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Man was in a mess. We were all condemned to death but God was thoughtful, God was considerate, He was compassionate. He said ‘I created this people in my image and likeness, my thought towards them is of good and not of evil.’ That’s why Jonah could not understand this love. Jonah said ‘God, the way you deal with people, I don’t understand it even though I am a man, so you are sending me to Nineveh, I am not going. I am going to Tarshish. I am not going to deliver this message because this is what you do all the time’. And many of us are like that, just like the elder brother of that prodigal son, he said ‘I have been with you always, you didn’t even give me a kid to make celebration with my friends and your son that have gone and squandered and lived a reckless life, you celebrated’. And that’s how we blame God for accepting prostitutes, ritualists and herbalists. That’s how we would say ‘see this witch that has killed more than 200 people, now she’s born again, so those ones have gone like that?’ Yes! That’s the love of God, that’s the benevolence of God. He said ‘for your sake, I can kill a whole nation’, that talks about the love of God.
Don’t you think it’s a crazy love? That is the kind of love that God loves us with and I pray that this word will hit your spirit. And we must understand it because if you don’t understand God, you won’t understand his move, you won’t understand the dimension he operates. And that’s why the Pharisees could not comprehend it, they said ‘the commandment is greater than love, on a Sabbath day you should not heal anybody, you should not do good works because the Sabbath is a holy day’. But Jesus said ‘this one is the daughter of Abraham, man was not made for the Sabbath but the Sabbath was made for man’.
They did not understand the operation of Jesus. That is why many of us even though we are not wearing those long robes, we have a Pharisee mindset. ‘Why should this girl that has been doing prostitution since 18 years and now that she is 35 years old, how come God forgave her? she has aborted and removed her womb but how come she is the one that now has a baby and the sister that is a virgin from birth and got married, does not have a baby, that is the benevolence of God’.
We judge like the elder brother of the prodigal son, we judge because we don’t understand the benevolence of God, what He wants is for all to come to repentance. Yes! If that witch that killed 500 people in your village comes to repentance, God will accept her! That’s the benevolence of God. God will accept her. And we must start to operate with that mindset that God is not man, He does not see the way you see, He doesn’t judge the way you judge, that’s the same way He doesn’t judge us the way we judge ourselves. What He wants is repentance, for us to come back, to come back to yourself and come back to my house. Once you can come back to yourself and come back to my house, I will receive you. That’s how God operates, so God loved the world long before the world knew him, and he still loves us and he is still suffering long over the world that’s why as believers; as servants of God, when God is saying continue to pray for this nation, continue to pray for this person, He is operating at His benevolence.
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Don’t give up, don’t say God I have been praying, don’t be like Jonah and say ‘now that I have preached to them, destroy them, Lord I am waiting, destroy them now’, but when God saw repentance, He withheld his judgement. That’s the benevolence of God but Jonah was expecting judgement,’ with or without repentance just destroy them so that I will be satisfied, that I am not a prophet of doom that God really sent me’. So, when you pray for that witch or that wizard to die and the person doesn’t die, how do we feel? We feel as if God is a liar, but that is the benevolence of God. God is still suffering long over that life, the same way he is waiting on you, that’s the same way he is waiting on that armed robber that has killed so many people. So, let us not judge and condemn people, if we are all created in the image and likeness of God, then we must also show that benevolence.
I want us to look at how to react to Gods benevolence, how do you receive God’s benevolence? I want us to start by looking at a story in Matthew 18. Amazing story there, such a phenomenal reaction that Jesus was trying to pull out from that parable. Matthew 18:23-35 it is a parable that teaches us about God’s benevolence.
23 Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. 28 “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. 32 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35 “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”
Matthew 18:23-35 (NKJV)
The first way you receive and react to God’s benevolence is to also be benevolent, have mercy on people, if God has made you in His image and in His likeness, understanding God’s benevolence, understanding Gods kindness, understanding God’s thoughtfulness, you must bring yourself into that position also. That was the example that Jesus gave us. When that woman that was caught in the very act of adultery was brought before Jesus, what did Jesus do? Did Jesus say, ‘yeah! They caught you in the act of adultery, these are the kind of people that my father sent me to, to come and show you people your sins.’ No! He said to them ‘if there is anyone of you whose sins has not been forgiven before, that have not had their sins covered before, you have not sinned before, you should be the first to cast the first stone’. And the bible says ‘all of them departed one after the other’ and Jesus said to the woman, ‘I also have not condemned you, go and sin no more’.
Until we come to that point, that we are also compassionate like God, we can’t see great things happen in our generation and in our time. Until the benevolence of God is shown in each and every one of us the same way God is benevolent, we cannot come into the fullness of this harvest that is before us because we would have judged out people that God wants to use to do great things. Like that wicked servant, we would have put people in prison, with our mouths we would say ‘this one can never be born again, this one is going straight to hell.’ We have used our mouths to send men and women into hell. But that’s not the example God showed us. For every one that comes asking for mercy, he receives mercy. For everyone that comes to God for them to be forgiven, they are forgiven. That’s the same way we should react to God’s benevolence, the same way He has shown us His benevolence, we should also be benevolent to other people. We must not be like this wicked servant, so we must take that posture of benevolence.
I want us to look at Luke chapter 17 to see our reaction, how to receive God benevolence.
7 And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? 8 But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’? 9 Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. 10 So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’ ”
Luke 17:7-10 (NKJV)
Jesus said ‘I think not’. So, when we do things for God, that’s how to react to God’s benevolence. When we go out to preach, when we go out to the prisons, to the to the hospitals to reach out to people, we should not be expecting a big thank you from God because you did a good thing, you now feel you are the most important person, on the face of the earth, that in fact God should give you a special and privileged attention because of that. Jesus said ‘I think not’, so when you serve God, you serve Him with a sense of duty, you serve Him with the sense of privilege, ‘that it is a privilege to serve you Lord because of your benevolence towards me’.
It’s not a right, you are not doing God a favour, you are reacting to His benevolence and this is the way. There was no time Jesus felt on top of the world. The bible says, He did not count it robbery to be equal with God, that was the mistake that the elder brother of the prodigal son made, he felt ‘I have been attending to you father, I have been in your house, I have been the one doing all the chores, I have been the one attending to you and all the functions, how comes it is this boy that is just coming that has squandered everything, that you have chosen to throw a party for’.
The bible says ‘heaven rejoices, there is celebration in heaven over a sinner that comes to repentance’. Heaven goes to normal mode for every believer that does good works because it is normal, so never feel on top of the world. Don’t feel as though God owes you something, because you are doing good, because you are doing what you are supposed to do.
And Jesus said verse 10 So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’ ” Did you hear the words of Jesus? I want us to see that verse 10 very well ‘So when you are reacting to God’s benevolence, it is important for you to know now that whatever He has commanded for you to do, you do it, and you react properly to it. What’s the reaction that Jesus required of us? ‘We are unprofitable servants, we have simply done what was our duty and not feel on top of the world’.
Let’s see John 15, because until we properly connect and react and we see God’s benevolence, we cannot walk in the fullness of what He has for us.
5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
John 15: 5 (NKJV)
9As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
John 15: 9-10 (NKJV)
There is a future for you in God. When you stay in God, you flourish in Him. You will bear much fruit, you will be like the tree in Psalm 1 ‘a tree planted by the rivers of water’. When you are in the house of God, you will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, you will bring your fruits in due season and your leaves will not whither. And that’s the same thing Jesus was reiterating here, He said ‘and you will bear much fruit, for without me you can do nothing’.
Verse 9 says, ‘Abide in Him, abide in the Love of God, abide in the house of the Lord, abide in the presence of the Lord’. That is how to correctly connect with the benevolence of God. Don’t stay outside the house, don’t go outside, stay in His presence, stay with Him. I want us to read 2 Corinthians 6:1. Do not receive the benevolence of God in vain. This scripture, while I was reading it, it cut deep into my spirit.
1 Working together with Him, we strongly urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain [by turning away from sound doctrine and His merciful kindness].
2 Corinthians 6:1 (Amplified)
Do not receive the benevolence of God to no purpose. There is a reason why God is showing you all the love, all the care, all the attention. There is a reason why God is showering so much love on you, so much kindness, so much compassion on you, don’t receive it in vain. Don’t just feel good with it, work with it. Labour together with Him, for His will to be done on the earth, why have God created you and I? for His pleasure! So if the pleasure of God is not served then, we have received His benevolence in vain. If the pleasure of God is not actualized, then we have received His benevolence in vain. His will must be done, His counsel must be established. That’s why you and I are here, that’s our duty, labouring together with Him, let us not take His grace in vain and I pray the Lord will help us in Jesus name. Amen.
[Centre for New Dimension Leadership]
