Dear people, once a year, Christians all over the world commemorate one of the greatest events, the Good Friday, in which the Lord Jesus Christ years ago suffered at the hands of sinful men, His creation, and died for their sins and for all mankind’s sins just to destroy the devil’s work when he (devil) deceived Adam and Eve and made them sin against God through disobedience.
This singular act of love by the Lord Jesus for mankind reconciled us spiritually to God and restored all mankind’s lost privileges and rights in Christ Jesus.
Unfortunately, there are many Christians who do not understand the import of this great event of Good Friday and why it is so named. As a result, they fail to appropriate the benefits of their being joined to Christ.
They fail to tell non-Christians about the Gospel or Good News of Repentance, Salvation and Eternal Life in Christ because they are yet to grasp the seriousness and value of what God accomplished for all mankind on that day.
There is another group of unfortunate men and women who claim to be preachers of the Gospel to others but their ulterior motive is making money from telling others about Jesus Christ’s undying love for mankind.
We see such fraudsters on television, we hear them on radio and even come across them when we commute in public transport from home to our various places of work or business. We see them in the market places and other public areas where people congregate.
A friend once told me a very shocking story that happened in one of the motor parks in Lagos State in South West Nigeria.
This friend was embarking on a journey outside Lagos so he went to the park and boarded a commercial vehicle. Whilst waiting for the bus to be filled up with passengers, a man came to preach the Gospel.
After a time of preaching, another man suddenly showed up in the same vehicle and starting quarreling with the preacher telling him that it was not his turn to preach. As the quarrel persisted, it escalated into a serious physical fight between both men to the utter amazement of the passengers.
Eventually, other operators of the motor park intervened to settle both men. What happened next was that the man who was preaching returned to the same bus, apologized over what had transpired and said he wanted to continue preaching!!
The shocked passengers just told him to leave them alone and go away.
This true story shows the extent to which some individuals have shamelessly debased themselves and turned the Gospel of Christ to cheap merchandise as we are told in today’s lead Holy Bible text.
What happens in that motor park is that these fraudsters masquerading as Gospel preachers take turns to enter each bus about to depart to preach and then pass an envelope round to the hearers (passengers) to give an offering.
So the fight between both men was about one person taking another’s turn to make money. Their motive is certainly not about preaching Christ but about making money, which was confirmed by their quarrel, physical fight, settlement and coming back to preach.
Dear friend, let us see what Jesus says about preaching in public to people you do not know personally in Matthew 10:7-8, “And as you go, preach, saying, the kingdom of Heaven is at hand!
8 Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. Freely (without pay) you have received, freely (without charge) give.”
The import of Jesus’ command here is that the ONLY place you are authorized to collect any offering is in a Church gathering where the congregation have heard and BELIEVED the Gospel, ACCEPTED Jesus Christ as the Saviour and Lord and are in attendance to worship and thank God for His goodness over their lives and to hear His Word as spiritual food for their souls and medicine for their spirit and physical bodies.
The money collected in a church gathering is for the work of the Gospel to take it to others who have not heard so they too can repent and believe in Jesus to accept Him as their Saviour and Lord, obey Jesus’ commands so they can become children of God to enjoy the privileges of UNCOMPROMISINGLY OBEDIENT children here on earth and qualify to enter heaven when they depart this world.
So, beware of anyone who comes around you to preach the Gospel outside a church setting and is thereafter requesting for money. Such a person is a fraudster who is violating Jesus’ command to preach outside without charge to anyone.
What about those who charge money for prayers for others in need? These are fraudsters.
What about those who have received a request to visit others in their homes to pray for them and they go there expecting money in return? They also fall into the category of fraudsters because the Gospel of Jesus is NOT for sale.
If God has commissioned you to preach the Gospel, be sure that God would provide for you because He has said so in Matthew 6:33-34 when you obey His command.
For anyone reading and this has been your habit, you had better repent now and ask God for forgiveness and stop bringing shame to the Body of Christ before it becomes too late for you.
Every responsible father ensures to provide for his children without the children asking for it because they are born into that man’s family.
Why would you not expect God into whose family you have been born-again through Christ to provide for you as His child?
Go therefore and do the work God has called you to do as a minister of the Gospel. Do exactly what God’s Word says and be sure that He ALONE would provide all your needs.
Do not send yourself to an eternal damnation because of pecuniary gains in the course of doing God’s work and then disobeying His commands.
May the good Lord bless you as you heed His Word today, act on it and share with others in Jesus’ Most Righteous Name, Amen.
Gabriel Ama.
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