26/05/2026
PREACHERS, LET US EXAMINE OURSELVES.
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.” (2 Corinthians 13:5)
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One of the greatest embarrassments in modern Christianity is that many preachers have become experts at exposing the sins of others while protecting their own darkness.
I will address the above scripture in its three standpoints.
We preach holiness while privately entertaining corruption. We demand repentance from sinners, yet become offended when repentance is preached to preachers.
A preacher who cannot be corrected is already becoming dangerous.
1. EXAMINE YOURSELVES
When Paul says, “EXAMINE YOURSELVES,” he is not calling for casual reflection. He is calling for spiritual self-audit. The word carries the sense of testing, proving, searching, and exposing the real quality of a thing. It is like metal passing through fire to reveal whether it is gold or glitter.
Paul is telling us that
1. Ministry must pass through the fire of truth.
2. Titles must pass through the fire.
3. Motives must pass through the fire.
4. Secret appetites must pass through the fire.
5. The pulpit must pass through the fire.
A man can preach about God and still not be part of God. A man can carry a microphone and lose divine weight. A man can preach power and privately lose purity. A man can minister to crowds while becoming empty before God.
This is the danger of religious familiarity: when sacred things become routine, the altar slowly becomes a stage, the oil becomes a brand, and the calling becomes a career.
The pulpit was never designed to become a hiding place for hypocrisy. God never ordained ministry to be a spiritual theatre where charisma hides corruption. The anointing was never meant to become makeup for undisciplined character.
Some preachers today know how to maintain crowds, titles, trends, branding, protocol, and public honour, but heaven is not moved by noise, popularity, microphone skill, or ministerial packaging. Heaven responds to purity, brokenness, integrity, obedience, and truth.
The tragedy is that some preachers fear exposure more than they fear God.
Read that again.
Some are no longer protecting the Gospel; they are protecting their image. Some are no longer defending truth; they are defending reputation. Some have become so intoxicated with “Man of God” culture that they mistake accountability for persecution.
But hear me carefully:
Correction is not hatred. Truth is not rebellion.
Calling preachers to repentance is not attacking the Church.
In fact, SILENCE IN THE FACE OF CORRUPTION IS WHAT DESTROYS THE CREDIBILITY OF THE CHURCH.
2. “WHETHER YE BE IN THE FAITH”
“Whether ye be in the faith” is not merely asking whether we still carry Christian language. It is asking whether we are still inwardly aligned with the life, nature, fear, obedience, and government of Christ.
The faith is not only what we preach; it is the realm we live under. It is divine allegiance. It is covenant loyalty. It is submission to the authority of Christ when nobody is watching.
* A preacher may still sound like faith and yet no longer live in faith.
* A preacher may still quote scripture and yet be governed by appetite.
* A preacher may still command crowds and yet be losing the witness of conscience.
3. “PROVE YOUR OWN SELVES ”
“Prove your own selves” means stop hiding behind public applause and allow truth to verify your inner life. Do not let crowds prove you. Do not let invitations prove you. Do not let offerings prove you. Do not let titles prove you. Let God prove you.
Can heaven trust your secret life?
Can your private conduct survive public light?
Has ministry become business, performance, manipulation, or appetite?
Have we become professional preachers with dying consciences?
The pulpit was never meant to protect adultery.
The altar was never meant to defend manipulation.
The Church was never meant to normalise hidden immorality because somebody is “gifted.”
Giftedness is not proof of godliness.
Judas had ministry access too.
“For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.” (1 Corinthians 11:31)
This scripture reveals a deep law of spiritual preservation: self-judgment prevents destructive judgment.
To “judge ourselves” does not mean to condemn ourselves into hopelessness. It means to sit under the light of God before the court of heaven exposes what we refused to correct in secret.
Self-judgment is spiritual intelligence. It is the wisdom of a man who says, “Lord, search me before shame finds me. Correct me before consequences consume me. Break me before pride destroys me.”
God gives every man a private altar of correction before He permits a public theatre of exposure.
The preacher who secretly examines himself preserves spiritual authority.
The preacher who refuses correction eventually becomes a public warning.
Many mistake correction for persecution, yet divine correction is mercy attempting to rescue a man before destruction becomes irreversible.
When truth comes, two things are revealed: those who love God humble themselves and reflect; those who love image more than truth become defensive and offended.
A lover of truth will reflect and repent.
A hater of truth will deflect and become offended.
No man of God is my enemy.
The real enemy is deception in the pulpit.
The real enemy is hidden corruption wearing ecclesiastical garments.
The real enemy is spiritual hypocrisy slowly becoming normal ministry culture.
And let us stop this dangerous mindset that every correction against preachers is an attack on Christianity.
No.
The Church does not become stronger by covering darkness.
The Church becomes stronger when truth purifies the altar again.
“Let all things be done decently and in order.”
(1 Corinthians 14:40)
Paul was not merely speaking about church arrangement, microphone order, service protocol, or programme flow. He was revealing a kingdom principle: God rests where there is order.
“Decently” speaks of spiritual honour, moral beauty, sacred dignity, and conduct that does not bring shame to the Gospel. It means ministry must carry an appearance, structure, and spirit worthy of the God it represents.
“ORDER” means divine arrangement. It means things must stand in their proper spiritual place.
Appetite must not rule over assignment. Flesh must not sit on the throne of calling. Gift must not rise above character. Influence must not outrun integrity.
When there is disorder in the private life of a preacher, eventually there will be disorder in doctrine, disorder in families, disorder in finances, disorder in leadership, and disorder in the spiritual atmosphere surrounding that ministry.
Private disorder always becomes public damage.
The pulpit must not only preach holiness; the pulpit must embody holiness.
Preachers, before we continue examining sinners, witches, politicians, celebrities, culture, and society —
PREACHERS, LET US EXAMINE OURSELVES.
For without character reformation, ministry becomes public performance; But when character is reborn, the pulpit regains its true divine form.
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