PASTOR OLUWASEYI OSANYINBI:
LUKE 16:13; 12:15
“No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”(Luke 16:13, KJV)
“And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” (Luke 12:15, KJV)
One of the major problems of life is the issue of falsehood. Falsehood is about wrong service or worship. Money is not a problem in itself, it is an instrument that God has given to us. The most powerful deity that competes with God is Mammon, the god of money. Devotion is when you commit yourself to the principles and ideals of a god. What you practice is based on what you have think. You are a product of the things you have learnt. You don’t only go into idolatry by delving into the occult. You are idolatrous when you are devoted to something at the expense of God. Mammon increases by gathering and divine wealth increases by giving. A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of things he possesses.
I SAMUEL 7:1-4
“And the men of Kirjathjearim came, and fetched up the ark of the LORD, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the LORD. And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjathjearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD. And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, [then] put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only.” (I Samuel 7:1-4, KJV)
The people of God can have prophets and the ark of God in their midst and not benefit from them if they are given to other gods. We must find a means of handling money such that Mammon does not gain control over us. Mammon governs the affairs of the nations of the earth. Don’t judge a man by his earthly possessions but by the amount of God he carries. People try to blend the service of God and Mammon but the two can never mix.
II CHRONICLES 15:8,9; II CORINTHIANS 4:1-5
“And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that [was] before the porch of the LORD. And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God [was] with him.” (II Chronicles 15:8,9, KJV)
“Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.” (I Corinthians 4:1-5, KJV)
When we put away strange gods, then the Almighty God can manifest. Your true riches are the mysteries or the oracles of God. Our calling is to be the custodians of the mysteries of God. We have to handle the mysteries of God faithfully. It is better to be reckoned with as faithful stewards of God’s oracles than to be sold to Mammon. God consistently rebukes people in the secret but if they do not take heed He can expose them in public. We must always subject ourselves to God’s righteous judgement so that we can always right the wrongs in our lives.
Message preached on Sunday, 13th of September, 2015