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Praise the Lord my brother and sister. Moses here from Christian Motivation, I hope and believe that you are doing fine.
In today’s podcast I just want to continue from where I left off in last time’s podcast. Last time I promised you when I shared with you my testimony that I would be sharing with you a continuation, and just talk about again my testimony about how things changed for me in 2007. So I shared with you and I told you that when I gave my life to Jesus Christ I was so hungry for God that I was pained, I was just seeking the face of the Lord in prayer, in fasting, and in reading the word. I’d spend most of my time just fellowshipping with God.
What happened though is somewhere along the way I started listening to people, I started listening to preachers and listening to pastors and teachers of the word, and before you know it there was kind of a doctrine that I started listening to that wasn’t really all that’s right, let me just say it wasn’t right. And it’s not that I was in a cult, but it’s something I have realized that is preached by many people, whereby when you hear some of the preachers that are preaching the word of God on radio and television and in churches, they preach a word where they’re more telling people that they’ve got to do something in order to earn the faith of God, or to earn the love of God. They may not necessarily maybe intend to preach that, but when you hear most of what people are preaching nowadays, it’s more about what people have to do in order to get God’s approval.
For example I remember I used to desire to be anointed when I had just given my life to Christ, and the way it started was all I was desirous of was just to go after God, and I was passionate about God. But you know, I came to appoint where it almost felt like preachers and people that were teaching the word of God were saying for me to be anointed I had to spend a lot of time in prayer, I had to fast, I had to do all these things, I had to give; it was almost like there was a condition for you to be used by God, there was a condition for you to get wealthy, there was a condition for you to be anointed, there was a condition almost for you to get everything. It felt like if you wanted God to come through for you you had to spend a lot of time just praying, just interceding, just calling on the name of God, and in 2007 that changed for me.
And the way that came about is one time a friend of mine was watching television and she came across a program by Andrew Omak, and she started listening to him, and when she heard the things that he was teaching, somehow she was kind of surprised by the teachings that Andrew was teaching, so she came and she told me about him, she said “Moses, you need to listen to this guy. I go to his website and I just thought of you.” So she gave me the website, so I went to Andrew Omak’s website and I started listening to Andrew Omak. And you know it’s amazing because the first time I listened to him I was kind of shocked by the things he was teaching about the love of God, about the grace of God. And it’s almost like he was teaching the opposite of the things I had grown up knowing.
So I really listened to him and I had to go to the word of God and look at the things that he was teaching to see whether what he was teaching was really right. And I was surprised by what I started to discover. I mean, it’s almost like my whole theology was messed up, it was turned upside down, and the more I listened to him and the more I looked at the scriptures, there was a change that I had to go through, and I’m still going through that change because I started now to understand the unconditional love of God. I started to understand the grace of God. I started to understand what it means to walk by faith. I really started to understand the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and what happened is – I mean I came to a point where I just even- I stopped doing everything I was doing, like you know like spending time in prayer, and all the things I was doing. I had to first kind of cut them off and get my theology right because I realized everything I had done before was now based on because I wanted to kind of get approved by God, I wanted to find favor with God and I was using my efforts for me to be able to get something from God. So even if it meant I was praying for somebody, or if I wanted to be used by God, I felt like I had to do something in order to earn my way to God’s heart.
But the more I started studying the scriptures and listening to Andrew Omak, I realized that I had to change the way I looked at God, the way I viewed God. So I went on this search of studying the word, and I’m still under this. I went to Bible College so that I can get my theology right, so that I can start to look at the scriptures without really adding in the opinions of man, without adding in my own opinions but just really looking at the scriptures and understanding and rightfully divining the word of God. And what that has started to do in my life is really to bring about a transformation that is not based on my efforts or my works, but a transformation that is based on the finished work of the Lord Jesus Chris.
When you read the book of Galatians, you see that God talks about – oh, not God, Paul. Paul talks to the Galatians and says “You foolish people. You started your war with God in the spirit. Are you now turning to your own efforts?” So he called them foolish for them to be turning to their own efforts, yet that had started on a right track. So I realized I too had started on a right track but somewhere along the way I was misled, and I’m not blaming anybody for that because I should have been really rightly divining the word of God.
But I thank God that now I’ve started to rightly divine the word of God. And the best scripture I can think of that can really drive home what I’m trying to talk about is the parable of the prodigal son. When you go to Luke chapter 15 and read about Luke chapter 15, Luke chapter 15 has different parables but it’s really talking about the same subject. But starting in verse 11 it talks about the prodigal son, and hopefully some of you know – most of you know about the prodigal son. But one of the interesting things about the story that I want you to think about is the kind of relationship the older son and the young son had with the father. So we begin looking at the parable and we see where the young son comes to the father and says “You know what? Before you die, I just want to make sure I have my portion of the inheritance. So may you give me my portion?” And the Bible says that the father divided the portion, the inheritance, between these two sons.
So the purpose is that there were only two sons, and the father divided the inheritance between these two sons, which meant that the oldest son got his portion of the inheritance, and the young son got his portion of the inheritance. And so we know that the young son goes and then he spends all his inheritance, and we see later on in the parable that he comes home because he came to his senses, and he said “You know what? I know I have messed up but I’m going to go back to my father, I’m going to repent, I’m going to tell him I’m sorry. I messed up, I’m not worthy to be called your son, just let me be your servant.
The Bible says that before he could even really get to the father the father saw him and the father was very happy to see him, he ran and he was hugging him, and the young son started to talk to the rather and repenting and saying “I’m sorry, I’m not worthy to be called your son, just treat me as a servant.” And the father couldn’t even listen to that, all the father could say was tell the servants to go and bring the ring and bring the robe and put it on his son. In other words he wasn’t going to treat him as a servant; he was going to treat him as a son because he was the son.
So they throw this party, and then the older son, the elder son, comes home. And the elder son asks one of the servants what was happening, and so the servant tells him what was happening, and he was so angry he didn’t even want to go in the house, and then when the dad came out to give him the good news and ask him to come in the house, this guy was really mad at the father and he says “I have worked for you all these years, and you have never even given my anything. I have never been bad, I’ve never rebelled against you, yet this son of yours goes, he rebels, and when he comes home all you can do is throw him a party? You’ve never thrown me a party!” I mean, he was so angry at the father.
But we see the father tells him what joy it was for his brother to have come home, because it’s like he was lost but now he’s found, and he tells him “Everything that I have is yours.” In other words, all along, this guy, the elder brother, had his portion of the inheritance but he wasn’t using it, and the way he was approaching the father, he was approaching the father based on what he had done or what he had not done, because he tells him “See? I have never rebelled against you; I have always done what you want me to do.” So this elder brother was coming to the father on the basis of works. And yet when the young brother came home, he just came as one that was repentant, and he was just relying on the father’s grace and the father’s mercy. And so the relationship was still there, whether before or after, the relationship was still there.
So it is with us, one thing we have to understand really is that we are children of God. Jesus Christ has already done everything that needs to be done, that we do not have to. We do not have to do anything to earn favor or to earn God’s love. Everything that needs to be done has already been done. When you and I get to understand that Jesus has done everything that needs to be done, we get into a deeper level, we get into a stronger relationship with God because now we are not coming to God with – we are not trying to perform before God, but we come on the basis of relationship.
I realize that when I started out seeking the Lord, all I wanted was a relationship. But along the way I started to get into this performance mindset where I thought I had to do something in order to get God to do something to me. But I thank God because now I understand that I don’t have to do anything, so when I come before the Father I come on the basis of relationship, I come knowing that I don’t have to do anything to be loved by God, I don’t have to do anything to have the favor of God, I just need to come on the basis of relationship.
My God is my Father, and nothing can change that. The Bible says I am adjunct with Jesus Christ, the Bible says I am the child of God. There is nothing that can change that. So when I come to God I have to come boldly, knowing that I have a relationship with him, knowing that he is for me, and he is not against me. When you start to understand that you are related to God, it changes the way you relate with him, it changes how you look at prayer, it changes how you look at fasting, it changes how you look at worship, it changes how you look at giving, it changes how you look at anything you do with God. Because now it’s not something you do to earn anything from God, but it’s something you do because you love to. It’s something you do because you get to. It’s something you do because you enjoy. So it’s not performance based, but it is relationship based. To me that was a big deal. It has been a big deal. There’s a lot of relearning that I had to do, there is a lot of relearning that I still need to do.
The Bible says that you should train a child in the way that they should go, and when they grow they will not depart from that way. What I have realized is because I spent a lot of years in my early Christian life getting all this wrong doctrine, it’s now taking a lot of effort for me to be able to break those wrong doctrines, the wrong theology, I really have to work hard at realizing that it’s based on relationship, I don’t have to perform anything. And I thank God because that is starting to change, things are starting to change for me, and I know for a fact that there are not many people, there are not really many Christians that really stand to preach about the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the unconditional love of God, and the grace of God.
Most of the preachers, most of the teachers that you hear on radio, you see on television, they kind of teach a Gospel that is not really the Gospel. The Gospel says it’s good news, but most of the preaching we hear really is more about the things that we need to do in order for God to do something, it’s more about – sometimes you’ll hear preachers talk about God’s judgment, and all this other stuff that really is contrary to what the Word of God says.
But I’m so grateful to God that with me – at least that’s part of my testimony – that God was able to bring people along my path where I have been able to change the way that I look at things, where I’m not removing the doctrines and the opinions of man and just focusing on the word of God, and going back to that place where Paul was talking to the Galatians, he was telling them to return to that place where it is just based on faith, on just trusting and believing the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is really what I want to do, when it comes to Christian Motivation. I want to share with you the things that I’m learning, and the things that will really cause us as children of God to reign in life. Until we understand the unconditional love of God, until we understand the truth, we can never be set free. The Bible says that when we know the truth the truth shall set us free. It is truth that will be able to set you and I free from all these bondages and doctrines of man. And I do hope that as time goes on I’ll be able to share with you that, and I hope that it will be a blessing to you.
So that really concludes my testimony, and I pray that you too will, if you haven’t yet really understood the grace of God, the unconditional love of God, the mercy of God, the goodness of God, and the faithfulness of God, I pray that the Holy Spirit will open your eyes, will open your heart, will open your ears to the word of truth, that you too will be set free.
I’m excited about sharing with you the things that I’m learning, and I know that you and I will truly reign in life. So until next time it’s Moses here from Christian Motivation, wishing you the best. Again, don’t forget to go to the website and check out and of the resources that I have there. God bless you, bye-bye.
