Feast of Trumpets - Murmurings II (Sermon)

Greetings friends. The Owensboro Church of Jesus Christ is very pleased to announce our latest sermon for the Feast of Trumpets 2019.

Minister Michael C. Garrett continues in Murmurings - Part 2. For indeed, within the churches of God that have descended from the now-defunct Worldwide Church of God, there are murmurings and evil against one another (cf. James 4:11).

As Almighty God and our Lord Jesus Christ emphatically states - through James, the very brother of our Savior - "There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE ANOTHER?" And that Judge is the very Ruler and Master of His Church - the living JESUS CHRIST!

Sadly, the people who have had their feet wet within the WCG had their minds pounded week after week, month after month, and year after year, with a hierarchical church government, came to believe and teach erroneously - "Well, since Jesus said, 'You shall know them by their fruit,' it must imply that some form of judgment must take place against our fellow Christians." WHAT!?

Here - inspired by God's Spirit - is something Minister Garrett wrote:

"And it is obvious and readily apparent that Jesus Christ had many profoundly wise and insightful things to say. The following Words are some of the things which I have used over the years, and they’ve been so valuable to me – in helping me to understand people I meet. To almost be able to read their minds. To understand what’s going on inside their heads, their motivations. And, you can apply this to any setting. It’s not just a “spiritual” thing. It’s any activity and any endeavor which involves human beings. He said in Matthew chapter 7, and also Matthew 12 – “’ You will know them by their fruits.’” That is such a powerful statement! If you just allow that statement to work in your favor. If you simply want to know – you meet somebody (you’ve never met them before) and you want to know, is this a person I can trust!? Is this a person I can believe!? Is this a person I want to associate with more!? And if you ask the question: ‘You shall know them by their fruits.’ Look at the fruits of their life.

If they smoke five packs of cigarettes a day, drink two six-packs of beer, finish it off with a fifth of whiskey, talk about gambling and going to the stripper bar, and on and on and on. You can pretty well figure out these are some characters I don’t really want to be around. Now, you think I’m joking, but I know some sports officials that fit that description! Perfectly! And I’ve learned with time, I just don’t want to be around them! It’s not worth it. And in one sense it may cause me a little trouble, I might not meet up to their expectations, but I don’t want to meet their expectations. And, ‘you’ll know them by their fruit.’ If you want to know what someone is like, examine the fruit of their life. Examine their marriage. Examine the way their children behave. Examine what they eat – you know if they go to a smorgasbord and come back with four plates of food – it helps you to understand why they have a diabetes problem or a high blood pressure problem. It’s really not all that difficult to find out if you simply apply that term – ‘you shall know them by their fruits.’ 

Another one that Jesus said, He said it in Matthew chapter 12, also Luke 6 – and boy this one, this one to me is maybe the best one I’ve ever learned! Just the Words of Jesus Christ – pure, shear, wisdom! ‘Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth does speak!’ You wanna know what somebody is thinking, just listen. Just shut up, open your ears, and listen to what they have to talk about. What are their jokes!? What are their stories!? What are their thoughts, their plans, their wishes!? They will tell you exactly who they are and what they are! It will give you the ability to evaluate this human being."

So, notice, that if we as Christians will only 'shut up, open our ears, and listen to what others are actually talking out about,' we can evaluate - NOT JUDGE!

And, he goes on:

And this can be applied, as I said, in any setting where there are human beings. “’For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.’” Matthew chapter 6, He gave another treasure of a little gem. He said, “’For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’” You can ask yourself that question. I can say, “OK, Michael C. what do you treasure!?” Because that’s really where my heart is. Or, if you’re evaluating somebody that you meet, what is their treasure!? If it’s like that guy who just can’t wait to get to the bar, you pretty well know what his treasure is. He worships at the altar of his alcohol. Or, his drug addiction. Whatever it is. All the different things you could get into. You can find out where a human heart is – and if you meet a church person, you just wanna know, can I trust this person!? How sincere are they!? Just ask yourself the question: What is their treasure!? ...

And then Jesus had something to say over in Luke 6 – which is a powerful statement! I guess if we would all apply this to our lives, how much better off we would be. Luke chapter 6, verse 36 – “’ Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. 37) Judge not, and you shall not be judged.’” – O’ my! If we as an organization could simply put that into effect and have it at the root of our spiritual DNA, what a much finer and more powerful organization we would be in the service of Jesus Christ! And yet that often is not the way things go. He says, “’ Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.’” – and what’s the counterpart of that!? If you don’t forgive, you won’t be forgiven! If you hold that grudge, that sense of vengeance in your heart, you are far from doing the will of God and it will cripple your heart and it will poison your heart and it will calcify your heart. And for those people who always want to point fingers – you’ve always been around them – they can’t wait to tell you the latest story about some piece of bad news on somebody else. It’s the old saying, that if you find somebody pointing their finger at somebody, three fingers are always pointing back. And what I’ve found in my life, the people that accuse other people harshly, and many times falsely, they’re actually describing themselves. They’re actually describing their own problems."

(The Treasure of Your Heart).

I have come to witness - in my opinion - that many of the WCGs articles - though they appear on the outside righteous, actually have an inner deception (cf. Matthew 23:28). Yet, I do not believe that this was intentional, but rather it was largely by ignorance of what God's living Word truly says and teaches. □