Transcript: The Law of Followership
Prepared from the audio, so small errors are possible.
This message is from believers equipped, a meeting organized by the Disciples Christian Network where the word of God is taught with practicality and believers are raised to reign in life. Join apostle Emmanuel as he walks us through the word of God. Isaiah chapter 55 and verse eight. The bible says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. The ways of God are far more superior than the ways of men. And you must understand that when it comes to destiny fulfillment, when it comes to living out the reality of prophecy, God's ways are far more superior. God's ways of accessing finances, God's ways of doing ministry, God's ways of raising your children, God's ways of excelling in your career are more superior than the ways of men. It means at any point in your life, at every point in your life, you are given the liberty of two options, your way and God's way. And your way for many people is the way of the devil disguised as your way because the bible says there is a way that seemeth right unto men, for the end thereof is the way of death.
There is a way that seemeth right, and then there is God's way. That's at every point in your life, you have the option to choose between your way of raising your children or God's way of raising your children, your way of building a home, building a marriage, or God's way of building a home and building marriage, your way to wealth and prosperity, your way to business and career success, or God's way to the same. At every point in your life, you have this option. And what I've been presenting to you, especially in recent times on Tuesdays, is God's ways to greatness, God's ways to relevance, God's ways to lifting in this kingdom. And so we spoke about endurance. We spoke about sacrifice. We spoke about these things that govern the realm of the spirit upon which a man can never... Against which a man can never be great. In other words, if you will be great, then understanding the ways of God is a requirement for greatness. Understanding the pattern of God, the modus operandi, how God, the system of God, God's way of doing things, our God has ordained.
Are you with me? Our God has ordained. You know what the bible says? Bible says, I've set before you life and death. Choose. At every point in your life, you have the choice. You choose between what path you are walking or what path has been set for you by God to walk. Remember that the bible speaks about the ancient landmark that the fathers have set, and the bible says we should not put out that ancient landmark. We should not remove that ancient landmark. We should not shift.
In other words, what the bible is saying is do not craft a path for yourself. There is an already defined path that God has crafted, and men have walked this path, and men who have walked this path have found God. They've been lifted. They've risen to influence. They've risen to relevance. They've risen to greatness. And for adventure, you are attempting to build in God, then you do not have the privilege of crafting your own path. Your responsibility is to find what is the way that those who have gone before me have threaded. Your responsibility is to find it and to work it. To begin to shadow box and guess your way around life is not god's will for men.
I made the example now of going to Lagos. When you're going to Lagos or you're going to Abuja, either... And you're going by road. Are you with me? Sir. There is an already defined path. That's the way it is. Who begins a journey to Lagos right now and just leaves his house in the morning? He takes off his... He takes his bag and then just starts heading.
He has he has never been to Lagos. He has no idea where Lagos is. He has no idea where Abuja is. He has he has no... He just knows I'm going to a place called Lagos. In that place, there are business opportunities. I would find highlights there. My business would grow and sprout. I want to go and start an extension of my business to scale up my business, and then he does not ask anybody who has been to Lagos before for direction to Lagos. He just picks up his bag and starts working.
And you ask him, where are you going? He says to Lagos. And he's hoping that any path it takes will lead him to Lagos. And there he is in front. He he gets to a place. There's a bush in front of him. He says, oh, oh my goodness. Thank god I came prepared. He bring the cutlass and start clearing a path. And you meet him there, clearing a path, being hardworking, and you ask him, brother, what are you doing?
He said, I'm going to Lagos. Not only has a path been made, the path is that. In fact, they just forget the road. Imagine that. And here is a young man with his cutlass clearing the bush, clearing the bush sweating all day? When do you think he will arrive in Lagos? Do you know that this is the painful story of many believers? In fact, a lot of us sitting down here, if not for God, if not for the intelligence of God to open you up to his wisdom and to his ways by bringing you to a bible based church. A lot of believers, it would amaze you how many are shadow boxing their lives around the earth, hoping that whatever path they tread will lead them to success. Some of them are on YouTube right now looking for information.
Some of them are on Instagram right now looking for... They are just busy, and they they they they watch one podcast to another podcast, and they're just hoping that perhaps after practicing some of these things, eventually, then they go. They say, okay. I want to learn the self with which learning a skill. Then they learn one skill and then jump to the next and go on to the next. And somebody comes and says, oh, it's not in learning a skill. I've got choice the way. Say, really? That is the way he goes to go and loan 100,000 naira. Get...
List his... List him list himself a land. After one year, he's frustrated. Where is he going? He's going to wealth. And this, painfully speaking, is the path a lot of believers. The bible says, you're my ways are higher. In other words, listen. Do you know that if you are going to a journey, if you are going on a journey, if you spend the larger percentage of your time understanding the direction, you have not wasted time. If you sit down and you spend the larger chunk of your time understanding how to get there, studying the maps, Do you know you have not wasted time?
Consulting with those who have been there before, sitting down with them, asking them for directions. What do I do? And they tell you, oh, there's an immigration office. When you get to the immigration office, you don't want them to delay you and just hold you down indefinitely. You must have these papers with you. You say, my goodness. I didn't even know that. And then just... You just study. Do you know that by the time you begin that journey, you will get there in record time?
The time it takes to prepare is never a waste. The time it takes to build knowledge before deployment is never a waste. And the type of knowledge you are building here is the understanding of the ways of God. And one of such understanding, one of such principles is what I've come to show again today. I had an issue titling this where I think at the end of the day, I would settle for the law of followership. I think I've already hinted at that in my illustrations. Hebrews chapter six and verse 12. Please pay attention. I believe you'll be so blessed. Hebrews chapter six and verse 12, the law of followers.
A law that if you ignore, you can never arrive at destiny. Do you realize that for every law that I show you, I say if you ignore, you can never arrive at destiny? But it is the truth. It is simply the truth. It is simply the truth. It is to show you why Jesus said, I have given you the keys of the kingdom. You would need the knowledge and the understanding of all these things and the application of the same in your life to arrive at destiny. Listen to me, if greatness has been shown you, if greatness has been promised you, if God has revealed bits and bits of your destiny to you and you hope to get there, learn the things that I'm teaching you. These are not cunningly devised fables. Ignorance is is is an evil thing for a believer.
It is dangerous to be ignorant. Are you with me? So when you come for meetings like these on Sundays and on Tuesdays, whatever distracts you from receiving light becomes your enemy. A friend, your mobile device, whatever distracts you from receiving light. The bible says in Hebrews chapter six and verse 12 that ye... In the King James version I'm reading, that ye be not slothful but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promise. This is where my title is gotten from, the law of followership. The bible says, do not be slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Do you know what this means? This means it is possible for a man to be slothful.
It is possible for a man to be slow. It is possible for a man to build what is meant to take ten years in eighty years. Think of it this way. I've already used this this illustration, and it just fits so perfectly into the teaching. A man is going to Lagos, and he does not understand the direction that leads him to Lagos. And so he starts clearing a bush for himself. How long do you think it would take him to get to Lagos? The bible says do not be slow. Do not be slutful. Do you understand?
In other words, wherever you are going to in life, it is possible to be slow in getting there. Whatever you are doing in life and destiny, it is possible to get there, to do it slow. It is possible to make your first million slow. It is possible to never even degrade because the danger with slotfulness is you might never arrive at your destination before you die. Per adventure, if you have more length of days, you would probably live enough to sit. But the people that have not been given to many, even to early everybody, at some point in time, you will die. At some point in time, everyone here will go and be with the Lord. But David said, satisfy us early. In other words, there are pursuits that we should no longer be pursuing at the... At a certain age.
I don't expect that at the age of 60, you are still pursuing money. There is a age you should get to as a man or as a woman. It is the face of rest. At that point, you shouldn't be laboring. Your investments and your labor should labor for you. Are you with me? Satisfy us early, he says. But that it is possible for men not to be satisfied early. It is possible for anything a man is building, either ministry or career or business for a man to do and to grow and to build very slowly. It is possible for marriage to be slow in terms of the attaining of peace and the experience of heaven on earth.
It is possible, the bible says. So the bible warns against slothfulness. And not only does the bible warn against slothfulness, the bible now gives the recommendation in ensuring that you are not slothful, in ensuring that you are not slow, in ensuring that you are not delayed in life and destiny. The bible says, but... In other words, but is a word that shows that instead of this... Are you with me? It means if a man will not be slothful, this is what he should do. So it means the reason why you are slothful is because this bot is not in your life. Do not be slothful, he says, but followers. A lot of us think that the word followers is an insult.
Oh, you are a follower. You're just following. You think you are being insulted. Because we think that it is more prestige in being called a leader, and it is because of the lack of understanding of the ways of God. Many do not know that there is nobody who ever leads who has not followed. As a matter of fact, every leader is a follower. The bible says, but followers. This is the system of God. This is the way of God. One of the ways that you evolve, the bible says, followers of them who through faith and patience have inherited the promise.
So one of the ways that you evolve, one of the ways that you attain greatness, one of the ways you are transformed in this kingdom is through the ministry of a reference. You see, God has designed it such that when you become saved, the next assignment that you have is transformation. And the way that happens is through the law of beholding. And the first thing that you behold in this kingdom is men. Is that strange? As a matter of fact, the order the order is revealed in the book of Hebrews. Hebrews six, be followers of them. Right? Who through faith have obtained the promise. That's the first that you behold.
Men who through faith have obtained the promise. Number two, that's the pattern. It was revealed first. The first that was mentioned is men. Hebrews six, six chapters after Hebrews 12 verse one, the bible says, we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. Let's lay aside every weight and the thing which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Verse two, can we read verse two together everybody? But looking unto Jesus, the second that you behold is Jesus. Somebody said, man of God, what are you saying? If you look at men alone, it is possible that there is a side effect in your growth.
If you look at Jesus alone, he will eventually refer you to men because that is how his system works. So even if I had an encounter with Jesus and that is how my Christian work began, Jesus will then point you to a man. This was what we saw with the ministry of apostle Paul. The moment nobody preached to Jesus to Paul. Do you know that Paul was converted? Because Jesus preached to Paul. Jesus appeared unto Paul. Jesus appeared unto Paul. That appearance of Jesus unto Paul converted Paul. That is the only way that a man can be converted outside of the ministry of men because angels cannot convert men.
Angels cannot preach the gospel. It has not been given to spirits to preach the gospel. The reason why Paul was converted was because what appeared to Paul was not an angel. It was a man. The man, Christ. I hope you know that Jesus is a man in heaven. Sir. I hope you know that he didn't leave his body behind when he ascended to heaven. I hope you know that when he resurrected, he ascended and people saw him ascent with the fullness of his body. That was the reason why Paul could be saved.
And after Paul was saved, even the infill of the holy spirit, Paul did not receive. Despite a powerful encounter with Jesus, Jesus had to still appear onto a man called Ananias to tell Ananias, go. There's a man who have encountered who is saved. You need to go and minister unto him that he might receive the infilling of the holy ghost. Are you with me? Yes, sir. What I'm trying to tell you is that if if even if your Christian walk began with an encounter with Jesus, Jesus will point you to men. And that was the reason why when Paul now started teaching, the new king James version of Hebrews chapter six where the bible says, be therefore followers of them, the new king James version replaces the word followers with imitators. The new Christian version says, be therefore imitators of them. Are you with me?
Sir. Imitators of them who through faith and patience have inherited the promise... Inherited the promise. This word imitators, we see Paul use severally. In Ephesians chapter six, Paul was talking, and guess what he says? He says, imitate me. Imitate me. Imitate me. First Corinthians chapter 11, Paul was talking again. He says, imitate me.
Be therefore followers of them who through faith and patience. So when Paul was discipling a people, Paul tells them that if you want to be transformed, if you want to attain onto greatness, the way you begin your experience, the way you begin your work is by looking for a reference and imitating the reference. The word imitate, that's the word follow. So when Paul says imitate me, what did he say? Follow me. It's not saying copy what I do. I move my hand. Move my hand. Move your hand. It's saying follow me.
Do you understand what I'm saying? Yes, sir. Follow me, he says. He makes this statement also inefficient. Glory to god. Glory to god. So beholding men, following men, following men. Followership is one of the mysteries of the kingdom, and it's one of the mysteries that makes men mighty, that makes men great. Matthew chapter four and verse 19, it was Jesus that was speaking and the bible says then he said to them, follow me. This was Jesus speaking.
The bible says Jesus said to them, follow me and I will make you. It means you are made in life and destiny by followership. Follow me and I will make you. The way man is made in life and destiny is by followership. Jesus meets with weak people. Jesus meet with uneducated, unlearned people, and he tells them, follow me. I will make you. And by the time we get to the book of Acts of Apostles chapter four and verse 13, this same people that Jesus tells, follow me. The bible speaks of them. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled and they realized that their boldness, the miracles that they are now doing can be accounted to the fact that they had been with the man, Jesus.
The man, very important, Jesus. They knew that this were on... It means these people knew Peter before Peter became a disciple. They knew John before John became a disciple. They knew that they were uneducated people. They didn't expect much from them. They knew that Peter had a boldness issue. They knew that they are... They they were illiterates. And then these illiterates are standing before thousands of people, standing before chief priests, pharisees, pharisees, and they are defending the gospel of Christ with miracles, signs, and wonders following.
They knew that this must be a result of followership. Remember what Jesus told them, follow me, I will make you. Were they made or they weren't made? This is a principle in this kingdom. The bible speaks of the 400 mighty men of David. But before they were called mighty men, the first description was men who were in debt. Men who were in distress. Men who were discontent. That was the first description. These were not the best of men.
These were the weakest, poorest men in society. And by the time they had a reference, all of them following that reference, they grew from men that were in debt, men that were in distress to men that were mighty. Listen to me, brothers and sisters. Human references inspire hunger, inspire passion in the hearts of those that follow them. A reference is an example. A reference is a template. References in many regards are foundations because every other thing that is built is built after the pattern of the reference. So it is possible for a reference to be a pioneer. References are foundation. They are models.
Do you know that it is not a shocking thing to be greater than your reference? And by greater, I mean in terms of results, in terms of visible results, not greater in terms of the ability to learn and understand. But it is not a shameful thing to be greater. Even Jesus said, greater works than I have done will you do. That was what Jesus told the disciples in extension to us. Greater works than you have seen me do. Jesus never healed anybody by his shadow. Yet we see apostle Peter walking in the cool of the day and his shadow casted upon people, healing them as he walked. Can you see this? Jesus never did that.
These were expressions of results that they had in their ministry that Jesus never had. Does that make them greater than Jesus? The bible says that a woman said to herself, if only I can touch the hem of his garment. And then the woman touched the hem of his garment, the next chapter after that, we saw several people wanted to touch him to be healed as well. When it got to Paul's part, Paul said, you know what? Just bring aprons for me. I will touch your clothes. When I touch your clothes, go put that cloth on sick people. You don't have to come and touch me and stain my clothes. Bring yours.
The bible says aprons were taken out of the boy. You see, in acts 19, the bible says God wrought mighty miracles, notable miracles by the hands of Paul. We see these people, and even till today, there are men who have walked this earth and who are still walking this earth who are doing mighty things that are never recorded in scripture. And when you look at the pattern of miracles that these ministries of this men have recorded, you can almost doubt it. And say, what is this? What is this? We were in chapel here. Some years ago, many years ago, I was a student and a man of god whom I love and honor so much came to University of Ibadan. And as young people, we're so excited, we went there. Got there very early for the crusade.
It was a crusade. It was an open door crusade. And after the whole crusade was done, I think my first amazement was from the man who was taking tithe and offering. These were not stories we were told. This was how we grew, like I said. This was the norm, like I said. But from the man who was taking tithes and offering, the man said, can you raise your tithes up? Raise your offerings up. And there was someone who had braces on his neck. And the man was taking tight and offering, said, you over there with that.
What happened to your neck? Passed the man. He could not hear what the man was saying. He was so far away from him. He said, remove it. Turn your neck. So father, bless the offerings. We bless the tithes. We bless that. The person was right in my room.
I said, okay. If this is the tithes and offering... So the man of god who we were expecting came. And after the preaching in the power of that, called people how to come give their life a price. And then they they they rode a man on a wheelchair. He asked the man, what happened to you? The man is a veteran in the war in the Nigerian army, and he stepped on an high ED that affected his limbs, and metal plates were placed in several part of his bodies. He can't walk. He's been in pain ever since for many years. Never stood up from the wheelchair because even after many years, he still feels excruciating pain standing up.
You can just imagine that. And the man said, after the explanation, is that how you were born? He said, no, sir. Then stand up. No no drama. No shout. The guy just stood up and started walking. And we're just young people that were growing. We were watching it to say, okay. After the meeting, we went to pray.
We could not... We were just crying. We couldn't... There was nothing to pray. There was nothing to pray. We were just crying. I don't know if you have been to meetings and you you you you only cry. It means you don't know hunger. If if you don't know, there... We didn't have...
There was no prayer point. All of us all got down. We're crying. Nobody knew. I just found my corner house crying. And you try and print, you start crying. I said, I'm doing great things. I'm doing great things. I went for a crusade after that. The the same man of God was ministering in Ibadan, in a stadium here.
And I went there again waiting for my mind to be blown. I did not disappoint. By prophecy, he said, there's a woman here. He called the woman's name. The program was almost ending. The woman was just entering into the crusade ground. He just dropped from the vehicle. And right as he was dropping, she was hearing her name in the stadium, her name and her surname. In fact, I think it was three names the man mentioned, all belonging to the woman. The woman ran, the security people were saying, you can't enter.
The the city is full. She said, that's me. They are calling. That's me. They are calling. They allowed her enter. She ran. The man almost got hungry. They are just coming for the crusade and left her alone. But by mercy, the man just ministered to her and said, I'm seeing you.
I'm seeing you. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, and he counted up to 42. He says you have been pregnant for forty two months. The reaction now is is is probably 2% of the reaction in this... In the crusade then. Just two percent. Tears in the eyes of people. People weeping. And she came like that with her stomach big. Big.
Uh-huh. They cut your stomach and find nothing. They raised the woman's belly up like this. The the signs... The the the scars of surgery were there. Said now you are... This is the forty second month of pregnancy. In that moment, I don't pray in tongue. This is how I do stand. I don't have tongues to pray.
Tears rolling... Hot tears rolling down my eyes. My god. The old man... The man the man of god hacks her. When do you want... Where do you want to give birth? In a hospital or here? Which is this hospital? The woman say, now.
Here. Now. You say, get by a chair. I thought it was a joke. The man... The woman sat down. The man got down from the pulpit, and he was singing. And the people kept on singing the song, and he came down. And it held the stomach and was there for about five minutes. Just held the stomach and was there for about five minutes.
The camera was up close. Those media guys, Very funny people. Pushed his hand there. Almost like a movie. Right there, the water broke apart. Medical personnel were in the crusade ground. They came and carried her. In about ten minutes, she was back with triplets. Again, these are not stories we were told. These these are things I was in, witnessed.
Witness. Greater works, Jesus says, than this. So if I'm starting my life, that reference is already a pattern and a picture. I can identify that reference and begin to pattern my life after his work. And expect that if this is how he he worked and got here, then it's only a matter of time. Remember, you don't craft your own path to Lagos. There's an already established way. So if someone is in Lagos, the idea is not to jump to Lagos. The idea not even to tell them how the... How is Lagos like?
Describe to me how Lagos is like. Mm-mm. The idea is to tell them, how did you get here? Is to ask and to find out in their messages, in their books, in their stories, in their writings. The bible says, be ye therefore followers of them. We are trying to build your business to be a successful one at that. There is someone who has built it. Instead of shadow boxing and guessing your way around, not knowing what to do with money, not knowing how to invest, not knowing how to do, how to scale, instead of doing all of that, it it would take you ten years to make all the mistakes. Why not find ten... Why not find a man who have made it in forty years?
So that the forty years of the man is bought by your experience with him or by your sitting down with him. The mistakes and the pain that he went through in forty years to build his business into what it is now, you now have access to in stories, in instructions, in rebukes, in correction. You listen to him and he says, ah. They are offering you that deal, Abi. Say, yes, sir. It's a very good one. He said, don't take it. Don't... And in your own mind, you feel this is the best thing that can ever happen to me. And or...
And the man that's... He he just has to consider what is the profit margin. And how are they gonna make their own profit back? Something is messy around. Something is fishy about it. Because some years back, he also put his money into it. A dealer sweet like that. A dealer's good looking like that. And then you know what? Don't do it.
It's better to grow steadily than to blow at once. And you said, yes, sir. Yes, sir. You carry knowledge. A mistake you would have made that would have cost you five years before you even recover, before you bounce, before you stand back. You would have put you would have put five years of savings into an investment that will go in five seconds. It will take you another seven years to recover. How was that traumatic experience? And it's a sing... A single instruction over a cup of tea takes away seven years of pain just like that.
Be therefore followers, the bible says, of them. Are you trying to obtain promises? Oh, yes, sir. What has God promised you? Oh, I've seen visions. Then be followers of them who through faith and patience have obtained promises. I've obtained promises. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Can you close your eyes in one minute?
And ask God for an encounter? I mean it sincerely. Please pray. Amen. Listen. Transformation, replication, greatness is very easy when there is a reference. Listen to me. Greatness is only as hard as the distance between you and a reference. Greatness is only as hard as the distance between you and a prototype. Greatness is only as hard as the difference between you and an archetype and a model.
When God wants to lift you, when God wants to help you, when God want to introduce speed into your life, what it does is that it shortens the distance between you and capable references. Listen. So when we declare speed into the life of someone, the one of the ways by which speed comes is the introduction of references into your life. If God can give you access to greatness, an uncommon door opens that grants you the privilege of access to a man of renown. The problem is that many people think that when they come and they face greatness, the next thing they should be looking for is how to get money from greatness, how to get open doors from greatness. Now they are thinking, how would this man help me? Will he employ me? Will he give me a job? Will he give me money? That is not the best thing that can come from a great man.
It is foolish men that think that way. Are you with me? As long as you do not have worthy references, becoming is very difficult. As long as you do not have worthy references, becoming can be very hard. That's why when God wants to help you, I say again, he reduces the distance between you and a reference. One of the ways God answers prayer is by introducing certain men into your life. You are praying for lifting in your business, and then God grants you a connection with somebody else who has gone miles ahead of you in that same business. Many a times we are deluded to think that what the person would give is money. Maybe she will start giving me jobs. Some of the jobs she cannot do, will be giving them to me.
That is how poor men think. What I am after is not the jobs. It will be good if they come, but the ultimate is not the jobs. There are people, in fact, who have gotten offended with references because the way they thought help would come is not how it was intended to come. What God is giving is the privilege to learn, to learn the way to greatness, to learn the way to success, to learn the way, and then so that you can easily replicate the result you now see. Listen to me. Guessing your way around life is pride. Guessing your way around life is... It is programming difficulty into your life. There are people who have excelled commendably in the areas you are struggling with.
You want to be a fashion designer. There is a reference in Ibaro here who has grown what you want to announce starting to grow into a remarkable epitome of success. A remarkable epitome of success. You want to grow in your career. You you get a job in an organization, and God tells you in that organization, I'm rising you to the peak. I'm raising you to the peak of the organization. And whilst you are there, you don't understand. God then grant you privilege of access to maybe the MD, the managing director, and then you feel, oh, they will promote me. That is that is the basis of this connection. No.
Many times we miss it. And the reason is because we have not been taught to be followers of them. And so men, we are meant to follow. We are looking for competitions. We are we are we are competing with. This colleague mentality that exists right now in the world amongst this generation is a reason for the unbecoming of several people. I was speaking to someone, an elderly man, and we saw a great man on television being interviewed. And the elderly man pointed... Tapped me and said, look at him now. He's now very proud.
Do you know he went to the same secondary school? He was mad. He was even my junior. You see, that colleague mentality is why many will never grow. I don't care whether it's a junior or not. It's not your your mating results. Immediately, I saw why the man is where he is. He had allowed offense, bitterness, and anger to grow to grow inside of him because somebody rose, and he did not. If he was your junior, where were you when he was rising? Does that not tell you that, in fact, if he was your junior, it's even good because it means you have access.
But that is not how we view access to greatness. A lot of things enter the heart that pollutes the heart from taking a posture of followership and learning. From taking a posture of followership and learning. Listen to me. To replicate means to reproduce. Majority of how men arrive in greatness is through replication. They replicate and reproduce the result of other men. Do you know that even in the corporate world, in industries and companies, one of the ways you must produce result is to first have a simulated model. Once you have a simulated model and it meets the quality control requirements, you then begin to mark all the parameters that was used to produce that initial model. That becomes the pattern and the reference for other models that will be created.
Do you understand what I'm saying? The making of the second, the making of the third down to the hundreds, down to the 1,000, and so on becomes faster, becomes easier because you are not guessing. It was the first light bulb that took 999 trials. The second one took one second. Probably a day. Because for that one, I'm no longer guessing. I now have a working one. The question now is how did this one work? I only need to create one after this kind. If I want to go into light bulb production, I don't start 900 and like nine trials because I want to make a name for myself.
That is foolishness. That is being slothful. Do not be slothful. Follow them. Be followers of them. Why should I build a ministry in fifteen years, in twenty years, and yet five members when there are those who have gone ahead of me, who have placed the trail, who have shown me possibilities that exist in God? I have seen possibilities in God from men and women who came through faith. They have they have typified dimensions in God. They have modeled dimensions in God that we don't have to begin to look for from the scratch. Their life becomes an example that don't know...
That normally makes us know it is possible, but shows us how to get it. So I know if a man has walked in a grace, and by reason of the grace he has walked in is now having some levels of results. I only need to know how to plug into that grace. I'm not gonna start from the scratch and labor like a fool to get what a man has. It is pride. Do not be slothful, he says. The king's business requires haste. There will be no time for slothfulness. You want to be a a public speaker. From who are you learning?
Who is the reference? Whose life has become the model? Whose pattern? Or you think, oh, I'm talented. I'm skillful. I can just put myself out there. One day, the world will come. Nobody will come. Perhaps they will come, but it might be late. Do not be slothful.
You don't have the privilege of time. There are time... There are things that must come and must come fast, and God shows us a way that things come fast, a way to redeem the time. Who... Listen. Were you ever told that one of the principles of time redemption is followership? Do not be slaughtful first. Be followers. Listen. Greatness becomes easy when you understand the power of followership.
Great men are men who have followed. Let me recommend a book to you. If you can dedicate some weeks on some months to your life and destiny in reading and in studying this book, if you've read it before, read it again. You will never regret it In the footsteps of the prophet. In the footsteps of the prophet by Jerry Savelle. That great general of faith who just passed on. I think you should read the book. You will see how men are made. It will show you like a man on his way to Lagos. You will learn.
Oh, so this is the GPS system. The path always remains the same. It is foolish people that carve out a different route for themselves. Out of a child who is growing begin to learn, He watches very closely at someone who can do everything he wants to learn to do, to speak, to walk, to talk. How do you grow and and become a master in the field? You learn by reference. You grow by reference. I want to be the best graphic designer the world has ever seen. You will first copy one. You will first make a man your reference.
You will not grow in isolation. There is nothing that grows in isolation. I wanna be the most skillful musician there is. You will grow in reference. There must be a reference. Someone who has achieved heights. And I'm saying this right now, somebody wants to grow, say, into millions, and you are currently at the hundreds, and your goal is to grow into the millions, you don't start by looking for a reference in the millions because you don't have access to them. The face that you are in right now does not in any way grant you the access unless by grace, unless by favor, unless by the prophetic. There is an easier route. You find someone in the thousands.
He's more than you. There is something to learn. It is pride that affects men. And so you think until the until the results become so obvious, why not grow to where the one that is thousand is? Then outgrow him and find another reference. Sir. Then you say, you know what? Now that I've stepped into the thousands, I need to now climb into the hundreds of thousands. And this reference in business might not be sufficient, again, a reference because I've outgrown him in terms of results. And so it might mean that he might not be able to mentor me with respect to where I'm going.
Do you understand what I just said? And so what the next thing I do is find someone whose business now brings in a net income of a 100,200 thousand, 6 digit regularly per month. And I learn. I observe. I watch. I grow. I become that. I overcome that. You see, by the time I grow, I already have enough access. It comes with growth.
I have access to those who are making millions. That access makes me learn how to make millions, then I learn again. And before you know, now I'm making millions. Before you know, now I'm in tens of millions. Now I'm in hundreds of millions. This is how men grow. And by this, I mean mentors. Mentors in different fields of endeavor. You must learn the principle of followership. There are two types of references that God brings to your life in your journey of greatness.
The first are mentors. Mentors. Oh, you need mentors. You need mentors. People who have done what you are hoping to do in any field of endeavor, in career, in business. It might even be in marriage. It might even be in parenting. It might even be in your academics even. You see, mentors. There can be a thousand mentors in your life, but that will be foolishness.
I know it. But you get the point? The point is there can be several mentors because every area of your life might need a mentor. Are you with me? Yes, sir. It was Paul who said you have several instructors. These mentors are those that instruct you. For some of them, you might not even have access to them physically, but you will connect to them through their books, through their resources, through their podcasts, through their sermons. These are mentors that will mentor. And as you dig yourself into this, you are following, learning the principles of success that they applied into their lives.
Some of them, as you read their stories, you'll find that there are similar parts that you are threading. When they were where you are now years ago, the stories that they are saying relates kind of with where you currently are. It makes you realize that I'm on the right path. Do you understand what I'm saying? It makes you... That that that that is to your soul dies because you feel as though, ah, this business that I've started now that looks as though I've ended, now I'm starting again, and then you are hearing this message, and you say, oh, maybe the problem was I not even have a mentor. Let me now start again and get myself a mentor. And by the time you read the mentor's book, you know, father, he started 10 businesses before he prospered. You say, oh, now this is the second one. I'm still there.
10? My own business is number two. I'm on the right path. And because I found this path, my own will not reach them. You hear a man of God sharing his story, and he says, ah, I remember when we started. We could not be a friend. It's a pause. You mean when they sent us away last week, Sunday? We're not the first people. It does not mean we don't have faith.
This man that I see now, the other time he could not parent, my god, I'm encouraged. My heart is strengthened, a reference. It must mean therefore I am on the right path. This is not a barren path. There are truly those who have walked this path before. There are truly... Ah, god. There are truly many who have come before. And I begin to study, and a day comes, hear the man sharing his story. And, again, I'm seeing.
I'm seeing. I'm not where he is currently. I'm not I'm not at the level at which the story he's sharing now applies to me. You see? But the story he's sharing now paints a picture inside of me to know where I'm going. So there was a time where I'm still praying in the spirit. I've not started anything. I've not even begun anything in ministry. And then I'm listening to a man of God's story. And what he's saying is that, I remember those days I went to minister, and they gave me and they gave me...
They put me in an office and put Mark on the floor and say, of god, sleep here. Now as I'm hearing that, I've not ministered anywhere. Nobody knows me yet. But then if that situation ever happens to me, it doesn't become a strange experience. It doesn't mean I'm not anointed. I have a reference who have blazed the frail, who made me know that if people at the point dishonor the grace I carry, it's not because I don't carry a grace. I don't start self doubting what I carry and what I represent because somebody could not see it. I didn't go home and think, they didn't even clap. They didn't even do this. They didn't even do that.
I've heard a man say... I was in the mountain for three days. I came back, heard my even blow. So it means... Do you understand what I'm saying? Yes, sir. This is how to follow. Follow them. The bible says, all through faith and patience. All through faith and patience.
So a time come to hear the man say, I remember when I was pursuing God, and I sensed that a season was shifting and God was launching me into another season. I knew I had to fast. I took three days apart to fast. I'm receiving instructions. Uh-huh. So when seasons are changing, it's a time to retreat. Are you getting what I'm saying? They are mentors, you see. Number two, so you have the ministry of mentors. Number two is spiritual fatherhood.
Spiritual fatherhood. So Paul says, you can have many instructors, but you can only ever have a spiritual father who serves as a reference for your pursuit in God. Who serves as a reference of discipleship, of training, of mentorship even in God. Many people have not understood the place of spiritual fatherhood. Like I said, the things that were normal then have become so strained now. You see, this thing that I'm saying now wasn't something that was the average church member years ago understood the value of a man of God in his life. They might have overstretched it. They might have even gone into herald, but they understood the intricate principle such that there are many families, many homes who will never take an action until the man of God approves. And many of our parents are still like that. Those who grew up in God.
Those who grew up in God. And there are some of us who grew up and when the when the... When when when our mother says, I will go and report you to pastor, it's as though all hell has been unleashed. Yes, sir. Because we grew up understanding the place of spiritual authority, but it looks as though the devil has been able to pervert this from the minds of many. It now looks like a strange concept, and I will show you why very soon. Many people now feel... Many young people, in now feel that they can know God by themselves. They can grow in isolation. Let me tell you the truth right now.
You cannot know God by yourself. It is not scriptural. There must always be a reference. There must always be a reference. And this principle is seen all through scripture. When you study the life of Esther, you'll find the relationship between this mentor and the spiritual father. You see, the uncle of Esther was taking the position of a spiritual authority. The responsibility of a spiritual authority is to ensure that that woman does not miss her purpose, It's to grow her and to prepare her to enter into purpose and to enter into destiny. Are you with me? Functioning in purpose and maximizing purpose might not be in the purview of the security authority.
You didn't hear what I just said. Unless the purpose relates closely to what the spiritual authority works in. But in most cases, it is not. In the case where it is not, you are going to need a reference. Are you with me? So for Esther, it was the king's dresser who understood that... Listen. Listen. Mordecai, despite acting as a spiritual authority, does not know how to dress a queen. Mordecai can prepare you to be a queen in terms of having the right virtues a queen should have, but does not know the kind of dress a queen should wear.
Does not know how a queen should smell. You will need someone, a reference, who has dressed queens before. Yes, sir. To now begin to mentor you and say, listen. If you want to be a queen, this kind of perfume, you don't use it. This kind of jewelry, go and throw it away. This kind of... This is now this is now how you pattern yourself. This is how you dress. This is how you look.
Esther needed the ministry of this man. Are you with me? It does not in any way mean that the ministry of Mordecai has been relegated. Because when the Jews would be wiped off, the man who taught Esther to be a queen did not even understand a single thing about spiritual timings and the destiny of the Jews. It now remained up to the ministry of Mordecai again to call Esther back to order. You are there in the palace enjoying yourself. If you think that if if we are wiped out, it won't reach you, you better stand up right now and take up your office as a priest. The moment Esther heard the walls of Mordecai, he says, declare preaching fasting and prayer. Hey. Who taught the queen how to fast?
Oh my god. Who taught the queen how to pray? Who taught the queen the boldness to stand before the king? Is that... In fact, what the other guy would have taught her is you do not enter into the palace on... Unless you are invited. It means there there must have been the ministry of another. Who would have told you, see, we serve a god who is called the father of spirits. And when systems must be changed, when policies must be changed, we can pump things around in the realm of the spirit. That one, a mentor can't teach.
So I can learn how to make my first 10,000,000 from a mentor. That is amazing. But can I guard it? Where is the place of priesthood? Where is the place of... I... Do you do you understand, Francis? And so many people now grow and think about growing a spiritual father. It is foolishness. And many times, these these distinctions are not understood.
Spiritual authority. Spiritual authority. Spiritual authority. A spiritual father is a covering, a shield, a covering and a shield. You see? So when you study the bible in Isaiah 32 and verse two, the bible says a man shall be a covering from the storm. Listen to me brothers and sisters, in as much as you are attempting to grow a business or a career. Are you with me? There is the spiritual dimension of everything you are attempting to do physically. So a man might not be able to speak English.
A man might not have a PhD. You might go to university and even have a PhD. Are you with me? You can know by your PhD. You can even study business administration. You can work as an MD of a bank and then whole fleets of companies. There is a spiritual dimension of that which you do upon a man who cannot even speak English. So when I go to my prophet, I would see vehicles packed, fleets of vehicles, senators, politicians. I would see convoys in a mountain where nobody knows, and you will see all of them. I was in the office when one walked in.
I didn't even know who he was until someone mentioned his name. He came with police people, police people were at the gate. I was with my prophet. And then the man entered and frustrated face down to the prophet. And the baba and baba said, mommy. I said, ah, is is this not this? Wise men know. Wise men know that the elders of the Jews can build. The... For them to build, they must have architectural knowledge, engineering knowledge, civil engineering knowledge, electrical engineering knowledge.
The prophet does not have to have. All the prophet must have is the anointing of God upon his life. The elders of the Jews built it by the prophesying, they prospered. It's one thing to build by your knowledge is another thing to prosper. It means that a man can build and not prosper. Are you with me? Because a prophetic voice is like a covering. A prophetic voice is like a covering. A prophetic voice and a spiritual authority. Anyways, let me not confuse you.
A spiritual authority is the prophetic voice of God over your life. In other words, a spiritual father is the prophetic voice of God over your life. Every promise that God will make to you will need to be unveiled by a father in the spirit. Are you with me? And so when God promised Abraham in Hebrews chapter six, chapter seven and verse six, the bible says speaking of Abraham, speaking of Melchizedek to Abraham, I want you to see this. You know the story. Abraham met with Melchizedek and gave a tenth to Melchizedek. Is that not so? Look at this. But he whose technology is not derived from them received tithes from who?
Abraham. And what did he do when he received Abraham's fight? The man who you sing Abraham's blessings am I am I. The bible says, he now blessed him who had the promises. So Abraham had the promises but did not have the experience. The bible says Melchizedek blessed him who had the promise. It means if the promise will become an experience, there will be a man that will bless it. Do you understand what I'm sharing here? There will be a man that will bless it. Look at this.
Verse seven says without all contradiction. Without all contradiction. Any... I like how NKJV says it. NKJV says beyond all contradiction. Any man can say what he wants to say. Beyond all contradiction, the less is blessed by the better. This was a principle derived from the life of Abraham. Are you with me? Yes.
Not understanding the balance is why many men are poor, is why many men are broke, is why many men stay on the spot for so long because you see, you can be anointed for career. You can be anointed for medicine, for engineering, and God will tell you, I will raise you in this your field, and you will do exploits. Your spiritual father might not be able to give you the best of advice as it concerns your career. It is within your own rest... It is your own responsibility to get mentors and be followers of them who through faith. It's why the bible doesn't say be followers of him. So when you find a spiritual father who preaches himself as the only thing you will ever need, that is hero. Everything you will need, you will find in me. It is a lie. It is not scriptural.
No man has any... Everything that you will ever need. As a matter of fact, there are graces even in the body of Christ that you will need. With the wisdom to understand that these graces are not my spiritual authority, but they represent possibilities and dimensions in God that I can partake of. It's like it's like you go out and eat in a restaurant for those who have stable homes like I did. Every morning, know where we eat. Every afternoon, we know where we eat. Dinner, we know where we eat. Do you understand what I'm saying? But once in a while, my father decides, you know what?
Let's go to a restaurant today. We don't go to a restaurant every day to go and eat, but there are times we partake of whatever the restaurant has to offer. Oh my. Oh my. A foolish man make his restaurant his own. A foolish man cannot tell the difference. This is maturing you in the spirit. And so there are Methodist or some people that I would listen to. You see, it is within the jurisdiction of the spirit, but I know the voice of God over my life and destiny. I know the voice of God over my life and destiny.
I know who feeds me spiritual truth. You see, so it is foolishness to follow a man as a spiritual authority and not listen. How then do you get trained? How then do you partake of the spirit? The spirit of men are in their words, the books that they write, their material, the songs that they sing. These things have injects of their spirit inside of them. How do you partake of the grace upon a man? How do you receive of the enablement and receive an inheritance that flows from a man? Now I am. You This race that I'm running, have you run into the end?
I am. Will you make me? You love Listen. Listen. Let me have four men. Just come Very fast. Listen. Listen. My time is almost up. I can't believe that.
But let me show you this. This man is just starting ministry. All of them, in fact, are just starting ministry. All of them. Ministry. Ministry. Ministry. They are all starting in God or believe that they have a call of God. Now this example I'm using here can be anything, can be anyone. I'm choosing to use this to bring the picture clearer to you.
So every one of them believe they had a call of God. Everyone of them believe that God has called them to do something and to be something, to grow a people in any capacity. And then he begins his work, and the moment he begins his work, he finds a man who is already doing the same thing. Let me have someone else come. A man come. Who is already doing the same thing that he wants to start, but he has gone miles ahead of him. Are you with me? Miles ahead of him in the ministry in the ministry, yeah, his life has reached and his blessing and his impacting thousands of people. And so he plugs himself to the man. Are you with me?
Walk very slowly in any direction. Follow him. Now you see, just follow him anyway. Just be walking anywhere you find. Walk. Now we are assuming that this person that is following knows where he's going. It's an assumption. Glory to god. We shall see you very soon. Glory to god.
Don't stop walking with your light. Now listen. This man starts his life. He starts his work, and he doesn't shadow box. He doesn't look. He doesn't guess his way around life. He just plugs his back to someone who already knows what they are doing, who have already achieved, who have gone years ahead of where he's going in life, and he plugs himself to that order and it begins to go. Who do you think will arrive faster destiny? Now pause. All of them are starting the same thing.
Are you with me? Walk in any direction. Just keep on walking anywhere. Just walk. And they are guessing their way, they are finding, then it starts one. He says he he believes God is sending to Lokoja. He goes to Lokoja and leave us there for two years, and nobody is... Not even a mosquito. And then he finishes. When he's done, he says, no.
I don't think this is it. And then he go... He comes again. This one goes to another conference. He goes to another conference. He says, you know what? I think I'm I'm an itinerary minister. And then he stays for two years or five years. He said, I'm praying on the mountain waiting for my first invitation, and the event never comes. This one says, you know what?
I'm not an itinerary minister. I've been called to be an evangelist. And then he stays there for ten years, and there's no money to hold his first crusade. And they're just beating around the bush, all of them. Open. Now imagine that this guy is busying around the bush. Get me one person. As this guy is just busying around the... Beating around the bush, he now meet this guy and just be walking. Just continue your walking.
Listen. He then meets this guy and then gets him saved. This guy then begins to follow. What is he following? It's a new movie. Do you understand what I'm saying? Listen. Pay attention. Confused. Confused.
Listen. Who has the bulk of the responsibility here? His own responsibility is to follow, but he has found he has found a pattern almost not where he's going. And so his life after five years will be a reflection of the pattern he has chosen to follow. And so he will realize after five years is as confused as the person he's following because you cannot become anything except by a reference. Do you understand what I'm sharing here? Except by a reference. And so they keep on working. They keep on... This is five years.
This is seven years. A point will come where this guy will now say, you know what? Ministry is not working. I'm a business person, and then he starts again. John, listen. Which one is a safe example to follow? That's why the bible says follow them who through faith and patience has obtained promises. It means there are things I look for. I don't just follow carelessly. I look for faith.
Is there faith involved in your work with God? Is there patience involved in your work with God? By reason of your faith, what have you obtained? Do you understand what I'm sharing here? Yes. If this guy plunges into a hole, do you know he can spend 25 years of his life like this? Just confused. And then after twenty five years, he will wonder why the ministry has not grown. And there are plenty people like that who are frustrated men of God, frustrated pastors, frustrated teachers. They've been in ministry for twenty years, only five members.
And they can't they can't understand why it looks as though nothing is happening. They've closed down the church five times. They started again. They think, okay. I think it's the name of the church that is the problem. Let's let's rebrand and rename. And they rebrand and rename, and it's the same result. And the man does not know because he does not have the power to... He can't see by himself without a reference. Usually, it will take someone who is outside, who has gone ahead of you to know where you are missing it.
And he can tell you, son, son, I think it's your location. Move out of that place. And you you you just move foolishly and just go and go to another location and pow. Five years of labor. And I... Just an advice. And you wonder Jesus Christ. You mean I've been laboring like a fool for nothing. The Bible says the labor of fools wearis them because they know not where they are going. The reason why God...
You can go back to your seat. Put your hands together for me. Listen. The reason why God gives a spiritual authority and not just mentors is because at the end of the day, your spiritual authority becomes God's voice over your life. It becomes God's standard over your life. It is by his words I judge every other thing that I hear. So nothing else I hear can confuse me. So I can be following a mentor who says all this giving and tightening of a thing. I don't do all of those unless that is the only example there is to follow, I would advise to to to to back out fast. But in a situation where that is the only example there is to follow...
Are you with me? Yes, sir. There is a safe spot to follow and not be confused because I have a voice over my life. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So I know what to sieve. I know how my... There's a a spiritual sieving process in my spirit. I can learn like a wise student to know how this man built what he now owns into this and built also, but with the following the ways of God. Are you with me?
Yes. I hope you know that the king's dresser does not believe the same thing as Esther. Does not even serve the same god Esther serves. He's a pagan, but you understand how king and queens dress. It means a mentor can be a Muslim. But he's a successful one at that. Homes in school, and you're just starting yours. How did he start? I'm not interested in what he's doing now. I'm interested in how we got there.
Sir, this is where I currently am. What do I need to do? I'm thinking of reducing my school fees because people are not coming to the school. I think it's because the school fees is too much, and the man says, don't reduce the school fees. If you reduce the school fees, you lower the value your school offers, and the perception of value people have for it also reduces. Maintain your stand, but look... But see there's a way you can change your audience. But, sir, how do I do that? And then a mentorship class begins. You see, it's...
These these are things you might never be able to know in ten years of labor. Are you with me? Yes. Let me give you three demands of followership, and then we close. When you want to follow them who God has placed over your life as references, there are demands of followership. If you don't understand the demands, you can be around certain men who are references but never receive from them. This is the challenge of men who are in proximity with the anointed, in proximity with favor, in proximity with power, in proximity with grace but never rise. They remain stunted. They remain stunted. You can be in proximity with a great man and never be great.
Never know greatness. Never taste greatness. If you ever have the opportunity or the privilege to serve as a PEO of a great man, it is a stepping stone to greatness. There's a lot to learn that can make you wealthy, great, influential yourself, but this is not the case with many people. There are sons acclaimedly who have followed a spiritual father who are not reflections of what the man carries. There are people who have incredible proximity to certain men but not carry what they represent. I'm not recipients of their grace. I'm not beneficiaries of their grace. I call it the jihazi syndrome. It is the jihazi syndrome.
It is the judas malady. Close to power, close to grace, but never repeat... Recipients of the same, never beneficiaries of the same because they don't understand that there are demands to followership. There are demands to followership. Number one, followership. Just three I'm gonna give to you. Followership demands a genuine heart connection and loyalty, especially followership to a spiritual authority. It demands a genuine heart connection and loyalty. Let me say this. Let me say this.
The mere fact that you are members of a church does not in any way suggest that the shepherd over that church is your spiritual father. This is an assumption several people make. And so a lot of people say, daddy, Gio. And the man does not know you neither does he know your family nor generations from anywhere. As... In fact, the man is a father over the over Nigeria. Are you with me? He's a spiritual father over the nation, all over you personally. And not just because of his status, because you can be in the congregation that is not even as much as that, yet the vessel over that territory, over that church is still not your spiritual father because, you see, fatherhood is a responsibility. Let me give you an instance.
Imagine that you have a maid or your friends come stay in your house, and they stay in your house with you. The fact that they are in your house with you, does that mean that your father is their father? The fact that during morning devotion, the man sees the father or your father sits down and counsels everybody, does that mean that that's their father? Do you understand what I'm saying? Fatherhood is not just a name you call a man. Father is not just a name you call a man. It's not just identifying with a man. That's the real... It's one of the reasons why many people are not blessed by the ministries of men. Are you with me?
Yes, sir. It is a spiritual confinement. It is a spiritual identification. You must know and the man must know that today you identify as his son. It means you can either identify as a member or as a son. Fans don't carry inheritance. Members don't carry inheritance. It is sons, followers that carry inheritance. And so there were many people who were members of king Jesus ministry. He reached out to multitudes.
I hope you know. Multitudes followed him. But how many were followers? He says, follow me, I will make you. So the fact that they came to his conferences and attended his crusade never made it such that they became followers of him. Are you with me? Sons recognize. What's the difference? It's a heart connection, a recognized heart connection that sponsors loyalty to a man. A genuine heart connection.
Guess what? How do you know that these people were not followers? Jesus Christ was in one day and all of them. They said, what is this? Uh-uh. They've been attending conferences. They've been attending seminars. But the... Because the man said something they did not agree with, they all picked their backs and left. Those are not sons.
So it means a man can have a crowd of people and very few sons. He turned to them and said, will you also follow me? The son said no. No. To whom shall we go? For in your mouth... The question is, did they understand what Jesus was saying? He was... Jesus was saying some vampire something. You were...
I will... You put my body and drink my blood and... People were saying, what are you talking about? Drink your blood and hit your... This is not what I signed up for. And by... One by one, they started leaving. And he told the disciples, he said, will he also go? To whom shall we go? Is it because he understood?
They knew what it was to eat his body and drink his flesh and eat his blood? No. It's a heart connection. They don't... Come rain, come sunshine. It don't matter what happens. This is where we stay. To whom shall we go? In your mouth is the words of eternal life. When you see a father correct his son, the son cannot get hungry because he was corrected.
That's a bastard. He's a bastard. No. That is not in the nature. That's a that's a bastard. It is true. It's a description. Say, I I didn't I didn't like the way he spoke to me. Hey, father. Come on now.
Come on. So the first thing is is... Listen. Some people can get angry with what I'm saying right now. There's no problem. Remember, it's not a crowd of members we are raising. No. So I will never ever preach to impress you, God forbid. It will never happen that because anybody is wealthy or anybody give them amount an amount of money, I will now I will now kill my teaching not to offend somebody, God forbid. This that we do will forever be dedicated to God.
Anybody becomes hungry, take your money and go. Take your wealth and go. They left Jesus. Don't be disappointed when men leave you. It's not a big deal. Are you with me? Yes, sir. Listen. Never follow a man you cannot genuinely be connected to in the spirit. Never follow a man you are not genuinely connected to in the spirit.
You are not genuinely loyal to. There are many people I find today who have pieces of themselves everywhere. They are not connected to anything. They are not connected to anyone, and they don't care. That's an error a generation is making. They call everybody papa. Everybody. And I see some very funny people like that. You jump on every pastor's social media. Hey, papa.
I'm lawyer, sir. Hey, papa. Your son is here. Hey, papa. Bless us. Ah, mighty word. Papa. Hey, mighty word. Papa. Then you come to church and say, hey, papa.
And then And the guy the guy has no identity in the spirit. He's a confused individual. Cannot be traced to any lineage. Cannot be traced to anyone. A genuine connection from your heart. Listen. It might look as though you are wise, but you are sincerely foolish. And you must readdress your ways and retrace your steps. It is not maturity. It is not a pattern we see anywhere in scripture.
There are people who have unrestrained proximity to anointings, unrestrained proximity to blessings, Yet their lives are not the... Are not embodiments of the results that these people whom they have access to carry, And their lives often are a reflection of pain and offense because they can't see the results in their life. They go around shouting my prophet, my papa, the apostle, and all of that. All of that is hypocrisy. And yet they wonder why nothing happens in their lives because there's a cloud of dishonor, a cloud of pretense, and so nothing ever drops from the man to them. Remember, the lesser is blessed of the better. It's a posture that you take when you follow a man to intentionally be the lesser. It's a posture of the heart. Some of us have been close to multimillionaires. If only you understood the principle of followership, you will not be in this place you are in.
When God gives you the privilege of access to greatness, hear me, beware of familiarity. Beware of dishonor. The closer you have to an anointing, the more tendency for familiarity to develop. That is why the closer you have to a grace, the more difficult it is to receive of that grace. Because of the tendencies of familiarity, profitable followership happens by genuine heart connection. A heart that is that is loyal, connected, and has intense honor to the one to whom he follows. The hypocrisy of this generation is the reason why many people do not receive. You feel as though nobody is deserving of honor. You feel as though there's there's nobody sacrifice that matters to you. You trivialize the sacrifices of people.
Listen. Every time you despise what God is doing in the life of a man, you have closed the door to yourself from entering that possibility. There must be a sincere connection of the heart. Follow them, the bible says, who through faith and patience have obtained the promises. How? A sincere connection from the heart, a genuine connection that births loyalty, that births honor. Honor, an acknowledgment of uniqueness, an acknowledgment of difference, a rewarding of the same. Honor. Number two, the demands of followership. The demands of followership.
Number two is the intentional choice. Listen to my choice of words. The intentional choice or decision to remain a student. The intentional choice or decision to remain a servant and a student. Luke chapter six and verse 40. The bible says, a disciple is not above his master. Can you see this? A disciple is not above his master. When you are following for your making and you have a colleague mentality, you have a mentality that makes you believe that you are now a boss. You will receive nothing.
A disciple is not above his master. But look at this. The bible then continues to say, everyone who is maturely trained, the word perfectly, there's the word mature, who has grown into maturity will be like his teacher, will not be his teacher, will be like his teacher in semblance of results. But look at the first thing the bible says, it does not mean that he's above his teacher. In other words, it doesn't matter what level a man can get to. There must be the intentional decision to remain a student. Listen to me. Result can be deceptive. Result can deceive you to think when the man lifted his hands like this, people fall out under the power. Now I raise my hands, and I see people fall out under the power.
My god. This same grace has come upon me. What else is there to learn? When I hold the microphone and I speak, I see people responding the same way they respond. I've seen healings of all sorts. Now I move in the prophetic. Now I move in the word of knowledge. Now I move in visions. Now I move in all these things. Oh, god.
And then the silent pride begins to arise in you. You then notice that the man now corrects you, and his correction does not hold as much weight as it would normally hold. How do you know? Before when you had no result, the man would speak to you and your heart would tremble. But now little money has entered your account. The man is speaking to you considering how right or wrong it is. And you are then... You're you're measuring. You're putting it on a on a scale of of preference, of balance. This match what I read in the...
Okay. This match. Okay. This match. Yeah. Makes sense. Makes sense. Makes sense. What a fool. A fool.
This is what has led to the destruction of a generation. Does not amaze you that papa Oyedepo as old as he is with all his results will still say, papa Hia Adeboye's hand must touch my head every year. I heard... That man of God is a... If you want to mention people that have stature, at least you put his name there. However, where you are using to rank, his name must have been there. That man who has that much stature said, papa came... I'm sharing the deco. He said it by himself. Came to utter 06:30AM in the morning.
06:30AM in the morning. And as he was coming, he said, where is my son? And he saw him. He said, the bishop. The bishop. He said, aunt, daddy, what are you doing here, sir? He says, what is the living doing amongst the dead? What is the living doing amongst the dead? Go on your knees. And the 06:30AM in the morning, he poured oil upon his head and says the living cannot be amongst the dead.
The living cannot be amongst the dead, and he went back. It was the following week, Bishop helicopter crashed. Bishop David Oyedebo. He came out of helicopter unscathed. And you think it's because do you know if you had not shared the story, nobody would have known that papa Debuy left Auguste. Where where is that place? Redemption Camp and got on a flight to travel to Olta to see what is the living doing amongst the dead. There's a small boy who has not become anything, who has not... There's no power. There's nothing.
There's no result, even financial result. Nothing. And there's already elevation in the heart, pride in the heart to think he has risen above his master. Listen, it must be an intentional decision that a man will make that my heart will continually retain a posture of survey... Of servanthood, a posture of a student. I will forever learn. If I have the privilege to sit down with a great man... I've I've I've I've I've met a man some time ago who was introduced to me because of a challenge he was having in an area of his life. This man was a multimillionaire. And yet there was this man right in my front.
I didn't say, kneel down. Let me pray for you. No. You have built things I have not built. There is something to learn. There's a grace to receive. He has chains of real estate, chains of houses and estates all over Nigeria. You have things I don't have. So I don't go there arrogantly and say, I'm the man of God. It's an intentional decision to learn.
It doesn't matter who holds this microphone. If I'm ever sitting down, I am a student learning. If I'm speaking to even my spiritual children and they are speaking to me in areas of their field where obviously they know more than I do, I listen and I learn. That is how I become informed as a man. Else, I would just be an old car... A old fool who will go out of order, out of information. I will say things are not backed up by facts. And over time, it will be clear, this is an old fool. There must be an intentional of decision to learn, to not stop learning, and to continue learning. Listen to me.
Avoid the deceitfulness of result. It is one of the things that cause familiarity, the deceitfulness of result. A man can get to a place where the result you are now seeing in your life makes you believe. Let me show you in scriptures. Numbers chapter 12 and verse one. There are people whose obsession when they meet with greatness is pictures. They want to have an archive of pictures they've taken with several great people so that when they talk to people, they have a sense of relevance on account of who they've met and not on account of who they are. So they will show you picture. Look at it. Look at it.
Do you know I met with Tonya Lomel? Look at it. Do you know I met with Osimbajo just yesterday? I was in a conference, and he was there just like, come on. Look at it. Yet their life is empty of possibilities and realities that these people's life exemplify. When you meet with greatness and your first desire is a picture, it shows you are a fool. It should have not been well thought. It should have not been well thought, sincerely speaking. So I was telling you that beware of the deceitfulness of result.
This is one thing that makes people grow into a place where they feel as though they are no longer students. Numbers chapter 12 and verse one, the bible says the Miriam... Do you remember the story of Aaron? Do you know that do you know that Aaron never had a call? Do you know that it was the arrogance of Moses that gave Aaron a call? Yes, sir. Yes, Yes, sir. Yes, sir. You know, it it was it was not. Because Moses said, I can't talk.
I can't talk. Aaron. That's how Aaron entered the picture. And the man that entered the picture like that, shouldn't you? Come on now. Come on now. Look at this. Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married. Watch this. For he had married an Ethiopian woman.
I will come back here. There's a lesson here. Next verse. But this is not where I'm going. They spoke against Moses. So they said, as the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses, has God not also spoken through us? The deceitfulness of results. What was the privilege that Moses had over us? He could hear God. But as God just started speaking to us also, uh-uh, what is now the difference between us and Moses?
Have you sweetly forgotten where you were? The deceitfulness of results. Note this, the bible did not say that they were speaking to Moses. A lot of time when we read the scripture, we read it as though they came to Moses and laid allegation against Moses and challenged Moses. They never challenged Moses. This was a conversion that was happening between themselves. They spoke against Moses amongst themselves. Moses was not even there. He didn't even hear what they said. He didn't even know what they said.
Guess who heard it? And the Lord heard it. And the Lord... It was in their room they were speaking. Moses was minding his business. The Bible says, and the Lord heard it. I'm gonna read the rest of the story. The deceitfulness of result. There are people you meet with greatness, and you are... You you won't stop talking.
There are those who meet me for counseling, and for twenty minutes, they are the ones who are speaking. And the lady asked me a question or the guy meet me and asked me a question, answered this question, then asked the question again, then she has an encounter with me. Then he comes again and says, sir, I want to know how do I discover purpose. You know you know sometimes you think you know it because from... Like me now, for example, to the time God told me that I'm a prophet. I now realize that I was working so much in the prophetic. In fact, I had encounters. Now what was your question again? How do you discover purpose? But God has told you you're a prophet, and you had encounters with God.
And it goes on and on and on sharing the encounters, and it just won't stop talking. So, sir, I now want to ask, what does a man like that now do to develop a work with God? Because in in in in the multitude of his stock, he does not even know where he came from, what he was asking, what he's saying. He's just a confused individual who can never learn anything from greatness. And I'm very patient with people like that. I listen to all they have to say. It's painful when there's someone behind them waiting to see me who may have more sense, But I would listen to everything they have to say. When they are done now, just see, God will help you. You've already? A young man came to see me, and he won't stop talking to me about a book he read and principles he found in the book.
And, know, apostle, the way ministry is going like this, if men of God and all cannot care for, I was reading a book and and I just kept on listening. I said, my God. And fortunately for me, I have the heart of this. I will learn from you. I will learn from you since God knows and God sees that. So when you come and you start teaching, my God, I become your student immediately. Remember, the lesser is blessed. Yes. I choose to become the lesser and just learn. Number three, and we close here, never ever expect godlike perfection from the ones that you follow.
The demands of followership, The men will never be 100% perfect. I'm not endorsing limitations. A man who knows he has limitations and keeps his limitations there without doing anything or improving on it is a foolish man. Do you understand what I'm saying? But to think that... And I think this is the major problem with the body of Christ in Nigeria. Are you with me? Yes, sir. We expect that because they are men of God, it suggests that they must be perfect. It suggests that they must be perfect.
Second Corinthians chapter four and verse seven, I saw something powerful in this scripture. Listen. Listen. The bible says, but we have this treasure where? In heaven vessels. Pause. That the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. That is the reason why God did not change the vessel into golden vessels. He left the vessels as hurting and put his treasure inside. You you want a golden vessel.
The treasure is not in golden vessels. It's in hurting vessels. So when you say this man has anger, God knows he put the treasure there. The treasure is in earthen vessels. It means there are times you might follow men and come to discover certain limitations they may have, and sincerely speaking, they do. It would not be wise to think that because a man has a flaw in an area, he's no longer anointed. Or you think because you have discovered that flaw or that mistake, God will take his anointing and give it to you? Listen. One day, the person you admire so much as a man of God may get angry, and you may be there to witness it. You may be disappointed seeing your admired man of God angry.
One day you might come to his house, and you see him quarreling with his wife. And you say, ah, is this not pastor? I'm so disappointed. Men of God, did God not... Ah ah, how can he? The Bible say and God heard it. And God heard it. We have a generation who have insisted on correcting fathers. Go there on social medias. Please don't join this generation.
Please. Please. Please. Mind your business. Yes, sir. Please. I told God I am not a part of this generation. This rebellious generation that has no honor for the sacrifices of men. These these are painful things, really painful things. And these are young people who are short circuiting their own...
Their their generations unborn, victims of the statement they made that they think God did not hear. The bible says, and God heard it. Can't we even respect the sacrifices of men, the labor of men? Do you know do you know what it means for a man to build a ministry from the scratch and to to a place where over 200,000 people are gathering every Sunday in multiple services and then grow, grow, build an of a 100,000 people and then hold crusades getting so saved in thousands every week? Isn't that sacrifice we should honor as young people? Even if the man is wrong, how is it your business? Because truly speaking, there is not a man who is a 100% perfect. They are men, but they are of God. It does not in any way mean that because he's a pastor, there will not be some character flaw somewhere. No.
The holy spirit is still working on even himself at whatever phase that he's in. Listen. You can never be offended at a father and hope to receive from him. Offense and bitterness are things that a follower must insist that I will not allow. This was what happened with Miriam and Heron. It got to a point where they allowed for offence. They allowed for bitterness. Look at the next verse. Look at the next verse. Suddenly, the Lord said to Moses and Heron and Miriam, come out.
You know why the Lord will say to all of them? Because they've already testified that they all hear God. So it's it's it's it's easy for the Lord to say to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, come out. It means the reason why you have not heard your own come out is because you can't hear God. If not, you would have heard God tell you come out when you held your phone to speak and he's a man of God. Your ears are deaf of hearing. And so when God say come out, you can't even hear anything. The witness of these people that they can hear God. It's the reason that cannot hear God, and it's still forcing those who can hear God. God help us.
Remember the... Remember remember Lot and his sons. The bible says in Genesis chapter nine verse 21 that Lot drank and he drunk himself to stupor. Whose fault is that? Lot. Eventually, God will... He will have to answer to God as to why he drunk himself to stupor but a foolish son. It means I'm trying to tell you that the man might not be perfect, and to expect that the would is a foolish thing. To be disappointed when you see expressions of imperfections in a man that God is using is not to be wise. After all, he's a man.
I wasn't... Those days those days, because of how terrible... You know, then we're we're still young. And so we have let... Very little control and restraint over the demonstration of power. So if you knew me, those days were not calm, and we did it intentionally. Intentionally. Somebody could meet me and say, ah, this is my friend. I say, hey. Your friend?
Who is Bolu? Intentionally. We'll just stand there and be... I must get something. And I'll be looking until I get something, and I will get something. We're not calm. You lie to me, then you are in trouble. I will tell you the origin of the lie. Now whether you lie to me or not, I believe you. Majority hopes you know that there are better things to hear God for.
So I will not go and be labor and I'm saying. Those days were terrible. And because of that, many people had this perception. Some of them were very scared of me, extremely afraid of me. Some people believe if I just see them, I will see everything in their life. So they avoided me. Said, in fact, I've gone to the house of the man of God, and the man of God told his people, his men... His workers who were in the house not to shake me. Instructed the walker. Don't shake him.
Don't... Just bow. Don't inhunno. Whether you bow, it doesn't make a difference. The site is not in the hand. It's in the house. And he he came in. He said, I said, what happened? And he was there for, like, was there for, a minute. Shocked to the bones.
I said, what happened? So you eat fish? Listen. Listen. Listen. Listen. Unfortunately for her, myself and a friend of mine, we were fighting over the fish. So imagine the confusion when she saw that, I don't only eat fish. I fight over fish. Now I've not done anything wrong.
The girl's already shocked. Imagine if I now do something wrong. Imagine if she now sees me starting with the conductor and they change the meter. He will lose his faith that day and say no. Listen. To expect a godlike perfection in men is an unreasonable thing. Some of you have seen the limitation of those who have gone ahead of you. Maybe they have character flaws. Maybe they have a weakness for money, and you can, in their presence, honor them, but behind them speak against them. God heard it.
Do you know that there are times you have to endure to receive? We live in a generation where it has become fashionable to tear down men of God, tear down sacrifices, tear down successful people, things that people have built for years, tear it down with words. That is not how to receive. In Matthew 11 verse six, Jesus said, blessed are those who are not offended in me. Matthew thirteen fifty three. Jesus went to his hometown. After many years of ministry, he felt a passion to go back to his hometown and pour the grace he has received on people, on his kindred. And the bible says... Next verse. The bible then says, when he had come to his own country, he taught them in his synagogue so that they were astonished.
Look at this. They now said, where did this man get this wisdom? Where did this man get this mighty works? Look at the next verse. Is this not the carpenter's son? This was what they said about somebody came and was teaching with power, with authority, with wisdom. You are obviously astonished at his wisdom. You attested to the fact that he had wisdom. You said, where did he get the wisdom? So you knew he had wisdom.
But instead of humbling yourself to receive and to drink of the wisdom that he has, the question then is, is this not the carpenter's son? Uh-uh. Did not grow up with us. Is that not the guy that made my serum chair? He said he's the one. When our table chair spoiled, he's the one I called. He said he's the one. Children of nowadays. The bible says... Next verse.
They they they analyze his life. Where then did this man get all these things? Next verse. So they were offended. Why? The offense now is that he was once their sister, and then God called him. God called her. The offense is it used to be their younger brother. Your friends is... Used to be their son.
Now he's anointed. Now he has a church. Now he has raised a business. Your friends that used to be their classmate. Your friends that used to be their junior. Now God is using it. The offense is that he got married before them. That's the offense. The bible says they were offended at him. Look at the foolish reasons for offense to grow in the man...
The heart of a man. And there are people that have been... That have grown offence of... For more foolish reasons. More foolish reasons. So when you say somebody say, I'm not coming to church again, that's just how offended. You won't be the first. You won't be the first. We won't celebrate you. Many people think they will sing charade over them and dance over them and send all the pastors to come and beg them.
God forbid. There are many fishes that are perishing. We'd rather deploy our resources to get more fish and get more souls saved. Offense is a terrible thing. Are you with me? Sir. Offense is a what? What is the consequence of this? The next verse. The bible says, now he did not do many mighty works.
Give me KJV. He's not did not. That is the accurate word there. The word is could not. Is it is it... Okay. It's a rendition. Glory to god. The accurate word that describes it is could not. That's the original Greek word that was used.
Jesus could not do. Could not do. Not that he cannot do it. He couldn't do it. Their honor. That is how graces also would not be able to fall. The man could not impact. Are you with me? Sir. Because of dishonor, rise up on your feet.
And just tell God to help your heart. Can you pray and sincerely ask God to help your heart? Sincerely. Just tell God to help your help. For We help. Disciples christian network and get more from apostle Emmanuel. Follow us on our social media platforms. You can follow us on Instagram at official disciples c n. You can follow us on Facebook at disciples christian network. You can also join our telegram page at d c n media for more messages by apostle Emmanuel.
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