Renowned preacher and founder of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), Pastor Mensa Otabil, says that believers of Christ must honour God from their hearts instead of just paying lip service to the creator of the universe.
Quoting Mathew 15:7-9, he said “Jesus is denouncing some people and he calls them hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy about you saying these people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips but their heart is far from me. In vain they worship me teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”
He was preaching on his Living Word series on Sunday, August 9, 2020, where he said that, the difference between honoring God from the heart and paying lip service to God lies in the intensity with which a believer shows gratitude to their maker.
Delivering his sermon dubbed, “Thanksgiving completes Faith”, Pastor Mensa Otabil stated that defining ‘honour’ can be a herculean task but should an individual engage in a glorious or significant activity, it can be classified as honour. He added that offering something which is weighty or glorious may be considered as honourable too.
“How do you know whether you are doing it [honouring God] from your heart? You will know you are doing it from your heart because you are doing it with the same intensity with which you went to seek help from God,” he said in the televised sermon.
Additionally, he said that honour the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruits of all your increase so your barns will be filled with plenty as written in the book of Proverbs 3:9 &10.
He counselled Christians to honour God out of conviction and not because the church preaches it.
The man of God opined that, giving one’s father-in-law GHS 500 fresh notes from the bank neatly packaged is more honourable than using that same value of money to buy some fish and meat essences to be presented as gifts to the same father-in-law.
“When we say that we are doing something to honor God, it’s not just the act but it is also the heart behind it and the value you place on the person you are going to honour,” he reiterated.
