PROVE YOUR WORTH, LEAVE OTHERS ALONE
1st Lesson: Matthew 7:4
"Or how wilt thou say to thy brother; Let me pull the mote out of thine own eye; and behold a beam is in thine own eye?"
2nd Lesson: James 3:13
"Who is a wise man and endowed with knowledge among you? Let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom."
Golden Text Galatians 6:4
"But let every man prove his own work, and then shall be have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another."
Brethren, that is the theme of our revelation tonight.
Let every man examine his own work so that he can have what to boast about. If you do not repent and forsake your sins, how would you know a person who is truly repentant? If you are not righteous, how will you know a righteous person? If you do not abandon falsehood, backbiting, fornication, theft, juju-making and other sins how would you be in a position to correct, or rebuke or reprove others?
All those who impute sins against others have not vet repented of their sins, which makes them partial n judging others. AU those who continue to find faults with others are not yet repentant. When you come across a person who goes about reporting his brethren to others; complaining that his brethren have committed one type of offence or another, watch that person. You will discover that he has not yet forsaken sin. When you come across somebody who complains that he is not loved by any person, realize that he has no love. When you see somebody complaining that someone has deceived him, or has told lies to him or has done one thing or the other adversely affecting him, investigate and you will discover that he has not refrained from those sins.
What I want you to do, is come here and do that which is good for all men. My debt to you and yours to me is doing what is good for one another. But when you go to criticize or condemn or tell people they are not good, you are a confusionist. You have no right to judge, or to cheat; or to disgrace; or to thrash; or to insult, or to take a court action against any person. What is left open for you and I, is for us to purify. ourselves and practise goodness. If you profess that you are a child of God, go and do what is good for others. But when you begin to criticize, condemn, disgrace, abuse and insult, you have not gained anything, because that is not the work of God.
It is said that unto the pure all things are pure, but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their minds and consciences are defiled. When you come across somebody who criticizes, or condemns or complains that people are doing one thing or the other, know that such a person is a bad man. If you come across a person who demands that you shou1d do one thing or the other for people to do one thing for one person and then another thing to another man, know that such a person is not doing the work of God. If you profess to be a man of God, go and do for others those things which you desire that people should do for you. Any person who professes to be a man of God is only qualified if he practises doing good.
You can only say you are a child of God through your good conduct. To be engaged in reporting, backbiting, quarrelling, insulting, abusing, hating, disgracing, beating up and tale-bearing against your brother, is not the work of God. To go about requesting for certain things everywhere or to collect things from people everywhere or to demand as of right anything from any person is not the work of God. To be engaged in tale-bearing, you go to the left and report what somebody has done, then you pass to the right and report what somebody has said, is not the work of God. To engage in criticism or condemnation of any person is not the work of God. To engage in random frivolous utterances is not the work of God. It is also not the work of God to praise another person or yourself.
This is the time that we should be the practitioners of the word of God, doing exactly what the word of. God directs us to do. This is the New Kingdom of God, and herein dwells righteousness and so whatever good work any person is able to do, let him do. If you know you cannot do any good thing, start now to change from your critical outlook and disposition, run away from sin and all evil things and practise what is good. It is not your duty to go about criticizing your brethren, speaking evil about them, insulting, abusing, condemning, finding fault with them. Brethren, I do not wish to overload you with this lesson, the first lesson should now be read.
1st Lesson: Matthew 7:4
"Or how wilt thou say to thy brother; Let me pull the mote out of thine own eye; and behold a beam is in thine own eye?"
Brethren, have you heard the word of God? How will you advise your brother to remove a small piece of stick from his eyes, whereas there is a mighty beam in your own eye? How would you advise your brother to refrain from theft, fornication, falsehood and other sins, whereas you are still fornicating, stealing and telling lies? How would you advise a man to refrain from all manner of sins whereas you have not refrained from a single sin? How would you enjoin somebody to do what is good and righteous, whereas, you do not know what is good and righteous, nor would you want to do good?
If you go to obtain alms from a brother, and you do not succeed in obtaining it, you begin to criticize the brother for having no love. But do you the critic love? If you had love, would you have embarrassed your brother? Sometimes you receive something on credit from somebody and when it is due, he comes so that you defray the debt but you cannot repay the loan, and you begin to criticize him that he has no love for his coming to collect his money, what about you who are liable to a breach of contract, have you love? If you had love you would have repaid the loan. Our duty now is to endeavour to remove the big beam from our own eyes and we would see clearly to cast out the mote from our brother's eye.
Each of us sitting down here, has a beam in his own eyes and our duty is first to remove these big beams from our eyes. It is said, owe no man anything but to love one another for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. It is also said, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the promptings of the flesh. Can you realise that the debt we owe is the debt of doing what is good to all?
You do not owe any person the duty to abuse or insult him, to beat him up and disgrace him, to dander him or to grudge him. Whether or not somebody dances beautifully is none of your concern. Dance yours as perfectly as you can. Whether or not a person sings melodiously, is not what you should bother about but sing yours well You are not to be concerned about the type of dress somebody else puts on, so also his food. You should be concerned. with the acts of doing good.
It is said, speak not evil of one another; he that speaks evil of his brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not doer of the law, but a judge. There is only one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy, and word is God. Who are you to another?
The tendency to judge one another is what causes trouble in the entire world. A great many of us, before we left our houses to this place of worship, had abused, slandered, insulted, criticized and quarrelled with our brothers. Is that the work of God?
Who has taught you to speak evil against your own brother? Who has taught you to be a beggar? Who has taught you to insult and disgrace your own brethren? You are only taught o do that which is rood. The Scriptures say, to him who knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin. If you go to somebody’s house and there, you observe that the house is dirty and the compound unkempt, instead of your interrogating the inmates of the house why they do not sweep the house or why they dwell in a filthy environment, take up the broom. sweep and garnish the house and keep it in a complete sanitary condition.
You go to somebody's house and see that everywhere is littered with dirty clothes, do not question the sister why dirty clothes are kept carelessly around and why they are not washed. Is it what you were sent to do? We have been taught to be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving ourselves. If you are a child of God, one who practises the word of God, you go into the house and find it dirty and unkempt, take up the broom and tidy it up. If the dresses are dirty, wash and dry them, if there is no food in the house, you have to go to the market, buy food and cook for the inmates to eat. That is exactly what you are expected to do as the child of God. If you discover that there is trouble in the house, communication has broken down between the husband and the wife and the relationship between the father and the children is not cordial, quickly enter into it in order to bring about a settlement and also resolve the differences with a view to restoring an amicable and cordial atmosphere for the entire house-hold. It is not your duty to gather the children and rebuke them and scourge them, it is not your duty to condemn the parents for not being able to took after their children. You do not have to instigate the children against the father, nor should you antagonize the father against the wife and children.
Remember what our Lord Jesus Christ said, whoever is not with me is against me and whosoever does not gather with me scatters abroad. If your duty now is to criticize; look pessimistically at things, do not consider things objectively; if you are flippant and critical of all situations, you should stop for a moment, re-arrange your thinking and go back to start afresh because you have not yet started your duty in this kingdom of God.
What is required in the kingdom is practising the word of God. This is not the time to engage in a rigmarole, or to make complaints to people, or to report any person to another person or to lodge a report about anything with any person. If you discover that a brother is indebted to another person, all you have to do is to defray the debt for him. If a brother is unemployed find some job for him. You come across a sister who has no feeding money, give her money. That is what you have to do but not to be destructively critical of her situation. Never you do it. Do only that which is good. That is your duty. God has not given any person the authority to judge any other person, nor to criticize nor to condemn He has not given any person the license to abuse, insult, disgrace any person. But He has given us the license to do that which is good in the sight of God. Whosoever does what is good has brought about peace within the world.
It does not serve any useful purpose for you to introduce yourself to people as a bishop, Pastor, Apostle, Evangelist, an Elder, but it is rather useful for you to do good with a view to helping people. Were you a child of God, would you have been angry. would you curse people? Were you a man of God would you peak evil against any one or would you be exasperated with anyone?
Many people are fond of saying that they do riot fear any person and if any person of fends them they would rebuke him straight. Do you think if you show such courage and rebuke somebody publicly. you are doing the work of God? What has the scriptures told you? It says: Brethren if a man be over taken in a fault, you who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. God has so directed that you should oppress one who is with you neither has be said that you should abuse or curse him, nor to beat him up, nor to backbite him, nor to criticize him One who is a child of God and the practitioner of the word of God will always use the spirit of meekness, humility, patience, love, peace, lowliness of the heart to advise any sinner in order to salvage him out of his destruction and to enable him overcome his difficulties and tread on the path of rectitude. If you declare that you will only love those who love you and hate those who hate you, that is not the work of God.
If you were a wiseman, bestowed with intelligence, you would have trusted in and be a practioner of Christ's injunction which says: love your enemies, do good to them who use you and persecute you. Sometimes you said that if it were possible to know what is in a man's heart things would have been different, what is in one's heart? I want to tell you that a man's character, or sum total of his behaviour is his heart. A person who goes about beating up people and, insulting criticizing. disgracing, quarelling and fighting cannot be a man of God, but a person who unifies scattered groups of people, pleads for peace, seeks for reconciliation and is peaceable with every man is a man of God with the spirit of God.
It is said: if any person is overtaken in a fault, you who we spiritual, use peace, spirit of meekness, patience, love lowliness of the heart to restore him, but be careful lest you are also tempted.
The work of God is not to go about causing trouble and Confusion, telling lies, deceiving people, insulting and disgracing them. The work of God is to be patient in tribulation, rejoicing in hope, for giving people their trespasses, not imputing sins, using the spirit of meekness to restore offenders to God their maker. Any good man of God will not plot evil against anyone or speak evil against any person nor impute sins upon my person. Brethren, I do not wish to take you further than this, our second lesson will now be read.
2nd Lesson: James 3:13
"Who is a wise man and endowed with knowledge among you? Let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom."
Brethren can you see the license which God has given to us? God has given both you and me to do say rood work. But He has not given us the spirit of frivolity, or backbiting or quarelling, or fighting, a insulting or criticizing. You go to somebody's house and straight away you start criticizing him that he as maintaining has wife badly, he does not care well for his children because he beats them always and that be has not exercised patience over anything. Who has sent you to do that, is that the word of God! If you were wise and prudent, you would not have criticized or spoken evil but you would buy do these both for the wife and the children. It is said that so man lights a candle and covers it with a bushel. Whosoever is wise and prudent with under. standing would demonstrate his good work. When somebody offends him, be would be very peaceful and tolerant.
Why we are taught the virtues of love, peace, truth, patience, is that we may use them to interact with those who are less fortunate than ourselves. A great many people in this world who have not been endowed with the Holy Spirit find it difficult that an ordinary human being can wear the armour of these virtues This explains why they find it difficult to associated with those who possess them. Since you have all been sent forth to evangelize the world, you have to use these virtues in winning them first to yourselves and then to God. You cannot use fire to put out fire. You can only use water to put out fire.
In the same token, you should not be overcome with evil but you should overcome evil with good. If you have jealousy and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth for that wisdom does not descend from above but is earthly, devilish and sensual. For where envy and strife are there is confusion and all evil work. But the that is all from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and hypocrisy.
A great many people argue that they quarrel and because of Brotherhood or that they quarrel and fight for the sake of the Leader. This is erroneous. You do not fight and quarrel because of Brotherhood or Leader but because you do not believe in God, neither do you know what is right before God. What did our Lord Jesus Christ tell the women of Jerusalem who were crying and wailing? He said: "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me but for yourselves and your children. For if they do these things to a green tree what dial! be done to the dry?"
If in a certain place there is trouble, stealing one another's property. sisters seducing other sister’s bus. bands and husbands eloping with people s wives, when a man of God arrives at such a place, he must surely bring about some settlement and reconcile the warring factions. This is the work of any man of God. You are not told to go to a Bethel and constitute yourself into a court and become a judge over it to try people. Why you are sent out is that you should go and show by practical demonstration, how to practise the words of God to those who cannot practise them. When you go out, you have to teach them exactly what you have been told to do. Our Lord Jesus Christ commissioned His disciples saying go you therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." My duty and your duty is to go out to teach people exactly what we are shown in this New Kingdom of God.
Whosoever, cannot do any good thing. has nothing to boast about because he has not done anything and therefore, has nothing to say or boast about. God does not take pleasure in the death of an evil man. God does not wish that you tempt your brother and then go about reporting bin to others. God is not jack concerning His promise, but has longsuffering toward us not willing that any should perish, but we all should come to repentance.
Do not boast on the achievement of your father or your church, or what your family has done for God, but boast on what you have done for God. Some people boast that Brotherhood is power but they themselves have never boasted of their power of prayer and healing. Others boast that there is much love in Brotherhood but they themselves have never done thing they have neither refrained from any good falsehood, fornication, theft, idolatry. What are the grounds of their boast?
It is said, let every man prove his own work and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another. Paul boasted in his achievements; our Lord Jesus Christ boasted also in His achievements. John the Baptist boasted in his own work. They did not boast or rejoice in another man’s achievement. This is what is kept for me and the entire world.
To boast in our work and achievements, by retraining from all acts of sin, by not imputing sins upon others, by not hating or begrudging, quarrelling and fighting with others. Right now you are still fornicating, stealing, drinking, eating meat, snuffing, retaining your membership in the secret society; you fight and quarrel, impute sins and commit many other vices, what will you boast of! If you profess to be a man of God but you steal, fornicate, worship idols and yet you are at regular attendance at worship and people acclaim you as somebody who practises the word of God. Is that assessment correct? How do you assess yourself? Sometimes you are indulging tons or hiding in the room to and fornicate but acclaimed to be very religious, is that a correct assessment of your behaviour?
Our Lord Jesus Christ did the work of God and so God exited Him and gave Him a name which is above every other name. Do you have anything to boast about? When you shout upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ do you derive any benefit? Since you used the name 'Jesus' in your prayers, how many good things have you done? Do not boast in what your father has done or in what your child has done but boast in what you have done. Do not boast in what others have done. Do not boast in what Moses did, nor in what David did nor in what the Christ did but boast in what you can do. Do you remember what Our Lord Jesus Christ told the woman said, blessed is the womb that bear you and the paps which you sucked? Our Lord Jesus Christ replied, it is rather more blessed to those who hear the words of God and practise them. The golden text will now be read.
Golden Text Galatians 6:4
"But let every man prove his own work, and then shall be have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another."
Brethren, have you heard that? You have not refrained from any act of sin, you do not believe in God, but the whole world acclaims you as the child of God, would you appreciate such a compliment? You are still fornicating and stealing and telling lies but you rise up to testify that you have refrained from fornication and theft and falsehood, are you deceiving yourself or are you really righteous? Have you ever seen a preacher or any other person confessing inside the pulpit that he is a drunkard, a snuffer, a fornicator, a liar, a necromancer, a thief, a member of a secret society?
The preachers of church denominations preach to their members that they should do what they preach and not what they actually do.
Who preaches that type of sermon! Our Lord Jesus Christ said, learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart. Emulate my example and walk according to my footstep as I love you. love you one another. When our Lord Jesus Christ wanted to wash the disciples' feet, Peter objected to His washing his feet but the Christ told him, if I do not wash you, you have nothing with me. If He did not wash his legs, how would He have told him to go and do likewise to others?
That is the gospel of God you have forgotten. Our Lord Jesus Christ loves me and loves you and does not impute sins on people, He did not hate any person. After accomplishing His work He has sent us to go and do likewise to others.
As you are you have no love, you are not truthful. you are not patient and humble and peaceful but you advise somebody to be loving, truthful, patient, humble and peaceful. From whom will they copy the example; how will they keep these injunctions in as long as you do not keep them? You are aware that you preach what you are. When you mount the pulpit and preach to people that they should not steal, fornicate, drink, tell lies, you are telling them you do not commit the offences again. If you do not break any of them again, they will learn from your examples and our sermon will be effective.
Why you remain in the church denomination and cannot practise the word of God is that they preach to you to do what they say and not what they do. You are a born Presbyterian, your parents have no good qualities, even if you remain there for 100 years you will have nothing to boast about. You have been a Brotherhood but you continue to steal fornicate, indulge in the preparations of concoction and tell lies, what will you preach?
Let me tell you one thing You can only boast in tie Father, you have no boast of your own. Have I seen somebody practising the word of God’ What about you? I want you to boast in your work. There is no person who cm preach. What will you preach as you have not refrained from sin? You always tell people that they should follow you to see somebody who can preach and practise the word of God. But it is said every person should boast in his own work, not in the work of another person. The main reason that you £ring people to see the Father is that you cannot boast of anything because you steal, fornicate, tell lies, and indulge in preparations of juju. Since the Father alone practises the word, He is the only model people should follow, that explains why you direct people to Him, what about you? It is said each person should boast in his own work.
Preaching alone cannot change any person but practical demonstration of what one preaches can change. If you were a member of a secret society, you indulged in the preparations of juju concoction, if you were a fornicator, drunkard but when you came to the truth, you refrained from all the vices and then go about testifying to the people that you were a member of several secret societies, but now having seen that truth, you have denounced your membership of the societies, that you were an arch fornicator and womanizer but now you have reframed from drinking and preparations of juju concoction.
All those who listen to you and had been your friends, would be convinced and you would have a large following. Others who looked at you as a way-ward child would be happy to see you reformed they would also follow you to the Father. If the man who was in love with you. comes to your house and you politely tell him that you have now become a Brotherhood and you have refrained from fornication and warn him not to come to your house again. He would be so surprised that he would decide to follow you to the place of worship.
I see that you people are doing what the Jehovah's Witnesses are doing. They give testimony about the miracles wrought by our Lord Jesus Christ. You also give the same testimony but you have no boast about yourself. Those who testify in this. way are false witnesses because they did not actually w when our Lord Jesus Christ wrought those miracles.
We should boast in our own work and not in the work of Paul or Peter or John or Jesus the Christ our Lord. What as your boast? Have you refrained from fornication, idolatry and all acts of sin? If you refrain from these vices you have something to boast about.
I am again declaring from High heaven that since February 14, 1942, I throw a challenge to the whole world if any person would succeed to 'MAKE ME ANGRY.' This is my work I can boast of. What is your boast! You we advised not to steal, fornicate, tell lies, drink, and kill, but have you complied? I have gained total abstinence from all these vices This is my boast. What you do and what you cannot do, I cannot boast for you.
Saint Paul said, every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now, they do it to obtain a corruptible crown but we are incorruptible. I, therefore, so run not as uncertainly so fight I not as one that beats the air, but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast away. He also advises Timothy when he said, I have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there us laid for me a crown of righteousness while the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me on that day and not to me only but unto all of then also that love His appearing.
What is the use of being a Christ’s Student but still fornicate, you profess to be a pastor. you fornicate and steal and tell lies. Those who do not practise the gospel of God have nothing to boast of. Each of should boast a our work not in the work of others.
Brethren, I do not wish to be tedious unto you. One stroke of the cane is sufficient for the wise. Let those who have ears hear. May God bless His Holy words. Ames!
PROVE YOUR WORTH,