For audio sermons and worship services follow the link below:
Broadcasting from Bethel House
Sermons Heard Along
Sermon One
Section One of Sermon One that I listened to upon the first hill of my pilgrimage. The sermon was titled:
Simplicity is the key to perfection
“Hear Ye Him”
For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward. 2Cor 1:12
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 2Cor 11:3
“Believe me, God’s word comes to cut you to size to produce his image in you,” Little Meekness raised his voice as he stepped on the platform, “yes, cuts you to size for you to pass through the strait gate! You can’t pass through with your bulky, beastly, carnal natures! Truth must be spoken! Get it!
“What is God’s image? Merciful, gracious, kind, loving, lowly, humble, meek, long-suffering, forbearing, forgiving, faithful, righteous, holy – just a lamb!
“That proud, scornful, despiteful, boastful, and arrogant spirit, cannot pass into paradise… your high-minded spirit cannot fit in the narrow way into life. The narrow way vomits you out, and the gate slams in your face as you approach. I speak with experience. Circumcision cuts you to size.
“Surely, he scorns the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly. Pro 3:34 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resists the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. 1Pet 5:5
“In the land of our nativity, there is some machine-sort-of-a-thing that they have invented. When work started on it, it’s size could cover a 5m-by-5m room. Its operation was such a sweaty endeavour, such a bustle and hustle business! Yet it yielded quite little; storing very little data, processing very little at a time, and still the quality and accuracy of the same was wanting – quite crude!
“But presently, the whole thing can be slipped into their pocket; it can be held with three fingers of their left palm. It is operated by a mere tender touch yet processes a great store of data in a split second, yielding amazing results! Amazing indeed and thrice so, in quality, quantity and accuracy: all are taken care off without a shadow of a drop of sweat! Knowest thou what I mean, my friend, Wisdom?”
“No, my Lord,” answered Wisdom, “the riddle dives too deep for my little wisdom. It eludes my wits, I must confess.”
“There it is,” Meekness went on, “in perfection the giant becomes a tinny ant; but in operation a tinny ant becomes a giant! Presently, its look, appearance, and size, just an ant! But on the other hand, its refinement and industry, cooperation and coordination, and the myriads of activities that it handles at once, it is nothing but a giant interconnection of thousands of ant colonies working in perfect harmony. You know it, my friend, Witness?”
“My lord, I can’t see through that fog, too thick for my little eyes!” Replied Little Witness, softly while smiling.
“What is it? It is treasured by all men in the shadowed valley as the last invention that has conquered the world, of course for Satan, at least. Get it, my friend Gentleness?”
“Still digesting, my lord. You have soared into the blues! The riddle passes over my head; too young yet, for my hair has hardly started greying.”
“The smaller it has become, the more refined it has attained, and presently it connects all the world reducing it to a village! Anybody who knows the thing? Call it! What of you, Pentecost, any knowledge about it?”
“My lord, I am sorry, it passes over my head… it leaves me scratching it for want of wisdom. May the Lord increase His wisdom in me to be able to tell all things no matter how darkly shaded they are; for then I would catch the enemy no matter how camouflaged he is.”
“Yes, it exists in the world of the heathens, our neighbours, as you all know them…too brutal for life! But they have lately invented a thing. When it first started, it was a big machine that was stationed in one place. Its size could fill a large room, but now it can be slipped into their pockets. What is that? Yes, Little Lowliness…”
“My brother, I can’t catch it in my mind, for I have hardly visited that country, too heathen for me! Lift the veil a little bit, please.”
“There you are, beat the facts? No! You can’t! The world of our nativity has invented something that they call a computer; the very first one was almost 5m by 5m in size. It could not be carried about. It could process very little data at a time and stored very little too. The type of data handled was quite limited. But they progressively improved it to handle more data, perform more complex functions more accurately and within a very short time, and store vast amounts of the same. Yet the more they advanced on it, the smaller it became. As at now, some type of it can be slipped into their pockets and carried about! What is its name, dear Lily?”
“Ha-ha-a! The so-called smartphone! I have heard of it, so many upon the earth have such a thing… oh, it is quite fascinating to them. Surely it has conquered the world, for Satan, at most… a product of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, of course. It can be good on one hand but exceedingly evil on the other.”
“Exactly! You got it! And now, as we speak, the thing accesses information from computers the world over via the internet! It is a type of computer… perfected, almost.
“Yes, compare the laptop and the original computer that could occupy their bedroom! That is it, Norah! Perfection cuts you to size! That is a fact you cannot afford to go against. Those who are not yet cut to size by God’s revealing Word are still crude and imperfect, quite a sweaty, noisy endeavour to collaborate with! And too gigantic too! Norah, say it!”
“My lord, what do I say? That is me. I need to be cut to size. Such a glamorous spirit bothers me from my childhood. May the most high lift his countenance upon me to give me a daybreak. So needy! I repent and cry for deliverance from the chains of pride… kujiona, kujiinua, kujionyesha, kujikamba, maringo, majifuno, na mengineyo.”
The words of the preacher really cut deep into my heart, I must admit, and Norah’s response reinforced it. If she needed that, yet she appeared quite refined, spiritually, and physically, what of me! Too crude, too gigantic in every carnal sense. “Oh God…” I cried, “have mercy on me a sinner! The burden of sin wrapping around me weighs me down beyond my breath. The way is too narrow, the gate that leads into life quite strait; surely, I can’t make it… as bulky as I am? No way! I need to lose weight. I should, I have to, I must! So, help me, I cry.”
The preacher turned his eyes towards me, and I wished I could sink into the ground to hide. My bulky frame, holding a world of rot and decay, stood so pronounced in the light from his eyes and of his sermon that I felt that every eye in the great congregation was fixed on me. There and then, I fell on my knees and cried, “Woe unto me, for I am undone, for I am full of heaps of heaps of sin, so cruel! Have mercy on me, oh thou most high. Whither shall I flee to hide from thy words? A two-edged sword they are, cutting deep into my soul. Have mercy on me, have mercy on me and blot out from me this thick clay of iniquity.”
Then the wondersome preacher instructed Norah to place her hand on me and pray for me. That being done, I found some peace in my heart and sat trembling all the time as long as the sermon lasted.
“There you are!” Meekness sprung back, adjusting his little frame as he leaned on the altar-like frame on the platform. “The facts are clear. They are too strong for anybody to deny! Just unbeatable! When one is noisily proud, boastful, always bragging, arrogant, ambitiously lusting after all the world around, a know-it-all – as some politicians in the world of the heathens behave, blowing their own trumpet to tell all about how big and bulky they are, how a giant they are in matters of rot and decay – then this is one fact about such men: they are as big as nothing! An empty tank are they! Vain they are, and a brother or sister to every vanity! For whatever is taken as great in the world of the heathen, is rot and decay before God, just an abomination in His sight!
“And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. Luke 16:15
“Hear Ye Him”
“My friend, if you think you are so great that the world around you can’t operate without you, then you are nothing but an abomination before God! Get it clear! God is so great, the greatest being, yet He never shows it to anybody, never brags about it; He doesn’t even show Himself to anybody. He remains invisible! There you are! Greatness, true greatness, tends towards invisibility! Hallelujah! If you are such a one who is showy, trying hard to prove how great you are, that shows how far from perfection you are!
“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2Cor 4:18
“Hear Ye Him”
“There you are Jael! The very things that matter are invisible! For instance, just for an illustration, air is invisible to our eyes, yet it is the most vital substance that we need all the time. You might miss water for a day or two and still survive, but you cannot miss air for ten minutes and survive! Yet it is invisible! Yes, God is invisible. His operations are hardly seen, yet without Him nothing else can exist!
“The Holy Spirit is invisible, we can’t see him, yet without him, Christianity becomes an empty container! Get it! Things which matter are never showy! They can’t even be seen, and that is what makes them noble! A noble thing is never common, it never mixes freely with the rest, it never goes everywhere littering, being noisy and vulgar. Why? It is precious! Love, peace, joy, comfort, righteousness, rest, kindness, meekness, humility, lowliness, goodness, faithfulness, patience… are invisible things, yet without them our lives become empty.
“Gold is precious, you can hardly set your eyes on it; while sand is cheap and can be seen anywhere! God is the most precious thing, the most noble, therefore He is so rare, beyond language.
There is precious gold, so rare and so noble too!
Yes, “Hear Ye Him!”
There is sand, so common and so cheap
“Cheap things are noisy, showy, boastful, proud, and self-imposing, and are found littering every place, but precious things are hidden, rare and thus uncorrupted! Hallelujah! Where are you, brother Watchman! Still on the tower?
“Still: Hear Ye Him!”
“Yep, my brother, I am still keeping watch. The work of perfecting cuts me to size. I am still in the machines. When the morning breaks, I will come out perfect. I believe it. As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.” Psa 17:15
“Hear Ye Him Now!”
“All who highly esteem themselves in the world of heathens, and are praised by men all over, are an abomination in heaven! So smelly, so stinky, so foul, are they. The heavens hold their nose at their presence. They are a stench in heaven! Yes, dear Kindness, for you to be admitted into the kingdom of light, you must be cut to size by God’s Word! There is no shortcut to it! Believe it.”
“Amen, my dear brother! I am here for that purpose.” Cried Kindness. “I must be circumcised, if I will pass through the strait gate. I am willing. I am ready too. Ready to be cut to size. Just now. Please do.”
“Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people: Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay! Hab 2:4-6 KJV
Flesh and blood is clay, that is how cheap and common it is! Littering the face of the earth with religious profanities. Cheaply bought and cheaply sold by Satan.
Awake out of your clay pot and set your affection at the righthand of God, from where you have a heavenly body and a divine nature…being translated out of corruption into incorruption.
Hear Ye Him speak from heaven!
“There is a heathen, full of lust for the useless products of the world. With such lust, he loads himself with thick clay in the name of riches, money, power, popularity, or knowledge. He becomes a giant in fleshly matters. He can never pass in the narrow way to heaven; the door won’t admit him in. Hear this:
“And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. Mark 10:24-25
Hear Ye Him from the scriptures!
“Obvious! The fellow is too big to pass through the strait gate into life. That gate is no one else but Jesus. Any who fatten themselves in world matters can hardly pass through. Get it? Yes, dear Heart-light, you have to be slimmed to pass through the widget gate! You get me?”
“Sure, my lord, you have reached my innermost. Plain I stand before your words. May the Lord who is speaking through you grant it, my deep cry it is… My prayer it has been since I stepped here… perfected to be. Willing, I am; coming, I do. Yielding all upon the word, I go; may I gain it now. The old corruptible man I cast away; the new man, humble and righteous, holy and meek, I put on. Like Christ the lamb let me be.”
Then I turned my eyes and looked at Heart-light and could not help but weep every tear out of my heart. “If such a refined sister cries for mercy, what about me! Oh God, have mercy on me! Where shall I hide from thy word, thy two-edged sword?” I cried and cried and cried…
“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? 1Pe 4:17-18
“Yes, you have to be cut to size,” Meekness continued, “both physically and spiritually, you must, if heaven would admit you. The master spoke that word to a young rich ruler, to cut him to size but being quite a pig in worldly endeavours, he found it difficult to stand the shaving. He missed it. So sad. So bad that so many are no better than he among the educated heathens. Believe it, Little Purity, you must lose weight both ways if you will enter in!
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Mat 6:19-21
“Yes, my brother, that is nothing but the very truth!” Cried Purity. “That is why I am here. I have presented myself to the physician, ready to be cut to size. Do the job! I repent from all that clay lumped on me by the king of terrors. I repent from all the vanities of this world. I am willing, to lose weight both ways: inside-out. Oh, sword of the king, here am I!”
“So obnoxious is the character of men in thick clay! First, they can hardly cooperate with others – too haughty, too arrogant to listen to anybody else. Secondly, they can hardly be coordinated to serve in unity with others – too proud, too boastful to listen to anybody else. Thirdly, they can hardly operate willingly to serve in harmony with others around, they are full of themselves – too selfish, heady, high-minded that they don’t regard others to be of any use. Fourthly, they can hardly be of any use to anybody else, in fact they are useless! Why? They only serve themselves, for they are mean to the letter! My brother Little Calmness, say it!”
“Nothing but the truth!” Cried Calmness.
“Hear Ye Him Again!”
Echoes From Paradise 
Leave a reply to John silasMasafu Cancel reply