Live At The Pfn Auchi Edo State Program by Apostle Johnson Suleman: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Matthew 21:12

Jesus walked into the temple and began to overturn the tables of the money changers. There must be order in the house.

You may have wine, but make sure you also have water, for water can become wine, but wine cannot become water. Water is the word of God and intimacy with the Holy Ghost. A hurting minister will hurt others; a mended minister will dispel pain. Fix your life and your ministry will be fixed.

John 21:15-17

When Jesus asked Peter, "Lovest thou me more than these? Feed my lambs," ministry begins with motive. Do you love Him more than wealth, more than fame, more than the accolades that ministry brings? Feed my lambs, and when they are fed enough, feed my sheep, for if they are truly fed they will not remain lambs.

Order Is the Mother of Progress

Without order, life gets filled up even when there is still space left in it, the way an unpacked truck fills up quickly when items are thrown in carelessly instead of arranged. The first requirement for a minister of God is to understand humanity. A minister who attacks another minister has lost that humanity. Much of what happens on pulpits today is not preaching but activism, people running others down and giving personal scores a spiritual coloration. Humanity is what reminds a minister that the one on another pulpit is still a brother.

The First Element of Humanity: Discretion

Genesis 41:38-39

When Joseph interpreted Pharaoh's dream, he first made sure it was one on one, moving out everyone else because the matter was sensitive. Pharaoh then asked whether such a discreet and wise man could be found. A person with no control over his mouth has no business on the pulpit. There are things spoken in ministers' private circles that are never meant for public consumption, and a minister who cannot keep a secret will keep losing the trust of those who confide in him. Secrecy is not cultism, but there are necessary truths a minister must be trusted to keep.

The Second Element of Humanity: Dealing with Bitterness

Hebrews 12:14-15

Follow peace with all men and holiness, looking diligently lest any root of bitterness spring up and trouble many. Bitterness is one of the major things that can destroy a man's holiness.

1 Samuel 15:12, 2 Samuel 11:3, 2 Samuel 23:34

Ahithophel counseled as though God Himself had put words in his mouth, yet he was later recruited into conspiracy against David. Ahithophel's granddaughter was Bathsheba, and when David sinned with her and later had her husband Uriah killed, Ahithophel said nothing at the time, but bitterness was quietly growing. He eventually joined his own son's rebellion against David. Many who stay quiet are not being loyal; they are calculating an opportunity to strike. Bitterness does not destroy the person it is aimed at; it destroys the one who carries it.

Calm is required to go far in ministry. Even a prophet as anointed as Elijah struggled with temper, and it was that unresolved bitterness in John the Baptist, still in prison and unaware that his own deliverance was not the plan, that led him to send messengers asking Jesus, "Are you the one, or should we expect another?" Jesus said there was no one born of women greater than John, yet John died in prison though he had grace and power enough to have walked out. Bitterness restricts the flow and the move of the supernatural, and it limits the very anointing a minister carries.

Whatever offense has occurred, let it go. You do not own the people; God does. Whatever a man sows, he reaps, and bitterness has to die. A united minority is stronger than a divided majority. Unhealthy competition and rivalry among ministers must stop; two ministers can occupy the same space, love Jesus, and be at peace, because the things ministers often fight over are not worth it.