Latest / Apostle Lazarus Femi / Ministers And The Burden Of Maturity (Part 1)

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Ministers And The Burden Of Maturity (Part 1) · Apostle Lazarus Femi

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: The International Ministers Conference is God's strategy to set your.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Life and ministry on course. Welcome to the International Ministers Conference.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Hallelujah. Please, you may be seated. Hallelujah. Praise God.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: At the end of the day, what God rewards is
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  Speaker 1: not positions, is not titles. What he rewards is faithfulness
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  Speaker 1: to the call, faithfulness to the assignment, faithfulness.
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  Speaker 2: To the visions.
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  Speaker 1: That's what he rewards. At the end of the day,
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  Speaker 1: God does not reward a title. He does not reward
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  Speaker 1: a position. What God will reward at the end of
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  Speaker 1: the day is what he said to you to do.
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  Speaker 2: Did you do it at the time he said to
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  Speaker 2: do it? Did you do it the way he said
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  Speaker 2: you should do it? That's what God rewards.
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  Speaker 1: You know, recently I was praying and the Lord brought
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  Speaker 1: to me the story of Saul and Ananias.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know if you remember Ananias, the disciples. And
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  Speaker 2: I hope you know there will.
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  Speaker 1: Be no Saul who became Paul the apostle without Ananias.
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  Speaker 1: Nobody was willing to associate with Saul at that time. Everybody,
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  Speaker 1: they were not sure even if he was saved. They
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  Speaker 1: thought he was a decoy. It was a trick and
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  Speaker 1: all the rest. And I hope you know that all
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  Speaker 1: that's recorded in scriptures about Ananias was that he had
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  Speaker 1: a vision.
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  Speaker 2: From the Lord to go meet Saul of Thassos. You remember?
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  Speaker 1: To lay hands on him, commission him into ministry. And
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  Speaker 1: that's all that we know of him. We don't know
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  Speaker 1: if he ever had a crusade. He may have had,
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  Speaker 1: but it's not recorded in scriptures. We don't know if
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  Speaker 1: he pastored a mega church.
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  Speaker 2: We don't know.
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  Speaker 1: At the same time, he got a vision from the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: Another man called Saul got a vision from the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes your vision will make you, will grant you exposure.
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  Speaker 2: Some other times it won't grant you.
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  Speaker 1: What matters is who gave you the vision.
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  Speaker 2: And were you faithful to the vision?
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  Speaker 1: When Ananias gets to heaven, I actually feel like what
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  Speaker 1: he will be judged by is, did you go see Saul?
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  Speaker 1: Did you get him filled with the Holy Spirit? Did
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  Speaker 1: you get him on track for the assignment that I've
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  Speaker 1: called him? At the end of the day, what God
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  Speaker 1: rewards is faithfulness. And tonight, I didn't know it was
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  Speaker 1: even going to happen this way, but I feel it's
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord that... I'm starting out the conference with
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  Speaker 1: you tonight. Because as I prayed and spent time before
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  Speaker 1: the Lord, just checking my heart, what exactly would the
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  Speaker 1: Lord have me say? The Lord said to lay foundation.
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  Speaker 1: I found out that if the foundation is right, it's
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  Speaker 1: easy to do a lot of things. You can build
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  Speaker 1: anything you want to do if the foundation is right.
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  Speaker 1: So what we're going to do tonight is to lay
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  Speaker 1: a solid foundation for the conference. I believe I've seen the...
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  Speaker 1: repertoire of ministers that are to speak at the conference.
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  Speaker 1: And I know that they're bringing God's counsel and God's mind.
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  Speaker 1: But I want to lay a foundation. Take us back
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  Speaker 1: to the basics. Before you're a minister, you're a Christian.
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  Speaker 2: You're a believer.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes we forget that we are first believers before we
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  Speaker 1: are ministers.
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  Speaker 2: We don't cease to be believers.
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  Speaker 1: We don't cease to be Christians because we became, um,
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  Speaker 1: ministers of the gospel. And in that sense, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: the fivefold offices, the helps ministry and all the rest.
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  Speaker 2: We don't cease being Christians.
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  Speaker 1: And so many times, I think for us as ministers
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  Speaker 1: of the gospel, we need every.
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  Speaker 2: Now and then to go back to the basics.
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  Speaker 1: And today I want to share with you on the
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  Speaker 1: topic ministry and the burden of maturity. Ministry and the burden,
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  Speaker 1: the demand, the burden of maturity. And please, I want
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  Speaker 1: you to listen to me very carefully. Ministry and the
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  Speaker 1: burden of maturity. Let it be said from the outset
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  Speaker 1: that ministry does not confer automatic maturity. Let it be
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  Speaker 1: said from the outset that being a minister of the gospel,
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  Speaker 1: being called into any form of ministry, does not in
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  Speaker 1: and of itself confer any.
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  Speaker 2: Form of maturity.
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  Speaker 1: Look at Ecclesiastics chapter 10 and verse 16. Ecclesiastics chapter
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  Speaker 1: 10 and verse 16. Let's start out from there. It says,
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  Speaker 1: And I need you to know this. He didn't say
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  Speaker 1: that children cannot be kings. But he says, Look at
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  Speaker 1: what he says next. It says, and thy princes eat
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  Speaker 1: in the morning. Blessed art thou, O land, when thy
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  Speaker 1: king is the son of nobles.
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  Speaker 2: I want you to observe something.
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  Speaker 1: He's not talking here just about age. Because if he
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  Speaker 1: said what to thee, O land, when thy king is
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  Speaker 1: a child, then the next verse should have said something like,
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  Speaker 1: blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is an adult.
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  Speaker 1: But that's not what he says. He says when he's
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  Speaker 1: the son of nobles. So he's talking about He's talking
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  Speaker 1: about ideologies. He's talking about philosophies to life. Are you
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  Speaker 1: following what I'm saying here? Now, he's not talking about
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  Speaker 1: chronological age here. And it's worth mentioning as well that
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  Speaker 1: there's the teaching of spiritual growth, which is important. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: and any one of us here, or ministers of gospel,
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  Speaker 1: chances are that you've taught several series on it. You
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  Speaker 1: know all there is to know about spiritual growth. But
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  Speaker 1: let's make a bit of a distinction between spiritual growth
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  Speaker 1: and maturity as it comes to spiritual things and particularly
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  Speaker 1: ministry for example you can have a child of 20
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  Speaker 1: years of age or 25 years of age and you
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  Speaker 1: have another child of 15 years and then you look
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  Speaker 1: at the 15 year old child and say this boy
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  Speaker 1: is more mature than this 25 year old child in
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  Speaker 1: essence he's way more grown 25 years of age 30
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  Speaker 1: years of age have you seen people act in a
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  Speaker 1: certain way you say did they.
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  Speaker 2: Say he's 30 did they say he's 25 years.
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  Speaker 1: And the reason you're saying that is because there's no
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  Speaker 1: match between his chronological age and the maturity that is
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  Speaker 1: expected of him.
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  Speaker 2: Are you still with me tonight? And one of the things.
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  Speaker 1: That we have to look critically into in the body
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  Speaker 1: of Christ is the issue of ministerial maturity.
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  Speaker 2: It's very important.
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  Speaker 1: Many revivals die because of ministerial maturity.
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  Speaker 2: The move of God, can I tell you something?
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  Speaker 1: Um, You know there are disciplines we can give ourselves
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  Speaker 1: to and we force as it were. We impress certain
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  Speaker 1: things to happen in the natural. We can fast and
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  Speaker 1: we can pray. We can wait on the Lord 40 days,
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  Speaker 1: fast and follow the principles. And a move of the
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  Speaker 1: Spirit is created. The truth of the matter is these
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  Speaker 1: things are clear. Hosea tells us about it. Hosea chapter 6,
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  Speaker 1: it tells us about it.
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  Speaker 2: That if we follow on to know, we shall know.
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  Speaker 1: He's going for it. He's as prepared as the morning.
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  Speaker 1: In essence, there is no mystery around it. If we
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  Speaker 1: set ourselves to practice certain principles, there are certain results
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  Speaker 1: that we'll get.
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  Speaker 2: But the longevity of ministry, our relevance on the long run,
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  Speaker 2: and ultimately fulfilling God's plan for.
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  Speaker 1: Our lives, is very much tied to maturity. And let
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  Speaker 1: me quickly say this to you. That activity does not
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  Speaker 1: always mean progress. Busyness does not always mean progress. I've
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  Speaker 1: said this several times in several places. The children of Israel,
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  Speaker 1: many times when we read their story, we think that
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  Speaker 1: they were traveling every day. Can I ask you a question?
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  Speaker 1: Can you be walking every day? I mean, you're walking
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  Speaker 1: from morning to night. Then it's only at night you sleep.
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  Speaker 1: The next morning by 6 a.m., you walk from 6 a.m.
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  Speaker 2: To 6 p.m. I hope you know they didn't have
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  Speaker 2: cars and all the rest.
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  Speaker 1: If you actually read it, Bible theologians tell us that
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  Speaker 1: there were times where they were on the same spot,
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  Speaker 1: in the same location, for as long as 10 years,
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  Speaker 1: within that 40 years. So it wasn't as though every
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  Speaker 1: day they were walking. There were times they were at
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  Speaker 1: the same location. Now can I ask you a question?
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  Speaker 1: Were they stagnated? No.
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  Speaker 2: Were they making progress? Yes. But were they moving? No.
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  Speaker 2: Progress is not activity. It's being in the will of God.
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  Speaker 2: It's being where God wants you to be part-time. And please,
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  Speaker 2: I wanted you to listen very carefully tonight.
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  Speaker 1: He says, blessed is the land whose king is the
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  Speaker 1: son of the princess. Blessed is the land, blessed are thou,
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  Speaker 1: O land, when thy king is the son of nobles,
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  Speaker 1: and thy princess eat in due season for strength and
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  Speaker 1: not for drunkenness. So you see clearly that Solomon here
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  Speaker 1: was referring to something far more than just chronological age,
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  Speaker 1: to mindsets, perspectives, Attitude and character.
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  Speaker 2: Say that with me.
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  Speaker 1: Mindsets, perspectives, attitudes, and character. Now can I tell you something?
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  Speaker 2: These four things.
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  Speaker 1: Is what determines at the end of the day how
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  Speaker 1: far your anointing will go. These four things are the
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  Speaker 1: things that will determine how far your ministry will go.
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  Speaker 1: These things are the things that will determine no matter
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  Speaker 1: how gifted you are. One of the biggest challenges I
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  Speaker 1: see in this generation is there is so much emphasis
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  Speaker 1: on giftedness and the anointing. And you don't realize that
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  Speaker 1: that is important, but it's not the major. I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to show you from scriptures in just a bit.
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  Speaker 2: It's not the major. It's not the major thing.
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  Speaker 1: It says, blessed at thou o land when thy princes
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  Speaker 1: uh is the son of nobles in essence there is
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  Speaker 1: an upbringing there's a training to his mind there's a
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  Speaker 1: way he reasons and there's a way he behaves there's
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  Speaker 1: a way he conducts himself and he says the longevity
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  Speaker 1: of that throne is dependent on this thing are you
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  Speaker 1: still here tonight So we're.
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  Speaker 2: Talking about ministerial maturity.
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  Speaker 1: Ministry confers on you the moment you come into an
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  Speaker 1: awareness of the call of God on your life, the
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  Speaker 1: moment you come into a place, into a position, into
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  Speaker 1: an assignment, whether it's the shepherd over your life that
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  Speaker 1: sets you into that place, or you say, I went
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  Speaker 1: into prayer and then, you know, I heard God and
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  Speaker 1: God spoke to me.
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  Speaker 2: I saw a vision.
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  Speaker 1: The moment that happens, you have to understand that it
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  Speaker 1: confers on you what is called the burden of maturity.
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  Speaker 2: And the reason is this. God always calls higher than
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  Speaker 2: where we are per time. In essence, God.
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  Speaker 1: Never speaks to where you are. Please listen very carefully
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  Speaker 1: to me tonight. He never speaks to where you are.
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  Speaker 1: He never calls where you are. Do you remember Gideon?
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  Speaker 1: When the angel came to meet Gideon and then he says,
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  Speaker 1: go and deliver the children of Israel. What did Gideon say?
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  Speaker 1: He said, listen, I'm the least in my father's house.
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  Speaker 1: My father's house is the least in the clan. The
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  Speaker 1: clan is the least in the tribe. And lest you forget,
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  Speaker 1: my tribe is the last born of Israel as well.
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  Speaker 1: In essence, if you are taking the roll call of Israel,
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  Speaker 1: I will be the last person to be called. Now,
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  Speaker 1: what did the angel say?
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  Speaker 2: Sorry, don't worry.
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  Speaker 1: God will use you like that. The angel acted as
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  Speaker 1: though he had said nothing. And then he said to him,
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  Speaker 1: he said, rise up, go in this thy might. Thou
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  Speaker 1: mighty man of valor. So God does not speak to
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  Speaker 1: where you are.
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  Speaker 2: Are you following what I'm saying here?
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  Speaker 1: When he calls you into something, when he gives you
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  Speaker 1: an assignment, you have to understand that there's a growing
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  Speaker 1: into it that is expected. There's a developing into it.
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  Speaker 2: That is expected. And say that you know what this entails.
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  Speaker 1: Many times you find people and you're wondering how come
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  Speaker 1: people started out with so much potential. You're wondering how
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  Speaker 1: come we expected this much about this person. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: so great gifting, so great anointing, so great manifestations.
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  Speaker 2: And it would seem as though at the end of
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  Speaker 2: the day.
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  Speaker 1: The people who pull through do not seem as gifted
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  Speaker 1: as those who did not pull through. And I can
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  Speaker 1: tell you the reason is very simple. The issue of
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  Speaker 1: ministerial maturity. And I'm just going to start tonight. I hope,
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I have something prepared for the next session.
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  Speaker 1: But if that's all I'm able to share in this conference, I.
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  Speaker 2: Believe that I would have delivered the path that God
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  Speaker 2: wants me to deliver.
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  Speaker 1: The need of the church today, particularly in Nigeria, is
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  Speaker 1: not men who can sound deep or who can preach great.
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  Speaker 1: It's mature ministers. That's the greatest need. And take it
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  Speaker 1: from me.
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  Speaker 2: That's the greatest need.
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  Speaker 1: Everything we're celebrating today, I can tell you there is
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  Speaker 1: a time limit to it if men don't rise up
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  Speaker 1: into maturity. There's nothing we're celebrating in Nigeria today that
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  Speaker 1: has not been celebrated in history. And you'll be shocked
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  Speaker 1: at the way they died. And as though, well, let's
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  Speaker 1: even start from the Bible. I hope you know that today,
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  Speaker 1: present-day Turkey, that is largely an Islamic nation, is the
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  Speaker 1: Ephesus of your Bible.
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  Speaker 2: The Ephesian church, be you not drunk with wine.
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  Speaker 1: In essence, God can move so mightily in a place
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  Speaker 1: and years after, there is no evidence that God ever
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  Speaker 1: came there. Is somebody listening to what I'm saying here?
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  Speaker 1: So it is possible to be trust into leadership and
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  Speaker 1: into authority without the required maturity to manage it. Ministry
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  Speaker 1: is not a proof of maturity. The calling on your
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  Speaker 1: life is not a proof of maturity. The titles and
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  Speaker 1: the offices that you stand in currently is not a
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  Speaker 1: proof of maturity. It is simply a call for maturity.
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  Speaker 1: Now let's state clearly here that there is nothing that
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  Speaker 1: puts your spiritual maturity to test more than ministry and marriage.
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  Speaker 1: It's not a marriage seminar, but it's the truth. I
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  Speaker 1: hope you know that there is nothing, maybe I should
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  Speaker 1: flip it the other way around, marriage and ministry. There
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  Speaker 1: is nothing under heaven You know, you can be in
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  Speaker 1: choir together and all of you are having fun together,
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  Speaker 1: enjoying fellowship together and all the rest.
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  Speaker 2: And, you know, you're walking in love.
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  Speaker 1: And maybe, I mean, you see the person only when
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  Speaker 1: you come for choir rehearsals.
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  Speaker 2: And if you're married, I hope you know you see
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  Speaker 2: them 24-7, every day. There's no break. There is no,
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  Speaker 2: I'm taking a break. You get what I'm saying here.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing under heaven puts your spiritual maturity to test more
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  Speaker 1: than ministry and marriage. Now, let's focus here on ministry.
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  Speaker 1: You're going to have to deal with people. Can I
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  Speaker 1: tell you something? And because it's a minister's conference, we
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  Speaker 1: can say this. I've heard Pastor Ben Hinn talk about
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  Speaker 1: it as well. When Catherine Kuhlman was on her deathbed,
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  Speaker 1: on the sickbed in that hospital there, and Oral Roberts
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  Speaker 1: and his wife, Evelyn Roberts, went to pray for Catherine Kuhlman. Now,
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  Speaker 1: Catherine knew that if Oral prayed for her, she was
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  Speaker 1: going to get healed. At that time, the two foremost
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  Speaker 1: healing evangelists on earth, on the face of the earth,
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  Speaker 1: was a woman and a man, Catherine Kuhlman on one
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  Speaker 1: hand and Oral Roberts on the other hand.
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  Speaker 2: And interestingly, they were best of friends. They were best
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  Speaker 2: of friends.
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  Speaker 1: So when Oral heard that Catherine was ill, he went
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  Speaker 1: to the hospital, and.
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  Speaker 2: This was what Oral himself said.
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  Speaker 1: He said the moment they got into the hospital, they
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  Speaker 1: could sense, they heard angelic singing, as in they could
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  Speaker 1: sense the glory.
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  Speaker 2: Of God in that hospital.
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  Speaker 1: So they went to her bedside and laid hands on her.
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  Speaker 1: This was Oral's whole account. Listen to what Oral Roberts
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  Speaker 1: himself said. He said the moment, and if you know
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  Speaker 1: anything about Oral Roberts, he had this sign where he
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  Speaker 1: knew that the anointing was there to minister healing to people.
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  Speaker 2: He said the moment he laid hands.
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  Speaker 1: On Catherine, he said the anointing literally flowed.
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  Speaker 2: Out of his hand.
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  Speaker 1: And he knew, because he had been in crusades years
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  Speaker 1: upon years, he knew without fail.
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  Speaker 2: This woman was going to get healed.
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  Speaker 1: He said, but as he was praying, Evelyn tapped him
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  Speaker 1: and said, look at her. Tapped him, because his eyes
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  Speaker 1: were closed. Tapped him, that's his wife Evelyn. And Catherine,
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  Speaker 1: because she couldn't talk, she stretched her hand and pointed
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  Speaker 1: this way.
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  Speaker 2: She said, and Evelyn said, she does not want to
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  Speaker 2: be healed. She wants to go home. Leave her. Oral
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  Speaker 2: said no.
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  Speaker 1: Catherine kept pointing her hand. Finally, Oral left it off.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, within a few hours, she was dead. Later on,
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  Speaker 1: a very close associate said something. She said, Catherine, she.
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  Speaker 2: Didn't think that maybe that should have been the end.
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  Speaker 1: But Catherine was so offended and betrayed. And she said,
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  Speaker 1: I can't have spent my life laboring over people like this.
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  Speaker 1: And this is how I'm repaid. She said, I'm done.
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  Speaker 2: I want to go home.
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  Speaker 1: Listen, if you're going to do ministry, you have to
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  Speaker 1: understand that it will test your maturity to the limits.
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  Speaker 1: Bishop Edepo was asked at his 68th birthday, they asked him,
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  Speaker 1: what's your greatest blessing on earth? And he looked at them.
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  Speaker 1: He said, my greatest blessing are people. My greatest cause
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  Speaker 1: are people.
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  Speaker 2: Nothing under heaven. Listen, nothing. There's nothing under heaven that
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  Speaker 2: will test.
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  Speaker 1: Your spiritual maturity more than the assignment of ministry. Now,
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  Speaker 1: if it is going to put it to test, then
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  Speaker 1: we must ensure we are made of the right material.
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  Speaker 1: Are you following what I'm saying? We must ensure that
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: we are.
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  Speaker 2: Not all show and no substance. Can somebody get to
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  Speaker 2: what I'm saying?
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  Speaker 1: We must ensure that we are not all public manifestation
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: and no inward substance, no inward strength to handle what
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: life will throw at us. So please know this, nothing
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: will put to test your spiritual maturity more than ministry
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: and marriage. Now, our ultimate assignment as ministers, listen very
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: carefully here, is to bring people into maturity, irrespective of.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: The offices that we stand in.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: Ephesians chapter 4, you read from the 11th verse, talking
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: about the fivefold offices, weather, prophet, evangelist, teacher, and all
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: the rest, down to verse 15 says, He tells us
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: what these fivefold offices are to do to bring the
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: saints into what?
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: Maturity.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: That we may all grow up into the nature and
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: the stature of Jesus Christ. Now, the question here is this.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: You can see that as well in Apostle Paul's ministry.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: Colossians chapter 1, verse 28 and 29.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: He talks about it.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: He says that wherein we strive, warning every man, preaching
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: to every man, admonishing every man with the effectual working
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: of Christ on the inside of us, that we may
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: present every man mature the word perfect there is mature
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: before god so all that paul was doing the healings
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: the miracles the conferences the organization the administration moving from
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: place to place had one assignment that we may present
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: all men mature before god that we may present all
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: men what perfect before god now the question here is
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: this if that's our ultimate assignment.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: Even though the route to it may differ but the
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: evangelist is by.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: Your crusades but the teacher is by what you do
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: by teaching For the pastor, all of us have different tools,
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: but at the end of the day, the product of
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: ministry is not a healing. The eventual final product of
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: ministry is a transformed life. The eventual final product of
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: ministry is a mature believer. So irrespective of what we do,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: irrespective of the accolades and everything that we do, what
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: we are looking out for is are people maturing into
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: the stature of jesus christ now here's the question if
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: this be the assignment that god has given to us
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: it must mean that those who would take people to
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: maturity must have tested maturity now maturity is not a
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: destination it is not it's not.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: An end pardon me Maturity is not a bus stop.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: It's a journey. Are you following what I'm saying here?
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: In essence, each and every one of us have to
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: be consciously aware.
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: That we are on a journey. I'm improving.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: My perspectives are changing. Are you following what I'm saying here?
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: My attitude to things is changing.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: My response to life is changing.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: If this had happened last year, this is how I
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: would have responded to it. Now it's happening. Look at
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: the way I'm responding to it. You get what I'm
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: saying here.
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: We must be.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: Seeing that progress in our lives. Else what will happen
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: is this. We will have so much show on the
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: external and very little substance on the inside of ourselves.
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: Are you following what I'm saying?
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: So irrespective of the call of God on our lives,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: irrespective of the ministry, irrespective of the offices and all
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: the rest, The assignment is to bring people into maturity.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: And if that's our job, then it.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: Must mean you can't take people to a place you
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: have not been.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: Are you following what I'm saying? That's the job of ministry.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: You have to go somewhere and then lead the people
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: to the place that God has taken you to.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: That's the job of ministry. Number three thought here. Very important.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: Now, fulfilling your ministry. Because I always say to people,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: let's remove the idea of success in ministry from our minds.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: The moment you start using that word, you are using
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: corporate terms. You're using entrepreneurial terms that can put you
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: in trouble. Because at the end of the day, how
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: do you measure that something is successful?
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: Say that you compare it to another. You get what
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: I'm saying?
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: In essence, you realize that where only the tortoise is
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: running is the fastest runner as long as it's only
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: worms that you have in that place. But the moment
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: you have a cheetah or a lion in that place,
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: immediately what was successful becomes a failure, not because it's
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: a failure, but because it's compared to another. In fact,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: the Lord said something to me in prayer. He said,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: nothing is small until it's compared.
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: Nothing is small until it's compared. Please listen to me tonight.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: Nothing is small until it's compared. When we use that
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: term success in ministry, it puts a pressure upon us
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: to match up with something that we are seeing on
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: the external now can i tell you something pastors ministers
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: of the gospel there is something that's called being provoking
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: one another to good works in essence i can see
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: what's going on in another person in another ministry and
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: be inspired.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: By it and you get what i'm.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: Saying here because you can be provoked to good works
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: And see that, oh, look at what God is doing.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: And you rejoice and celebrate about it. But then, there's
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: a thin line between being provoked to good works and comparison.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: There's a thin line. And can I tell you what
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: that thin line is? The ability to see what God
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: is doing with another, maintain joy on the inside of yourself,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: and not change your direction.
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: That's the thin line.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: Too many people are revivalist today because that's what's God
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: has put the spotlight on.
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: And God did not call you to preach revival.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: We'll come to that. You now have sermon series on revival.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: Because you've done YouTube assessment. You've gotten data analysis to
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: analyze for you. And they say, what are the key
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: words now? To be analyzed, there's revival. So fulfilling your ministry,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: not just being busy in ministry.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: Requires maturity.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: Nobody can fulfill the call of God on their lives.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: And please note what I said, fulfilling your ministry, not
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: just being busy and not success in ministry. Because Paul said,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: made a very sobering thought in 1 Corinthians, the third chapter.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: He says, every man's work shall be tested. He didn't
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: say they do no work. He says, every man's work
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: shall be tested. It shall be passed through fire. He says,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: many people's works will be burnt. They will suffer loss
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: of the work. They are the only ones, in essence,
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: there are things people will clap for here by.
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: The time we pass it through fire.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: There are things people will clap for here.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: People will scream.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: Are you following what I'm saying here? People will say,
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: this is glorious. This is commendable. Paul says, by the
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: time we pass it through the fire, he says, the
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: man himself shall be saved, but he shall suffer loss
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: of everything.
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: You know why?
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: God does not reward what was successful. He rewards what
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: he commanded. Is somebody following me here? And can I
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: tell you ministers of the gospel something here? One of
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: the marks of maturity we are going to come to
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: it is the ability to stay focused.
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: It's one of them.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: Listen, when you see people who are tossed to and fro,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: a new doctrine comes, they jump on it.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: Another doctrine comes, they jump on it. Those are babes.
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: You get what I'm saying?
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: In fact, it tells us that Ephesians the fourth chapter,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: the mark of maturity says we are not moved by
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: every slight of doctrine.
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: In essence, one of the ways you know a mature person.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: It's their ability within winds.
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: That are blowing.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: And you may look as though this thing is the
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: vogue and all the rest to stay with whatever it
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: is that God has shown them and that God has.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: Said to them. Are you following what I'm saying?
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: So at the end of the day, to fulfill the
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: call of God on your life, tell our keepers to
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: take it to fulfill the ministry that he has received
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: of the Lord. If we're not talking about success, fulfilling
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: the mission, which means standing before the master and receiving
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: from him his approval, well done. Pastors, hope we have
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: not forgotten. We are going to stand before Jesus. All
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: this thing we are doing, I hope you have not forgotten.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: That the next time you hold the mic to sing,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: you are going to stand. That standing here, I will
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: stand before the Lord Jesus to give an account of
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: the things that I've done in my flesh. Are you
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: following what I'm saying here? Hope we have not forgotten.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: You know, like many people, we think that the report
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: card is marked here. Can I tell you, ministry report
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: card is not marked on social media.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: It's at the judgment seat of Christ. Are you still here?
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: Look at 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 16.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: Let's look at a few scriptures here. The demand for maturity.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: Woe to that ministry. Woe to that land. Woe to
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: that organization. When thy princes, your kings, are immature, they
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: are children.
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: He says, but blessed is that land.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: In essence, you can be trusting to it even though
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: there's no maturity. But blessed is that land. Blessed is
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: that kingdom. Blessed is that organization, that ministry. When your
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: princes are the sons of nobles, they understand certain things
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: that is not available to just everybody else. 1 Timothy,
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: are you there? chapter 4 and verse 16. 1 Timothy
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: chapter 4 and verse 16.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: Are you getting anything tonight? Look at what it says.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: It said, take heed unto yourself, number one, and unto
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: the doctrine, continuing them, for in doing.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: This thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee.
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: I want you to note how Paul puts it. He says,
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: take heed unto yourself, number one, unto the doctrine, number two.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: Continuing there, it says, for by doing this thou shalt
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: also save who first?
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: Come on, talk to me. Who first?
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: Thyself and them that listen to you. Them that hear thee.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: Luke chapter 1 verse 80. Luke chapter 2 verse 40.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: You see the importance of maturity there when it comes
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: to ministry. John the Baptist were told the child grew
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: and waxed strong in spirit. Was in the desert still
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: the day of his showing unto Israel.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: What was he doing? Waxing strong in spirit.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: Chapter 2 verse 40. Speaking about Jesus. And the child grew.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: And waxed strong in spirit. Waxed strong in spirit. Filled
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: with wisdom.
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: And the grace of God was what? Upon him. So
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: you see how that. Before they tell us about their ministry.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: And the great things they were doing. The writer seems
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: to want to let us see something.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: Almost as though this is an imperative for what I'm
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: about to say. Before we start talking about the miracles
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: and the powerful teachings, I want you to see something
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: that happened in.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: The life of these individuals.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: That's like a foundational thought before you start talking about
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: those big things. Are you following what I'm saying here? Now,
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: let's quickly say this here about ministry. That gifts and
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: callings are an election of grace. Are you following what
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: I'm saying here? Ephesians chapter 3 verse 7, Paul speaks
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: about it. He says that this grace that I stand in,
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: this ministry I stand in, it's simply by the election
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: of grace. Alright, so gifts and callings are an election
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: of grace, not a function of spiritual maturity. Romans chapter
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: 1 verse 5, you see it as well, whereby we
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: have received grace and apostleship for obedience and faith unto
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: all the nations. In essence, anything you stand in as
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: an office within the body of Christ is an election
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: of grace. And the thing with grace is this, is
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: that you don't merit it, you don't qualify for it.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: Are you following what I'm saying you don't have to
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: merit it you don't have to qualify for.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: It you don't have to work.
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: For it it is not based on you fulfilling certain
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: terms are you get what i'm saying you you don't
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: enter into this um because you fulfill certain terms how
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: many of you have.
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: Read what paul said about his calling.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: Into ministry he said i thank my god who counted
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: me faithful putting me into the ministry when did he
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: count him faithful.
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: Come on, talk to me.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: At what point did God count him faithful to have
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: put him into the ministry? Did you read about Jesus Christ,
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: the heavens opening over Jesus at the Jordan? And he said,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: I hope you know he had not performed one miracle.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: He had not raised one dead. He had not taught
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: one sermon. Yet that approval had come. In essence, when
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: we talk about callings, offices, positions within the body of Christ,
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: it is an election of grace. However, What you do
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: with it is not an.
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: Election of grace. Somebody follow what I'm saying here? What
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: you do with it is not an election of grace.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: However, the gift of itself and the calling of itself.
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: Is an election of grace.
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: You have to know as well that supernatural experiences, demonstrations
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: of the gift and power does not necessarily equate spiritual maturity.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: This is important for us to note.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: The fact that there's great manifestation of the Holy Spirit.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: So I stand here and then I wave my hand
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: and everybody goes under the power. And then 10 people
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: on the wheelchair stand up there does not necessarily mean
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: that the one standing there is spiritually mature.
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: Is somebody following what I'm saying?
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: The Bible says this sign shall follow them that believe.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: He didn't say those who are mature.
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: These signs.
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: Now, if you read the previous verse there, he says
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: that going to all preach the gospel, he.
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: Says he that believe it.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: So he's referring to people that receive your message.
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: And he says the moment they.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: Receive your message, the capacity.
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: For the supernatural is butted in them. Are you following
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: this here? You see, because here's one of the biggest problems.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: And if you're not careful, even as a gifted minister,
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: you will think that because there is the charismata, I
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: am making progress in the things that matter the most.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: Go and ask Saul. He was on his way to
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: kill David. He came into the company of prophets. He
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: prophesied all night long to the point that he took
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: off his clothes.
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: He was naked. Have you ever prophesied like that? So
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: calm down.
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: Have you ever prophesied to the point your clothes left?
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: I'll toss you at the Lord. Toss you at the Lord.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: The whole night prophesying. Pastor, do you know what he
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: did when he woke up the next morning? He carried
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: his sword to go and kill David again.
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: Hey, somebody follow what I'm saying?
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: In essence, you can carry the mic and sing powerfully.
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: People are really blessed. People are crying. And you leave
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: that stage and there is someone you have sworn I
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: will never speak to again in my life. And everybody
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: looks at it and they say, powerful sister.
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: And the yardsticks of maturity in the kingdom are far different.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: Apostle, you know what the Lord said to me that,
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: I mean, literally changed my life. He said, gifts are given,
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: fruits are grown. In essence, the proof of growth is
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: a fruit, not a gift.
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: Is somebody getting what I'm saying?
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: Gifts are given, which means in the election of grace,
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: he gives the gift.
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: But fruits are grown.
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: And that already lends you to something I'm going to
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: talk about when it comes to maturity. God's yardstick for maturity.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: You read the Corinthian church. Do you remember Paul said
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: that you are yet carnal, you are babes. How many
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: of you remember that he said that about the Corinthian church?
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: He said, you are yet carnal, you are babes. Yet
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: in chapter one, I believe verse 14 or so, he
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: says that you do not come behind in any spiritual gifts.
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: I mean, they demonstrated so much spiritual gifts that Paul
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: had to write an entire chapter, about three chapters to
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: explain spiritual.
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: Things onto them.
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: And they ended it by saying, let everything be done
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: decently and in order.
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: Do you understand what it is?
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: That people are still looking for how somebody will prophesy.
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: Paul was saying, it's two more, all of you, everybody.
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: He had to put order to say, listen, when.
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: The prophets are speaking, it should be by one, by two,
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: by three.
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: I mean, such a demonstration of the gifts of the Spirit.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: Yet he said to them, you are babes. Can I
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: tell you something? You can demonstrate great power and be
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: a babe.
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: Somebody follow what I'm saying? So please let's, thank you.
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: Let's not equate a manifestation of the Spirit, great anointing
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: demonstrated with spiritual maturity.
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: As ministers, please listen very carefully to me.
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: We must be able to define for ourselves in clear
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: terms what God calls maturity.
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: I mean you are not.
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: I mean, on one side wondering, is it this, is
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: it that?
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: You are not. You know clearly that this is the goal.
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: You know clearly that this is what God is looking at.
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: You know clearly that these are the things that God
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: is watching out for. If you can't define it, you
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: can't be it. Are you following what I'm saying? That's
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: why we have to be able to define it. Let
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: me add a third one before we go into exactly
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: what spiritual maturity is. Sounding deep and throwing great ramah
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: And rev is not necessarily spiritual maturity. You see, because
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: one of the things I've realized is that people think
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: if I'm complex, if I sound deep, and if I
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: sound complex, then, and you know, a lot of people
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: think that's really deep. And then we say things that
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: people don't even understand what we say. Can I tell
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: us communicators of the gospel, ministers of the gospel, the
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: proof that you know something is your ability to simplify it.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: That's what shows us that you know it. All this
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: you can't get it.
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: So why are you here? Is it not for us
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: to get it?
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: There are a lot of nuances we are put on
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: the stage.
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: And you may not know that these are just personal idiosyncrasies.
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: The Bible speaks about Jesus that the commoners heard him gladly.
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: In essence, the person who didn't go to school heard Jesus.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: He understood what he was saying. And there will be
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: no greater communicator than Jesus.
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: Are you following what I'm saying? So sounding deep, in fact,
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: the Bible says knowledge perfect up. Are you following what
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: I'm saying? And have you not found out that many a.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: Times, people who like to sound deep, there's an air
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: of arrogance that they carry. There's an air of, you know,
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: we know something that you don't know. We have something
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: that you don't have.
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: Apostle God said to me in prayer, he said, son,
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: carry grace with humility. I've not forgotten those words.
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: He said, irrespective of the grace I apply to your life,
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: make sure all your life you carry it with humility.
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: There's an air of arrogance.
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: By just five minutes into the conversation, you just see
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: that there's that air of knowledge perfected for charity edified. Now,
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: how do we define maturity? 1 Corinthians. Paul gives us
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: what to.
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: Look out for.
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: Chapter 13 and verse 11.
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: And I want to please everybody to note this scripture.
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 11.
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: Are you getting anything tonight? It says, when I was
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: a child, I speak as a child. Can we all
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: read together? I want you to please understand what Paul
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: is trying to say here. I want you to go.
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: When I was a child, I speak as a child.
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: I understood as a child.
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: Read on. Alright, read it again. One to go.
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: When I was a child, I speak as a child.
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: I understood as a child. I thought as a child.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: But when I became a man, I put away childish things.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: One more time. When I was a child, number one, speak.
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: Speak in speech.
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: Number two, what does he say? I understood as a child.
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: So Paul is putting a distinction between a child and
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: a man. And it says the way you know a
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: child from a man is in their speech, their perspectives,
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: and in their thinking patterns. Is somebody following what I'm saying? Now,
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: please hold on here. Hold on here. Don't forget that
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: 1 Corinthians chapter 13 is sandwiched in between 1 Corinthians
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: chapter 12 and 1 Corinthians chapter 14. And that in
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: chapter 12, he just gave us a list of the
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: spiritual gifts and how powerful those spiritual gifts are. Are
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: you following what I'm saying? And then in chapter 14,
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: he goes into tongues, explaining this phenomenon of tongues and
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: sandwiched in between.
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: He says, let me show you the true mark of maturity.
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: Somebody follow what I'm saying here?
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: Don't forget that this is the love scripture. 1 Corinthians
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: chapter 13. So we're going to come back to this
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: in just a bit.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: How that the context of verse 11 is love. So
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: he says, when I was a child, he didn't say
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: I spoke in tongues more than ye all. I did
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: not speak in tongues then. When I became a man,
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: I spoke in tongues more than ye all. No. He
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: didn't say when I was a child, look at those
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: nine gifts that I just explained to you.
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: In chapter 12.
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: When I became a man, everything began to manifest in
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: my life. How did he describe? I need you to
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: understand this. You are reading this epistle, you're like, what?
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: I mean, word of knowledge, word of wisdom. My God, ah, prophecy,
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: tongues and interpretation, gifts of healings.
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: You are seeing all of these massive manifestations.
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: You are reading about tongues, interpretation of tongues, and every way,
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: you know.
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: The whole place, it's a Holy Ghost meeting. Everybody's excited.
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: Then he looks at them and says, when I was
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: a child, I speak as a child.
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: I thought like a child. I understood as a child.
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: But now that I am a.
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: Man, I have put away childish things. The way children speak,
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: the way they think, and the way they understand things.
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: In essence, I hope you know, what you say, what
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: you think, your perception determines your attitudes and your character.
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: Is somebody following what I'm saying? This is important.
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: So sandwiched between these Massive teaching on spiritual gifts and
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: all the rest.
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: He gives us the true mark of maturity. It's in speech, thoughts, perceptions.
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: One day I was seated with a minister.
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: There are things I can't say publicly. I was seated
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: with a minister.
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: And for almost one hour, the conversation was from one
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: minister to another.
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: Where I was, I mean, because he was a senior minister,
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: my wife.
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: Knew I was, you know, that God forbid I'm found
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: where they are talking about people.
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: God forbid. He was from one, you know, this one
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: is doing this one. He's wrong. He's not right. But
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: it is one of the worst days of my life.
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: I stepped out of that place and I said to
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: my wife, I said, this is the last time. I
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: will ever be in close proximity with this person.
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: Can I tell you something? When you come close to people,
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: you carry two things.
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: You carry their grace and you carry their ideologies.
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: Now here's the thing.
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: I can tell you for free that ideologies will determine
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: how far grace goes.
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: Is somebody following what I'm saying? In essence, Okay, Lord,
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: I'll say a few things. Are you still here? You
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: get it, right? Okay.
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: So he said, I speak as a child. I understood
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: as a child. I thought as a child. So maturity
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: is measured in perspectives and character.
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: Not flows or moves. Are you following what I'm saying?
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: Maturity is measured in attitudes and ideologies, not depth.
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: And graces. Are you following this here? So a man
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: can seem to have depth and not be mature.
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: I hope you know that when you stand in an office,
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: the anointing on.
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: That office brings certain things into your life. For example,
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: if you listen to.
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: A teacher, if they are going to be sincere with
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: It is not everything they see on the stage that
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: they thought of before. At least 40% of it is
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: the flow of the grace on that office. And many
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: a times we will have to go back and say, ah,
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: I never saw that. And then you start studying further.
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: In essence, that's why Elisha, even though he had double
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: portion of the anointing, when he died, his bones could
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: raise the dead. Yet he died of sickness. That's why
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: a preacher, I mean, I don't know if it's a
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: simple mattress or who was it, that they will carry
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: her up the stage.
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: On a wheelchair or something like that. She couldn't stand up.
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: One of the women evangelists couldn't stand up because she
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: was ill.
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: By the time her leg hits the.
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: Stage, the anointing comes upon her and she jumps up.
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: She will go on the stage. She will raise people
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: out of the wheelchair.
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: And by the time she gets down the stage, she
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: goes back into her wheelchair. And you're wondering, How is
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: it possible for her to heal the sick in that measure?
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: And then she goes back to her wheelchair. Say with me,
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: it's an office. It's an office. Are you getting what
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: I'm saying? It's an office. So we can't measure maturity
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: by that. Is somebody following what I'm saying? What we
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: are looking for is, what are your perspectives?
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: What are your perspectives? What are your ideologies? What's your
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: philosophy to life? When you begin to mature, it shows
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: in three areas. Three critical areas. I'm going to focus
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: on just one tonight. I'll list the three, but I'll
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: focus on one tonight for the sake of time. Three
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: critical areas where it begins to show up. Number one
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: is in a personal proficiency in the use of the
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: word of God for yourself.
• 45:06
  Speaker 2: This is important.
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: I have found out that we can teach faith as
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: ministers and not practice faith for our ministries.
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: And we can teach solid faith. Are you getting what
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: I'm saying? The first place he shows.
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: Up is in you using the word, becoming proficient in
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: the use of the word of God for yourself in
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: your private life. Where the word of God begins to
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: determine your perspective, the word of God determines your outlook
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: to life. How can we come up the stage and
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: say the joy of the Lord is your strength? The
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: joy of the Lord is your strength.
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: Everybody here, I mean, get joyful. Don't allow Satan steal
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: your joy.
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: And then the average pastor will leave that place and
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: sink down into depression.
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: Because he didn't see the number he wanted in church.
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: And I can tell you for free, because I count,
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: I mean, where God has placed me, I can tell
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: you for free how that many people, ministers of the gospel,
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: are dealing with heavyweights of depression. We are wondering if
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: this thing is, and the question is, when we climbed
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: to this stage, what did we preach? What did we
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: tell the people? The Lord said something very powerful to me,
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: and this is why many times, you can have somebody
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: busting great.
• 46:35
  Speaker 2: Words, But the lives of the people are not changing.
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: You know, I told you that the specific product of
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: ministry is change lives. Mature believers. God said to me,
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: you don't change people by what you know. You change
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: people by who you are. So you can know so much.
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: But in what measure have you worked that into your
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: own life?
• 46:59
  Speaker 2: Are you getting what I'm saying? In what measure have
• 47:02
  Speaker 2: you worked that into your own life? We tell the
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: people God will show up for them.
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: God will show up for you.
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: He always shows up at the right time. And then
• 47:11
  Speaker 2: we go back and you get what I'm saying here.
• 47:17
  Speaker 2: We tell the.
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: People that God is your source. God is your source.
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: Don't look to men. God is your source. But we
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: go back and we send text messages to 10 people.
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: Can I talk to ministers here tonight? You say God
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: did it, but we know his phone did it. Is
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: somebody getting what I'm saying here? Where do you get
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: the credibility and the audacity to tell people to believe
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: God and.
• 47:47
  Speaker 2: To look to God when you are looking to the church?
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: Where do we get the audacity from? How can we
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: tell people God is going to show up for you
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: and all the rest? And you know you are preaching
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: it powerfully, but then a need shows.
• 48:04
  Speaker 2: Up in your own life.
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: And the church is your answer. Or some rich fellow
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: in church is your answer. And I read you a scripture.
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: Are we still here together? Because it's not the word
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: you preach that changes you or grows you or matures you.
• 48:21
  Speaker 2: It's the word you do.
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: Nobody ever got fed... Because he cooked a nice meal.
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: Cooking the meal never feeds anybody.
• 48:33
  Speaker 2: Preaching is cooking. Everybody gets fed the same way. It's a....
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: Somebody following what I'm saying? And can I tell you something?
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: True character in ministry... Is built when you apply the
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: word of God... To adverse situations. That's where character is built.
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: Keith Butler said something. Bishop Keith Butler. He said the
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: church was just growing at the time. And his associate pastor.
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: They were doing a building project. And you know. And
• 49:09
  Speaker 2: all the rest.
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: His associate pastor at that time.
• 49:11
  Speaker 2: Got a call from God. Or from hell. We don't know.
• 49:16
  Speaker 2: So go and start his own thing. So he started
• 49:19
  Speaker 2: a rebellion. He said, Brother Keith is doing this. He's
• 49:22
  Speaker 2: doing that. He's doing this.
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: And then the church broke into two. Now, not two
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: equal halves. Are you getting this? All the boys that
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: were working class left with associate pastor. And he was
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: left with students. That's what Keith Butler said. And he said,
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: you know That means building funds has moved. He was offended.
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: He was in prayer, talking to God. And God said,
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: you take a seat and go and meet that person.
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: That you will sow it into his life. Tell me,
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: do the word. He says, bless them that persecute you.
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: That's where character is built. Can I tell you something?
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: Bless them that persecute you. The Greek word for bless.
• 50:13
  Speaker 2: Damn. The Hebrew intonation of the Greek. Persecute.
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: Five Greek words translated. When you finish preaching it, you
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: have not matured. It's until somebody persecutes you and you
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: bless them that you mature.
• 50:31
  Speaker 2: Studying about dumbbells does not grow muscle. You get what
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: I'm saying?
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: You can see the roundness of the dumbbell. The diameter
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: is coordinated to this and that and that.
• 50:48
  Speaker 2: You have pot belly.
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: You get what I'm saying? With all that knowledge. Apostle,
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: he took the seed to this guy. As he gave
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: the guy, the guy said, all right, thank you.
• 51:00
  Speaker 2: Well done.
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: The guy just said, church, down the road.
• 51:04
  Speaker 2: Well done.
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: Kid Butler said, now, Kid Butler was a martial artist.
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: He said he wanted to beat him.
• 51:10
  Speaker 2: Beat him. As he left the place.
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: God said, I have given you this land.
• 51:17
  Speaker 2: You just passed the test. Are you following what I'm saying?
• 51:23
  Speaker 2: Tell me maturity. Is ministry you want to do right?
• 51:28
  Speaker 2: You say you are called right?
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 51:30
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: Because many of us think it's prayer. But when you finish,
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: you now come and meet real people. That one is
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: with angels.
• 51:43
  Speaker 2: Do you get what I'm saying? Angels are nice. They'll
• 51:45
  Speaker 2: be fanning you with their wings. You'll even be feeling breeze.
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: Are you still here? My time is past, man. So
• 51:54
  Speaker 2: let me just wrap up here.
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: Hebrews chapter 5 verse 11. Let me show you something
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: very quickly here. Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 11.
• 52:01
  Speaker 2: Quickly. I've not even gotten in, maybe we'll get into
• 52:04
  Speaker 2: that one tomorrow. He says, of whom we.
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: Have many things to say and have to be uttered,
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: seeing ye are dull of hearing.
• 52:08
  Speaker 2: Next verse, verse 12, quickly, quickly. For when for the
• 52:12
  Speaker 2: time ye are to be teachers, ye have need that
• 52:13
  Speaker 2: one teacher.
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: Again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God,
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: and have become such as have need of milk and
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: not of strong meat.
• 52:19
  Speaker 2: Next verse. Can we all read this verse together? I
• 52:21
  Speaker 2: want you to go. For everyone that use it, hold on,
• 52:24
  Speaker 2: not know it, say with me, use it. Not know it,
• 52:27
  Speaker 2: say with me, use it. Say with me, use it.
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: Milk is unskillful and the word of righteousness for is
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: a babe.
• 52:38
  Speaker 2: Are you following what I'm saying here?
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: So it is skill in the use of the word,
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: not just the knowledge of the word.
• 52:46
  Speaker 2: Are you following what I'm saying here?
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: What is looking at here is not your accumulation of knowledge,
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: but the use of it. You can stand here, sir,
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: and teach us that the Greek word for faith is pistis. Sir,
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: where is it in your life?
• 53:01
  Speaker 2: Where is it? Where is it? Look at what he says.
• 53:09
  Speaker 2: For everyone that use that milk, not know it. It
• 53:12
  Speaker 2: takes away, you.
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: Know, because in our minds, once you know, you have grown.
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: But he says, he that use that milk, he's unskillfully
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: in the word of righteousness for his babe.
• 53:22
  Speaker 2: Next verse. Can I have the last verse there? Everybody,
• 53:24
  Speaker 2: let's read together. I want you to go.
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: But strong meat belongeth to them that are full age,
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: even those who by reason of Hold on.
• 53:33
  Speaker 2: By what?
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: Not those who know it. And maybe I should just
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: quickly say this as I wrap up here. That what
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: we call milk and meat is not, you know, some
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: people say meat is revelations. Milk is songs of Solomon. No, no, no,
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: that's not what he's saying. John 3.16 can be milk
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: for someone and can be meat for another person. In essence,
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: what are you deriving from inside it?
• 54:05
  Speaker 2: What is it producing for you? And I want you
• 54:08
  Speaker 2: to observe.
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: That Paul immediately takes away our focus from just knowledge
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: to use. The number one mark of maturity, a proficiency
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: in the use of.
• 54:19
  Speaker 2: The word of God for yourself. Hallelujah. Are you still here?
• 54:25
  Speaker 2: Number two, let me just list the other two for you.
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: Is finding and following faithfully God's plan for your life.
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: Finding and following faithfully God's plan for your life. There's
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: a race set before you. It's not set before everybody else.
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: It is set before you. You're not carried away or
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: swayed away by what's raining or what's working.
• 54:50
  Speaker 2: You'll find your place.
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: I told you earlier on that one of the marks
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: of spiritual maturity is the stability. Are you following what
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: I'm saying here? Focus and stability. You find your place
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: and you stay in your place. You're not swayed by
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: every new doctrine.
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  Speaker 2: You have a clear sense of purpose. And lastly, the
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  Speaker 2: third part.
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  Speaker 1: Of maturity, which is the core of it, is a
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  Speaker 1: vital love walk.
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  Speaker 2: We're going to talk about that tomorrow morning. A vital
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  Speaker 2: love walk.
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  Speaker 1: Nobody on earth Can call themselves mature.
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  Speaker 2: If they don't have a love walk. Are you following
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  Speaker 2: what I'm saying?
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  Speaker 1: So the calling to ministry. The assignments that we have.
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  Speaker 1: The places that we stand in. Does not confirm maturity.
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  Speaker 1: It's a call to maturity.
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  Speaker 2: Hallelujah.
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  Speaker 1: Father in the name of the Lord Jesus. Let these
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  Speaker 1: words be expounded in the hearts of everyone here tonight.
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  Speaker 1: Let the Holy Spirit take them, apply them to our
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  Speaker 1: unique situations, apply them to where we are, and bring
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  Speaker 1: us into the fullness of the truths in the name
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 2: From this conference, let men arise.
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  Speaker 1: Men will come in as children, we will come in
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  Speaker 1: at different levels, but let men arise from this conference.
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  Speaker 1: Men upon whom you can place the burden of the work.
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  Speaker 2: Men upon whom you.
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  Speaker 1: Can place the responsibility with no fear whatsoever. Let such
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  Speaker 1: men arise from this conference in the name of Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, do a work in our hearts that can
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  Speaker 1: never be erased. Do a work in our hearts that
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  Speaker 1: can never be reversed. In the mighty name of the
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  Speaker 1: Lord Jesus. For this and many more, we give you
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  Speaker 1: praise and we thank you. As the conference continues. Let
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  Speaker 1: the waters grow deeper. In the mighty name of Jesus.
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  Speaker 2: We give you the praise. In Jesus mighty name we pray. Amen.
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  Speaker 2: The message you just listened to. Is sponsored by the
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  Speaker 2: friends and partners. Of Femi Lazarus Apostolic Ministries Ecumenical. Flame.
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  Speaker 2: To partner with Flame. Kindly make use of these account details. 2215.
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  Speaker 2: 005289 UBA