Open Heavens Saturday 3rd August 2013 “PAYING FOR SPIRITUAL SERVICES” – Pastor E. A. Adeboye

PAYING FOR SPIRITUAL SERVICES – By Pastor E. A. Adeboye

Memory Verse: Matthew 10:8:“Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.”

Read: 1 Corinthians 2:12-13

1 Corinthians 2:12-13:“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”

Message:
One reason many people are failing God in ministry and in their secular jobs is because they are copying methods rather than following the Lord. Another reason is that they are following after the wrong things. If you pursue the wrong things or focus on what is not needful, it will definitely affect your results. When Naaman was leaving with all the goodies he came with, Gehazi vowed to go after him. What are you running after? God sees the hearts of men. Naaman came to the man of God hoping to pay for his healing. The man of God was sensitive to the Spirit of God and so he refused to take a gift from him. There are some servants of God who have never refused a gift before. In fact, if something is not offered to them after God has used them to be a blessing, they take offence and begin to complain. Such people are following the path of Gehazi.

Romans 3:24 says we are justified freely by His grace. 1 Corinthians 2:12-13 and Romans 8:32 say that God has freely given us the things of the Kingdom. Did you pay for your salvation, sanctification or baptism in the Holy Spirit? Did you pay for the fruit and gifts of the Holy Spirit that makes the miraculous possible in your life? Matthew 10:8 says, “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.”

Today, the greed of some ministers of the Gospel makes them to compel or cajole recipients of blessings from God’s grace on their life to pay in cash or in kind. In other words, the concept of free reception and free delivery is fast becoming obsolete. Some ministers will say, ‘I laid hands on you and the cancer in your body disappeared. You know how much it costs to treat an incurable disease like cancer. If it is half of what you would have spent on treatment, go and bring it; after all, it is not easy to acquire the anointing’. Has the anointing suddenly gone on sale? The Lord frowns seriously at this! If recipients of miracles on their own decide to show appreciation, that is fine; but it is very wrong for them to be compelled or cajoled to ‘pay’ for what they have received. If they pay, they may never see the need to turn their lives over to God.

KEY POINT

• If you sell the gift of God which should be freely given, you will be made to pay back on the day you have nothing at hand.

Bible in one year: 2 Thessalonians 1-3