Latest / Eurasia Region Podcast / Regional Conference 2025 - Dr. Chambo | Developing Leaders of Christian Character

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Regional Conference 2025 - Dr. Chambo | Developing Leaders of Christian Character · Eurasia Region Podcast

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  Welcome to the Eurasia Region Podcast channel.
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  In this podcast episode, you can listen to the sermon from Doctor
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  Philly Jambo. The sermon took place at the
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  Eurasia Regional Conference 2025 in Albania.
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  Our General Superintendent in Jurisdiction, Dr. Chambal, spoke
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  about the team developing leaders of Christian character.
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  They gave me a theme so I I will try to stay on this team.
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  Not that I know anything about this topic they gave me, but I
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  was asked to speak on a subject of developing leaders of
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  Christian character. Thinking about what it looks
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  like to live in this world, a corrupt world and be a people
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  who are counter cultural to the corruption.
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  A people of integrity as the people, as the people of God.
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  What it looks like to be like that.
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  When I was asked to speak on this theme, my mind immediately
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  went to Luke chapter 3 and I thought of John the Baptist
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  preaching by Jordan, calling people to repentance, preparing
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  the way for the coming of the Messiah.
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  And as the conviction began to drip the mind of the people, it
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  it just so happened that as they were hearing the word of God,
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  they came to this place where the crowds began to say, what
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  should we do? So Luke chapter 3, we read from
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  verse 10 to 14 and the crowd asked him what then should we
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  do? In reply John the Baptist say to
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  them, whoever has two codes must share with anyone who has none,
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  and we have whatever who has has food must do likewise.
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  Even the tax collectors came to be baptized and they asked him,
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  teacher, what should we do? He said to them, collect no more
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  than the amount prescribed to you, the soldiers.
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  The soldiers also came to ask him and we what should we do?
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  He said to them, Do not extort money from anyone by threats or
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  false accusation and be satisfied with your wages.
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  The Word of God for the people of God.
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  Thanks Be to God three things that he presents to them.
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  Whoever has two calls must share with others.
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  You must share. There must be generosity in what
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  you do. Tax collectors don't collect
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  more than what you are authorized.
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  Be be honest, be honest. It's kind of just being
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  practical in his message. You want to know what repentance
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  look like, looks like, be generous.
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  You want to know what it looks like?
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  Be honest. You want to know what it look
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  like. There must be vocational
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  integrity. Well, maybe not everywhere.
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  Where we work, people have integrity.
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  And there are things that are so entrenched in the culture, in
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  the context where we find ourselves.
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  What does that looks like? Repentance in John looks like
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  generosity, honesty, vocational integrity.
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  It's holiness applied to economics, to work, to public
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  life. I think this is where our
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  conversation about integrity and anti corruption must begin
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  because this is the theme that we're given.
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  And, and I know that in your gaps gathering, you have been
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  talking about these, those who are part of this particular gap.
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  You see the ordinary way that he gives his answer to the ordinary
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  child. He talks about things that are
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  related to their socioeconomic, their own life.
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  There was so much poverty surrounding them.
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  There were people struggling, but at the same time there were
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  people who were greedy, who were accumulating more and more and
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  taking from other people. And he says to be a follower of
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  Christ's repentance, it looks like just sharing with others,
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  talking to something that is related to the context.
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  He's not presenting a gospel that does not speak to the
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  reality where they were finding themselves to the tax
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  collectors, collect no more. They were tax collectors.
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  They were hated in that time because they were known to be
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  taking more than what was prescribed.
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  And they will do that. And and it seemed like there was
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  no law. They will just do whatever they
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  wanted and get away with it. And he addresses directly the
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  area that is related to their lives.
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  To the soldiers, be content with your wages.
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  Don't abuse your authority. Don't intimidate the vulnerable.
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  Don't think of yourself better than others that you begin to be
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  oppressive in how you work with other people.
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  You must do your work. You see, wasn't against the
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  soldiers. He was saying don't abuse your
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  authority. Don't take more than what you
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  supposed to. Don't go beyond what you have
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  been asked to do just for your own benefit.
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  That's not who we are. John is calling people to
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  repentance that touches every structure of economic life,
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  vocational ethic, a public responsibility.
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  He's saying that the repentance must change the way we
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  participate in systems of our society.
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  So we have systems that are in our society, and John is saying,
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  yeah, you live here in this world where you are surrounded
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  by these systems, but these systems should not shape who you
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  are. You are God's children.
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  You have been transformed by God.
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  You need to be a people who exist today, the the the
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  seduction that comes from the systems of the world and be a
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  people who do not participate in those systems of our society
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  that are oppressive, that destructive, that are bring more
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  and more people to get lost and suffer and more, more poverty.
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  It is not enough to confess seen in private.
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  The truth is repentance must be visible in honesty, injustice,
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  and compassion in public life. That's what John, John the
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  Baptist is telling us here. And I'm glad that Luke recorded
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  this for us because it's a great reminder.
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  It's nothing new. You go back to the Old
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  Testament. We are reminded about the
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  justice of God, the compassion and honesty, the integrity that
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  we must have. And he's saying this is what
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  repentance looks like. Don't be shaped by the systems
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  of the world, be transformed by the power of God and represent
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  the Kingdom of God in the world. When we speak of corruption, we
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  often think of politics, money, and power.
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  The Bible help us to go deeper. The Bible tells us that this
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  corruption is a spiritual crisis.
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  We often think about corruption. Just as all the politicians will
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  deal with it, the civic power will deal with it.
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  But the Bible tells us to go deeper, because corruption, it
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  is not only a political, it is not only economical issue, is
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  not only a social issue, it is a spiritual crisis, Isaiah wrote.
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  You, your Princess, are rebels and companions of thieves.
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  Everyone loves bribery. Isaiah 123 and then elsewhere we
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  read her leaders judge for bribe, her priests teach for
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  prize, her prophets give Oracle for money.
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  You see, there's a problem and God is condemning all of that,
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  that this is not who you are, my own people.
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  This is basically what God is saying.
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  The priests, the leaders have joined the systems of the world
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  and they are doing the same and oppressing other people and
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  giving in to the greed and to the systems that are not shipped
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  by the Kingdom of God. So corruption is not just
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  political, economical, it is a spiritual crisis at its heart.
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  It is a spiritual crisis. It is seen, it is rebellion
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  against God's holiness, the distortion of His image in US.
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  Corruption thrives when our hearts are captivated by idols.
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  Idols, whether wealth, power, security, or tribal loyalty,
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  rather than God. Corruption thrives when our
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  hearts are captivated by idolatry, whether wealth, power,
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  security or tribal loyalty. This is why policy reform,
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  important as they may be, never go far enough.
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  You can pass new laws and have legislation and still have
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  corrupt leaders. The same leaders who vote in the
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  parliament and put the laws anti corruption, you find them, they
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  are corrupt. The same leader sometimes who
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  preach against corruption, you find them a corrupt because the
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  law cannot bring bring transformation.
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  It is by God's dress that we are transformed.
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  It is a spiritual crisis and we need to see it that way, that
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  the forces of darkness are destroying our nations, are
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  destroying our our organizations are destroying the systems that
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  are in place to help, to advance, to protect, to give
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  people priorities in life and in many other things.
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  Corruption is destroying saying that because it is seen that is
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  at work, it has become an idol that has become a fashion to
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  talk about corruption without doing much about it.
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  It is only by the power of God that we can see that.
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  I remember having some conversations in the past with
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  young leaders. I was mentoring them and I will
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  preach and teach about corruption in Mozambique when I
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  was pastoring there, and one of them say to me, this is really
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  difficult. It's difficult because if you
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  work in an organization that corruption is so entrenched, if
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  you do not participate, you can lose your job if you do not help
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  to shape that contract in a way that they are extra money for
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  the leaders or for yourself. I mean, you know what I'm
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  talking about. Or maybe corruption doesn't
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  happen in this part of the world, but they shape all those
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  things in ways that will benefit them.
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  And he said to me, it is really difficult.
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  It is not only difficult because the organization is so
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  entrenched in that, it is because if something happens,
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  you say something in our own and shame culture, which I come from
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  that culture, you bringing shame to your family, you bringing
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  shame to to your to your community, you bringing shame to
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  your own organization that you work for.
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  So how do you do that? If you say something or you are
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  fired or you lose your job, you lose your opportunity.
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  You bring shame to your own parents, to your own family.
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  For these young leaders this will not abstract questions but
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  daily reality that to follow Jesus for them meant saying no
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  to expectations deeply ingrained in professional and family life
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  being counter cultural. What God calls us to be a part
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  of is not something that we can do in our own power, in our own
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  strength. What these young leaders were
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  saying to me is that we cannot do this in our own power.
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  I'm glad to see that some of them followed the advice and the
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  Lord has blessed their work. Some ended up being fired in
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  some place and found another job and found another way and, and,
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  and God continued to honor them as as they continue to trust the
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  Lord. I know several that God has
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  helped them to rise and rise in leadership, but they paid a
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  price for not allowing themselves to participate in the
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  corruptive ways of the in the world and following God.
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  The gospel we proclaim is not only about forgiveness of sins,
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  it is about transformation. It is about making us new
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  creation in Christ, restoring God's image in us so that we
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  live differently in the world. The cares when he stood before
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  the Lord and he said, Lord, half of my possession I give to the
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  poor all that whatever, whoever have defrauded anyone, I will
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  pay for a fold. And Jesus didn't say all the
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  cares. It's OK, you don't have to worry
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  about that. The Lord forgive his sin and the
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  Lord say today salvation has come to your house.
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  Do you see it? Salvation is Zacchaeus was not
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  an abstract, just like the one I was talking about.
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  It's not just all I'm thinking about.
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  This is everybody talks about corruption, so I'm going to
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  think about it. It is something that people face
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  daily and I believe that as long as we live in this world, we
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  will face those situations in the world and do I dare say
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  sometimes even in the church. Because sometimes too much
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  money, too much money in some projects and everything else
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  begins to bring that power and power and corruption and
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  corruption. How we must live differently.
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  The world might see God in US. We are not just having the gap
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  to talk about corruption. So we say we had a wonderful
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  conference, we had some good ideas.
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  We are doing that because we are concentrating ourselves and
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  saying God help us. We don't know how to handle this
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  situation. How do we equip and form leaders
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  in our community, our young people, so that they do not see
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  what's happening in the world and begin to think, well, this
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  is just the way of life. There are people who are born in
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  corrupt society and all that they see.
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  It's corruption day after day. That is not the way we learn
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  from Christ. We have learned in Christ to
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  live as a holy people and transform people who represent
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  His Kingdom. So he's saying salvation has
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  come into your house. You have experienced
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  transformation because you are loud.
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  God, I think we need to be reminded that holiness is not
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  retreat, it's not escape. Holiness is lived out in a
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  workplace, in the marketplace, the office, the parliament, the
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  classroom, the homes in which we live.
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  Holiness is lived out wherever God has placed us.
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  It's not just lived in the church, in the conference.
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  Holiness is not a call to retreat or to escape from the
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  world. But holiness means integrity in
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  the world as we represent God's Kingdom.
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  Holiness means integrity in contracts.
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  Holiness means integrity or honesty in leadership.
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  Holiness means justice in wages. Holiness means justice in all
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  areas of life. Holiness means compassion in
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  service. Salvation is not just personal,
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  it is public. It is not just private piety.
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  It is public holiness. It must be visible.
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  People must see God in US, reflected in our life.
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  Our life of holiness must attract people to come out of
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  the things, the systems that are entrenching our well so that
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  they walk in the light of God. The church will not make a
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  difference in the world. We can have so many churches, we
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  can have so many projects, we can have so many schools.
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  That is not all. The only thing that brings
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  change, the transformation that we will make in the world, it's
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  if we are transformed and we take our role as a people who
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  represent God's holiness in our world.
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  The church must embody integrity.
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  We must wear that holiness. We must be proud, not that we
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  are better than other. And they are the ones who are
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  far from God, because we must remember that we were also seen
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  as once we were lost and we were far from God before we even knew
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  it. His dress was reaching out to
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  us, inviting us, wooing us, and inviting us to the presence of
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  God. So no one should ever dare to
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  feel like I am better than the other people.
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  I, I don't do all the things. Look at the list of the things
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  they do. Holiness is not about the least,
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  is about living as a people of God in the world, as a people of
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  integrity and representing His Holiness, embody integrity,
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  embody honesty, justice in a corrupt world, represent the
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  justice of God, a just God in the Old Testament God, say to
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  Israel be holy, for I am holy. This holiness was not only about
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  worship rituals, it was about fairness in business, care for
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  the poor, and in the way that we treat one another, compassion.
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  In the New Testament, the church is called to do the same.
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  Jesus said you are the salt of the earth.
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  But if the salt loses its saltness, If the Church
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  tolerates corruption. If the church tolerates the
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  systems of the world, if the church mirrors the world's
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  compromises, it loses its credibility.
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  Regardless of the many things that we have accomplished, that
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  we have done, all that we have, and all of that, as beautiful as
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  it is and is part of that journey of joining God and
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  participating in advancing the Kingdom of God.
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  But if we lose our credibility by adjusting our lifestyle to
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  the ways of the world, we will have lost Our Calling and our
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  holiness and our opportunity to be the salt of the world.
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  We will just be another club or another organization or another
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  group that is called Nazarene. We are not called to be a club
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  or an organization. We are called to be the people
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  of God, the Church of God that represent his Kingdom, that
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  advances the Kingdom of God in such a way that there is nothing
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  that can stop us because God goes before us and he guides us
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  and he leads us. So we live in that.
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  At this point someone might be saying, but there's so much
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  pressure out there, how can we do that?
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  It's difficult to really live in that way.
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  The good news is that the beauty of Luke and Act is that we are
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  reminded of the work of the Holy Spirit.
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  Everything that Jesus did, it was through the power of God,
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  the empowerment that comes from God.
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  God is not asking us to do something through our own power
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  and strength. Like are we going to discipline
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  ourselves? Although that is important,
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  we're going to keep doing. Or if I check the list every day
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  and I wake up and look at the mirror and say, Philly, be
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  honest in that contract, that's how I'm going to do in my own
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  power. It is not through your own
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  power, but all thanks be to God because the Holy Spirit is with
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  us. The same spirit that empowered
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  Jesus, that descended upon Jesus, the same spirit that was
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  at work in the life of Jesus, the same Spirit that was at work
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  when Jesus rose from the death, that death could not hold him.
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  The same spirit that defeated the power of death is the same
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  Spirit that God gives to the church.
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  So it's not only about repentance, it's about
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  transformation. It's not only about forgiveness
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  of sin. It's about scientific case in
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  the transformation of heart through the power of the Holy
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  Spirit. So it is possible, it is
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  possible that we can try out to God and say God have mercy on
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  our nations have mess on our people have mess in our nation's
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  come Lord and do a new work or help us to be a people of
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  integrity, people who walk with you and I want you to stand as
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  we close this and I will invite the worship team to come and I
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  want us to pray as we sing. I wanted to be part of our
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  prayer. Maybe you are praying for
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  yourself and saying God, we live in this corrupt world.
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  Help us. Help us to walk in a way that
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  honors you. Maybe that's your prayer.
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  Maybe, maybe you are praying and saying, Lord, I want to lift my
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  country to you. I want to pray for Mozambique, I
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  want to pray for Africa. You, you know, the places where
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  you come from, that God will break those chains of
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  corruption. I want to pray for my own
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  church, for the church that God's power will work among us,
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  that we do not give in to the systems of the world, but we
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  allow God to work in our lives. So make this song a song where
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  we are all coming to the alt of God and pray for whatever God
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  has placed in your heart as you bring our nation's, our wealth
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  to God, for He is able to bring transformation and His Spirit is
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  upon us to guide us. Amen.
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  Thank you for listening to the Euratia Region Podcast.
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