stature and glory of Jesus Christ for the
church mission. This is the summary of the message. That is what we are engaged
to do. This is our task. May I state at this stage that it is my prayer that the brethren
and all ministers and gospel workers everywhere must take full note of the
submission on mission task, mission goals and the mechanism for the fulfillment
of the calling which I’ve just said briefly this morning.
That stated, permit me also to focus on faith. The theme of our deliberation as
directed by the Lord. We’ll base our deliberation on the whole chapter of Hebrew
chapter 11 because there’s no time.
According to verse 1 of Hebrew 11 “Now faith is a substance of things hoped for.
The evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report.”
So, if we will do this work that God has called us to do as ministers it is by faith.
And if we do it by faith, we shall have a good report.
Faith is a substance of things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen. This
interpretation is “faith is the basis of vision and mission for the Christian life and
for our purposes as workers of the gospel.” Faith gives us both the vision as well
as the mission. The substance of things hoped for is a vision. You must understand
the vision. What are we hoping for? What are we desiring? Faith is the substance
of it.
Faith is the evidence of things not seen. That is faith becomes the mechanism by
which we see the practical results of our efforts. By faith, we get a vision of what
is expected of us and by faith, we work to attain the vision.
What is faith? How do we get faith? Faith is a spirit, and faith comes by the word
of God. When we were born, we had some faith in us because God imparted
nature in us by breathing. There was some element of faith, but the old man was
fallen and, in any case, could not attain the heavenly agenda. Therefore, we need
a new faith to get the vision that God has for his church, his people or for your
life. That vision is based on and transmitted to you through the word of God. The
voice of God. When we receive that same voice, that becomes the vision and the
basis of your mission.
The word of God is the basis of having a clear vision of what God wants you to
do. And that same word of God that he has spoken determines your mission
agenda. Then you can obtain a good report.
In other words, faith is a mechanism of translating the commission and vision of
the church into practical reality. Now, faith is and comes from the word. That is,
both the vision and the mission of the church mission is based upon, is directed,
mechanized, and measured by the word of God. The word of God is Christ, and
the spirit of power and wisdom of God revealed it onto the world. 1 Corinthians
1:24.
It gives you the vision and within the vision is the power to attain the goals. How
do you do it? How do I do it? Still where? In the word of God and all is in Christ
Jesus.
The church ministers and gospel workers have the special privilege with this kind
of environment, spiritual environment. We walk in the power, the spirit and the
wisdom of God. We cannot do God’s work except that. That’s why Jesus said, it
is expedient that I go and if I do not go, the spirit will not come, and you cannot
work without him. Let him come. A while ago, you could not see me, yet you
will see. I will not leave you comfortless. I know you can’t do this work without
me.
I was teaching on faith with my Bible students. If you take Peter and Jesus. Peter
saw Jesus walking on the water and Peter desired to go but Peter was on natural
base as a human being, yet he desired to go. So, he said, can I come? Jesus said
“come”. That word was enough. From the basis of that word, he walked. That’s
all. It was not Peter’s ability, his spirituality. It was not anything but faith.
So, he started coming and he came. Except when he started thinking of himself
or there was a little storm on the way.
That’s Christian life. When you start having a little problem. A little storm on the
way then you forget who you are, or you forget what you heard in the beginning.
You fall. That’s why I said confidence in yourself to do it is not upon your
personal ability but to walk with the Lord. Your humility to bow, to understand
and have a full and total dependence on God. That is faith. Then you can achieve
your goals.
Everything appears difficult but your confidence is not in the environment. It is
not on the sea that is roaring. It’s not on the lion that is crying. It’s not everything
that is destroying your house but your confidence in Jesus. “I know whom I have
believed, He’s able. I know whom I have trusted, I will not die.”
One day I was surrounded by men with guns. 24 men. 12 were dispatched to kill
me in the spirit and they shot their guns. I said I would never die, and it never
touched me.
Another group shot me, I will never die, and I never died. I woke up. My aunt
started singing in the morning. Five o’clock she was singing and praising Jesus
Christ. She knew what happened in the night. I told her I would never die. It was
at a funeral. I said I will never die. So, they went to the spirit to see whether I will
die, and I never died. I will not die. I’m already dead and risen so death is no more.
I have no company with death anymore. He cannot come to my house. He’s not a
visitor in my house. He’s not even a stranger. Because he’s not in my territory. He
cannot enter there. Death has parted. He’s gone out of my territory. I’m a living
child of the living God. Amen.
But if you forget who you are then something can happen to you. But we are
supposed to be people who encourage them and build them up so, your personal
faith and confidence in Christ must not be shaken.
Let’s say you’re a pastor. The captain of a boat and there is a storm and then he
runs and leaves the boat into the sea. If you’re a pastor and there’s a confusion in
this house or you’re a father in the house and there’s a snake and everybody’s
running away, and you too run away. I’m talking about the responsibility we have.
We have great responsibility. But we know that we are not the workers. Christ is
working and we are only tools in his hand. It is the ascended and exalted Christ
who calls, ordains and grants special gifts and anointing of the Holy Spirit to
ministers and Godly workers for the work of the ministry. Ephesians 4.8.
In John 14 he says because I’m going back to My father ye shall do greater works.
This man whom we are worshiping is exalted and is seated at the right-hand side
of the father so there’s no power that can challenge you. It is he who calls and
appoints.
Paul said when we glory, we glory in the Lord. If you understand whom you are
you will not take this gospel work cheap, but you understand it and you will see
the blessing of God in appointing you among millions to be a worker in his house.
That he, through you will manifest himself to the brethren that have problems,
and they can come to you knowing whom they are going to. Not you but Christ.
The child of God in the house. The man that God has appointed or the sister that
God has appointed to minister to her needs.
The deacons must be people of hospitality. The wives of pastors must be
hospitable, Charitable and open their doors because they are coming not to you
but to Christ and they must see evidence of you being Christ.
I’m not talking about Christians who are thieves, rogues, frauds and cheats.
There are some of them who will not work but they have bibles, and they say
they are called by God. They know when you will eat so they come to your
house when they know that it’s time for you to eat. They know when to come.
When you receive your cheques, they begin to visit you. They say, “oh brother
I’m on a visit.” Because he knows that you have just received your cheque so
he’s expecting you to give him some groceries or give him a cheque. These are
frauds.
So, when you are working for God don’t be a fraud. Don’t time the time. The
time that you visit only the rich men in the church. You look at the women who
have no husbands but have a little money with them. Then you go there, “sister
I’m on a visit, shall we pray?” and while you are praying your mind is that she’ll
give you a cheque. You are a thief. You are a fraud. They prey on women. They
don’t get men easily but the women. Women are always in trouble.
The Bible says we are not doing this work because of food. It doesn’t mean that
we should not eat. The word is filthy because you are using pretenses, fraud,
deceit and cheating to rob people of their monies. I was in a pastor’s house having
a prayer meeting one day and the Lord was telling me to tell him “When
somebody has made her savings to buy a car or to build a house or do something
and then you go and tell him or her that God has appointed you to do something
so the person takes her money and gives it to God and you go and use it foolishly,
you are a thief. You pretend that you need money for God’s work because you
want to go and live comfortably in your house and this woman takes her savings.
or takes money that she has reserved for her children’s education or something
and gives it to you thinking that she is doing God’s work rather, you want to live
comfortably. You are a thief. Then the pastor asked me; Are you talking to me? I
said no. This is the word God gave me.
I am talking about these things in church. And I know that you will not do that.
If God will give you, yes, he will give you and it’s good sometimes to share but
not to pretend and try to manipulate people then you come to the church. This is
for pastors. You begin to preach a gospel. “Give and it shall be given” but your
aim is that you want to buy a car. You are a robber.
Think about it, my brother. I’m saying that don’t go and do because when this
church becomes big, many of you here may be pastors tomorrow morning. Don’t
think that this OC alone will do it. You too are a potential pastor. Sitting down
there as the usher you know whom to give the good seat and whom you can throw
away because they are not important but you give a high seat to the one who is
rich because when they are going, if he doesn’t give you something he will at least
say you are a good usher then you become excited.
All the children are noble before God. They are all Precious. As soon as they are
here and everywhere they are, they are the same. There is no difference, and we
are supposed to serve them.
The other day I went to London and one of my young men saw me and said
“Daddy, I didn’t know you were in town, could you please come? It’s a long time
since I heard you preach. Come and preach to my people.” I said alright, I’ll be
coming. He said “we have an all-night. I want you to be at the all-night. The lord
told me when you go all I want you to do is to go and wash their feet. These are
people I didn’t know. I knelt by everybody’s foot, one by one. From row to row.
The bishop is washing their feet. Do you think some of the bishops will do this?
That the people will come to church and they will kneel and minister on their feet.
He is too big for that.
AMEN.