ARTICLES ON PROMOTION
DATE: 20 January 2002
SPEAKER: Pastor Tayo Adeyemi
TITLE: Positioning yourself for promotion
Part III: Passing the test of Motive.
TEXT:
Psalm 75:6,7
In God's dealing with us, he is mostly interested in our hearts. God is not impressed with the things about us that impress other people. He knows how to sort through the façade and go to the core of the matter.
Because God knows that the real you is your heart, that is the aspect of your life He relates to. God is not fooled by outward appearances. I Samuel 16:6,7.
In many aspects of life, we are not fooled by outward appearances either. We have been trained to realise that "not all that glitters is gold" so we have our own method of checking things out before we make a commitment.
Many times, you are not fooled by the appearance of cars, home appliances etc., but it is not that straight forward when you are dealing with people. It is a totally different ball game, why?
We are all actors. We have this incredible capacity to present to people only the aspect of our lives we want them to see. Worst still, we sometimes pretend to ourselves to be what we are not.
Jeremiah 17:9,10: Deceitful above all, Desperately wicked - incurably sick , Who can know (or fathom) it?
"There is no riddle like the twists of the heart - who can master them?" - Knox translation.
"The heart is more devious than any other thing and perverse too: who can pierce its secret?" - Jerusalem Bible Translation
Now, when you read this kind of scripture, there is a tendency to think, " this must be referring to some pervert or serial killer - but certainly not me"
Unless your heart is brought under the influence of God's word and spirit, this is the exact picture of its condition.
Notice that the scripture also says your heart is deceitful. This means that even you can be deceived by the true nature of your own heart.
But God is not deceived, look at Jeremiah 17:10
"I, the Lord search the heart and test the inner self" - Berkeley Translation
"Who but I, the Lord, can see into man's heart and read his inner most thoughts" - Knox Translation.
"Only the Lord knows! He searches all hearts and examines deepest motives " - The Living Bible.
"The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out. But I, God, search that heart and examine the mind, I get to the heart of the human, I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be" - Jeremiah 17:9,10 The Message Translation.
Before God promotes you, He applies the test of motive. Why? Because, the true nature of our heart will eventually reveal itself. And God says, "better now than when you get promoted. We might as well bring it all out now, when you don't have too much influence."
When God applies the motive test, He is not trying to discover what is in your heart - He already knows! He is only trying to reveal it to you so you can deal with it. When a goldsmith puts gold ore in the fire, he already knows that there are impurities in the ore - but the fire will bring it to the surface.
Prosperity can reveal your true nature just as much as adversity can. A man's greed can be demonstrated by wealth just as much as it can be demonstrated by poverty.
Remember that the test doesn't teach you anything - it only reveals what you already know. In school, the test doesn't make you a good student or a bad student - it only reveals the kind of student you already are!
Crisis doesn't make anything of you - it only reveals your true essence. When you jolt a can coke will pour out of it.
In Exodus 4:6,7 Moses hand became leprous after he put it in his own bosom.
Before God promotes you, He will test your motives. So, what is the definition of motive? Motive is the compelling force or reason behind a person's actions. The big question is "WHY DO YOU DO WHAT YOU DO?" It is possible to do the right thing for the wrong reasons. It is possible to want to be a promoted for the wrong reasons.
Ask yourself these questions truthfully?
•Why do you serve God?
•Why do you go to church?
•Why do you pray - in private or public?
•Why are you involved in ministry - full time or not?
•Why do you give in church?
•Why do you want to marry the person you want to?
•Pastor, why do you want the anointing? - Acts 8:18-23
•Why do you want a big church?
Because God knows that the real you is your heart, that is the aspect of your life He relates to. God is not fooled by outward appearances. I Samuel 16:6,7.
In many aspects of life, we are not fooled by outward appearances either. We have been trained to realise that "not all that glitters is gold" so we have our own method of checking things out before we make a commitment.
Many times, you are not fooled by the appearance of cars, home appliances etc., but it is not that straight forward when you are dealing with people. It is a totally different ball game, why?
We are all actors. We have this incredible capacity to present to people only the aspect of our lives we want them to see. Worst still, we sometimes pretend to ourselves to be what we are not.
Jeremiah 17:9,10: Deceitful above all, Desperately wicked - incurably sick , Who can know (or fathom) it?
"There is no riddle like the twists of the heart - who can master them?" - Knox translation.
"The heart is more devious than any other thing and perverse too: who can pierce its secret?" - Jerusalem Bible Translation
Now, when you read this kind of scripture, there is a tendency to think, " this must be referring to some pervert or serial killer - but certainly not me"
Unless your heart is brought under the influence of God's word and spirit, this is the exact picture of its condition.
Notice that the scripture also says your heart is deceitful. This means that even you can be deceived by the true nature of your own heart.
But God is not deceived, look at Jeremiah 17:10
"I, the Lord search the heart and test the inner self" - Berkeley Translation
"Who but I, the Lord, can see into man's heart and read his inner most thoughts" - Knox Translation.
"Only the Lord knows! He searches all hearts and examines deepest motives " - The Living Bible.
"The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out. But I, God, search that heart and examine the mind, I get to the heart of the human, I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be" - Jeremiah 17:9,10 The Message Translation.
Before God promotes you, He applies the test of motive. Why? Because, the true nature of our heart will eventually reveal itself. And God says, "better now than when you get promoted. We might as well bring it all out now, when you don't have too much influence."
When God applies the motive test, He is not trying to discover what is in your heart - He already knows! He is only trying to reveal it to you so you can deal with it. When a goldsmith puts gold ore in the fire, he already knows that there are impurities in the ore - but the fire will bring it to the surface.
Prosperity can reveal your true nature just as much as adversity can. A man's greed can be demonstrated by wealth just as much as it can be demonstrated by poverty.
Remember that the test doesn't teach you anything - it only reveals what you already know. In school, the test doesn't make you a good student or a bad student - it only reveals the kind of student you already are!
Crisis doesn't make anything of you - it only reveals your true essence. When you jolt a can coke will pour out of it.
In Exodus 4:6,7 Moses hand became leprous after he put it in his own bosom.
Before God promotes you, He will test your motives. So, what is the definition of motive? Motive is the compelling force or reason behind a person's actions. The big question is "WHY DO YOU DO WHAT YOU DO?" It is possible to do the right thing for the wrong reasons. It is possible to want to be a promoted for the wrong reasons.
Ask yourself these questions truthfully?
•Why do you serve God?
•Why do you go to church?
•Why do you pray - in private or public?
•Why are you involved in ministry - full time or not?
•Why do you give in church?
•Why do you want to marry the person you want to?
•Pastor, why do you want the anointing? - Acts 8:18-23
•Why do you want a big church?
1. Why do you go to church?a.Are you coming only for what you can get?
Our generation has been raised to approach church with a consumer mentality. So we have a tendency to keep "shopping for a better deal". Your relationship with your church must be one of giving and receiving. Sometimes, you will be giving more than you are receiving. When this happens, you can tell that your are entering your seasons of maturity. During such times, you will tend to under estimate the value of your church.
Our generation has been raised to approach church with a consumer mentality. So we have a tendency to keep "shopping for a better deal". Your relationship with your church must be one of giving and receiving. Sometimes, you will be giving more than you are receiving. When this happens, you can tell that your are entering your seasons of maturity. During such times, you will tend to under estimate the value of your church.
b.Do you go to church simply because your friends go there?
That is okay to start with, but as time goes on, you need a stronger reason - so if your friends leave or they stop being your friend you wont be thrown off course.
c.Do you come to church just to make your fiancee happy?
If you don't find a stronger reason, you will stop coming as soon as you get married.
2. Why do you serve in Church?•Do you serve because of the attention, applause and accolade that your ministry attracts?
•Do you serve just because you enjoy doing it? There is a fine line between passion and ministry.
•Do you serve because everyone is agreeable and they fall all over you? What if you don't get a pat on the back the next time you "do your stuff?"
•If you don't come to church next week - guess what? I will still be here preaching. Why? Because that's what God called me to do!
If I never hear another "well done Pastor, that was a great message", I won't say "That's it, I am never going to preach again!" You had better have a higher reason for doing ministry than people.
•Do you serve just because you enjoy doing it? There is a fine line between passion and ministry.
•Do you serve because everyone is agreeable and they fall all over you? What if you don't get a pat on the back the next time you "do your stuff?"
•If you don't come to church next week - guess what? I will still be here preaching. Why? Because that's what God called me to do!
If I never hear another "well done Pastor, that was a great message", I won't say "That's it, I am never going to preach again!" You had better have a higher reason for doing ministry than people.
3. Why do you give?The children of Israel would bring their best lambs - the spotless ones to God - just to watch it go up in smoke. God wants your best regardless of whether the money is used the way you want or not. When you give with strings attached, you are not giving, you are simply exchanging.
What if I told you we were going to burn the offering this Sunday - would you still give? Many brought very expensive ointment and poured it on Jesus - Most of it would have ended up on the floor. No wonder someone called it a waste. Mark 14:3-9.
What if I told you we were going to burn the offering this Sunday - would you still give? Many brought very expensive ointment and poured it on Jesus - Most of it would have ended up on the floor. No wonder someone called it a waste. Mark 14:3-9.
4. The big question - Why do you love or serve God?If God stopped blessing you today, if He never answered another prayer would you find it in you to keep loving and serving Him?
•Will you keep praying?
•Will you keep obeying His will?
This was the big challenge of Job's life. Job 1:8-12. The devil accused Job of serving God for the wrong reason - Job's motives came under question. The devil was hoping that Job would stop loving God once his blessings were gone. God was hoping that he would continue. There was only one way to find out, only one way to reveal Job's true motives. The conclusion was "let's test him"
The unfortunate thing was Job did not have the privilege of listening in on this conversation. He had no idea why all of a sudden everything was falling apart. It would have been helpful if someone could have told him - this is just a test.
When things go wrong in your life, sometimes it's not because of what you did wrong - it's what you did right. It's because there is a promotion ahead. So tell yourself "THIS IS JUST A TEST!"
In order to reveal our true motives, God applies two major tests;
i.The test of time - or the delay test.
•Will you keep praying?
•Will you keep obeying His will?
This was the big challenge of Job's life. Job 1:8-12. The devil accused Job of serving God for the wrong reason - Job's motives came under question. The devil was hoping that Job would stop loving God once his blessings were gone. God was hoping that he would continue. There was only one way to find out, only one way to reveal Job's true motives. The conclusion was "let's test him"
The unfortunate thing was Job did not have the privilege of listening in on this conversation. He had no idea why all of a sudden everything was falling apart. It would have been helpful if someone could have told him - this is just a test.
When things go wrong in your life, sometimes it's not because of what you did wrong - it's what you did right. It's because there is a promotion ahead. So tell yourself "THIS IS JUST A TEST!"
In order to reveal our true motives, God applies two major tests;
i.The test of time - or the delay test.
ii.The test of hardship - or the wilderness test.
Time reveals the true nature of things, so does pressure. The only way to know how strong your physical heart is to put it under pressure and watch how it performs.
Two important things about motives1. You can test your own motives. You don't need to wait for God to apply the motive test - you can examine yourself. 2 Corinthians 13:5
There are two things in your life that readily reveal your motives.
There are two things in your life that readily reveal your motives.
i.Your words - Matthew 12:34
ii.Your money - Matthew 6:21
2. You can change your motives
If you find that your motives are not right, you can change them. Nobody is stuck with the wrong motives. "It's just the way I am" - that's a lie! Psalm 139:23,24
You can change your motives by changing the content of your heart. Proverb 4:20-23, Matthew 12:33,35
TO ORDER THIS MESSAGE ON AUDIO OR VIDEO TAPE, CALL 020 88 555 888 NOW.
If you find that your motives are not right, you can change them. Nobody is stuck with the wrong motives. "It's just the way I am" - that's a lie! Psalm 139:23,24
You can change your motives by changing the content of your heart. Proverb 4:20-23, Matthew 12:33,35
TO ORDER THIS MESSAGE ON AUDIO OR VIDEO TAPE, CALL 020 88 555 888 NOW.
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