2nd Years Term 4 1 week 3

0:02 All right, good evening everybody and let us just begin to open up in prayer. Father God, I thank you Lord that we can just come before you. Father, I thank you Lord for everything that you're doing in and through every single person. Father, I thank you Lord that we can just come and bring you all the glory and all the honor. Father, we thank you Lord that you are just an amazing God. And we thank you, Father, for everything that you are going ahead before us. And I thank you, Father God, that we can just give you all the glory and all the honor. I thank you, Father God, that you are the God of abundance. You are the God of more than enough. And so I thank you, Father God, that you would just do, Father, what no man can do, Father. I thank you that you do it

0:51 for your children, Father. And I thank you, Father God, that we are kingdom kids. Father, I thank you, Father, that we can just just be excited with what you are doing even in this season. I thank you, Lord, that I can just remind your students of the word that says, "Behold, there is a new thing." That God is doing a new thing. And so, I thank you, Lord, even in the season that as you do a new thing, it shall surely go well in the name of Jesus. And everybody said, [clears throat and cough] "Amen." And amen. So, I trust that you are all doing super well this week. Um, it's a short week for the those that are working, those that get public holidays or for those

1:37 that work on public holidays. We shall surely keep you in prayer and fasting and with much supplication and perseverance and thanksgiving. May the portion of the Lord be upon you. So, um I'm quite it it's been a week. This week has started out super quick, but it's been a blessed week as well. Um as you guys probably heard, I lost everything on my laptop. Um due to editing one of the crusades photos, it wiped out everything. Um and then last night, yeah, last night, Pastor J brought home a new laptop for me. So I am all systems smile because I am able to function again. So hallelujah. So a bit of a testimony. I mean after losing everything I didn't I didn't lose

2:26 everything. I kept my cool everything else that I lost. But um I am I am glad that so hence last night we could not have word school because I was switching between laptops and just switching between everything. Um, but yeah, and then I got home after a busy day on the streets and we have no electricity. So, I mean, you just smile and wave. And I said to Jack, "Don't worry, we can make dinner. It's fine. We have gas." And then the first hamburger patties, first four of them were ready and then the gas died. So, I mean, then we ran out of gas. And I mean that was only at like well like 5 to 6 tonight while I've got to get ready and get the kids now packed to come to

3:13 the office. So I mean it's just been one of those kind of weeks that you just are like Lord I see your hand upon it. I'm going to chill. I'm just going to rejoice and be glad in it. Um so yeah, God is good. And um I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to share those videos with you as we kick off with preparation in ministry. So just give me a moment while I just quickly get them open. Snoops nips. I don't know what you're sharing, but not that one.

4:00 The Bible tells us in Proverbs 24:27, we must prepare to be used of God. 24:27 of Proverbs, Mr. Barack, please. You got to prepare. You got to make ready. You become uh you adapt to the ministry. You you train yourself. And that's what I did as a young man. If you want God to use you, start preparing now. Don't wait till it's too late. I began feeding upon the word of God. I would listen to Katherryn Kman every night on radio from Wheeling, West Virginia up in Toronto, and you can almost hardly hear the the the the radio uh signal. But I'd sit there and I would take notes and everything she said, I would write down.

4:48 I still have those notes. I would go and listen to Lauren K to Lauren Cunningham and I'd listen to Corin Boom and I listen to Ern Baxter and I listen to Bob Mumford and I listen to Derek Prince. Thank God in those days there was such wonderful Bible teachers so you can learn a lot. I attended a great church. Maxwell White was my pastor. Wow. I mean to have Maxwell White as a pastor was something tremendous. Now I know it's harder today because we don't have these mighty giants anymore. But still you can get their books. You can listen to their tapes. I still do. And the thing is, you got to prepare yourself for ministry. That's what the Bible says in Proverbs 24:27. Please sir, >> prepare thy work without and make it fit

5:34 for thyself in the field. >> Yeah. >> And afterwards build thine house. >> Exactly. You prepare and then you build. You you can't build a ministry till you prepare for it. Now let me also deal with something else that is extremely extremely important. God Almighty once God calls you, he will he will he will allow you to go through tests. These tests will prove if you are worthy to be chosen. Just that simple. I went through those same tests in my life. I can give it to you from the word and I can give it to you from what happened to me. The first test when God calls you and if he really calls you and like we just read, all are

6:21 called. Say after me, I am called. >> Say it again. >> Okay. Now, called doesn't mean you're going to end up in the ministry. Called belongs to all. And then God will take you through a process before he'll ever begin to use you. And the process begins by a test that is called time. Time. God puts you on the shelf for a long time. Abraham was called when he was 75, but Isaac came when he was 100. 25 years is a long time to wait for the promise. Now, most of us will not have

7:07 to wait that long, but there is a season where God puts you on the shelf. And the reason he does is to produce faith in your life. Because time gives birth to faith. As you wait for God to use you, you're still believing God has called you. Faith begins to bubble in your soul. And yes, it's tough. It will be very tough. I'm not by any means saying it will be easy on you. And and this is something that we just don't understand. We say, "Well, why why must God put me through that?" To develop faith. Why does God put you on the shelf? To develop your faith. Because you hang on

7:55 to the call. Now, the call of God also demands another test. This other test, and I dealt with the first one last night, so I'm not going to rehearse it. This other test is where the word of God becomes your only source. You can call that the word test. The word of God begins to be your only supply. And now this all happens at the same time. You are waiting It may be three years, five years, 10 years, 20 years of waiting. We never know how

8:44 we You'll never know how long you have to wait until it's time and God will tell you when. Now, here's what happened to me. And this is I can take it from the Bible, too, because what happened to Abraham? Why did he have to wait? There was too much flesh in the way. Did you hear that? The flesh had to die and submit before God can even move. You cannot God cannot break through to you if there's too much of you in the way. Abram had to become Abraham. He had to die to the flesh. As long as he was strong, God said, "I won't touch him." But when Abraham

9:34 became a hundred years old and could not produce a child, God said, "Now it's my time." So God has to wait till the flesh is out because no flesh shall glory in his presence. Because if if God begins to use you while your flesh is still strong, then you'll say, "I did it." But when the flesh is dead, God says, "Now no flesh can glory." Cuz God receives all the glory. And the people said, >> "So that's why we wait. I had to wait." And while you wait, God begins to deal with you on things that are dear dear to you. That's what happened to Abram. He wanted to keep Ishmael as the one

10:20 through whom the Messiah would come. And God said, "No, in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Thy seed means the Messiah." Because he came to God and said, "Well, you know, let let Ishmael be the man. Why why worry about another son?" God said, "Uh-uh, my choice is Isaac, not Ishmael." We always want to hang on to an Ishmael when God wants to give us an Isaac. You got to give up Ishmael. And I hate to tell you, it's a tough thing to do. Hey, Andrew, come here a second. Come here. This young man works for Reinhardt Bunkkey. Last night, we sat up and talked for a long time. Get a microphone, Andrew. Reard Bunky said to me, he said, "Would you talk to my guys about the ministry?"

11:09 So, he came and I asked him some some questions last night. How old are you? 25. >> 25. What did I tell you last last night about the price you have to pay? Tell them >> the price I have to pay is the fact that I give up a die to myself to take on the call of God. >> Yeah. To help Ronald Bunkkey go around the world. You have not been home since last Christmas. Correct. >> Correct. >> You're a single man. Correct. >> With your kind of schedule, if you get married, you will probably destroy your marriage. >> Correct. That's what I told you. Now they take off and go for like 41 days at a time. They they were on a 41 days. No marriage can survive that. It's impossible unless your wife is just as called as you. That's the thing that happens

11:55 today. The man is called, his wife is not, and then they have a problem. >> I said to him last night, I said, "If you want to have a successful marriage with this kind of schedule that you keep, I said your wife better be called as much as you are." as committed to Bonnke as much as you are or otherwise it will not work. Now he's doing it right. He found his call before he found his wife. The problem is many people get married and then they find the call. Forget it, brother. It's not going to work. Don't find the wife and then hope she'll fit in the call. Find the call and make sure she fits with the call. That's the way it works. And the people said, >> "I'm saving your life, kid. >> I'm saving your life, sir. So I said to Andrew, I said, ' Andrew, with this kind of schedule,

12:45 he's gone from home. He's with Ranhard Monkey every single day, seven days a week. He takes care of the man of God, and I was really rough on him last night, but he was handling it well. But the thing is this, God is going to honor you. Now, you probably went through some of this stuff. I'm talking about the time test where you said, "Oh my God, what am I here for? What am I supposed to do and then the word of God began to test you?" Don't you tell me that you didn't have to rely on God's promises. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. A whole lot of time. Now, here's the third thing that's going to happen.

13:49 Now, here's the third thing that's going to happen to you, which I'm about to talk talk about, but you just stick right here because you are a mighty example of what I'm teaching about. The word of God will test us in such a way where God will allow us to experience what Joseph experienced. We will be betrayed, accused, forgotten, ignored, and possibly end up in some horrible pit. He was he had his pit. We we we will have ours. The minute that happens to you, there's only one place to go to called the word of God. What is it called? >> So, you have had to rely on the Bible. >> Yes, sir.

14:35 >> There's been times I am very sure when things got really rough and tough in Nigeria. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. Now, you've been like, give us give them just one trip where you were where you were 41 days you were going to what countries? the UK, Germany, Denmark, Johannesburg, Durban, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. >> All in one trip. >> All in one trip. >> You didn't go home? >> No, sir. >> H you slept in all kinds of places. >> All different places. >> You're in Nigeria every month for 10 days. >> Absolutely. >> You You've been to one of some of the worst locations in the world with a man of God. >> Yes, sir. >> Who's very demanding on you. >> Yes, sir. >> Who's a driver, >> just like me. Yeah. If you want to work with a man of God, make sure make sure to understand one thing about him. He's unpredictable and

15:23 he'll drive you. You better be ready for it, too. >> Amen. >> Now, this man has experienced this. But the word of God is the test that he's gone through and you'll go through because God will look at you and say, "I'm wondering now how well will they handle trials?" He'll watch how you handled your time on the shelf when you were ignored, while your faith was growing, while the flesh was dying. And then, are you listening? I just wanted to make sure. And then he'll watch the way you handle trials. And brother, he's had his trials. But the thing is, he has had to rely on the word of God. Now, here's the third

16:12 thing God put you through. He'll watch how well you serve that man before he'll ever use you. One of these days, you're going to end up in your own ministry. You know that, right? >> Yes, sir. >> How well you know that? >> I know 110%. >> Okay. Now, you're not chosen yet. Bonnke is chosen. You're not. You're called to serve him. But if you stay faithful, God will choose you one day to follow in his footsteps. God did not choose Gersham. He chose Joshua to be Moses's assistant and then led the people of Israel into Egypt. It's amazing. Sometimes the children don't really make it. Are you listening? >> We all want our children to follow in our footsteps. Don't count on it.

17:02 >> Right? >> It depends on will they be as faithful as a Joshua. Right. >> So here you are. You're not Bonnkey's son. You're not his flesh and blood, but you're the guy with him 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Yeah. Now, you're not chosen yet. Just remember that. He's the chosen vessel. You're not. You're the vessel. But along the way, be careful. You know what I told them last night? I know this is not something you want to tell a young man. I said, "How long have you been with Bonnke?" He said, "Two years." I said, "If you should leave him now, God will destroy you." Did I not say that to you?

17:49 >> Yes, sir. >> Yeah. That's in the Bible. If you forsake a man of God after giving him your your your commitment, God will destroy you. You say, "Where is it in the Bible?" Oh, I'll give it to you if you want. I gave him the scriptures. I said, "You know something?" I said, "Uh, Kora was one of the servants that God gave Moses." He was a cousin to Moses. >> I said, "When he stood against Moses, God killed him." I said, "How about his brother Aaron who served Moses? When he came against him, God wanted to kill him. It wasn't if it wasn't for Moses praying for him,

18:34 he would have died. Or his sister who said, "Well, I don't think I like the wife you marry." She came against him. What happened to her? Leprosy struck her. Or how about Ghazi? Ghazi, you call him Elisha's servant who betrayed his master. What happened to him? Leprosy struck him. God doesn't play games with that stuff. You forsake a man of God, God will come after you. God is gets very angry, more angry than his servants. God became more angry than Moses against Miriam and Aaron. It took Moses to save Aaron. It took Moses to save Miriam. Jesus made an amazing statement about Judas.

19:20 It would be better to have that he was not born. That's what he said about him. You almost wonder why did Jesus say that? I mean Judas is in hell like everybody else who's in hell. How come he's got it worse? Because Jesus said it would have been better for him to have for him to have not been born. Brother, you betray the son of God, you're going to suffer a whole lot worse than anybody else. >> That's that's serious stuff. The ministry is not a game. You'll go through a time test where God will destroy your flesh, build your faith. You'll go through the word test where to see how reliable you are. Will you rely on the word of God or rely on your own strength?

20:08 Will you receive the promises or just go for counseling? Because when trials and troubles hit, the word is your only source. And God will watch and say, "Let me see if they if they rely on the word of God." But here's something else. The third thing that God will put you through that is it happens every single time. He will see, are you a servant in your heart or is it all a bunch of baloney? Do you really mean it when you say, "I'm here to serve." Oh, he'll test you. All right. Here to serve doesn't mean well let me just carry your briefcase and your suit and look good behind you. To serve means literally serve. And when you serve, Andrew, you have to

21:00 give up a whole lot of things. You got to give up friends. You got to give up time for yourself. You have to give up time with your mom and dad. Because the Bible says when men were called, they didn't even have a chance to go home and say bye. >> Sir, I know it's rough. I'm sorry. It's it's it's the Bible. The Lord calls a man and and the guy had his father die. Now, you think in the in the in the natural, command, please let the guy go bury his father. What what does Jesus say? Let the dead bury the dead. You just follow me. The call of God is more important that your than your father's funeral service. I preached the same night I buried my dad.

21:49 We buried my father October uh September of 82. I was preaching for for Bill Swad that night in Columbus, Ohio. I buried my father in the morning in in Toronto. I was preaching that night for Bill Swad. And Bill Swad said to me, "How can you do it?" I said, "Wait a minute. How can I do it?" I said, "The call of God is on my life. It doesn't matter if my father is dead." >> And he began crying. He said, he said, "I have never seen a preacher like you that is." I said, "Bill, come on. Quit it. I'm here to preach. I'm here because God called me. My father is in heaven. Thank God. He He'd want me to be preaching, not crying." >> That's right. >> That's right. >> And the man came to the Lord and said, "Let me go bury my father." And and the Lord gets angry at him. For Elisha says to Elijah, "Let me go say bye to my family. WHAT HAVE I GOT TO

22:35 DO WITH YOU?" He says, "In other words, don't bother me with that." Because you see, the call of God means you [music] forsake all everything must be put behind. Right? So, an interesting session this evening, right? You know, when we take on the call of God, it really is to die to self. And I know all of you want to hear how amazing it is and how you're going to eat caviar and how you're going to board the plane and everybody's going to put down, you know, palm trees for you and carry blankets on board for you and and it really isn't like that all the time. Um, when it comes to ministry, when it comes

23:21 to serving a man and a woman of God, when it comes to being in that season, uh, you are going to want to go through everything that you need to go through. Why? Because everything teaches, prunes, shapes, and prepares you for what's going to come next. So, I want to say that um, I've always said it, and I always do. I've never served a physical person of a man or woman of God. I've always served Jesus inside of them. I was quite um I was enjoying when when Pastor Caleb was here and he he said to everybody, "Let the Jesus inside you. Greet the Jesus inside the person next to you." And that's literally how I serve because it doesn't matter if it is a team member or it is a man or a woman of God or it is a new believer in Christ. Every single one of them carry

24:12 Jesus inside of them. And so that is for me enough reason to want to lay down my life. You know, the word of God says the greatest one is the one who will lay down their life for another. So, but a lot of people think, you know, if you run with a man or a woman of God, you're not going to hear them burp. You'll never see them blow their nose. You know, it's just the power of God all the time. But it's not always that. Um, we talk about king's courts. You are going to see some things. You are going to be shocked by others. Yes, men and women of God have the same bodily functions as what you do. Even though you try to cover yours up so politely. Um, you know, they may snore. Not everybody snores, but they may snore. They're just as human as what you and I are. So, you

25:01 know, in in the test and in the preparation, you know, you you have to be able, and this is where a lot of people pull away from their men and women of God is they will pull away because um they get too close and because they put the person on a pedestal and they're not seeing Jesus inside of them, they see the person that should the person have a bad day, immediately they they fall, right? A man and a woman of God is just as human and if not just as put through trials and tribulations as what we are. But you have to in yourself determine that you're serving God. This is your vision. This is what you're building towards. I was chatting with somebody earlier and I was saying to them it's as if God gives you a brick in

25:48 the hand and he says either you're going to build this vision or that vision or this vision or that vision. Which vision are you going to build? And you have to choose which brick and more importantly which wall you're going to advance. So for me and our household, it was revival church. We want to build. We believe in this. We believe in the walls of revival. So we took our brick and we placed it to build the house's walls. And so when God brings you, you know, to a man, to a woman of God, um in preparation for ministry, it's as Benny Hinn said, you know, um you don't know what you've been prepared for, right? Um you don't know when or how or what the promotion looks like or what it doesn't

26:34 look like. I can tell you right now that all I know was a Bible institute was something always on my heart. It was something I always felt passionate to do. And that's all I know. What happens for the next 65 years of my life? I have no clue. That's me living to like just under 105 if you wanted to know my math. [clears throat] But I don't know. But I'm prepared to stay within whatever God is wanting me to do. Just always stay teachable, always stay adaptable, always stay in the fellowship. The biggest thing that I can say whenever walking with a man and a woman of God is never become familiar. That's the that's the heart and I always talk about the heart and the hard test. The hard and the heart test is to never

27:23 become familiar. I remember listening years ago um I didn't attend the centurion evening service but I was listening to pastor Maldonado Ariela was still very small. Hun wasn't born yet. And I was listening to a sermon. He was teaching on titles. And I'm I'm not really title bound. I mean, listen, you can call me poop. You can call me how it me. I I've never been big on titles. I just I am who I am. But what I appreciated with what Pastor Maldonado was teaching on was depending on what you want out of that person depends how you're going to address them. Now, my general practitioner and his nurse, his nurse is actually was actually Pastor Jake is on. She's recently or a couple of years back passed on. But when I walk into the

28:13 doctor's room, I can go all the way into the back where his computer set up where all the medicine is kept and go greet him pretty much by his first name because that is the family dynamic. We know one another. So, I'm not a normal patient. But what I took out of this thing was, you know, when I go to go see the doctor, I want the person who is studied. I want the person who is focused to see what my condition is and focus to figure out what is the plan of action he's going to take. I really don't want the guy that I see on a Saturday in his casuals brying a T-bone steak. And that's why I learned a lot about titles is that if you want to pull on that, right? Um you'll often hear

28:58 terminology referring to sunship inside of Revival Church. It's not forced. It's not pushed. It's it's not even um impressed. It is relational and it is by fruit. So when I need my boss, it's not mama Amanda, it's pastor Amanda, right? When I need when I need the prophetic side, when I need do you get what I'm trying to say? You know, um I I don't in in my life need, you know, and I call it as it is JP and Amanda to come and have a bri with me because that's not what I'm trying to pull out of them. I'm trying to pull out of the apostle. I'm trying to pull out the prophet. I'm trying to

29:46 pull out the teacher. I'm trying to pull out the evangelist. So, when I put a title there, it's because I recognize the gifting and because that's kind of what I'm trying to dig into, if that makes sense, right? Many of you know Pastor Jake, but none of you know him as a husband, right? I pull on him as my husband because that's the side I want out of him. I don't want a friend that I can bribe with, right? I want my husband the same as my kids. My kids don't go, "Hey, teacher Tanya, because they're not looking for a teacher. They're looking for mommy." Right? So, learn something about giftings and titles and that. And I'm not pushing titles. What I'm trying to tell you is if you honor the title, you'll get the gift, right? All right. Let's go into this evening. I did give you the cheat sheets

30:38 or the what is expected of you and tonight um preparation ministry isn't too hectic. The book of acts I don't know how I do it every year and I always manage to fall behind and the lord knows I don't know but we're going to have a lot more to cover in that session. So when it comes to preparation in ministry, the biggest thing I can tell you and this is not just ministry. This is just this is you pursue the Lord. Pursue the Lord. Throughout history, God has graciously revealed himself to humanity in so many different ways because he desires that we truly want to get to know him. That decision to know him is our choice. But ultimately in pursuing God, that's

31:27 what ministry is about. If you are running the Tanya yourself and I show, you don't need to pursue the Lord. But when it becomes ministry, it's all about pursuing God. People are like, I don't know how you do it. I'm like, I don't know either because I just pursue him and him which is God comes and manifests and it just happens. It just it just does what it needs to do. It it just it's not even that it really takes effort. most of the time and I can tell you the times that it takes effort out of me right is the times I'm working it in my flesh cuz God's portion is big enough to sustain us and to carry us. So the times that I feel sure Lord this this is then I know I I'm running on empty because I'm empty. All right. I mean if you work

32:16 out I've been doing Bible school since 2019. I think my first group graduated 2020 and so I've been dedicating 40 weeks of every single year since then. It's it's just what I do. And it's not that it's effort. It's just it's what I do because it's what God's called me to do. So when we pursue him, we make it easier on ourselves. My yoke is what? Heavy, exhausting. Oh, his yoke is light. So, bringing the truth of God's revelation to others is what we do in ministry. All that we do is we take where we've come from. We take what we what we're passionate about

33:04 and we impress it onto the next person. And if you desire to minister effectively, you have to personally engage with the Lord. I know that I know that I know that if God wants me to preach on a certain sermon or preach in a certain way, why? Because I've spent time with the father. I know what the assignment is because he's spoken to me. I I was sharing in centurion. I do not get up until I feel the power of God come upon me. I will I will not I remember one year I was 6 and a half months pregnant with Ariela. I didn't feel the power of God. The praise and worship leader is looking at me. He's burning holes through my forehead trying to activate like I'm looking at you. We were already over sung every song three times over and I still hadn't got onto

33:52 the platform cuz I didn't feel the presence. And I won't preach until I feel the presence. So I've got my hands up. I've got my eyes closed. I can feel him gazing at me. I mean, I'm telling you, he's burning through my soul. And I just keep praising. I just keep worshiping and in that moment I'm having a conversation with the Lord and this is the conversation. Hey God, so I don't feel you, right? So I'm 6 and a half months pregnant. So if I fall over, one of two things are going to happen. Either everybody's going to think, hey, she's under the power of God and leave me alone or shame the pregnant lady fell over and rush me a cup of water. But either way, I don't have to preach then. like I can fake or fall if I need to fake or fall. And this is a good

34:40 opportunity to fake a fall because I'm not going to preach until you move. It's not me moving. It's you. It's in your power. It's in your mind. It's not in my own. And I'm having this conversation and you know, I'll open my eyes and I look at the praise and worship leader just glaring at me like, "You realize we are already 60 minutes past the last worship song." And I'm like, "I'm not moving." And next moment I felt, okay, there's the power of God. and I took the mic and I went up and I preached. So what we do is yes there is an amount of your natural talent and your natural ability and your strength. Those are useful those are helpful but ultimately what you're seeking to do is to carry and just literally be a hostpipe and take

35:25 what God wants to say and bring it to his people. That's literally what we are trying to do. And scripture reminds us in Jeremiah chapter 9 and it says that we must not boast in let wise men not boast in his wisdom. Let not the mighty men boast in his might. Let not the rich man boast in his riches. But let him who boasts in this that he understands and knows me that I'm the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness on earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord. So what does it mean to know the Lord? To know the Lord means that you are in constant pursuit, right? You know those kids that are so is it now? What about now? Is it ready

36:11 now? What about now? Is it now already? You know, that's how we've kind of got to be with God. Lord, are you going to do it now? Okay, so you're going to do it now. Are you okay? Are you ready to do it now? It's been 5 minutes. Are we going to do it now? That is how we should be in pursuit of God. And each of our journeys are uniquely shaped by different circumstances and different events and different experiences. Yet God has chosen to make himself known to all his children through clear and personal avenues. This means that you know we can know God more fully. I want to say this that I am very artistic. I I love um music and and image and but if you're going to come to me with like a

36:58 65page thesis, you've lost me. So God knows it's got to be short and sweet with me. Give me a verse, give me a scripture, give me a chapter, and then I'm done. Right? For the next person, it might be in a vision. It might be in a dream, it might be in a voice, whatever it may be. that God has and and I remember hearing this. God is not hiding. People think God is hiding. He's like playing bigoo. Here I am and you get saved because you jumped out of the closet. That's not the game God's playing. God is always revealing himself. We have to make the decision if we're looking in his direction or not. So many times we miss it because we're looking in the wrong direction. were looking in the wrong place. And you know

37:48 how powerful this is? This is how the Jews missed it. The Jews missed it because they didn't like the wrapping paper in which Jesus came. They didn't like the fact that he came from a mother Mary and a father, Joseph, carpenter's son. They were waiting for something of deity. And so they missed it because they were looking all the wrong places. So number one, God reveals himself through his word. We know that 2 Timothy chapter 3. Number two, we know that God reveals himself through prayer and communion. That's why if you are not praying, yeah, let me say, let me just leave it there. You can start all over back in first year. I do welcome you back if you wanted to know. If you need a refresher, you can start right there. But prayer

38:38 isn't and and that was what I tried to teach you in first year. Prayer isn't give me giveimme give me point number one point number two point number three point number four point number five point number six amen hallelujah chat to you tomorrow same time same place great chat and god never got opportunity to say anything I don't know we we have a a saying on office where because we have an open plan office we all usually sit with headsets in and I'll be talking to somebody and they've got headsets in and like I'll ask them something or start a conversation and whoever hasn't got headsets in. Here's obviously the person isn't responding. And then we'll say, "Great chat, guys. Great chat." Because it's just been one way, right? I said everything. I got no response. It's a great chat. And that's really what we do with God. We don't give God the

39:25 opportunity to respond in any shape or form. We just come and we just floor it. Jeremiah 33:3 says, "Call to me and I will answer you." I have no doubt in people's ability to call unto God, but I have a lot of doubt whether they will wait long enough in his presence for the answer. It goes further in Jeremiah 33:3. It says, "And will tell you the great and hidden things that you've not known." So there's dimensions. Call to me. We can all do that. Aba Father, here I am, another day. Praise the Lord. Bless my family. Bless my food. Hallelujah. And then we tap out because we forget to

40:14 wait for the answer. And then this is the second dimension. Many people tap out after the second dimension. They get the answer. You shall have your revival and then they leave the presence of God and they don't wait to hear the great and hidden things regarding the answer he's just given. James 4:8, draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Teacher T, I don't feel God. That's because you're not drawing close enough. So in prayer, knowledge of God moves from the head to the heart. It goes from theology to intimacy. It goes from from the

41:01 man, I could probably preach a theological sermon that would knock most people's socks off. I can throw in the Greek. I can throw in the Aramaic. I can throw in the Hebrew. I can throw in geographical places. I can throw in meanings and I can choke everybody because it's so dry. It's just theology. Theology. That's where we talk about um where it's too much theology you dry up and too much what is the one too much too much word and you dry up but the word and the spirit you grow up right my biggest fear being a person that loves the word and loves theology was

41:48 becoming dry. That was my biggest fear that I would take God's word and just push it down everybody's throats because I can do that. I mean, I can I can throw out big things and big revelations. But I learned that when I can take what God has shown me in his word and take it to prayer that then I don't just take God's word, I take his heart. So when I share the word, I don't just share the word of God. I share the heart of God. The next one is the Holy Spirit. God can speak through the Holy Spirit. I mean, John 14, he's our helper. I'm so tired again because you're doing it in your own strength.

42:37 Have the helper. Have the Holy Spirit. I I love what John 14:26's promises. He says that he would teach us, the Holy Spirit would teach us all things and even bring it to our remembrance. I don't know about you, but the more hectic life goes, I mean, I have my finger in a couple of pies, sometimes I forget. I don't know if it's just age. I don't know if it's um praise the Lord, not hormonal. Um I don't know about the other women, but I'm just going to fly past. I don't know. I'm going to get a J what's get out of menopause free card, right? I don't know how the Lord is going to do it, but I will testify on the other side. But I forget things and I will sit in front of my computer and be like uh uh

43:26 like literally nobody is home. The lights are on, but everybody's checked out of the building. And then I'm like, "Holy Spirit, what was I doing?" you know and the Holy Spirit will be like back to remembrance you know I have come to the place that I pray over my productivity I'm not a procrastinator and so because I'm so on it and with it the enemy and I I I've seen it later on in my years I promise you I become scattered brain and we work in an open an open often so it's not always just me and my brain right sometimes it is just the diversion and then I'm like huh what was I doing but I've learned to start asking the Holy Spirit to bring things to my remembrance. Okay, let me tell you this testimony. I

44:12 lost every single one of my documents on my documents folder and everything on my desktop. And you know which one I cried about the most? My to-do list. Not 180 page module that I'd written for INF6 level that should have been in on the 1st of September. I cried that I lost my to-do list because I didn't know what to do without my to-do list. So, last night we had transferred everything from the one computer to the other one. And my Excel when I log in to Microsoft, it goes, "Do you want to open this?" And it's a weird file. It doesn't even have a to-do list name. It's a AR6068543 do or Excel document. I'm like, "Yes, yes." And then nothing was happening. So

45:02 I'm like, "No, no, no. Yes, yes, yes." No, no, no. Yes. Cuz I don't read those little pop-ups. Okay. Who has time to read those pop-ups? You just guess the answer. You got a 50 50% chance of being absolutely right or absolutely wrong. And I start laughing. J is like, "What's going on with you?" I'm like, "Look, it's my to-do list. The only documents that somehow recovered was the one I was crying about." And I'm like, "Thank you, Holy Spirit." So, I have my to-do list. I feel very confident now that I have my to-do list. But we have the Holy Spirit that can bring remembrance everything that God has said to us. All right? And the fourth way is through creation and God's works. Now, I want to tell you that if you do not look outside, go and look outside. You were created

45:52 from the dust. So, have a look what is happening around you. Stop for a moment and see the beauty of the Lord. See the sky. See the flowers. See what's happening around you. Because Psalms 19 reminds us that even the heavens declare the glory of God. So even when you are tired, you look at the heavens, you're like, "Wow, check the clouds. Check the sunset. Check the sunrise. Check this flower. Check." And then I'm like, "Wow, look, look at God." And immediately my spirit man is positioned to worship God because I can see his beauty. I can see his glory. Number five, the next way is through people of God. And we love this one cuz this is easy one. Doesn't cost us

46:41 anything. Person walks up, the prophet walks up, the man or woman of God walks up, they have a beautiful word for you. One, two, three. And that's easy, right? You just take it, you accept it, you apply it. The next one is walking with God and in obedience. Ouch. Obedience. Obedience is better than sacrifice. Students, the life that you enter into after everything that has been said and done, pursue God with everything. Walk in obedience. Walk in his ways. Trust in him. Everybody loves to quote Deuteronomy chapter 28 until a certain part. Do you

47:30 know the only verse nobody ever looks at is verse one cuz it says if you oy you will be blessed in the city and blessed in the field. Blessed will be your basket. Blessed will be your handwork. But we don't like to read the ve the very first. You know, that's for me kind of like wanting to bake a cake. I don't know if you've ever read a recipe. The very first instruction they give you in a recipe is what? Turn your oven to a certain amount. Now, you go, you don't read number one, you skip over it, you buy number two. You've added the flour, you've added the milk, you've added the vanilla essence, you've made the batter, you've everything is ready. It's in the pan. And you get before the oven, and guess

48:15 what? You've delayed the process because you missed step number one. You never put the oven on. Obedience is like that. You can do everything right and not be in obedience to God and you'll miss it. Obedience. Obedience. Obedience. Number seven is through suffering and trials. Man, that one sucks. James 1:24. My James chapter 1 verse 2:3 principle when we suffer when we go through things count it all joy my brethren for it is working something inside of us and we hate it. We hate our hardship. We

49:04 hate going through the fire. We hate going through the stuff tough stuff. But it is really the place that we get brought to a deeper intimacy. So learn to pursue the Lord. Pursue him in every area. Don't leave him out of some areas. Pursue him on a Sunday, but I don't pursue him in the office. I don't pursue him with my marriage. I don't pursue I I want to share this story with you. Pastor Jackson and I will be married next year for 15 years. We've been together next year for 20 years. and man, we were about We had already moved. So, it was probably about 5 years ago. We were having a a marriage arguments. My marriage arguments were real. I don't

49:53 know about everybody else's, but we had some real marriage fights. It usually ended with me popping my ring on him and going, "Take your ring back." And then, of course, Pastor Jake is like, "Well, leave the car and your ring and get out of here." Pastor Jake, right? Try be married to that. It's I mean, you having a fight and he's like, "So, you want to go? Just go." I'm like, "Wow, that's fighting for your marriage." So, because I'm Greek, I and I'm I am that stubborn. I am I am my personality type is fight and fight to win. It's my weakness. It's not just to fight, but to fight to win. And his one was, "Hey, let's have a party." Um, our marriage fights were usually quite interesting. He was getting the disco ball and I was getting the cricket bat. No, I'm kidding. I

50:40 wasn't that serious. Um, but I remember one of our last fights, Pastor Jake said, not I lost, but I've lost serious marriage fights. He said something to me. He said to me, um, it's amazing how you always prove yourself right and always prove me to be wrong. And I I took a step back from that. And the Holy Spirit punched me in the gut, but like a Holy Spirit punch. And the Holy Spirit said to me, "How can you call what God has called his creation anything less than that? You make yourself perfect, but you degrade God's creation. You minimize God's [clears throat] creation in your husband." So from there, it was a big change in my

51:26 life. It was really a lesson that I'd heard learned the hard way because I realized that it wasn't about being right. That the casualties, you know, there's that saying that says you'll win the war, but you'll lose the battle. I was always winning the war. But I was slowly losing the battle. And then I started pursuing God about who and what I am and how I treat people and bringing God even into my marriage, even into raising my kids. Man, I can tell you now, I pray over my kids because I have no clue how to raise them. I'm honest with you. Um, I can be vulnerable enough to tell you that I don't have all the answers. I don't even have the answers for half of the stuff that I do. I mean, I started learning to design websites just because that was the need. And I'm

52:13 like, "Hey, Lord, I need to learn this. Like, can you help me?" So, I've learned to pursue God in every single sphere of my life. So I want to say to you, pursue him. Pursue him in your ministry, but pursue him in your everyday life because out of that pursuit will flow authentic, spiritfilled, exusia, and dunamis. The greatest qualification for ministry is not its gifting, but it's knowing God. The greatest thing that you'll ever know is how to pursue God in ministry. So, seven, I think it's seven quick steps on pursuing the will or or God's will. Number one, commit yourself to doing whatever he asks.

53:03 Not a nice one cuz he's sometimes going to ask you to clean the toilets. I don't people like TJ, you cleaning your toilet. I'm like, toilet needs cleaning, guys. It's whatever I need to do, I do it. Number two, ask God for wisdom. You don't have to figure out everything else on your own. Ask God for wisdom. Number three, dive into the Bible. Dive all fingers and all toes into the Bible. Number four, pray consistently. Consistently about everything. Philippians 4 says, "Do not worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Pray about that chocolate cake you want to make. Pray about that decision you

53:50 want to make. Pray about the road that you're driving on. Pray about the person you're about to employ. Not just the big stuff, but the everyday stuff. Number five, let others speak into your life. You know, I've heard people and especially my mentors, right? my mentors in business, my mentors in growth, my mentors in studying, my mentors, I have different mentors and I allow them to speak in my life. Do you know why? Cuz they've burnt the pie 65 times. I don't have to burn at 67. I can just learn what they did right and pick it up from there and move on in that. So, let others speak into your life. Number six, evaluate all of the facts.

54:36 You know some people are so amazing spiritual but they forget like there's a practical part. Okay. So observe the facts or look at the facts. God will guide you using facts as well. It's not all abracadabra up there. No, no, no. There are certain facts that we need to take into consideration. And then number seven, make a bold decision in faith. make a bold decision in faith. All right, two weeks left for preparation in ministry. Um, I do not see Nvilla on yet. I have left my cell phone at home, so that's always fun. Um, I'm just going to quickly see if I

55:25 do have WhatsApp and Telegram on, but I see somebody was looking for me earlier on this evening. Let me just check. All right. I'm just going to quickly send her the login. Oops. Oops. Oops. Oops. Right. So, as soon as she jumps on, you are going to be diving into leadership and then from there, we have a lot to cover in the book of Acts. I don't know how we're going to do it, but praise the Lord. We shall do all things in Christ Jesus who strengthens us. Um, so I'm going to give you 5 minutes and then when she jump There we go. Jumps on. Good evening, Nimvula.

56:16 You just need to unmute. You're still muted. >> I'm saying greetings. Good evening. Greetings from Kimberly. >> Welcome. Welcome. Good. Goodbye everybody. See you in the next session. Thanks Nulla. >> Okay. Thanks. Bye. Good evening everyone. How are you? Greetings. I just wanted to check were you about to go for a short break? Okay. Um is 1957 with me. Okay. Come back at 2 minutes past 8. Okay.

58:21 welcome back once more. Welcome back, Danila. Can you see my screen? Okay. Okay. Danila, can I just ask that you quickly open the session with a prayer whilst you're waiting for the others, please? Father God, we come before you, oh Lord, and we give you the praise, the glory. We give you the honor. Oh Lord, we thank you, Father God, for impartation. Oh Lord, for the lesson tonight, oh God. Oh Lord, I thank you. Your word says that

59:07 all of us are called. Few are chosen, Father God. Father God, we thank you, Lord, that you will use this opportunity, Father God, for those that Lord, that you have raised in leadership, oh God, that we may become, Father God, godly leaders, Father God, putting your kingdom first, Father God. Oh Lord, that we will become shepherds at heart, Father God. Oh Lord, and that we will remember, oh God, that even we are sheep. Oh Lord, I pray, Father God, that you move in and and through us tonight, Father God. Oh Lord, and whatever is laying on our hearts tonight, Father God, Lord, I just want to say, Father God, if we don't surrender it, oh God, that you be merciful enough, Lord, that you take it away, God, you take those burdens, Father God. Father, we thank you, oh Lord, that we've seen such a mighty

59:55 move, you know, during the revival, oh God. And we thank you, Father, >> that you will combine that fire, oh God, that you've placed in us, Father God. Lord, together with, Father God, the lesson that we will have tonight, oh Lord, we thank you, Father God, that this will become a revelation in our lives. Oh Lord, it is just not a lesson put together. Oh Lord, we thank you Lord that we will be led Lord by your Holy Spirit. Oh God, Father, we just want to thank you Lord tonight, Father God, for every student that is here, Father God. We thank you, Father God, for Prophet Nomula, Father God. We thank you, oh Lord, that we can learn, Father God. We thank you right now in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Amen. Okay. Welcome once more. So

1:00:42 when we did the lesson previously, we had quite a lot of conversations like her sales and her need because it was trying to give the full background you know into the leadership program. So I just want to find out did you get the link of the book from pastor Tanya? Did you get the link of the book? Okay. Yes. You've seen that that chapter that that book has got quite a lot of chapters. Um but what I like about it is that the chapters are also very short. So I think we then continue with session two. I'm I'm I'm Did you get the PowerPoint presentations or not yet? Did you get the PowerPoint presentation? Not yet. Okay, I'll just check then with Pastor Tanya. So that at least the ones that where we have pass um you should be

1:01:31 able to get. So, I'm going to continue and then if you've got any uh questions or input, please note that I'm sharing so I might not be able to see you. Do not be afraid to just unmute and then make a comment. Uh please feel free. So, um so if we just then continue because I want to make this um okay, I want to make it in a uh PowerPoint presentation mode. So we are now continuing with the let me just make this small. Oh me and yeah there we go. Let me put you here in the corner. I can only see Danila in this corner where I've moved this. So please feel free. So the first

1:02:18 things that we are starting with tonight because the session is really talking about the the the the art the art of leadership. So the first one we are going to talk about is personal integrity. We know that when it comes to leadership, integrity is everything. And if you ask yourself what is integrity, it's not necessarily a definition of integrity, but it's just a broad explanation of integrity. So integrity is wholeness. It means being totally or completely sound. To have personal integrity means that you are upright, sincere, loyal and pure. And then if we look at that from a biblical perspective as we want to lead like Jesus the the supporting scripture obviously there are many but the supporting scripture that I've chosen there is uh proverbs 11:3

1:03:05 and then that proverbs 11:3 it talks about the integrity of the upright guides them but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity. This verse emphasis how integrity provides guidance and stability in life because as we said is that the Bible actually has all of the answers you know and it is a leadership instrument and I made an example previously to say Ken Blanket wrote on leadership to say that you know the greatest leader leader of of all times is is is is Jesus. So this is where we also then get those examples. And then in as much as we are saying is that integrity is wholeness. Integrity can be shattered by lies and deception. Whether it is you or whether it is

1:03:52 people lying about you. Do you know it can be any approach. So and I think we know that that is why a few of us believe in politicians because they integrity has been greatly compromised by deception. Sometimes you might find that they do have the the the the the the the right mindset and they do want to do the things but they can only promise in their leadership position but ultimately they are not the one that are doing the actual implementation. So it could be their own lies or it could be the people that are supposed now to implement what they have pronounced is not done and integrity is affected by many other things. And then another example that you see there is Psalms 25:21 that says may integrity and uprightness protect me

1:04:40 because my hope Lord is in you. And that is why they say when you are a leader in as much as there can come stories or or lies about you that are not true at the end of the day the truth will prevail. And as children of God, God will definitely you know uh h set you free from that. And then one big thing about leaders is that leaders are supposed to give hope. Leaders are supposed to give hope because remember you are the one that is leading and in leading God has entrusted you with the people that he has entrusted you with and gives you the vision and because of you can see far and because you can see the bigger vision that you are there to be able to give people hope. But what are the ways in which we can give hope? One of the

1:05:31 issues is that we we make promises. We must make promises that we can keep. Or I'm I just wanted to say we just finished chapter 3. We are now already on chapter 4. That's how short the chapters are in the book. So make promises that you can keep because the moment that you cannot keep promises then you know what people end up say end up not having trust in you because when you break the promises you erode trust and then when we look at the scripture what is a promise that that that that the word of God is giving us. So the example that is there is John 14:23 in my father's house are many mentions. If it were not so, I would have told you. Therefore, I go and prepare a place for you. This is the hope that we know. This is a hope that we live in. And we know,

1:06:18 you know, in terms of our eternal life, the promises of God. So, there's promises that we have to keep them. There is just that is just but one example. Then number two, how do you then give people preach the word of God? You know, I just saw something on social media that says even AI can tell you the importance of having to go to church and and and and why saints must gather together. Then they say there's a relationship between going to church and and mental health. But of course as well because remember now it also depends how receptive you are e in church itself. So they they say AI has made its own research to say there is a relationship but obviously it's drawing from all these these others because what happens is that when you go church to church if

1:07:07 you are feeling down on a certain situation or believing God for certain promises because we know that God answers prayers. When you go to church most of the times you get uplifted. you know Danila will know um there was a time that I had a situation I came in with a very heavy heart at church but the same time as I walked in Danila spoke a word for me and already you know I had the hope and I was strengthened so as a leader one of the things is to give people hope and how do you give people hope because people are disillusioned by preaching the word of God so as a leader don't think now I'm at work maybe I cannot talk God to this person maybe I'm where we are Christians everywhere even within our workplaces and sometimes just that one word you know as I've just made

1:07:52 an example about Danila and me just that one word can speak life into somebody who's got who's discouraged and who's delusion so what is the supporting scripture there to say how do we give people hope how do we preach the word of God h Romans 15:4 say for whatever was written in the former days was written for what instruction that through endurance and encouragement of the scripture we might have hope. And we know that the Bible is full of example to say, you know, when when some Bibles you will see at the end of the Bible, they will say maybe for hope then they quote some scriptures. Are you feeling anxious? They quote some scriptures and all of that right at the back of the Bible. So we know that we can always turn to the word of God. And then the the the the other one is now sorry I don't have a mouse. I it's so difficult

1:08:42 for me to work without a without a mouse. I forgot it in Pritoria. So the third one is that speak more about rewards than punishment. And a lot of times even when we preach when I was growing up up they would make God to be this person that is just there waiting to punish you at all things. And sometimes that is what leaders do as well. When people do good in the workplace, they don't say anything. They just wait for you to say the wrong the the the the to do the wrong thing. then they read the riot act. So as leaders let us always make sure that we we speak more about rewards than than than punishment. Not to say that you know where there's wrong that has been doing we must not be reprimanded. So Jesus disciples were motivated by the hope of

1:09:31 the heaven's reward which led them to leave their jobs for ministry. And what is the hope that we have as Christians? And what is the hope that we have and what is a hope you know that you can also relate to those that you are leading irrespective of where we are. We know that one of the examples that we have there that is in the book they talk about do not store up for yourself treasures on earth where moths and destroy and where thieves break in and steal but store up yourself treasures in heavens. Look, we know how many times we've heard the scripture and understood it differently at church and sometimes as well, you know, uh hh applied, you know, when we talk about about about um what is this now? When we talk about offering as well. So

1:10:18 understand that when you give people hope, you give you you make promises that you keep. You preach the word of God. You speak more about rewards than punishment. And then you also show positive examples that inspire people because for for example most of the time whether people talking about marriage or what let me say marriage especially these days the social media is just full of negativity when it comes to those to those uh uh uh uh things. So in your leadership position whether you are a life role leadership or whether you are in the corporate space remember to inspire people and give them hope. And then we have an example there to say if we fix our eyes on Jesus who's the

1:11:05 perfector of all we continue to have hope you know in in the promises of God. And then number five as a leader avoid speaking about examples that bring discouragement. It goes still with point number three to say speak of rewards not only punishment. Yes, speak about punishment but also speak about rewards. So avoid giving talking about examples that give discouragement. Somebody said uh especially in townships for children that are growing up now they have no role models wa and we are counting all of those things. The role models are there. They could be just in the community, but it's just that when you've done something wrong, your parent will never say, "But you know, have you seen Danila? Why don't you look at her?" Because she does want to dream.

1:11:53 Not to say be her, but just at least there's a positive role model and reinforce. Unfortunately, when there's something that is wrong that the child has done, even as parents, you end up to the bad examples. Do you want to end up like no fooler? If you do 1 2 3 4 5 there is no hope for you because you're going to end up like noah. One day I will be dead and you'll be in the street and and and that's what we tend to do. Do you understand? So let us stop bringing examples that that bring about discouragement. And the Bible says of course as we think we are discouraging that we are forgetting that a a the the the the power of life and death lies in the tongue and that is the fruits that we are going to eat. And sometimes this is how what you end up speaking to your

1:12:40 children thinking that you know you you are being strict. You are showing them the bad things on how they can end up. I'm not understanding that what you are saying there you are actually cursing the child. Do you understand? And here's something else is build permanent structures. It it it might not be solid structure as in brick and mortar but sometimes as a leader there is that ability where you can give people like a sense of stability and long-term hope some of us there are still I don't know about you we still are able to refer to teachers that were teaching us like in primary school do you understand those were our leaders then but they spoke positive word and they gave you hope and say the way you are going on the way you are

1:13:25 doing [clears throat] your work and and and and and the discipline that you have, it will take you far in life. Maybe one day you'll be a doctor. Okay,

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