What Is Ministry?

Before you ever made a decision for God, He had already made one about you. This episode reveals a powerful truth: you were set apart with purpose from the very beginning. We explore the tension between feeling distant from God and the reality that He hasn’t left you. Even in failure or confusion, His presence remains. Listen now to learn how to break free from every other crutch and walk in full dependence on the One who has called you.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

So let's go into the word of God. Let's go into the scripture. Can you get me a pen please? Yeah. We go into the scripture. So today, thank you very much. So today we are talking about what is ministry. What is ministry? Amen. What exactly is ministry? What's the essence of what we're doing today? Devoting so much of our time to God. Why do we do this? What's the purpose? Amen. I want to start off um by giving you a scripture in Galatians chapter 1 verse 15.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

Thank you, sir. Galatians chapter 1 from verse 15 says, But when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through his grace.

SPEAKER_02 1:13

Amen. So before I go into exactly what is ministry, I want to tell you that you were separated in your mother's womb. There's a lot to unpack in that one verse. Okay. Listen, your life right now may not look like it. It may not look like you were separated. But there's a lot to learn when you read that scripture. Look what he says. He says, But when it pleased God, but when it pleased God, yeah, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace. So he separated you first and then he calls you later. Write that down. So in your mother's womb, he separated you. And just to give you a bit of a background, the person who's talking there is Paul, Apostle Paul. And Apostle Paul was a killer. He persecuted them. He went around killing Christians. I mean, he was going from house to house looking for Christians at that time because, of course, he was a Jew and they hated Christianity, they hated Christians. So he went around killing Christians. That was his ministry. He took it upon himself to kill Christians. And he says, but when I was in my mother's womb, I was set apart. He said, When it pleased God, when it pleased him, he revealed himself to me. I didn't know all along I was set apart. This is so profound. This is so profound. So you may be living any any kind of life at the moment. You're just living anyhow. You don't feel connected to God, but I am reminding you, in case you didn't know, that God had a plan the moment you were in your mother's womb. Now some people say, But Pastor, I was unplanned. My parents have told me that I was a mistake. Listen, you were a mistake to them, but not a mistake to God. Because he set you apart in your mother's womb. He did. He did. What's the purpose of God setting you apart? It's because he has a work for you to do, there's a mission for you to do. And he knows at 15 you're not ready. At 16, you may not be ready. He may need to catch you at 22 or catch you at 25. Praise God. Now look at the nature of human beings. God doesn't like showing up in human beings' lives when things are going well. Because you will look at him and say, Why do I need you? You're way too quiet. Brother, God shows up when you're in serious trouble. That's when he shows up. He sets you apart in your mother's womb, lets you live your life the way you want to live your life. And then knowing that you will crash, that's where he meets you. And says, I was with you all along. I was with you all along the whole time. I was watching you, I was with you. But I took my time to show up. Which human do you know it takes a disciplined human being to pray when things are going well?

unknown 5:14

That's right, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 5:15

You're too quiet. You know, it takes a very disciplined, God-conscious person to go on their knees and say, God, I bless your name. When when money's coming in in pals, I'm I'm actually not expecting a lot of amens because I'm dealing, I'm dealing with deep issues. I'm not expecting that. You don't need to encourage me. I encourage myself anyway. Amen. Praise God. The things human beings do when things go well, when things are nice, we don't even think of God. The most you do is, God, thank you. That's it. Amen. How many people on their wedding day have taken time out to pray for two hours on their on the wedding day? Do you know that on the wedding day, the wedding is about God, not you? It's a covenant that He made. How many people have taken time out on the wedding day to go on their knees and pray and say, God, we we give this marriage over to you? No, the wedding now has become about shiny things. How many celebrities can be at the wedding, how big the wedding is, and how many cameras are at the wedding for it to blow up on social media? That's what it's been about. Flash mobs, dancing, money being sprinkled on you. That's what it's about now. Something that God created. They've kicked him out, they evicted God and made it about other things. Are you listening? So you can't blame God for allowing you to crash. He lets you crash, and then when you're on the floor screaming, my leg, my leg, then he turns up and says, Hi. I've been there the whole time. And you say, But why did you let me crash? For that very reason. Did you remember me when things were good? No, ask your neighbor. Ask the person beside you, did you remember him when things were good? Yeah, you only remember him when the bailiff start knocking. Bailiff at your door, that's when you remember him. Listen, listen, it brings something something to my mind, alright, that I read years ago as an illustration, you know, to give us a there's an essence of the message. I read something. It says there was a man who was driving, alright? He's driving his car, he has two extra tires, and he had a long journey, and he's driving. One popped and he replaced it, and he kept on driving. Nice car. Another one popped again and then he replaced it. Now he has no tires, spare tires left, and he has about 300-400 miles left to go. The moment he sits in the car and realizes he has no more tires, he starts praying in tongues. He says, I'm in a situation where only prayer can help me. Listen to that. God wants to get you in a place where only you look around and say, No human being can bail me out of this. Praise God. Reminds me of a doctor who was given it, you know. The doctors, if you work with doctors, all right, uh very closely, you realize that they have this thing of, I know everything, I know it. Okay, they they they because they save lives, do you understand? So they can in their brain somehow interpret themselves as God. Yeah, because they save lives regularly. So with a doctor, how does God show up to a doctor who has opened the chest, he knows what's inside, he's opened the brain, he knows what's inside. Do you understand? Every part of the anatomy he knows. How does God pre how do you preach to a doctor? The only way to preach to a doctor is for him to get sick, and he tries everything, and nothing happens, nothing works. He gets to the end of the road, and God says, Hi. You forgot about me. I can do all things.

unknown 9:41

Come on now.

SPEAKER_02 9:42

I don't believe you. God can do all things. And what I'm telling you is a real situation, a real situation that a pastor illustrated. He said there was a doctor in his congregation who, when the healings were taking place when he was praying for people, the doctor was like, This is fake, this is not real. The people are excited, so they get healed, and then when they leave, things, things think the adrenaline goes. So he had an explanation for everything until the doctor had cancer. The doctor had cancer, so the pastor was watching him. The pastor heard, but the pastor was watching, and it got worse and worse. He tried chemo, it got worse and worse and worse. God had to crush the doctor, break the doctor. Sometimes we trust in our own strength, in our education, but you cannot walk with God. Write that down. You cannot walk with God properly if you trust in other means other than Him. He needs you to trust in Him and Him alone. Break off all your other bridges, all the other gods that you're serving. Some people serve money as a God, some people serve pleasure as a God. Some people serve attention as a God. Break off all those things and put him as as at number one. Do not learn the hard way. Amen. Do not learn the hard way. God does not intend for you to crash for him to meet you, but he will let you crash in order for you and his relationship to come together. How many testimonies have I heard of pastors, evangelists, bishops saying, I there was one specific man of God, all right, in America, in Texas, who said that he was working on Wall Street. He was pulling in two 300 a week, 300k a week. He worked on Wall Street. He said God called him and he refused. No wonder in Africa the hunger for God is higher. Because people are in poverty. Why you're in a country where people you're getting JSA and universal credit, what need do you have for God? The government is your God. Amen. The government is your God. God sent four men of God to tell him, I want you to come and serve and be a pastor. He said, What business do I have being a pastor? Pastors are broke. This is what this is his testimony. So, why am I a pastor? What why will I suffer? I'm working on Wall Street. I worked all my life to be here. Pastors are broke. That's what he said. I was listening to him. I thought that's a very rude thing to say. Amen. God said, Alright, I'll show up. You know what happened? 2008. Some of you maybe are too young for that. There was a crunch that happened in 2008. You remember that? Oh, Wall Street went upside down. Upside down. He said, He said he had two friends, two friends, who jumped from the top of the building, the high-rise building. He was talking to them. Just talking. And then one of them said, This is too much. He just stood and jumped and died. And the other one followed him. He said, I'm I ain't gonna follow I'm not gonna follow them. But he lost everything. Are you listening? So when he got to that place, he then realized that, ha. You know, there are some moments here where you where where you remember the one person in your life that used to tell you to pray. It could be your grandma, it could be your mom. When you're in a dire situation, you remember that voice. That voice that told you to pray. Just pray. He said in that moment he remembered his grandmother who used to tell him, Pray before you leave the house, pray before. So he said a prayer. He said, God, I'm in a situation right now where it's looking like I might have to take my own life. I'm gonna need you to step in right now, and that's it. He prayed. He said, for two, three weeks nothing happened. Amen. On the fourth week, he walked into a church, and some of you know who Kenneth Copeland is. Amen. He walked into Kenneth Copeland's church, and Kenneth Copeland was at the front saying, In the middle of this crunch, I just got richer. He said, How? This is a pastor, he's supposed to be broke. God met him at the point of his ignorance. Pastors are not broke, they are not. God met him there. Do you understand that? God met him at the point of his own ignorance today. That man is a pastor himself. Not for Jesus. Say after me, God has set me apart. In my mother's womb. Yes, he set me apart. In my mother's womb. He put me aside for a special, special purpose. Praise God forevermore. Sit down, sit down. Alright. So that's Galatians 1.15. It says, but when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace. Verse 16. Very, very profound. To reveal his son in me. To reveal his son in me. Now what was shocking to me is that he didn't say to reveal his son to me. He said to reveal his son in me. So what this tells me is that even in your wayward living and the terrible decisions you've been making, all the things you're doing that are terrible, Jesus is still in you. He's been there from the beginning. Can I can I can I break, can I demystify something for you? Nowhere in the Bible, in the New Testament, does it say that Jesus or God leaves you when you sin? Nowhere in the scripture. You gotta know it. This is good for you to know. He does not leave you when you sin. If he does, then his death was in vain. Sin does not break the communion between you and God. It doesn't. A person can be living in deep sin, doing terrible things. God is with that person whilst they're committing that sin. He's with the murderers when they're murdering. He's with you know the the uh promiscuous when they're doing what they're doing. He's there, the fraudsters, he's with them too. He's with them. The difference is there's no relationship. Do you know that someone can be with you but you're alone? Just think about it. You've been in a relationship, yet you've probably said I feel lonely. Praise God forevermore. You can be in a room full of people, but you are alone. What I'm ministering to you is that those people that are doing all the things that they're doing, God is with them, but there's no communion. That is, there's no, I'm talking to you, you're talking to me, and you're not getting to know me, and you're not giving yourself the opportunity to change. But God is still with you. If he can be with Jonah in the belly of the fish, and he can be with Jesus when Jesus went to hell, he can be with you when you're doing all the terrible things you're doing. As he was with Paul when Paul was killing Christians. Amen. I remember when I went to the United States here, I was just 18 and I was learning this the principles in the scripture. We we mounted the flight. Oh, that flight was a terrible flight. The turbulence was ridiculous. You see, in that flight here, if the the com your communion with God shows when things get tough. Listen, listen, when you're facing death, it shows whether you know God or not. I saw people my granddaddy's age crying because they thought they were gonna die. I was just 18, and I was sitting there wondering, oh, none of these people know who God is. I said, nothing will happen to this flight because I'm on it.

unknown 19:36

That's right, that's right. Come on now.

SPEAKER_02 19:39

At the end of the flight, some some people were looking at me concerned. I was thinking, I should be concerned about you guys. Your all your blood pressures were high, but they were looking at me concerned. Why was this guy so calm? It's because I know who I serve. Come on now, I know him. Now, now let me tell you where the confidence came from. If he set me apart from my mother's womb, listen to this. He set me apart from my mother's womb in my mother's womb. Yeah, and then he revealed himself to me. Alright, he revealed to me that he's been with me this entire time, he's been living in me this entire time, and then he sets me on a mission. How can I die before the mission is finished? What are we talking about here? That's why you need that's why I say to you, I don't you can't kill me, brother. I've been through too much. Amen. There's some things I can't say here because they were in the you know the general populace of the church, some things are only for the disciples, but I've been in situations that defied what you would know as uh what's the word I'm looking for? Uh logic principles uh of physics. Amen. You just cannot, you cannot. He said, You will eat poison and you will not die. It's either you believe the Bible or you don't. You pick pick it. What do you believe, brother? Yeah, if listen, if I can kick cast devils out, and it says that in the same verse, then I should also accept that I can eat poison and not die. Now, obviously, obviously, it doesn't mean that you should go and go and drink poison because that makes you a bit of a fool. Alright, you understand what I'm saying right now? So that that's that's not what he's asking you to do. He's saying, No weapon fashioned against you shall prosper. That's what he's saying. That's what he's saying. Praise God. He's saying, Whatever the devil tries, whether he uses a human being, whether he uses whatever, if you are set apart by God, no harm can come upon you. Say it with confidence. No harm can come upon me. Amen. No harm can come upon me. Praise God forevermore. Say, I'm called for his purpose. And no harm shall or can come upon me. Some people hate this message. They think to themselves, how can God give a person so much authority? Who does he think he is? I think I'm his son. Now let me ask you a question before I move on to my next verse. Yeah. Does a dog give birth to a dog? Listen. Does a dog give birth to a dog? Can a cat give birth to a dog? So if God gives birth, who is he giving birth to? Alright, it's simple maths. Amen. If God says I was born of him, then who am I? I'm born of him, so who am I? Are you born of him?

unknown 23:19

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

So why don't you look like it? Amen. You know what I was saying earlier on, okay? What you should the message you should have picked up if if you have wisdom, the message you should have picked up is that whatever I'm going through at the moment is temporary. One, two, what I'm going through right now, God is trying to give me a message. It's a message. If I pick the message, the problem goes away. Because I told you, he meets with you when things go bad. So if he's meeting with you when things have gone bad, it means there's a message he wants you to pick up. What is the message? What is the message? Ask yourself what is he trying to tell me? There's another scripture I want to show you. Are you bored? I think I'm boring you. Let's go to Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah chapter 6 from verse 8.

SPEAKER_00 24:38

Thank you, sir. Isaiah chapter 6 from verse 8 says, Also, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I, send me.

SPEAKER_02 24:54

Did you see that? No, I don't think you picked it. Look, he set you apart in your mother's womb when you were in your mother's womb. He was with you. He left you for maybe 25 years for you to find your own way. And then he meets you and says, I'm looking for someone. Just imagine you're in a conversation with God and he says, I'm looking for someone. And you say, For what? He says, I got a mission. I'm looking for someone. God needs your consent to work with you. He needs you to say yes. He needs you to say yes. He has a plan, but he cannot reveal that plan until you say, Yes, I'm ready. I'm ready to go. So he asked Isaiah the prophet. He said to Isaiah, he said, Are you ready for me to send you out? Are you ready? Isaiah says, Here I am, send me. Send me. Praise God forevermore. Listen, you can come to church with a friend or a family member, and one of you is appointed and the other isn't. But you came together. Praise God. Most of you came with your friends to church. They all heard the same message. You stayed, they left. Do you understand? You have different paths. You have different paths. I remember when first came, uh, his testimony was so profound. He he he said he was he came and at the time we were really, really small, small church. And he thought this is a small, unreasonably small church. I don't know what he had in mind, but he said, This is an unreasonably petite church. Amen. Alright. And then uh I wasn't there at the time, but he said, Let me let me pray anyway. So he he prayed, and then I walked in, but his eyes were closed, and he he said, he was praying, and I and as he was praying, he said, if you felt a wind, like a strong wind. Amen. But he came with other people. You're too quiet. He he came to church with other people. Him and his friends, they traveled together, they took the same train together, they arrived together, they even looked the same. You know, when he came, he had plaits, he had all this long hair and all that. They all had Conrows, it was a row full of guys with Conrows, they all came together looking the same, amen. So you think that it's one one gank. They all came together, very intimidating, amen. But I walked in, I walked in, he his eyes were closed. He said he felt a wind, it it was it was like a wind that moved him. He said, What's that? He opened his eyes and I just walked past him, but his other friend didn't feel anything. Oh, you're too quiet. He came with his friends, they didn't feel anything. The other friend was probably thinking, I need to get this place, it's too small, I need to get out of here. But he had an experience, you know why? Because he was called. It's not everybody that's called. So when you see me teaching and preaching, don't think I just pick up the Bible and say, you know, some people do that, they pick up the Bible, they start flipping. This is what I preach today. Yeah, or we flip a calling Genesis or Revelation. Heads is Genesis, tells is Revelation. That's what we'll preach today. Don't think that that's what we're doing. Amen. I was prepared from my mother's womb. You understand that? Yeah, I was curated, I was seasoned from my mother's womb, set apart, and the things he allowed me to traverse has brought me here today. Do you understand? I'm in the perfect place at the perfect time. I'm in the calendar of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Praise God. I'm in the calendar of the Spirit. What we do and what you do when you talk to people about Christ and you minister to them is it looks simple, but if you if you look at the background work that God has done on you, it wasn't a simple work. It seems like an A to B, you just preach to people. No, there are some people that have the passion for preaching and they move nobody. Do you understand? They move no one. Let me tell you the power of the word of God, yeah, and when it's ministered by somebody who's called. I can preach about what I'm preaching today, yeah, but I'm dealing with unforgiveness in someone's heart here. But I've not spoken about unforgiveness. But the person leaves and thinks, ah, I need to forgive. That is the power of the word of God, it's so versatile in the in the mouth of the right person. This is not just a book, praise God, it's not just a book. This thing changes lives, it changes lives, and when you learn about the things of God, you can only be but radical. There's a there's a fire that starts burning in your heart. You're like, This is what he did for me. No, no, no, no, no, no. I gotta live for him. You're too quiet. So this is what he did for me. I have to live for him. Praise God. Please, I'm begging you, don't be the person. I've met older people, way older, my my father's age, my father's, you know, his father's age, that have said to me, I regret. If I had if I had picked up the Bible sooner, my life wouldn't be the way it is today. If I had picked up the Bible sooner, if I had just read this thing, my life wouldn't be the way it is today. Say the word of God has made me wiser. Say it with boldness. The word of God has made me wise. Praise God. They think they think ministry is wearing uh nice suits and nice shoes and looking good and preaching, but there's a spiritual work behind it. There's a massive spiritual work behind it. I watched my my my dad pray for someone on dialysis in front of my eyes. These are these are things I've seen in the physical world. He pray he prayed for her on dialysis. She was she was she was sick. She came with the thing in her nose and the thing they had to carry her in the church. And he was preaching, and they were saying, and I'll catch this, they were saying she gotta take it's time for her to take her meds, you know. And she was sitting at the front, and I watched my dad said no, she shouldn't take her meds, she should wait. All the logical people were like, ah, what kind of pastor? So, because of your preaching, you want someone to die? You didn't know who you were dealing with. You didn't know where you stepped in, you thought you stepped into a building. You you you had no idea.

unknown 33:17

Come on now.

SPEAKER_02 33:19

I was just a young man, I was observing, I was watching. What are the reactions? I saw some people offended, I saw some others murmuring. How? This is a lady on dialysis, and he paid them no mind. The service was four hours long. The lady sat there and was fine. And at the end of the service, as we're coming to the tail end of the service, he said, I want to pray for you. She said, Well, that's why I'm here. That's why I came. Amen. And he laid hands on her. We have it on video, by the way. Alright? We have this on video. He laid hands on her, he prayed, he laid his hands on the lady for about two minutes, and he said, Lord, I know you hear all my prayers. He said, I know you hear all my prayers. You hear all my prayers. Heal your daughter. This was a lady who was weak. Amongst that, there were other things that was going on with her. It was a lot. By the end of the prayer, she screamed, I'm healed. Now, some she screamed and started running around, by the way. Now, some of you will say, Again, you know, all the skeptics, it was adrenaline. What do you say to her the following week when she walks in with nothing attached to her? What do you say if I told you she became a member and was with us for seven years? She was the person uh bringing people to their seat and got married and relocated to Kenya. And today she's a wife of a pastor today. When is the adrenaline then, remember? Which kind of adrenaline goes for seven years? Richard, and if you were there when I prayed for the gentleman that was smoking, he just loved smoking, he just a smoker. You were there? Was that adrenaline? That was at Nat West, we was at Nat West. He said, I can't stop smoking. I said, You want to stop smoking? I can't stop. I said, come forward, we'll help you to stop smoking. What did I tell him? I said, just sniff, just inhale my hand. He went, it looked like a joke, isn't it? I said, it's done. I said, now go home and I'm encouraging you to smoke. Go and pick up the cigarette. Do you remember? I told him what would happen. I said, if you try, you will pass out. What happened? He came on Sunday and said, I tried to smoke and I passed out. He said he was bleeding from his nose. He even said he was vomiting. Most of you were there. I'm recounting something with witnesses. So if you were to write a book, you would be Matthew writing as soon pastor. Praise God forevermore. You think you can do that without being set apart? You're gonna blame adrenaline again? If it's a how did I know what will happen when he gets home? Or maybe there was a substance in my hand. You know the skeptics, they always find something. Praise God forevermore. What about this young lady here? Amen. Vomiting blood. She couldn't eat. What's the longest you went without eating? The longest you went without eating, her sickness. What was it?

SPEAKER_00 37:29

Three days.

SPEAKER_02 37:30

Three three days without eating, vomiting blood. I sent her brother to the hospital and I said, Tell them to tell you what's wrong. Not to tell her. Because I knew what they would say and it will scare her. So I said, I want to hear it first. I said, beg the doctors, tell them, don't say anything to her. Let them tell you. And so they told me, I said, I knew they would pull this card. I don't even want to say the words. What they wanted to diagnose her with was a this is instant death. You've basically told her you're you're you're on your way up. This is a young girl. Amen. We prayed. Most of you were there, we prayed. I went all the way to her university. Uh what's it called? What's it dormitory? That's what we call it in my time, dormitory. Understand? We we went all the way to her university and laid hands, and we said, That devil has no place in this body. Praise God. He's eating now. She's enjoying. Maybe it's adrenaline. Amen. He says, Also, I heard the voice of the Lord. This is for all of you now, saying, Whom shall I send? Who will go for us? You're representing a kingdom. So, who's going for God? You going for God? You're gonna work for him? Then there's some things I have to show you. I'm gonna wrap up now because there's some boredom here. As I said, here I am, send me. And and the Lord God said this. He said, He said, Go and tell this to the people. And then he gave him a message. But there's something I want to show you that I believe will help you. Alright. Let's go to John chapter 11. I'm gonna show you the essence of ministry. John chapter 11. I was reading this the other day. I was going over all my notes from many years ago. And I found this revelation there. John chapter 11, verse 35.

SPEAKER_00 40:08

Thank you, sir. John chapter 11 from verse 35 says, Jesus wept.

SPEAKER_02 40:15

Read from 34.

SPEAKER_00 40:16

Oh thank you, sir. John chapter 11 from verse 34 says, And he said, Where have you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come and see. Verse 35. Jesus wept. Verse 36. Then the Jews said, See how he loved him. Verse 37. And some of them said, Could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept this man from dying?

SPEAKER_02 40:46

You see the murmurings? There's always those guys. Make up your mind to not be those guys. On the wrong end, they always have the wrong end of the stick. That's not the core of the message, but I have to address them. Make up your mind that you will not be the guy at the wrong end of the stick that has to come at the end and apologize. Like, I'm sorry, I got it wrong. You know, I I you know, you start making explanations. Don't be that guy. Believe from the beginning. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 41:16

Thank you, sir. Verse 38. Then Jesus, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Verse 39. Jesus said, Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days. Verse 40. Jesus said to her, Did I not say to you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God? Verse 41. Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying, and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. Verse 42, and I know that you always hear me. But because of the people who are standing by, I said this, that they may believe that you sent me. Verse 43. Now when he had said these things, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. Verse 44. And he who had died came out bound, hand and foot, with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, Loose him and let him go. Verse 45. Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary and had seen the things Jesus did believed in him.

SPEAKER_02 42:47

Praise God. Praise God forevermore. Can I break this illustration down for you? Jesus said to Mary and Martha, Did I not tell you you'll see great things if you believed? He got there. This was a symmetry, by the way. But in those times they were tombs. Okay? So they were not necessarily, especially with the Jews, putting people in the ground. It was tombs. So Jesus gets there and he says, they're all crying. And if you read verse 35, it says that he wept as well. But he was not crying for the same reason they were crying. They were crying because their brother had died. Jesus was crying because they did not believe. Then he says, Roll away this roll away that stone. So all of the disciples run there and they roll it away. Now in the middle of that happening, one of the ladies says, But but he's been in there for days, he will start smelling. Again, worrying about the wrong thing. Why? Hmm. Listen, to be an effective Christian, yeah, you stay away from expensive questions. There are questions that are too expensive for you to ask. How did the man of God do this? Why does the man of God do this? Why does too expensive, brother? Stay stay in the lane that you can afford. There's some lanes you go into and you kill yourself. It's called the fast lane. Stay away from that lane. Nevertheless, uh Jesus said, roll away the stone. One of the ladies says, No, the body, the body is smelling. I don't even think Jesus even acknowledged that. He didn't even acknowledge that. Sometimes you just have to just brush the nonsense. But from a human perspective, it was valid. But from a spiritual perspective, it's nonsense. Jesus brushed. Now, what I found to be very interesting is this Jesus, the Bible says he spoke, he cried with a loud voice. Lazarus, come out. Lazarus comes out, a dead man comes out of the tomb, meets him at the door of the tomb. He tells the disciples, loose him and let him go. And then the Bible says, The rest of the people that were there believed in him. Now, let me tell you where ministry is. Do you want to read the text again? Let's read the text again. Look at this text. It says, Where were we? Okay, blessing. I want you to read that part for me.

SPEAKER_00 46:00

Thank you, sir. John chapter 11 says. John chapter 11 from verse 3044 says, And he who had died came out bound, hand and foot, with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, Loose him and let him go.

SPEAKER_02 46:18

Did you hear that? Jesus didn't loose him and let him go. Jesus brought life into his body, but ordered the disciples to loose him and let him go. That is ministry. Ministry is you being sent to loose people from the hold of Satan. Let Jesus do the life bringing. Your responsibility is to lose them. Listen, you've been equipped to go into families and bring people out of darkness. Are you listening? You have been equipped. It's from your mother's womb. So you can't be afraid to deal with those types of situations. That is that little that little story I just gave you is the essence of ministry. I would have thought Jesus would bring him back to life and unwrap him. Then we leave everything to him. Then he doesn't need us. Jesus said, You go and lose him. And what I found even more profound is that the man was dressed and his face was covered. So the disciples had to unwrap from his face all the way down, which signifies the first thing you must deal with in ministry is people's minds. Praise God. Yeah. You deal with people's minds first. Because some people will come into church with disgusting mindsets. Mindsets that are to dis that are there to destroy. You must deal with it. Deal with people's mindsets first. Before you cast devils out, all right, before you free them from death, you deal with their minds first. Because if you don't, remember that was a dead man, he will come into the the body of Christ with a dead man's mentality. Yeah, you gotta you gotta deal with that. So you deal with the mind, then you deal with perception. Perception is everything. How do I know? Because he unwrapped the eyes. He unwrapped his eyes. The man wasn't seeing clearly. The disciples had to unwrap his eyes. Just before I came here, you would have thought I was praying for hours in prayer, and the heavens came into my room, and me and the angels were, you know, just having a good good time. You have no idea. I was on the phone to one of the church members who's telling me, I'm gonna kill another church member. Don't act like you haven't done it as well. Don't be a hypocrite. Yeah, this is ministry, it's not fun and games. We haven't been called, all right, to the holy people who think they're holy. We've been called listen, let me tell you, I'll say in an African way, we've been called to mad people. That's it. Mad people. Yeah, I've been if if other pastors have not been, I have been called to mad people. People that are very mad in the head. Yeah, I've been called to them. Yes, sir. I was talking to them this morning. He said, sir, I will if I come to church, I will kill her. I said, what are you talking about? So I had to start dealing with the mindset. I said, you want to come to the house of God and kill somebody? Yes. With courage. My wife was listening. She said, I will come there and I'll kill her. I said, You will do no such thing. You're not allowed. I I bind you from your house. In fact, you're not coming to church today. So the person is not here. I said, You will stay at home and you read the word and you will hear the recording when we upload it. You're not coming to church today. After talking that way, you can't come here. You need to repent. By the end of the conversation, the person said, Oh, I'm sorry, sir. I lost my head. You see, I told you they are mad people, they are mad people, but that's who I've been called to. My job is to loose her. Yeah, I sit there and I hear the craziest things. But my job is to go into people's respective families, and I don't need anyone's permission. Once God says go into that family, I'm entering that family, and I start loosing people.

unknown 50:50

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 50:50

Yeah. And what you gotta realize, okay, is that when I do such a thing, or when God sends you to do such a thing, there are demons in that family that will fight you. They're not happy that you're losing people. Let me tell you something about demons. Demons don't like change. This is how we do things in our family, it must stay that way. Even if you present a better way, they will not change. Because this is how we do things in our family, this is how we do things that no, brother. Do better. Do better when you find a better way, which is biblical, follow that way. It doesn't matter what your culture is in your family, follow what the scripture says. The scriptures prescribing a better way, follow that way. Amen. Until until um we read the Bible, we used to think that we are uh uh bosses of our wives. We can tell them whatever what to do, and they are slaves. That's how it is in some cultures. The woman can't even speak. Praise God, she can't even talk in the midst of her husband until we read the Bible and we had to give up our traditions. You can't say, as a man of God, this is my tradition. What tradition? It's either you're following Christ or you're following where you came from. You pick one, but if you've been called and you've been sent out to do the work, you follow what the scripture says. I'm aware that what I'm teaching you is challenging you, but that's the point. That's the point. I'm not here to teach you something that will make you happy, I'm here to teach you something that will challenge your mindset. Get you to start thinking, yes, there's some things I've seen in the scripture, and I said, God, why? I would have liked it another way. Yeah, why, why, why does it have to be this way? Praise God. But we are set apart, so we do what the scripture prescribes. Can I give you one last scripture? Just this is the last one, then I'll let you go. One more. Yeah, Colossians chapter 3, verse 12. Very beautiful scripture. And then we'll take our offering and we'll go.

SPEAKER_00 53:28

Thank you, sir.

SPEAKER_02 53:29

Colossians 3 12. Yeah, yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 53:31

Thank you, sir. Colossians chapter 3 from verse 12 says, Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, I put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering. Verse 13, bearing with one another.

SPEAKER_02 53:51

Read the Amplified. Let's look at what the how the Amplified um deals with this respective scripture.

SPEAKER_00 53:58

Thank you, sir. Colossians chapter 3 from verse 12, the Amplified Version says, So as God's own chosen people, who are holy, set apart, sanctified for his purpose, and well beloved by God Himself. Put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, which has the power to endure whatever injustice or unpleasantness comes.

SPEAKER_02 54:30

Amen. Look at the beautiful scripture. Look at this. Look at that. I want to just go to the amplified myself. What's that? Verse 12. Look at this. My one says, So as God's own chosen people, as God's own chosen people. The King James says, set apart. As God's own chosen people who are holy. Now in brackets, it says, set apart. Listen, let's let's touch on this. Sanctified for his purpose. So everything you went through was leading up to this moment. You were sanctified for this moment, prepared for this moment. You were prepared for this. All the challenges you faced, you were prepared for it. And all the challenges that are coming, you are prepared for it. Say, I am, I'm prepared for it. God has set you apart. He says, He says, as God's chosen people, now this is where it gets interesting. Some of you won't like this. Put on a heart of compassion.

unknown 56:09

Woo! We love it.

SPEAKER_02 56:15

Put on a heart of compassion. That's what he wants to see from you. He says kindness. Just be kind. Humility. Gentleness. You see why I say you are so gentle. Yeah. He's so gentle. Gentleness. Patience. Which has the power to endure whatever injustice or unpleasantness that comes with good temper. Let me explain. He didn't say when someone is dealing with you in a negative and bad way, you must rebel. He said, be patient with them. That's what I said, you're not gonna like. You're not gonna like that. Listen, if you have a bad boss, let me ask you before I continue speaking, are you set apart? Are you chosen? Then hear me. If you have a bad boss at work, you don't speak against him behind his back, you don't chastise him, pray against him. God said, Be patient with him. Maybe I should read it to you again. He said, Which has the power to endure whatever injustice, be patient enough to endure what you will call injustice. You don't like that, do you? I told you about the story of Hagar. Sarah was being very bad to her, very terrible. Hagar ran off. She ran, she said, I don't, I'm not gonna stay with this woman. This woman is badhearted. God met her on the road and said, Turn around and go back. Go back to that woman that's maltreating you. Because there are things you must learn in that maltreatment. Even your parents, if your parents are being some, you know, you know, some parents can be chastising, they can cause the child to be offended constantly. God said, Be patient with your parents. I knew you wouldn't like that. He said, Be patient. He didn't say be patient with the good parent. He said, Be patient with your parents, period. They can treat you bad, they can throw water on you in the morning. So get up. Why are you still in bed? Talking and talking, they start talking all day. God says, You have enough patience to endure this injustice. It's such a beautiful thing. He said you he's equipped you to endure injustice. Let me let me let me let me tell you something. Let me let me tell you something. Yeah, I will from the beginning of ministry. I was learning this lesson. We our first haul on Spray Street, yeah. We had a landlord who will come in the service and screw and screw and shout at me. He would shout, he would shout at me because we went over by maybe 10 minutes. To the point that he threatened my wife. And told me on the phone, if I see your wife, I'll deal with her in Woolwich. And he was an older man, he was like 64 or something like that. This was about four or five years ago. So I would deal with her when I see her on the road. I locked off the phone and I said, This old man, he died. I started thinking, he should have met me 10 years ago. Ah, he should have met me 10 years ago. I will I would have finished him. I started thinking, maybe, maybe I should drive there and and put something on my face. He doesn't know I'm the pastor. No, I started meditating on all the different ways I will finish him and his sons. You said you're gonna attack my wife in Woolwich. I said, I will show up now, attack us. Attack us. That's what I was thinking in my mind. And the Lord said, remember, you are a pastor. What does that mean? I set you apart. I'm not saying I'm perfect, I'm saying that I have to remember who I am. I have to remember who I am. And you must remember who you are as a Christian. You must remember. So he's saying you have enough patience. He said, I've equipped you, I've given you the tools you need to endure injusticeness. So this guy would come in and scream one the last straw. What that's when I said we have to move. I saw him in Woolwich and he came this close to my face. He was screaming in my face. He said, Do something, do, do something, do something. You see, in that moment, I was vibrating. And I wasn't speaking, it's not from speaking in tongues, by the way. It took every ounce of self-control. But in the in the process of thinking all of that, I saw the the blood of Christ. I said, the Lord Jesus died for this guy. I had to bite my tongue. People were watching in Woolwich on the high street, watching this happen. I bit my tongue. In embarrassment, I walked off. I was so ashamed that this guy could lumbast me on the street like that, and I couldn't do anything. With that pain, I left. I never saw him again. I don't know what happened to him. And I didn't wish him bad, but I was in pain for almost two hours. And God said, I've equipped you to endure injustice. Praise God. I've equipped you. You have it. So he says, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, and patience. So I want you to take all the tools I've just given you and from today apply it to everyone in your life. Be kind, be gentle, have humility, be humble enough to listen, even to those you think are below you. Listen to them. And by the way, I'm preaching to myself in the same breath. Praise God. As I'm talking to you, I'm also talking to myself. Be humble enough to listen to those you think are below you. You know, you know the character of a man with the way he treats people he doesn't need. Do you understand what I just said there? Yeah. You know, I know, I know you will deal with me a certain way. Yes, sir, because you respect me, you need me, I pray for you, I'm your pastor, I'm your spiritual, but I watch how you deal with the person at the door that opens the door for you. Some of you, the ushers are talking to you, like, move, man. Move. I'm not gonna do what you're asking me to do. It tells me a lot about your character. You gotta deal with those you you you you you don't you feel like you don't need, you deal with them with gentleness and kindness and calmness. That is a man of humility. When you go to the restaurant and someone, someone's food is taking the food is taking long, and you have all the right to crash out, all the right to say, Where's my food? It's been one hour, but you stay patient, you stay calm. People must know you're a Christian wherever you go. They must know. I've ended the service, the the message here. Amen. I hope you learned something. Praise God forevermore. Lift your hands and bless his name. Bless his name. Thank you for listening to Pastor Max's teachings. Make sure to subscribe and for more information, find us at Faith and Victory Wallace.