Welcome to NECF sermons. Each message here is
designed to uplift and strengthen you in your
walk with God. Don't miss out. Stay with us until
the end for a rewarding experience. Let's dive
right in. The accurate measure of our growth
in the things of God is actually seen in our
work life. in our love walk, how we love one
another, how we allow the love of God to flow
through us. And I really want to see a new wave
in our midst as a church, as a community, that
the love of God is not just on the pulpit. or
in our words, but we see it manifested in our
daily living towards one another. That is how
we see, you know, the power of God at work. Matthew
chapter 18. Matthew 18 from verse 15. Matthew
18, verse 15 to verse 19. Moreover, if your brother
sins against you, go and tell him his fault between
you and him alone. And if he hears you, you have
gained your brother. But if he will not hear,
take with you one or two more, that by the mouth
of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the
church. But if he refuses even to hear the church,
let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.
Surely I say to you that whatever you bind on
earth will be bound in heaven. and whatever you
loosed on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again
I say to you, if two or three, two of you rather
agree on earth concerning anything that they
ask, it will be done for them by my Father in
heaven. For where two or three are gathered together
in my name, I am there in the midst of them.
Hallelujah. Now it is important to note that,
you know, that in our family cycle, in the church,
we must be ready to forgive one another. It's
an emphasis. We must always be prepared because
most times, because of the expectation that we
build towards one another, It becomes a shocker
when you are offended by somebody. So it is quite
very important that as family members, as a church,
as a family of God, we must be ready, prepared
at all times. Let it not be that until someone
offends you, then you look for what to do. No.
Before the offense will come, because you are
sure that offenses will do what? Will arise as
a result of your relationship with people. So
long as you interact with people, so long as
we interact with one another, conflict is mandatory.
Hallelujah. If it didn't happen with you, it
simply means that you are not participating in
fellowship with people. It simply means that
you are not, number one, it means that you're
not being a blessing to people and you're not
allowing people to be a blessing to you. It means
that the pastors have no influence in your life.
It means that you don't even belong to a team
in this church. It means that you don't belong
to a cell or you don't have a circle of people
around that are close to you in this church.
But so long as we are together, we are people
and we are interacting together, in the course
of our interaction, all right, there will be
friction. Now, the problem is not the friction.
Hallelujah. The problem is our response to what?
To the friction that will happen in the course
of our relationship. And what God will want us
to do is to create room in our hearts. Now, as
we plan to enter into the new year, Let there
be open -mindedness. Let us be prepared in our
hearts, all right, that my brother, my sister
can offend me. Once we have this preconceived
thought in our mind that my brother can offend
me, then I think up to 50 % of our problems are
solved, our relationship problems are solved.
Secondly, What is my disposition towards my brother's
offense, my sister's offense? My disposition
is that I have forgiven even before she offends
me. Do you understand? That you have already
what? You have already forgiven the brother.
You have already forgiven the sister even before
the offense. With this mindset, it is impossible
for the enemy. It is impossible for Satan. to
have a foothold. It is impossible for Satan to
influence our guarding our relationship because
we are living in love. We are allowed in love
to find expression through us, one another. So
we must get ready to forgive. Forgive our pastors.
Amen? Because our pastors, they will offend us.
Come on, every day, every week, there are people
that we keep offending every day, every week.
In the course of serving you, we offend you.
We'll correct you sometimes and we'll correct
you. Even we feel the impact of our correction
towards you. We have no choice. We just have
to correct you. We have to be bold. See, let
me tell you, it takes boldness, right? It takes
courage. It takes courage to give correction
to people. It takes courage to be firm and to
insist and say, you must do it this way, you
must do it that way. It takes courage to discipline.
There are some people that they can easily just
accommodate everything that happens, even if
you are wrong. Oh, everything is all right. It
takes courage to really be diligent in giving
instruction. In leading people and in guiding
people. So, in your relationship with your pastors,
you must be ready. You know, sometimes when you
correct people, people choose to respond any
way they want to respond. But we must be ready
that no matter how, no matter what will happen
in the course of this new season, that I... will
be open -minded and let the love of God flow
through my heart. So, in the course of our relationship,
pastors, church leaders, we must be ready to
do or to accommodate one another and to let forgiveness
reign. Now, sometimes people think that when
you talk about forgiveness, you know, many times
when I hear people talk about The issue of forgiveness
is that you should forgive so that you will prosper.
You know, if you don't forgive, your life, your
life will not be what? Your life will not be
prosperous. It's partially true. It's not true.
Because some of the most prosperous people, based
on the prosperity that we look at in the world,
some of the most prosperous people we see in
this world are the most unforgiving, are the
most vicious people we can meet. You think in
the business and the political cycle they forgive?
They don't forgive. Alright? So the motivation
for forgiveness and reconciliation is not necessarily
so that your life will be prosperous in the physical.
That's not the reason. If that's your motivation,
just know that Donald Trump says it appropriately.
He does not forgive. He does not forgive. He
deals with his enemies. And he's prosperous.
Isn't he prosperous? Hallelujah. So the reason
why you forgive is because, number one, so that
you enjoy the blessings of your brothers and
your sisters. Because if you have offense towards
me, the moment I clam this people to even bless
you, you will not be blessed. Because automatically
one will stand between you and myself. It's an
offense. Are we together? In our interaction
as a family, we will not be a blessing one to
another. Secondly, we will not be able to truly
demonstrate the love of God. Because the gospel
must be seen in our interaction with one another.
So what we do when we don't forgive is that we
limit the expression of God's love through our
lives. So it is for our benefit. And the benefit
is that so that we will be blessed and we can
grow. We must be ready to forgive and reconcile.
Team members, I've had some teams. There's quite
a few teams. You can't work together if there's
no forgiveness and reconciliation. Hallelujah.
So you must make up your mind that in this new
year, In a prayer time, even if Takunda will
say one thing I don't like, we'll be there. Are
we together? See, relationships don't just break
because they break on their own. Relationships
are not individuals on their own. It's two individuals
or people that choose to uphold a relationship.
And when one doesn't take responsibility, what
will happen? The relationship will be deteriorated.
Hallelujah. So we must be determined to take
responsibility for what? For ensuring that what?
We keep the love. Be ready to forgive and reconcile
with one another. Even at family level, there
are some of you here that you're not in good
times with your parents. Right? Your father and
your mother have not been speaking, they've not
been talking. So you've sided with one part.
You've joined one of the parents against the
other. And oftentimes it's the children ganging
up with the mom against the father. Oftentimes
that's how it happens. Some of us have inherited
our parents' enemies. And what do you call it?
You're like in a family. Your father is not in
good terms with maybe one of his cousins. Who
happened to be your uncles? Automatically, you've
sided with your dad and then you are against
them. So we must be ready to ensure that in our
relationships, there's no obstacle. In the family,
be ready to forgive and reconcile with your wife
if you are married. With your husband? With your
siblings? Some of you, you don't even talk with
your siblings. How is the love of God flowing
through your life? You and your siblings are
like cat and rat. We cannot be doing love in
this church and then you are living in grudge
with your... your siblings, they're living in
God with your parents, they're living in God
with your cousins, your aunties, your uncles.
Even in your work, God work, even with unbelievers,
towards unbelievers. So it is very important
that we examine our relationship. That's what
I want to bring to our notice. It is important
that we examine every... Of our relationships.
But in the family. In the church. In the society.
To ensure that what. We are. Living in love.
Hallelujah. The believer must be relationship
conscious. The believer. Must be relationship
conscious. At all times. Because that is our
identity. You must be poor reconciliation. At
all times. Let it not be that when there's a
division in a place and they come and they find
you, ooh, they believe that you're the one that
is orchestrator of that division. You are the
one that is the main engineer of that separation
relationship. But you must be pro -reconciliation
because we are born, our nature is to build relationships.
Hallelujah. So we must be prepared and ready
to forgive in all situations. Colossians 3, verse
12. Colossians 3, verse 12 to 13. So therefore,
as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on
tender mercies, right? Kindness, humility, meekness,
long -suffering, verse 13, the key verse, verse
13. Bearing with one another, and what? And forgiving
one another. If anyone has a complaint against
another, Even as Christ forgave you, what will
happen? You also must do what? Must forgive.
So our forgiveness is a response to what Christ
has done for us. So therefore, it becomes necessary
that at all times we are ready. To do what? To
forgive. To bear with one another. We are bearing
with one another because we are humans. We are
humans. So pastors, bear with us. We are humans.
We are growing. Leaders, bear with us. We are
humans. Correct us. And as we are corrected,
we receive correction in love. Hallelujah. Ready
to forgive when we feel offended? Ready to forgive
when we have a complaint against another? Ready
to forgive? Now in Matthew 17, Matthew 18 verse
17, I just want to discuss some certain issues
that we're... I didn't emphasize in the previous
teachings. Verse 17 particularly emphasizes the
importance of the church. He says, and if, now
first of all, an individual offended you, alright,
you've gone to him to seek reconciliation and
then there was no reconciliation. you've communicated
to your brother or two, and then you've gone
to the person to seek for reconciliation, and
this was not possible. All right? Now, the next
step is to tell it to the church. But if he refuses
even to hear the church, let him beat you like
a hittin', like a tax collector. All right? So,
the church... is very, very important in our
relationship. We must not always, you know, silence
ourselves from the body. Are we together? Acts
chapter 15, verse 10. There's an issue that happened
in the church in Acts chapter 10, chapter 15,
verse 1, where the brethren had an issue concerning
doctrine. I just want us to see an example in
the life of the apostles and we move on. Acts
chapter 15, from verse 1. And certain men came
down from Judea and taught the brethren. What
was their doctrine? Unless you are circumcised
according to the custom of Moses. You cannot
be saved. So these folks came around and they
began to preach works to the brethren. Therefore,
when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension,
that is, when they disagreed with them thoroughly
and disputed with them, they were determined
that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of
them should do what? Should separate and divide
the church into two? Should cause division in
the church? What should they do? Certain orders
of them should go up to Jerusalem. Okay, where
the elders are, where the leaders of the church
are. To the apostles and the elders about this
question. What question? The question of the
customs of Moses. Is it necessary for someone
to obey this to be saved? Hallelujah. I mean,
for us, we know at our time and our season right
now, we know that salvation is by what? It's
by faith alone. All right? But for them, it was
a contention. Now, what we want you to learn,
brethren, as you are growing, as you've not seen
us, your leaders do, please, I want to encourage
you, don't try it. All right? I've seen instances
where brethren will disagree on doctrine and
then the pulpit become an opportunity. Pulpit
and media become an opportunity to castigate
and to attack. For example, now Pastor Carson
preached something. Alright? And then I'll go
and listen to what Pastor Carson preached. And
he said for us to reason together on what he
preached. Alright? And reach a place of what?
Conclusion. Together, reasoning together. Then
I come online and I begin to castigate whatever
he said. That is not working in love. Hallelujah.
And sometimes we have warned some of you that,
you know, when you go online and you see things,
you don't have the liberty to make comments or
to contribute to attacks of people because you
don't see us do it. Are we together? So you must
be able to Walk in love. And one of the ways
of walking in love is knowing that the body of
Christ is actually the body of Christ. All right?
Now, in this situation, verse 3, so being sent
on their way by the church, they passed through
Phoenicia and Samaria, describing the conversion
of the Gentiles, and they caused great... Great
joy to all the brethren. So as they were going,
they were telling the churches around how the
Gentiles have repented, have received the gospel.
Verse 4. And when they had come to Jerusalem,
they were received by the church and the apostles
and the elders, and they reported all the things
that God had done with them. But some of the
sect of the Pharisee who believed not, who believed,
rose up saying it is necessary. Now, these are
the people that were adding the things of Moses,
the laws of Moses as a foundation or as a prerequisite
for faith. Some of the sect of the Pharisees
who believe rose up saying it is necessary to
circumcise them and to command them to keep the
law of Moses. Now, the apostles and the elders
came together. The apostles and the elders, what
did they do? They came together, all right? on
that matter, on this matter. And when there has
been much dispute, dispute here is not that I
agree, I disagree, I agree, I disagree. Oh, they
were removing their clothes and crossing punches.
No, no, no. Dispute here has to do with what?
Conversation of scripture. They were analyzing
scripture. They were dispersing scripture upon
scripture, discussing scripture. When they have
what? There have been much dispute. Peter rose
up and said to them, men and brethren, You know
that a good while ago, God chose among us that
by my mouth, the Gentiles should hear the word
of the gospel and believe. So God, who knows
the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the
spirit, just as he did to us, and made no distinction
between us and them, purifying their hearts by
faith. Now, therefore, why do you test God? By
putting a yoke on the neck of his disciples,
which neither our fathers nor we are able to
bear. And then to verse 22. Verse 22. Then it
pleased the apostles and the elders with the
whole church to do what? After they've discussed
the matter, alright? They did please the apostles
and the elders with the whole church to send
choosing men of their own company to Antioch
with Paul and Barnabas, namely Judas, who was
also named Barabbas, and Silas, leading them
among the brethren. They wrote this letter by
them. The apostles, the elders, and the brethren,
to the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch,
Syria, and Cilicia, greetings. that some who
went out from us have troubled you with words
unsettling your soul, saying you must be circumcised
and keep the law to whom we gave no such commandment.
It seems good to us, being assembled with one
accord, to send choosing men to you with our
beloved Barabbas and Paul, men who have reached
their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have before them. Therefore send... Judas
and Silas, who will also report the same things
by word of mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy
Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden
than these necessary things, that you abstain
from things of idols, from blood, from things
strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you
keep yourself from these, you will do well. Farewell.
Concluded. Matter closed. Hallelujah. So you
see, how this conflict, this issue, even when
it comes to doctrinal matters, they were able
to seek the counsel of the church, the leadership
of the church. And we can see how this matter
was amicably resolved. Hallelujah. So it is important
to know that there is no private matter in church
when it comes to conflict between believers.
Okay? What I'm saying is when the two of you
have an issue, it means that the body has an
issue. Hallelujah. So when you are able to try
to resolve it between the two of you, it becomes
important that you bring in the brothers in it.
The church should know about it in order to resolve
it. So believers must be involved. You cannot
be the sole judge of issues alone. You must.
You must involve others, especially in the church.
The verse goes on to say, but if he refuses even
to hear the church, let him be to you like a
heathen and a tax collector. Now, what does it
mean? Let him be to you a heathen and a publican.
I started explaining this on Sunday. Now, the
word heathen is someone who does not know God.
Someone who is a pagan, someone that is not a
believer. All right? And a publican or a tax
collector or a publican is someone who is a corrupt
individual, especially a tax collector to the
Roman authority. All right? Who, you know, inflate
taxes. They are known as very corrupt individuals.
They cheat with records, for example. So these
are those we will regard as sinners, the tax
collector and Republicans. And the Bible is saying
that we should consider such an individual. The
person refused to listen to the church. Even
the church tried to come into the matter, but
then the church could not reconcile such an individual.
We should treat such an individual like a tax
collector. Now, the context of the conversation
here, as we read from verse 15, is that this
person is a brother. The context of the conversation
is that a brother is a brother who sins. The
brother is not a sinner. Are we together? The
brother is not a heathen, is not a tax collector,
but should be treated as a heathen or as a publican.
Now, how should we treat such a brother? We began
to see how Jesus treated such an individual.
Matthew 5, verse 44. Matthew 5, verse 44, quickly.
Matthew 5, verse 44. Yes. But I say to you, love
your enemies, right? Bless those who curse you.
Do good to those who hate you. And pray for those
who spitefully use you and persecute you. The
next verse. That you may be the sons of your
Father in heaven. For he makes his son to rise
on the evil and on the good and send rain on
the just and on the unjust. For if you love those
who love you, what reward have you? Do not even
the tax collectors, that is the sinners, people
we regard as the sinners, do the same. Don't
they do the same? Verse 47. And if you grieve
your brethren only, what do you do more than
others? Do not even the tax collectors do so.
Verse 48. Therefore you shall be perfect. just
as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 9,
verse 10. Matthew 9, verse 10 and 12. Now it
happened as Jesus sat at the table in the house,
that behold, many tax collectors and sinners
came and sat down with him and his disciples.
And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his
disciples, why does your teacher eat with sinners,
with tax collectors and sinners. When Jesus heard
it and he said to them, those who are well have
no need of a physician. Amen. But those who are
what? Those who are sick. Chapter 10, verse 3.
Matthew 10, verse 3. Philip and Bartholomew Thomas
and Matthew, the tax collector, were part of
his disciples. James, the son of Alphaeus and
Labius, whose son was Thaddeus. We see that a
tax collector was part of his selection of men
that were served as his disciples. Chapter 11,
verse 19. Chapter 11, verse 19. The son of man
came eating and drinking and they said, look.
a gluten and a wine biver, a friend of tax collectors
and sinners. But wisdom is justified by her children.
Matthew 21, verse 31. Matthew 21, verse 31 and
32. Which of the two did the will? Which of the
two did the will of his father? They said to...
The first, Jesus said to them, I surely have
said to you that tax collectors and harlots entered
the kingdom of God before you. Verse 32. For
John came to you in the way of righteousness
and you did not believe him, but tax collectors
and harlots believed him. And when you saw it,
you did not afterward relent and believe in him.
Hallelujah. So from these verses, we'll see Jesus'
disposition towards the people that are called
the tax collectors. So from Jesus' relationship
with these people, we see that he did what? He
didn't hurt them or condemn them and treated
them as sinners or as people to be avoided. Rather,
he became a friend to them. Hallelujah. Jesus
welcomed them. He welcomes them. He accepted
them. So it becomes important that we understand
what the scripture is not saying. The scripture
is not saying that when the person refuses to
reconcile, then we should sever our relationship
with him. Now, there's a difference. Now, there
are two things in scripture. There's a place
where, in Corinthians, of course, where the apostle
taught to leave a brother, all right, is involved
in an open sin. Okay? And then he is corrected
and refuses and continues in that. We should
avoid him and not even eat with him. And what
is the reason? So that he will come to realization
of his wrong and do what? And repent. Now, these
are two different things. The context of this
is in our individual relationship. When it comes
to offenses, when someone offends you, when someone
does something wrong towards you. Hallelujah.
So whether the brother accepts or acknowledges
is wrong or not, we have a disposition and our
disposition is to do what? Is to welcome such
an individual. Matthew 5, 44 that we read earlier
on. It says, but I say unto you, love your enemies.
Those who are in opposition to us, love your
enemies. Bless them. Bless them that curse you.
Do good to them that hate you. And pray for them
which despitefully use you and persecute you.
So what we do is that we love them. Okay? We
allow the love of God in our hearts to do what?
To be expressed towards such individuals. How
do we love them? We love them by blessing them.
How do we bless them? We bless them by saying
good things concerning them. And our utterance
is concerning them. We don't say negative and
evil things concerning them. We say good things
concerning those who do us evil. I know this
may sound difficult. Sometimes someone done something
evil to you and then you are expected to say
something good about the person. Sometimes we
can scramble and look around for anything good
we can say. But our eyes will fail us to say
anything good. But by the help of the Spirit
of God, hallelujah, we can always say good things
about people, even the people that wrong us and
do evil against us. So we say good things concerning
those who do us evil, not saying evil things
concerning them to destroy their image, to destroy
their character. Even when we hear people saying
evil things about them, we say good things about
them because that is what God will expect of
us. We do them good. We help them while in need.
Amen. That's how we love those who despisefully
use us. We help them. We do them good. And we
pray for them. What do we pray for them? What
do we pray for them? We pray for them that it
will be well with them. Hallelujah. That it will
be well with them. Not that they will die. or
that something evil will happen to them, okay,
that person that has offended you, that person
that has done you wrong, your response towards
such an individual, even in the most unwelcoming
version of the person that he has refused to
reconcile, he has refused to even admit that
he is wrong, he has refused to even accept that
he has done, he has offended you, pray for him.
You're not praying that you have an accident
and die. Because that wouldn't be the love of
God. But you are praying that it will be well
with such an individual. You are praying that
he will be prosperous in his ways. You are praying
that he will enjoy the love of God. You are praying
that he will continue to grow and be great. Hallelujah.
So as we run out this year, I just want us to
stop there and continue another time. But I really
want it to be intentional about your relationship
in this coming year. I really want you to be
very intentional about your relationship this
year. We prayed, we keep praying. Listen, it's
good to pray, but as we pray, God will be staring
us in our hearts. God will be staring us in our
hearts. And then we will be led with the right
thing to do at all times, right responses at
all times. And the response we always do is the
response of love towards one another. Hallelujah.
So, I really want us to be encouraged, right?
Be intentional that this year that we are entering,
that I will be a better person. Being a better
person simply means that you allow the Spirit
of God to walk through you. That the love of
God that is already in you is not coming from
anywhere. The love of God that has been shed
that brought your heart by the Spirit of God
that lives in you will be given room to express,
to be expressed. We appreciate you being here
today. We hope you carry this word with you throughout
your week. Don't forget to check the show notes
for additional insights. Stay connected with
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with someone you care about. Until next time,
stay blessed.