Offences in the Church, How do Deal with it 10032024 - Apostle Peterson Onoja Abu

The speaker is praying for healing and deliverance from various ailments and addictions in the name of Jesus. They also pray for freedom from demonic powers and bondage. The speaker emphasizes the importance of the church being a family and the need for leadership within the church. They discuss how family upbringing can affect marriages and highlight the diverse nature of the church, with different denominations serving different purposes. The speaker also mentions cultural influences on worship styles and emphasizes the unity of the church despite these differences. Every form of terminal disease in their body. Take those things away in the name of Jesus. I pray for someone here right now. Every margarine addict, go. Margarine addict, go. Whosoever has caused you, I cause that cause. It will not stand in your life. In the name of Jesus. Lord, I pray for them. Pain in your back, pain in your waist, pain inside your bone. Go, in the name of Jesus. I say go, in the name of Jesus. Let the power of God set you free from every demonic power. You are free from that satanic bondage. You are coming out from that prison door. I say you are coming out from that prison. Every power tying us down will destroy the power. Witches and wizards, we set them on fire. In the name of Jesus. Thank you, Father, because you are faithful. For in Jesus' mighty name we pray. Give the Lord a shout of hallelujah. In the name of Jesus, God bless you. Before we go this morning, I apologize to the choristers. I know you were supposed to give us a song. That will be done next week. Before we go this morning, we will be considering the word of God. That God is bringing to us to encourage us as well as to chastise us, to correct us, and to admonition us. I pray that the word of God will become a blessing to our lives in Jesus' name. I say the word of God will become a blessing to our lives in Jesus' name. To every one of us that finds time to be here, I really appreciate you celebrate yourself now. That you never allow the economy of Nigeria to stop your fervency. Celebrate yourself. It has been a long, long time. Amen. I am so happy to see you. God bless every one of us in Jesus' name. We will be talking about a very important teaching. All of our teachings are important. I want the children not to disturb. Since they are not in their class, they are here. Do not disturb. We will be talking about how to undo offenses in the church as family. How to what? Undo offenses in the church as what? As what? As a family. Praise the Lord. A family comprises of the father, mother, and what? The children. By extension, and every relative. And by extension, by adoption. Praise the Lord. It means that family is not only biological. Family is also relative. And as well, by extension, family can also be by adoption. You can adopt a child to become what? Your child. Am I right? As well, you can also adopt an adult to become your child. Adoption is you declaring your ownership as well as your parental responsibility over that particular person. The first thing I want us to understand here is that the church is a family. The church is a what? Is a family. And the Lord has brought us together as family with a very significant intention. And when this is not taken as a family, we begin to see it as a group of people from different families coming together. And when that notion is there, we will not be able to be here with one another. We will not be able to tolerate one another. In every family, there must be a father, there must be a mother, and there must be children. In other words, in every family, there must be a leader, and there must be what? The followers. When we were taking our Sunday school review, our sister told us that the manner in which we raise our children determines how their marriages will look like. Of course, if you shake us very well, you and I know where we are coming from. You know the kind of family you are coming from. You know the mystique of your father. You know the mystique of what? Your mother. And you know the kind of character you demonstrate. That you know that this one is for my father. And there is a kind of character you demonstrate. You say this one is for my what? My mother. As I am now, I know what I collected from my father and what I collected from my mother. And in the aspect of collection, there are some certain things you would not want to manifest in a marriage. Am I right? Yes. There are some certain things I saw my father doing wrong that I would never want that to show up in my marriage. And there are some certain attributes, character, I saw my mother exhibiting that I would never want to do in a marriage. Neither would I want my younger ones to do it inside marriage. In every family, there is always someone that God has placed as a leader to be able to lead such families. Because every family is going towards a destination. So also the church. The church is not just a social gathering where we say, okay, we are all gathering together because of this purpose. What is the purpose? We are all gathering together because we are from the same village. This is not a social gathering of village people. We are not gathering together because we are from the same town. This is not a township meeting. We are not gathering together merely because we are from the west. This is not a western meeting. Neither are we gathering together because of the skin color. This is not a racist meeting. This is a Christian meeting. And Jesus, through the person of Paul the Apostle, defined what is the church. The church is the body of Christ that comprises of all race, all nations, all people. That means both the black and white are part of the body of Christ. Praise the Lord. And when there is a formation of a church, what we call denominational church. Denominational church is a fraction. Some of you that know what they call money. For fraction, we have the numerator and what? The denominator. And as well, when it comes to money, we say, which denominator, what is this? Is it naira or what? Or dollar? And they say, what denominator? You say, well, I'm holding art currency. What is art currency? Dollar. Praise the Lord. Now, when they ask you what denominator, they are asking you that, what currency are you having for trading? Because that currency is peculiar to the nation. You can't use naira in the U.S. Neither can you use dollar in where? In Nigeria. You have to transcribe it. You have to transform it. You have to convert it to what? To naira. To the local currency of the nation. Praise the Lord. So, when it comes to denomination, the Lord permits the establishment of a church as an evangelical tool to reach out to people. And that is why you see that more churches will be found because the Lord will keep calling more people into the ministry because it's not only dealing with Agbede. It's not only dealing with Lagos. It's not only dealing with Nigeria. It's not only dealing with Africa. It's also dealing with even Antarctica. I think Antarctica has been known as a wilderness, a forest, a desert place filled with frozenness. If you go to Antarctica, everywhere is just frozen. Snow. But they call it a desert. Praise the Lord. But there are people living there in Antarctica. Despite that that continent is like a desert, people are still living there. Even those people that are living in Antarctica, God is very much worth interested. There are still people God will call and send them to Antarctica to go and establish a denomination. A church, the believers renewal ministry, is not excluded from the body of Christ. We are a full body of Christ. Let me use myself as an example. Look up here. I'm an adult. I'm a man. My head is not my hand. Two of us. Yes. And my hand is not my liver. And the day I decide to say or the day my head is not becoming jealous of my leg, what will happen? Imagine you come to church, Baba, one day and you see me walking with my head. And then my leg is not the one looking at you. But it's still leg. Why would you run? It's not still leg that is my head now. But it's still leg. You have felt leg before. The reason you are running is not because you don't know that it's leg, but because the position where you are seeing the leg is not normal. Hallelujah. That is how a church is. As this church is like this, it's not the whole complete body of Christ. We might be just a mouth because we are a teaching church. There are some churches that are ears. They are yelling words, church. So it's a prophetic church. They may not know how to teach the Bible, but from the beginning of the service to the end, it's prophecy, prophecy. They are telling you what is in your village. They are telling you what is yours. Are you getting me? There are some that are mouth and ears at the same time. There are people that are just breathing. Their own is what breathes. What they do is that they only come to set revival, but they don't stay in one place, because they come to give life and they leave a place. So this whole denominational body together is what makes the church. So the church of God is what? One. Now the reason there are differences in the church operation, number one, is cultural influence. The way Christianity is practiced in Nigeria, you may be so surprised that when you get to America, you may not see it like that. When you go to Greece, you may not see it like that. When you go to European nations, you may not see it like that. In Nigeria, we pray and scream and shout, die, die, die. And they will say, everybody, carry a boon to the shop. Block the devil, block the devil. And then when you get to the other country there, they are praying like this, amen, amen, amen. And you say, these people are sleeping here. You say, they are not serious. Come and do that in Africa. The demon will kill you. No. It is the same demon everywhere. Are you getting me? It is Nigeria's cultural work background. Our cultural background is radical. Even our worshipping of the devil. Go and show people that are worshipping idol. They are all radical. So, it is our radical background that influences our way of worship. I have white people that are my friends. There was one of my daughter-in-law, a white lady from Germany. She prays. She wants to pray. She says, oh, Lord, we thank you. You yourself, both of you are praying. You will be like, this woman does not know what is happening in life. Let me lead the prayer. Just listen. Are you with me? And when you lead the prayer, you are shouting and screaming. And she is looking at you like a strange person. That is why when we get to heaven, when we get to heaven, you will be shocked by so many things. You will discover that 80% of the things we do in church in Africa may not be true. Because the truth of the matter is that you don't know the stature at which Jesus was praying. I don't think Jesus was shouting, vibrating, and the whole neighborhood was yelling about him. I don't believe Jesus was doing that. You may be shocked that when Jesus wanted to pray, it may even be that he always knelt down and said, Lord, I thank you. Not even, Lord, I thank you. You are wonderful. No. That might be a Nigerian pattern. But in all this, does it mean that the body of Christ is perfect? No. And this is why it will be very long for the believers when you are to look at another church and say, that church is not a good church. Yes, I'm not talking about the fake and false church. I'm talking about the true church who has not yet become what? Perfect. The body of Christ is not yet perfect. That is why Jesus has not yet come. Jesus is coming for a perfect bride, without faults or weaknesses. But because Jesus is aware that his body is not yet perfect. Hallelujah. There was a lady, because where I stayed many years ago, you know those face-to-face house, where the whole neighbor used one toilet. And that is in the morning, you start seeing people with different color. Am I right? A lady was going to bath, because she always dressed neat and beautiful. And when she tied her wrapper, there was a big eczema at the back. Eczema you will never see if you put on clothes. In the body of Christ, there can be a big ringworm at the back of the body of Christ. Jesus will not cut off that ringworm. He will find a way to treat that ringworm. No church is perfect. If you are looking for a perfect church, you have to die. For the ones that are perfect are already in heaven. That means you have to go to where? Heaven. And if you say you don't want to die, that is not a word, a perfect church. Look at your neighbor and say no church is perfect. No church is perfect. Look up here. If you see people saying, I am not going to that church over there, or this church over here. I don't like what they are doing. That is not my church. Even though family is what? Perfect. Many of us are married here. You are the holy man. You are the holy one that knows the bad side of your wife. Wives, you are the holy one that knows what? The bad side of your husband. Somebody can come to the public and say, this man, you are good, you are a nice man. And you will be nice. Because your wife will say, this man is not good. You look like Jesus. And you look at the man and say, you are Jesus in physical. And you are the wife that is sitting somewhere and you have to look at your husband and say, why? Let us assume that this man is good. Because you know that the man is doing what? Even if it happens simply. I remember when my sister was a chorister. Are you with me? And I was not born again. After we finished fighting at home. The one following me. When she starts singing like this. Like this. When I start looking at her, she will know that I am passing by. Are you getting me? I am telling her that you will just finish fighting. It almost even affected my being born again. It made me to delay to be born again. Because I know the place that is worth singing. So when she starts singing. And she starts crying. And people are crying with the song. See. Who they cry? This one. It becomes you. Like I said that to my pastor. Am I right? Are you all going to see me like that? The song will never finish with my flesh. Not even my heart, my flesh. Because what? I know. So also the church. It is with the pastors. That are close to God. That know some of the weaknesses of the body of Christ. I tell you. Some of you. As long as you are not a pastor. You will serve God very well. But the moment you become a pastor. And you start seeing what is happening in the body of Christ. You are close to you denying Jesus. I am telling you. That is why most people that deny Jesus are what? Pastors. When you become a pastor. You go to that realm. Where you are not close to the body of Christ. If you see what is happening in the top. Go back right. So there are people that Jesus. Keep closer to himself. Because of their level of what? Martial arts. And there are people he was dealing with from afar. Even among the disciples of Jesus. It was just Peter. John. Andrew. That Jesus would take closer to himself. The others. Bartholomew. Philip. They are behind him. He speak to them. By talking to Peter. Because of the level of what? Martial arts. No church is what? Perfect. A pastor friend of mine. Who was a pastor of one of these big churches. Caught me three weeks ago. He said it is no longer what? Church. It is no longer. And they gave him a bunch of others. I have no longer. A bunch that when he is preaching. There is television screen. On what? The world. I was saying Jesus. I wish I am the one that gives to that world. I said you have. Look at me. I am a founder. You have. They have already set the church. You have members. You don't need to look for members. You are not going again. I was just shocked. I was just shocked. Last week I checked that. Somebody came on Facebook and said. We have a new branch. We are looking for pastors. If you are ready. Apply. And they write on the comment. I am ready. He is not looking for church to what? To submit TV and work. A man that has been working in that church for more than 10 years. More than 10 years. Because people are still looking for a perfect church. There is not perfect. Now he is going to grant level 1 again. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. To start applying for a church. So, when you are coming to church, don't think that you are coming to a perfect church. No. So, we are talking about how to handle offenses in the church as a family. Because people keep moving from church to church. When you ask them, I thought you were going to the other church. Say, hey, hey, hey, because I'm not going to this. Which church are you going? I'm going to this church. After one year or three months, they are not going there again. What? Ah, I'm not going there again. Which? I'm not going to the new one yet. Why they keep moving is because they think that the church is what? Perfect. Even you coming to the church, you are not what? Perfect. Praise the Lord. I remember how one of... Remember, it's not this place. Hallelujah. I did something. I never knew I offended the member. Are you with me? And she stopped coming to church. So, I keep asking, what about this particular person? Auntie, when I went to priest, I did not say you offended me. That's why I stopped. This is the same person that has been offending me several times, and I never was yet offended. Because I know that she is not what? Perfect. But when pastor offends... You see, people stop going to church because they say pastor offends me. Have you think the other way round that you have been offending pastor too? That pastor does not get offended. People stop going to church, they say, because why will they cease? Why will cease? Are they not greet me? Are we mates? No. When we come to church, it's not for mates. We are coming to worship who? God. Yes, we expect that the children should greet who? The elders. But it is not a basic factor of becoming a church member. So you discover that the devil, when he tries to fight and fight and fight and fight, and he sees that he cannot destroy his church, he says, let us send them the hour of offense. So you see that we start getting offended with one another. And when offense comes in, besides talking, we start going on. This one, we start talking, gossiping, we are going on. This group of people are gossiping. This other group are gossiping. This one are gossiping. The church will divide and scatter. The devil knows that he cannot take the man of God away because of his anointing. He says, let us send the offense. So you must know that no church is what? Perfect. Even in the ministry of Jesus, it was not perfect. Judah was there. Judah is God. You would say, but Jesus was God. Why would he still make a ministry to shoot? No body is perfect. The person that is good today can become bad tomorrow. And the person bad today can become what? Good. A pastor, whenever he's coming to church with his car, at the junction, you only saw some of these people smoke. Are you with me? People that normally drink and smoke. And when he's going sometime, we just give them money. If you invite them to church, they're not coming to church. But there was a period where something happened in the church, and everybody was leaving. And the police came. It was a lie. They set up an issue. And the members decided to believe what the people are saying, and they started leaving. And out of more than 3,000 members, it was less than 15 people in the church. And the police, they were coming to pick the pastor. It was these ego smokers. Are you with me? That stood at the road and said, you will not carry our pastor. They are not members. They said, you will not carry what? Our pastor. Now my church be that. You know people like our pastor. They were the ones that fought for the pastor, and they began to attend that what? Church. Some of them later ended up becoming pastors. The ones you see bad today, they'll become the students tomorrow. Nobody's perfect. No church is what? Perfect. Everybody's on a journey. Some people are on a journey from good to what? Bad. Why some people are on a journey from bad to good? And that is why the church is like an hospital. No matter any case that is brought to the church, we try to handle it. Even though we know that this is very dangerous. Because some people are already trying to become good. Matthew Chapter 18. Matthew Chapter 18 from verse 15 to verse 17. Matthew 18 from verse 15 to verse 17. The Bible says in verse 15. Matthew 18 from verse 15 to verse 17. Moreover, if thy brother trespass against you, go and tell him his fault between him and you alone. Look up here. You see, look up here. One of the easiest ways to solve a matter is to go and tell the person what you don't like. Let me use for example. Our brother here offended me. You do me what I like. I call the verse for you. And instead of me to come and meet you and say what you do to me, I know what. I don't like that. I go meet another person and say, you see, what did that brother do? I don't like that man. You know what I'm trying to do? I'm already transferring aggression to what? That person will be seeing this person with a bad character. I want to tell you that what this brother did as a what thing. And if you don't call this brother personally to say, I'm not happy with you because you did this, you did that. And if I say, oh, sorry. Oh, that's not the way you see her. Now this is who I think I am before. Even you, you will not say, ah, thank you, sir, I call him. Ignore that. That was George's brother. That's a bad person. Now you have saved that brother and any other person you are supposed to what? Meet. That is how Christians do it. For church, for Christianity. When they do you what you don't like, go meet what? The person. I don't like talking behind me. If I see what they are not like, I'll go what? Including my landlord. I will go and meet. I don't like raking. I don't like what? Not what I can rake. When it comes to reality, they will take what. I will go and meet and say I don't like this thing, what you do. You're not sweet to me. I don't like that. You're going to say, oh, sorry, pastor. That's who I think I am before. Say, oh, sorry, too. Me, that's who I can't think I am to before. Peace has come. There is no way you will not find offense. Go and join sick society, you will see what? Offense. Offenses are everywhere. It is how you manage offense that determines how you will survive in this world. Because you can't cut off everybody. If you don't know how to manage offense, check very well, you'll be a low angel. Nobody will be coming close to you. Because this one comes, you're offended, you cut him off. That one comes, that one, too, you're waiting, you don't like, you cut him off. This other one comes, you're angry, you cut him off. In the day of problem, except God help you, nobody will help you. Because you have cut off what? Everybody. And you are not even thinking the one you are doing that is not even what? Good. And yet everybody is dealing with you. Hallelujah. So there is no perfect church. There is no perfect church. There is no perfect church. So the church is not a place for a group of people that are perfect. No. It's not a place. I remember one of the sisters. We are not in church again. What happened? She was telling me about one of the members who was a member here who came to meet her to ask for what? Money. With a lie. With a what? A lie. And because she was seeing her, called me once, once a year. She is no longer here again. So she gave her what? Money. Only for her to come to Sunday service and when she came and meet me. So this place is not with us again. And the things he told you is not what? They are not true. Maybe the thing got her offended. She said, if I can meet that kind of person in the church, that kind of church, I'm not coming to that church again. That means you meet. The church is like a marketplace. Anybody come. But when people try to personalize it and get angry with the whole church, you don't understand what church is. If thief that is coming, he is coming where you are believing that one day thief will become changed. And he was angry. Why would that woman come and deceive her to collect her money? I said, no. I said, you have seen everything that you have done unto God. But if she was coming to church every day, she would have reacted the way I said that. Don't open your business for church members. Have I not been saying it? Don't open your business for what? For church members. When it comes to business, who is church? What? Madam, pay now. Give me my thing back. Not that something will happen. You will not carry that handkerchief and use it to wash your hairbrush. It's a member of the church. It's a member. You are not a member too. Everybody has a way of problem. Church is a treatment center. So the church is not what? Perfect. Church is not what? Perfect. So when we are coming together, we are coming together to help ourselves to heaven. One of the visions I have for every one of us is that we should end up where? Heaven. And that is why I keep teaching the word of God. Whenever I'm buying things for my members, I don't like what I say. I don't like what? There's one of our members. He will be around next week. I think to me, that was about two months ago, if I'm not mistaken. Since January. And that time, rice has now reached what? Five thousand. That was early January. Are you with me? I want to ask you, brother, how much? It says what? I didn't say how much last. Because it's my what? My member. Even if I know that that rice is four, I will buy it for what? Five. It's my worth also supporting that place. I don't say give me what? Credit. No. Let us push off aside. Won't you survive? Do we share money here? I will come to service. Okay, give everybody one more bag, then I must go. If it's ten, I can go and collect anything for you. So we should not carry the annoyance of what a member do and spread this across the church or any other church and say they are not good people. The church is not perfect. Any church you see that have grown, when you enter their midst, you may be able to see where it's more worse than worse. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Somebody got offended and he left. And I asked, it's okay, since you have grown that short, has their pastor ever visited you? He said, no. Ah! He said, they don't even think of visiting. He said, they have never called me once. I said, but don't I visit you? He said, yes, sir. Don't I call you? Yes, sir. Why do you think we are perfect and you left us? Because where you are going, you may be surprised at the part of them who sent you. The moment everything is carried, his wife, children, and that can't go. They don't know whether you are existing. They don't know anything about you. Nowhere is what? Perfect. When you find yourself in this church, take the decision that I want to serve God. Don't look at people. Hallelujah. So forgiveness is what we can use to keep our relationship in this church. Keep forgiving. Keep overlooking. Keep absorbing the pain. That's why we call shock absorber inside the car. If the car passes through a gallop, each of you will hear, Coco, the shock absorber will just absorb what? The shock. Swallow it so that peace can reign. We cannot grow if the church is against one another. If we are angry with one another, we cannot what? We cannot what? There is a particular decision I have made in my heart. Can you hear me? That I will never believe an outsider more than you people. An outsider cannot come and tell me my member is a thief and I will believe. Even though maybe he will later put he is a thief, I will never believe that you are a thief. I said I will believe my members more than any what? Outsider. It's a personal decision I made. And that is why I don't suspect any of you. I don't suspect any of you. I don't suspect any of you. As long as you are sitting under my kitchen, I don't suspect what? You. Sometimes it is what people say outside that we believe more than what? By hearing from what? It's not true. It's not true. There was a woman, when she has not given birth, in this Sunday school, she will be beating the children. Are you with me? She will come to this school, say another year what? On the head. They will tear this off. When they are pushing, she will not be moving her hand. She will be flogging what? The leg. God helped her. She got married. Hallelujah. She gave birth to her first child. And she gave birth to that first child two years. So, the child started growing and the child was making noise. Another innocent usher that newly joined the church but is now an usher. Carried the child and began to whip the child. Every whip like this, the woman would rise. When the usher carried her to whip the child, the woman would rise. She was sitting down though. A client came. Also was he pushing, he shoved her. You think crazy? You know how difficult this child? You don't give everything. But when she was doing that to other people's children, she never knew that it was what? Injustice. When we start spoiling other people's children, put your children in the shoe. No good father and no good mother will throw away their bad. Even if their child is bad, they will say, leave that for me. It will change. That is what we should do to other people's children too. No child is what? Bad. They may be doing what is not good today. What you hold them is prayer. They will change. Some of us and some of our elderly ones here, before they became who they are today, some of us did what was worst. What we hold them is what? Is prayer. If you cannot give up on your child, don't give up on other people's children. This child is not a year old. Not just any year child. It is not any year child. It is not a year old. It is the same reason why God allowed you to meet that child, so that you can help that child to start hearing what? Word. And some of these things need prayer. If we easily throw away people's children, we cannot do that to our own children. Like the church I was attending before, that pastor wants to know what is happening to every person's child. If you are going to school, are you getting me now? He gave birth to a child, the student. He was not bringing his child to work, so nobody knows about his child. But he wants to know about your work. So then my friend called me. He said, I need to take my pastor Henny to you again. Because they later discovered that their student are going to higher school, better. It is not bad, but why are you hiding the student from the church? They don't come to service there again. They are the headquarter. If you don't believe in your members, then why are you still pushing to them? Why not send them away? I don't believe anybody can poison my child. I don't believe anybody can do evil against my child. And you want to know about the sources of every children. You are calling them to know how their children are doing, what class are they, what are they taking their position. If they ask you about your own child, you will not say anything. I will not tell you again. Are you getting me now? When they are suspicious, we are only affecting the body of Christ. And the church refuses to grow. Because everybody has something in their heart. Your beautiful children, as our children are in Sunday school, your children are not bigger than what? Sunday school, all of them, they say, why will you not be putting your children in what? Sunday school, if they come, they put them inside class, Sunday school, if they come, they put them inside class, and inside your office, after service time, from office to other ages. If you say member students should be in Sunday school, those students should also be where? Sunday school, that is a sample. But when we think the church is perfect, we will be putting our eyeglass looking for perfect people. It is not like that. You have your mistake, you have your failure, we should just love one another by focusing on our similarities, not our world differences. Hallelujah. It is so sad that members are suspecting one another to be criminals. It is so sad that members are suspecting one another to be thieves. It is so sad that members are suspecting one another to be bad. If I suspect, will I eat? If you give me something, will I drink? Hallelujah. I don't believe anything can affect me. I went to a village for evangelism, a mission work, and I met the juju priest. When they come out of the juju priest, they have a bell, they tie the bell on the tree. The breeze will begin to blow, the bell will begin to ring. The juju normally tell the person that somebody is in the world and they come out. At the same time, the priest was looking at the top of the tree. It is a very long tree. They put white pieces there. Very big white pieces. It was a shrine. They were coming. I entered his house. Somebody was already there. Somebody came to see him. He was playing oracle. I started looking at him as he was playing oracle. He said, I should wait. Let him finish his work. He is coming to talk to me. I said, no problem. When he finished his work, we left there. We went to his main house, which is in Zimbabwe. It was in the parlor. The children were washing things. I saw that. The wife came with a camel. Praise the Lord. Pop. Hot pop. He gave his husband to be drinking. We were talking. My colleagues were drinking from the same spot. I cannot believe he can do me anything. I visited him. I entered into his house because I was trying to preach to him. I entered into his house. Okay. He came to meet me in my place. He could not enter my house. I said, no. He was in a fire inside. He said, I was coming. He was resting back. I said, enter now. He said, no, I will not enter. Christianity is a life. It is what you carry inside. This church is one of the best churches in the world. When I say that, I am not looking at now. If I did not see clearly, I would not say that. Let us believe. Let us support one another. If a brother does not have a job, it becomes everybody's responsibility to get that brother's job. Job. That is why I say, let us see whether the brother can do it. If a sister does not have a job, everybody is looking for what? Job. That is how we do it. That is how we keep love. Hallelujah. For us who have offences in the church, number one, we must forgive. Say forgive. We must forgive. We must what? Number two, you must be patient with people. Everybody is not growing at the same time. Okay, now. We have members. Who say they are our members but they come to church once in a month? Are we going to say they are not members? Huh? Are we going to say, oh, because they are coming once a month, brother, you are not a member, we just know. We just say we should let you know. Sometimes you just pray and you keep praying for them. That brother is even better than me. It was once in a year I was going to do this. And it was December 30. Happy New Year! Woo! See the message. When conscience becomes so much, I was a member of St. Andrew Agricultural Church. St. Andrew Agricultural Church. When conscience became so much, I did that attendance once in a month. Because every first Sunday was harvest. Was what? And they do share food because the church was filled with people. Gradually, I started going twice in a month. And it was because of my friend I was going, I started following twice. Before I looked, I began to go every Sunday. Every Sunday. So the person, we must be patient with one another. Growth is not the same among everybody. Look at Sister Ebisu, or look at Sister Lau. Where are your grandchildren? Are they growing the same with the younger ones? No, one grows more. Because they didn't come the same time. So, when you see a member that is not spiritual, don't generalize it. No, it's level. It's the level you met that person. Don't say, nah, so did they dwam. No, we will not dwam like that. Waste a lot. We should be able to forgive one, forgive, forgive, want to go to heaven, forgive. Number two, be patient. Number three, you have to forbear. And then number four, understand before you act. Understand before what? Yes, this morning when I came to church, I was not happy with one of the workers. Are you getting me? Yes, I was not happy. It didn't happen yesterday night, but I was not happy. I said, I don't expect this person to do something like this. When I was inside the office before Sunday school, I heard the person's voice. It's okay. I must handle this matter. Now, because the decision I made, I said, what? Let me know. Are you with me now? And when the person came out to call, she said, come and see me inside. She came and said, why did you do this? Oh, she said, sorry, sir. No, no. She began to what? I said, I was not happy that I see you of this level for long you have been with me. But when she left when she left within me, I said, thank God I I called her out. Are you getting me now? Because what I was judging was not actually eye to eye and peace was what I thought. I was not angry. I became happy. So sometimes you have to understand something before you judge. Call and ask, why did you do it? Waste a lot. A particular church, the worker had no food to eat. Had no what? Look up there. Are we following? The worker never had what? Food to eat? So this particular worker, somebody now came to help that worker in that particular church. But these people that came to help, they put her inside camera. Those people, the IPUWs. So they now took it to social media. They told, this is one of the best way I worked. And the pastor got hold of the video. I said, eh? And they called the sister. You are not a worker. You see that? You have disgraced the church. No. So when they were interviewing the sister, they said they placed her under discipline. I said, why? Why will it be open disgrace? So the pastor didn't do right. At least, the person had no anything for them. Will he wait for you? Eh? Not that the person left the church. It was not a left activity. No, this one was not weekly service. They just came to help. You would have even called them to say, thank you for helping my member. Because the money they gave to her was almost $600,000. From poverty struggling to eat. That is what the pastor would have. I don't know. That is what I would have done. The pastor had no anything for days. You are not saying because they gave the person food to eat. No, it should not work like that. Sometimes you have to call them to know why they beg for what. Eh? If they say, sir, we beg because we don't have food, then you provide them food. If you don't provide them food, you can't tell them not to what? Not to beg. Are we following? Are we following? So we should try to understand the motive of everybody before we judge. This does not mean that discipline should not be executed. We are talking about church as a what? Family. Yes, where there is discipline, you discipline with one hand, use the other hand to draw back. Because discipline is for the person to learn that this is wrong. No, we are not talking about discipline. I do discipline. Based on I love you, I will discipline. I can discipline you out of what? Out of love and happiness. See that? From love and what? Hallelujah. So we must have compassion towards one another. Then we must also seek counsel from wise counselors. When you discover that anytime you see this person you are not always happy, come and see your pastor. Even though we tell you that you have gone to tell that person that okay, I have forgiven you, let us settle. After you did that, you are still not happy. Anytime you see this person, you will just hate the person. It has gone beyond ordinary. The devil has taken over. You come to meet your pastor for prayer. You open up and say, pastor, I don't know. Anytime I see this person, I don't like the person. I say, is there a problem? No, although we have a problem but we have settled. But anytime I see this person, I don't like them. Then there is a problem there because what if I visit the person in heaven? You will not call God and say, God, I think you made a mistake. So anything we cannot do in heaven, we shouldn't do it here. Hallelujah. If we don't want to forgive one another, the church will be scattered by the devil. The church will be destroyed by the devil. And there are five ways the devil will destroy the church. Look up here. Are we ready? I want to close now. There are five ways the devil destroy what? Every church. Not only this church, every what church. Look up here, number one. They make them to see one another as enemies. They make them to see one another as what? This is not only peculiar to church, even family. The wife seeing the husband as enemy, the husband seeing the wife as what? Enemy. So when the devil wants to fight, the first thing he does, he makes the member of the church to see one another as what? So you will see that there are people coming to church that doesn't greet one another. There are people coming to church that doesn't laugh with one another. You cannot get to heaven. Hallelujah. Number two, the devil will make them to start suspecting every message. But Allah is not here. There was a matter we went to handle, not here, but we were on the other side. After I finished preaching, somebody stopped coming. He said I was using her to what? I said me. I said the stories I even have to preach are more than your stories. So why will I use you to what? Another one got angry. That one was a brother in that other place. And that brother was one of the good brother that was supporting me there. And he stopped coming. Why? He said I said that as I was preaching one day and I said that was somebody cross 40 years and he has not married. I said me. He said that. He said yes. He said I have not come here again. I said I was using you as an example. I said somebody is 40. Are you with me? He can still plan his what? I don't even know. I don't know people's age in the show. I don't know your age or what. I still guess him. And he said that is why he is not coming. So he went to complain to one of the choristers there. And the chorister came to me and said Pastor I have not heard anything from you. This is what is happening. I said no wonder he has not come again. He said yeah. I said okay. He said but don't meet him. Don't tell him my age. I said I hear you. I hear you. Doesn't mean I will do what you say. So while we were having our Sunday evening service there, while preaching and worship was going on, I just saw the brother came from where he was staying. I just left where I was. I walked straight to meet the brother. I said I want to see you. I took him to the corner of the church. I said what is happening? You that is close to me like this. If I offend you, can't you come and meet me? This is what I heard that you say. He said Pastor, I have not said anything to you. I said no, this person said you say it and you are not happy. He said yes. I said I am sorry. I said no, you know I love you. I will never do something against you. I said the moment I heard this, less than 10 minutes, I saw you came and that is why I met you. I left my preaching to come and meet you. After the worship now, I didn't want to preach. We must settle here before I go to where I preached. That was our faith. That is why I came to church. No need of putting. When somebody offend you, meet that one. I want to go to heaven. Before I came to Agbeda, I have been practicing Christianity. If not in Agbeda, I will not go to where? Hell. And that was how we settled. So we preachers, we can preach in the way we think we are talking about. People's stories are similar. Hallelujah. Number three, blackmailing the name and the identity of the pastor in charge. If the devil want to fight against the church, people will start going around to blackmail the pastor and his wife. They did that to my pastor. They did that to Jesus. And they will do that to every of your pastors. It is for you to defend your pastor words outside. It is for you to watch It is for you to watch defend. My pastor married late. My pastor was in his 40s when he married. So he married a very young lady that was 16 years. And the community there was a day there was a problem. They came, they were insulting my pastor. My pastor, go away, go marry small picking. So my body was just biting me. Are you with me? So my pastor kept quiet. He told them to be doing what they were doing because we were working in church. And the community boys, the youth, they were talking, stupid man. It was biting me. It was paining me. They were insulting. Not the money they look for, that's why you open church, fool and old man. As of this time, my pastor was 60 something years. When you see people insulting your pastor outside, don't just laugh. You don't love that man. The thing was paining me. It was one of them that later blew my eye. And the next day, when he himself woke up, there was a problem for him. He had to run to the church. He was begging. Why? For my pastor was preaching against fornication. I do worshipping, but I do worshipping in development. Any pastor that I normally call the name of sin while preaching will not have friends. When pastor is saying that you are collecting somebody's usman, those that are collecting usman, they will never be happy. Go and invite them, they will never come. They want to come into that place where I will be begging my sin every time. They will not go because they don't want to change. So when the enemy wants to fight, where is the name of the pastor and his wife? Number four, they repent the name of the church. They say the church is bad. Then number five, they discuss the weakness of the church with an outsider. I would be so ashamed that we have members here who will sit down with non-members to be discussing our God's word. This church, I would be so surprised. Someone that is not even coming to your church, you see that you are discussing the weakness of your church with that person. Then you not let that person say, I will invite you now. When you have narrated everything negative about your church to that person, they will not come. So the church is not perfect. Keep praying for your church. What is your responsibility? 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