THE INGLORIOUS CHRISTIAN:TEXT OF DISCOURSE: LUKE 12:1-END.

DO AWAY WITH UNPROFITABLE VENTURES:It is nominated in the scriptures that the world

continues to learn but does not attain the accurate wisdom of the truth. Thus the world could be likened to the oil that is poured on top of water, and it floats. However whoever practices the word of God has no problems whatever. There is no gain by only hearing the word of God and commending it as being very interesting, rather than practicing it. How interesting is the word of God yet one cannot practice it? It is said," The taste of the pudding is in the eating." How would you understand that the food is delicious if when you do not eat it? We should be thankful to God for giving us the grace to hear his words. Having had this opportunity, we should try to practice the word so that the glory of this kingdom may shine throughout the world.

Read Luke 12:13-15And one of the company said to him, Master, speak to

my brother, that he may divide the inheritance with me. And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? 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.

What profit do you gain from being carnal minded? If you are struggling for survival, have you not read the excerpt in the scripture that whatever a man possesses, his life is not in his hands but in the hands of God? Unfortunately, you are devoted to money, wealth, children, spouse and other mundane things instead of serving God. What do you think would be your profit? Why do you make yourself a slave to the things that are not glorious to God?

Read Luke 12:16-21

And he spake a parable unto them saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do, I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, thou hast such goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou has provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God.

Of what value is it for you to go to somebody's house to rob and even murder him? What is your gain in deceiving people, causing confusion, and doing all sorts of evil? You carry out all these criminal acts, forgetting that your life is not in your hands, but in the hands of God.

ARE YOUR HABITS IN CONFORMITY WITH HIS TEACHINGS? God has instructed you to refrain from stealing, telling lies, fornication, deceit, and He has charged you to love one another as He loves you. Have you practiced this injunction?

You have stolen people's money and banked it in a foreign country, bought parcels of land, built mansions, enjoyed with women and indulged in other vices. Do you know that actually your life is not in your hands but in the hands of God? The inhabitants of the world should mourn over their folly, but instead, people are unnecessarily pompous. One who has five naira feels great and proud. What is the essence of being pompous. Is it the post of a president that should cause one to be proud? Can stealing, deceit, killing, etc. cause one to be proud? Have you been seeing any president or governor or royal highness in our Bible Class? How many professors or millionaires are with us? Are they thinking that after being a president, governor, or millionaire, they are all accomplished? I am telling you that there is something greater for them to do and thus seek their salvation.

Read Matthew 6:21" For where your treasure is there also will your heart

be."

Now, are your precious things not your wife, children, house, property? How many of you possess wealth in heaven? He stored all His wealth in heaven and that is why I am telling you that it is better for you to store all your wealth in heaven where you can retrieve at any time for the earthly things are less important and transient.

Read Luke 18:22"Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto

him, Yet lakest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come and follow me.

Do you now see the assignment before you? All what you do here, going up and down and living abominable life is a sheer waste of time and energy. Recall the case of a certain rich man in the Bible, who lived and enjoyed his life, oblivious of the fact that his life is not in his hands. In the night, God who was safe-keeping his life decided to take it away, and he died. This is what awaits every man who thinks he is enjoying his life on earth. Read Luke 12:35-49

It should be clear to you that those who will rule both heaven and earth in this world and another to come are those that are benevolent, loving, and virtuous. And except you do these things, you have no share whatsoever in this kingdom.

Man cares not to treat his fellow man as human. He is always violent in action and he takes it as a pride to be disrespectful to anybody. Is that what you are asked to do?

Read Matthew 26:51-54And behold, one of them stretched out his hand and

drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest and smote off his ear. Then said Jesus unto him, put up again thy sword into its place: for all they that take the sword shall perish by the sword.

Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?

But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?

You are praying to God to give you long life, yet you engage in killing. How then can you have long life? Why do you continue to kill, hate, be unmerciful or indulge in inglorious acts? Are you saved with that kind of attitude?

Read John 8:34-35" And Jesus answered them, verily, verily, I say unto

you, whosoever committeth sin is a servant of sin.And the servant abideth not in the house forever, but

the son abideth ever."

An evil doer lives not in the house forever. Hence he does not have eternal life. You are praying for eternal life but from where will you have it? YOU CAN ONLY HAVE ETERNAL LIFE BY KEEPING GOD'S COMMANDMENTS AND TRUSTING ONLY IN HIM.

Read 1 Timothy 6:6-8But godliness is great gain. For we brought nothing

into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out. Having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

MAN'S VAIN PRIDE:Now that you engage in inglorious life doing whatever

pleases you, what did you actually come into the world with and what will you go back with? You continue to boast of those things that are of nought, those things that possess no life, what is actually in those things. WHAT IS IN EVEN MAN IF HE DOES NOT KNOW OR COMPLY WITH

THE INJUNCTIONS OF GOD?

Read 1Timothy 6:17-19Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be

not high minded nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.

That they do good, that they in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate.

Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

Read 11 Corinthians 8:9-15For ye know the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that

though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do but also to be forward a year ago.

Now therefore perform the doing of it, that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have.

For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, not according to that he hath not.For I mean not that other men be eased and ye be burdened.

But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want; that there may be equality.

As it is written, he that hath gathered much had nothing over; and he that hath gathered little had no lack."

You have nothing to boast of in this world. Even if you should be in possession of all the wealth in this world, it is never what you should boast of because when it is a rich man's time he will go on transfer. What then is the

difference? A rich man cannot rebuke you because he is not the one feeding you. So if you possess money it is yours. And if another person possesses none, he is also on his own. At the fullness of time both of you will depart from this world as you came without carrying anything.

Unfortunately, the rich man had stored nothing in heaven by not being benevolent, but the poor man had treasures in heaven by sharing the little he had with the less-privileged ones. Thus when the rich man passes away, the money he succeeded in storing in the bank belongs not to him, but when the poor man passes away, he has enough to eat.

Read John 13:1-3"Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus

knew that his hour has come that he should depart this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son to betray him; Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he was come from God went to God."

Have you ever heard that Our Lord Jesus Christ charged a fee for healing or teaching? HE DID ALL HIS WORKS FREE OF CHARGE. His act was just like the one who is a citizen of this country (Nigeria) but has the opportunity of working in an overseas country. At the end of every month, he would transfer his salary to his account in Nigeria. This he does in the sense that he is not going to remain there forever and such that when he comes back, he would live on the money so remitted, for anybody who finishes his money would have nothing to live on when he comes back.

The question now is, has any white man ever stolen his country's money and secretly banked it here in Africa? Even when a white man works here, all his salaries would be remitted to his country and he would be left with only his feeding money. But it is not so with the blacks. Any

well-placed African stores all his money in the international banks. He does this for fear of being exposed. For instance, if an African is on a salary scale of one thousand naira every month, but in his account in the bank, he has been saving the sum of two million naira every month, there is likely to going to be a question pertaining to where he has the additional sum from. Consequently, problems would arise. The question is, after making his investment, what will happen when he sleeps in the Lord? Have you now seen the level of your knowledge?

You claim that God does not love you or you do not love yourself? Amongst the blacks who has God done so much for, who has ever shared his wealth among the poor? A black man prefers keeping his money in preparation for election period so as to lobby people and also win the election. This goes consonance with the fact that whoever is blessed by God and he refuses to reciprocate by giving God part of it, then, he would give to Satan. It is through this election that God disgraces such people: for they will be desperate and anxious to win the people's mandate and the people will capitalize on his anxiety to make high demands which he too will eagerly fulfil. During the campaign, these people would make sure the all the money he has is finished.

Let us reverse to follow the right path. We should change from wrong behaviors because once you are in possession of wealth of any kind, without paying part of it to God, you will surely pay to Satan. And if you are such a person, once somebody directs you to any business venture, you will give any amount demanded from you and in the end you may be duped. If this happens, you will lament saying,"oh God! so you are there in heaven..." Why should God not be there in heaven? Have you shown charity to the poor? Nobody can ever deceive God. You can rather deceive yourself.

If you should be blessed with one million naira and you distributed part of this money to the poor, it is better than using to acquire other things or even more money,

which on the whole will be unprofitable to you after your stay on earth. To him that is benevolent, one day will be rich because all along he has been investing. This is what Christ did and taught us. He kept his wealth in the kingdom of God. People give many derogatory names to the benevolent ones. Worst still, if they have no house, or vehicle, it could be attributed to the benevolent nature because the world upholds that he that is merciful always dies wretched.

Read Mathew 6:19-21Lay not up for yourself treasures upon earth, where

moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

But lay up for yourself treasures in heaven, where neither moth doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

YOUR REAL HOME:The above excerpt advises you to lay your treasures

in heaven. This you should do because where you find yourself now is not your home. You are only a guest here. With this awareness, keep your wealth in your home where you will finally return to. And when you would be departing you will go empty handed, so, what will you feed on? Have you been thinking about such a thing? Who in the world has this knowledge? You have built storey buildings, you have money, cars, father, mother, among other things in the world. What will happen in your home in the world beyond?

Everybody is on contract here on earth and once the contract is completed you are bound to go back to your real home. As we enjoy so shall we enjoy in the other place. The enjoyment there is even greater. It is just like staying in Nigeria and being ignorant of what happens in another place. The way we work here is exactly the way we work on the other world. The way you embrace your friends here is the same way you embrace your friends

there. As we gather here, if your time is up, you will see people riding on chariots, dancing and advancing towards you to take you to your home. A special chariot would be prepared for you. But the people here would mourn over your departure. Who told them that you were dead? I have given you this awareness but you refuse to harken to me.

Beloved, you should store your treasure in heaven because the things of the earth are vanity. This is the time for one to commit everything into God's care. But now, when you are asked by somebody to carry out a particular assignment for him, the first thing he would ask is, how much would he pay you. If this money is paid to you, what will you do with it? You can even keep the money somewhere and it is stolen, then what is your gain?

Our Lord Jesus Christ said that the Father had given everything into his hands, and he also committed everything into his Father's hands. That was why he succeeded in His endeavors. Now you want to keep all things to yourself. How then will you succeed? Because Christ left everything to the Father to direct, he was bold enough to say he was returning to The Father. In your own case, when your time is up, you do everything to arrest it, simply because you laid your treasure on earth. Some even have the guts to pray,"Oh God, grant me more days for I have not enjoyed this world," and so on. In spite of such prayer, you are made to move. And as you move, who does these things you acquired belong to? You will only move empty handed. This teaching constitutes the practical aspect of life.

Beloved, you can see that all the things one does unto God are not wasted. But in your own case, stinginess has eaten into your bones, the dogs cannot even eat your feces.

Somebody may be in possession of money on a large scale, but he would not share even half a kobo with another. Even when one kobo falls off his hands to the ground, he would bend down and pick it up. Then what is the value of such money? The money was given to you in

order to serve the less privileged ones.Beloved, upon all the teachings I have been

delivering, you still do not harken to them. But once again, I enjoin you to be benevolent, refrain from killing, stealing, fornication and do not indulge in diabolism.

Read Acts 7:40-42 Saying unto Aaron make us gods to go before us; for

as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.

And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hand.

Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?"

Some people believe that one should help oneself as God helps those who help themselves. NOW I WANT YOU TO UNDERSTAND THAT MOMENT YOU ENGAGE IN DIABOLISM, GOD HAS DESERTED YOU. AND THIS SHALL MARK THE BEGINNING OF YOUR PROBLEMS FOR YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED THAT ONE SHOULD HAVE NO OTHER GOD BESIDES THE ALMIGHTY GOD.

Beloved it is said a stroke of the cane is enough for the the wise. Let my peace and blessing abide with the entire world. Amen.THANK YOU HOLY FATHER.