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Prologue :
A Miracle Valley Sermon on 5th May 2019 at Covenant Bethel, Miracle Valley Umuele.
Motives which run on the platform of selfish or group gain at the disadvantage of others will suffer shipwreck. Motive is the reason why people do what they do.
Motives that bring general good are sacrificial and receive the blessings of God.
What encourages someone to do something could be the motive, but the carrot is the end pursued by motive.
All through human history, motives are judged by divine hand and are rewarded either positively or negatively. May God bless this sermon on motives and may it be of use to reorganise lives cruising on negative ambition.
Leaders who run their kingdoms on negative motives are not isolated from divine judgement. The very long or short run will explain all things. May the readers find help Amen.
The Body Of The Message :
MOTIVE is the action behind what someone aims at. Motives arise as action someone takes to achieve what is expected at a desired end, which could be personal or for a group.
Why and how should motive or motives arise?
- Fear : The unknown future could direct the motive of someone to do some things to overcome the fear.
- Selfish desire/greed: Because of a selfish desire someone takes an action to preserve the desire. Often this is propelled by greed.
- Hatred : Actions may be taken to destroy what is perceived to be a threat to someone’s self esteem.
- Pride : The pride of a man’s heart create certain motives to sustain that pride.
All MOTIVES seek an end which is not easily KNOWN, except by the person with the motive.
MOTIVES AND THE HEART OF MAN.
Motivation for motives could come from spirits, call it demons or from the Holy Spirit, which would make someone to put in more effort to achieve an end result. If one is not encouraged by factors inherent or induced, the goal of the motive may fail.
The heart of a man is the crucible, where motives are raised to anchor a desire.
Note these quotations :
Matt. 6:21
“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:21).
Matt. 15:19
“For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:” (Matthew 15:19).
Matt: 5:8
“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8).
Proverbs 23:7
“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
(Proverbs 23:7).
Take the following incidents.
- The Fall of Lucifer:
Isaiah 14:12-13.
14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!14:13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: (Isaiah 14:12-13).
*The motive of Lucifer was to be like God. He failed and his beauty as the most beautiful cherub disappeared and he developed horns.
- The children of Noah at Babel
“And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. (Genesis 11:4).
They wanted to make a name for thenselves. So God scattered them by confusing their tongues. Here we are today. All the things men do today and the cravings to achieve them are facing future backlashes, yet to be encountered.
- Sons of Jacob/ Joseph
37:8 And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.
37:24 And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it. (Genesis 37:8,24).
The motive of the action of Joseph’s brethren was to stop him from reigning over them. But eventually he reigned over them.
- Absalom
15:2 And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate: and it was so, that when any man that had a controversy came to the king for judgment, then Absalom called unto him, and said, Of what city art thou? And he said, Thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel.15:3 And Absalom said unto him, See, thy matters are good and right; but there is no man deputed of the king to hear thee.15:4 Absalom said moreover, Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice! (2 Samuel 15:2-4).
Absalom’s motive was to take over power from the father through intrigue. He succeeded in doing that,but could not reign and died.
People of evil motive(s), are always drenched by harmattan rain.
- The daughters of Lot.
19:32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.19:33 And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. (Genesis 19:32-33).
The motive of the daughters of Lot was to preserve their father’s race. But must it be done through immorality?
In the Igbo tribe today, some girls are kept to raise children in their father’s house when there is male child default in the family line.
Most of those children born in such way are creating inheritance problems as other sibblings refuse to adopt them.
For A Guiding Light
(i) Good motive:
The Puritans and the founding of America.
The Puritans otherwise called the Pilgrim Fathers left Britain to start pure worship in America in 1620. The motive was not selfish and today America inspite of the challenges she is going through, she remains God’s own country.
(ii) In our contemporary World:
Motives and backclashes :
Adolf Hitler, Napoleon Bonarparte and the British at World War II.
Adolf Hitler fought to conquer the world, Napolean fought to preserve France and national systems but encroached also into other nations in the process. Many lives were lost including that of over 6 million Jews in Nazi camps. The British defended her colonies. In the long run Hitler incurred greater loss because his motive was not humanitarian.
At the end of the World War II, the Germans lost out.
Your motive is never ignored by God. So let your motives be pure.
Are We Guided By These?
Man is a bundle of misguided commonsense in spiritual perspectives.
No man is fully aware of the consequences of his motive, except the motive is God centered and directed by the Holy Spirit. If not it can be catastrophic.
Common sense is man’s daily tool for getting things done. There is a motive in every action, otherwise man would be directed at nothing, for even mediocres have motives in doing what they do, whether it will be successful or a failure is just another matter all together.
God Uses People’s Motive(s) To Build Them Or Destroy them.
Motives which are not God centric are destructive to the planner.
Even each day people reap out of their motives and we observe and record the results of failed or successful motives; but do we not learn from them?
There are repeat catasrophies in life, just like abanndoned motor cars in motor garages.
Yet in the events of life, people still build castles in the air and our simple lessons and knowledge of science about the power of gravity, teach us nothing, “What goes up must come down” remains an axiom.
Doctors give us a glossary of the evils of smoking or excess drinking of alcohol, yet many specialist doctors are either chimneys or wine bibers.
I guess their motive for smoking or drinking is built outside the doctor’s profession. Wahala show face.
May God bless you for being part of this Service. May the Amighty God create the right motive in you for the glory of His name.
You can share this message with loved ones. God bless you.
Miracle Valley Sermons May 5th , 2019.
Website : www.mvgmng.org
+2348037179735.