Skip to content The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Disciplemakers: Part 2 Sep 8 · 36 min ...more
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Rev. Paul Jeyachandran leads the Intentional Disciple Making Church (IDMC) Movement, which is all about calling churches back to its disciplemaking roots. Visit us at idmcmovement.com
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0:09 Shall we give the Lord a clap offering church? Hallelujah. It is always a joy and a privilege to bring God's word into your homes. Again, this morning, we're gonna be studying a0:20 specific topic. Today, it's not an expository sermon, but rather a topical sermon, which I usually preach to the leaders in churches. And I want this to be a0:32 training for anyone who is in Christian ministry. Not only that, it is also a training for every Christian. Now this is what I'm titling this, 7 traits of highly0:44 effective Disciple Makers. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day. I pray that the Holy Spirit be our teacher. Give us listening ears and a heart that is willing to obey mighty God.0:55 Lord, we know that we are on a journey, that we are continually being transformed into the likeness of Christ. And even today, I pray that the Holy Spirit will remind us of what it is that he is transforming towards. We1:06 thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name, and people of God said, amen and amen. As a church consultant, whenever I sit down with a leadership team of a church, I help them1:18 to understand what are some of the key things to look for in the life of the church. 1 of the most important things is you can either structure a church for growth, or you1:30 can structure the church for help. See, what it means is many times, people are focused on growing, growing in numbers, growing the leaders, growing. It's always about1:41 growth oriented, performance oriented mindset. But on the other hand, what you need to do is to be able to think about how can I grow the leadership of the church into health? How can I get1:53 the core of the church, the people in the church to be healthy, healthy individuals who are following the Lord, healthy families that are serving together, healthy leadership teams?2:05 Now why I emphasize this is because healthy things grow. You don't have to go after growth. If you remain healthy, anything that is healthy will continue to grow. Growth2:17 is a byproduct. That's That's why I wanna talk about the 7 traits of highly effective disciple makers in this video, because I want you to catch what are some of the2:28 traits that that causes a person to truly embrace the mission of Jesus Christ. See, we are in a business of converting people. Correct? We convert people threefold. I want you2:40 to convert them to Christ. I want them to I want you to convert them to the church, and I also want you to convert them to the cause. What I mean by convert, you know, convert meaning that you are2:52 changing the cause, you're bringing alignment to their life, and you're bringing them to Christ. So when you're connecting them to Christ, you're making them to convert and make Christ the Lord of their life. Life. At3:03 the same time, you're converting them to a church. In other words, you're connecting them to a local church. In other words, you're helping them to embrace the vision and the culture and the values that govern a local3:13 church. Now this is important. But most importantly, you're not only connecting them to Christ and to the church, but you're connecting them to the cause of Jesus Christ. And the core mission that Christ has left for us3:25 is to make disciples of all nations, beginning at our home. So I wanna be authentic in my discipleship. I wanna disciple my wife, my children. At the same time, I wanna bring on my journey3:37 a few key individuals whose hearts the Lord has touched, and I want to intentionally disciple them. So what makes an effective disciple maker? There are 7 traits I want you to see. So if you're3:49 a zone shepherd leading a group of life group leaders, I want you to listen to me carefully. When you sit down with your life group leaders, these are the 7 things I look for in life group leaders, and I want you to3:59 cultivate in them, constantly keep reminding them, bringing them back to that place to keep cultivating and growing in these 7 traits. If you are a life group leader, this is what I look for4:11 in you, and I pray that God will cultivate in this. The third trait is humble. Humble is that you have a proper self assessment. You know your weakness. You know your strengths. You know what are some of4:23 the pitfalls that you would have in your life. You know what are the gift sets that you carry. You need to be aware. Everyone needs to have awareness of their blind spots. And this4:35 humility is important because the Bible says, first Peter chapter 5 and verse 5 and 6, likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Right there, it says, be subject to the elders. But, you know, you won't4:47 want to submit if you don't have humility, If you cannot invite correction, if you cannot invite that that kind of rebuke, if you cannot invite that kind of accountability, you can't submit. And the main4:58 reason you need that is humility. Clothe yourself, all of you, with humility toward 1 another, for God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. You and I know5:10 this. When you are proud, you are on opposition with God. Do you want to be in opposition with God? My goodness. Humble yourself. Not only that, when you5:22 want to be like Christ, Christ modeled for us what humility is like. Whereas the devil, Satan, he was lifted up in pride, the bible says, and that was the downfall for the Satan. So listen to5:34 me. When you are proud, you align yourself with the devil. You're not Christ like. Listen. John Stott said this, and in every sphere of our Christian5:45 discipleship, pride is the greatest enemy, and humility our greatest friend. Pride is more than the first of the 7 deadly sins. It is itself the essence of all sin. Listen to5:57 that. Pride is the essence of all sin. At the core of our sin, sinful tendency, sinful habit is pride. And that is why you and6:09 I, we need to humble ourselves. The bible doesn't say, go and humble your wife. The bible doesn't say, go and humble your husband. You cannot humble another person. You can humiliate another person, but6:21 humble is something that you and I need to do ourselves. Look at that. First Peter chapter 5 and verse 6. Humble yourselves, therefore, in the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time, he may exalt6:33 you. Humble yourselves. Doesn't mean that you put down yourself. Doesn't mean that you think lowly of yourself. Humility doesn't mean to think lowly of oneself.6:45 Humility is not thinking lowly or thinking highly about oneself. Humility is not thinking about yourself at all. That means you don't think about yourself. You think about6:57 Christ and his glory. Hallelujah. A pastor was given the title, the most humble pastor in America. So there was a badge that they gave.7:09 The church gave the badge to the pastor to say, you are the most humble pastor in America. And the following week, they took the badge from him because he started wearing it.7:22 See, humility is a very peculiar thing. Listen to this. Bernard said this. Humility is a most strange thing. The moment that you think you have acquired it, it is just the moment you have lost it. The moment7:34 you think you have arrived, the moment you lost it. In other words, humility should be at the core of our being. And the 1 way I've helped I I've realized to walk in humility, I need to remind7:45 myself of where I came from and how God has brought me where I am today. You know, this month of March, I'm recording this on the seventh of March. 22 years ago, on seventh7:57 of March, I met my wife for the first time. 22 years ago. And in that time, I had nothing in my pocket. Third of March, I received a visa after 72 they said8:09 72 weeks of processing. We will reject your visa to come to Australia on a permanent migration visa. But after 26 weeks, miraculously, that visa was granted to me on the third of March. That was 21 years8:21 ago. Why I recollect these things? On the fifth of March, I landed in this country. When I landed in this country, Qantas lost my luggage. I walked out of the airport absolutely with nothing in my hand.8:33 And that is how I came into this country. So 21 years ago, when I recollect these things, I see the faithfulness of God. It brings nothing else but tears in my eyes, and the recollecting the8:45 faithfulness and the goodness of God. I know I don't have what it takes to be what God has called me to be, but he has stood with me, blessed me, chose me, called me, anointed me,8:57 and blessed me, and graced me, and favored me to do what I do today. And that is what I'm a man of tears. My wife knows these people who are closest to me know. I'm very quick to cry. And9:08 the reason I flow in tears is because deep down in my heart, I know it is he who has given me his grace. And that is humility. Humility is to come to the9:20 place to recognize that he is everything, and we are nothing. I'm gonna give you 6 ways you can live humbly. Read this together with me. Come on. 3, 2, 1. Listen more than you9:32 speak. If you're humble, you will listen more than you speak. You will shy away from things that feed your ego. 1 of the things that greatest temptations that people fall is they want people to always9:44 stroke their ego. Stay away from those things. If you're humble, you will walk away from this. Thirdly, submit to accountability of a mentor. Choose to obey. If not, you become a god to yourself. In other9:56 words, no 1 can correct you, no 1 can rebuke you, no 1 can bring any criticism into your life. What will happen is you become a god to yourself. So learn to submit to a wise mentor. Now there are mentors, and there are10:07 mentors. What do I mean by that? There are mentors, and there are tormentors. There are people who will abuse the leadership that's given to them. So you gotta choose wisely. Right? But the key thing is10:19 here, do not shy away from jobs or responsibilities that you do not enjoy. That's 1 core thing of humility. All our church leadership teams, whoever the couple10:31 that are serving we invite couples to serve in ministries, and all the couples that are serving in ministries, they carry loads beyond their ability, beyond their gift sets. They do abound beyond. You10:43 know the reason why they do it, and many of them do it not because they are very good at it. They do it because they see a need, they fill it. And they don't shy away from doing the hard work. They don't shy away10:54 from doing the dirty work. They don't shy away from doing what needs to be done, even responsibilities that they don't enjoy. That's called humility. Serve more in secret than in public. Don't11:06 wait for someone to give you a platform. Don't ask for positional leadership. Have an influential leadership. Influence doesn't require a title. Influence is that you're able to live out the gospel, and people will11:18 be naturally attracted to that. You don't need a title. You don't need a position. Don't need anyone to come and say, you are a leader. You will have influence if you just start serving, serving more in secret than in11:29 public. Lastly, be the first to humble yourself in a conflict and to repent of your own mistakes. How often I find this funny? That leaders who are supposed to be humble are the leaders who11:41 who you know, they're supposed to be humble. They would they need to take ownership of the issue. Doesn't matter who was in the wrong. The first 1 to be able to take ownership of the problem, and admit, and11:53 repent. This is a sign of maturity and a sign of humility. I want you to pay attention to this. How do you react when people criticize12:04 you? How do you react when people compliment you? How do you react when people overlook you and underappreciate you? How do you receive corrections? All these things12:16 are questions that you and I, we need to examine. Number 4, the fourth trait is happy. A Christian owes it to the world to be supernaturally joyful. A w Tozer said that. A12:28 Christian owes it to the world to be supernaturally joyful. How many of you know joy is not dependent on the happenstance? If the happenings are happening the way you want it to happen, then you will12:39 be happy. But joy is a byproduct of being so god centered. Holy spirit filled, holy, humble,12:52 you will be happy. Look at what the Bible says about the disciples in Acts chapter 13 and verse 52. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the holy spirit. The disciples were13:03 filled with joy and with the holy spirit. I love these 2 distinct fillings. They were filled with joy and filled with the holy spirit. You and I13:15 know holy spirit is the 1 that produces the joy, isn't it? Love, joy, peace. But there is a double portion of love, a joy here. He says they are filled with joy. They13:27 are joyful. They are grateful. They are filled with happy. You cannot be a Christian and have a face that is baptized in tom yum soup. Now if you don't know what tom yum soup is, it could be lemon juice. It's not you're13:39 baptized in lemon juice. I want you to listen to me. You and I have to express the joy of the Lord, and the joy of the Lord can can can can be there. Now I want you to listen. Paul commands13:51 this twice. The whole book of Philippians, you and I studied together. Philippians is a book that speaks about the joy of the Lord. But more importantly, the emotions for emotions to be filled with joy, it is how14:02 you think about things. The more you think about things, if you think rightly, you will feel rightly. That's why 1 of the core things that you and I need to understand is joy is a command. It's a commandment.14:14 Command means that you have to obey it. That means Paul knows that you can trigger joy in your life. You can live in a constant state of joy. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I would say, rejoice. Nehemiah 814:26 10, the Bible says, the joy of the Lord is your strength. If you're a life group leader, is your life filled with joy? If you walk into14:38 your marriage, is there joy in your marriage? You know, is there is there laughter at home? You know, 1 of the core things I'm thankful to the Lord is, I look around when we come14:50 together as a leadership team, we laugh at things. We do laugh. We have the joy of serving the Lord together because we are invested in each one's life. When I go my go back to my15:02 home, there's joy in the house. I I wanna see my wife filled with the joy of the Lord. I want to see my children serve the Lord with gladness of heart. This is important. It is something15:13 that you work towards. It's a byproduct of living and thinking right. The bible says, if you do not have joy, and you serve the Lord without joy,15:26 there is a severe punishment. In the Old Testament, they were punished. Look look at this. In Deuteronomy chapter 28 verse 47, because you did not serve the Lord with your with the Lord your God with15:37 joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, therefore, you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. He will15:48 put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you. Listen. You don't serve the Lord with joy and gratefulness and gladness of heart. You will be serving the enemy, and he will put a heavy burden on16:00 you, and you will have everything. You will have lacking in everything. Listen how severe that is. In other words, don't be mad about things. Don't be sad about things. Be glad16:12 because God is still sovereign. God is still on the throne, and God still has things to do in your life. Hallelujah. Fifthly, harmonious. A man who is holy spirit filled, who is16:23 humble, who is holy, who is happy, will also be harmonious in how he works with others. First Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 10 to 12, the Bible says, I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord16:35 Jesus Christ, that all of you agree that there be no divisions among you, that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. Paul commands here and says,16:46 don't have any divisions among you. You know how sad it is when church goes through conflict, when there is polarization. People are in 1 camp, leaders are in another16:58 camp, all these kind of polarization and divisions. These are things that you and I have to avoid, the bible says. You need to be united in the same mind and in the same judgment. Verse 11 says, it is17:10 reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you. What I mean is that each 1 of you says, I follow Paul. I follow Apollos. I follow Cephas, I follow Christ.17:22 In other words, look at this. Today, it may not be following a personality. It could be, oh, I'm a Armenian, I'm a Calvinist, or I'm a Baptist, I'm a Pentecostal, I'm a charismatic. Today, have different labels, and17:33 people fight over these things. Oh, I prefer expository preaching every Sunday. I don't want any topical sermon. People fight over these things. People will say, every time you preach, you have to preach the gospel.17:44 Every time you need to say, you need to mention, you need to come back to that. I want you to listen to me carefully. All these things can be a point of contention, but we shouldn't allow17:56 that to be. Romans chapter 16 in verse 17, Paul writes, I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions. Watch out for people who are contentious, can cantankerous,18:08 and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught. Avoid them. Circle that word. Avoid them. In other words, you sit down with somebody who is causing division, who speaks divisively.18:20 You know, sometimes you this is something I have to say this. Over the course of my journey with church leaders, I've sat down with church18:32 pastors who are working in a team in other churches. And or maybe it's an elder of a church or a board member. When I'm sitting down with them, sometimes you get this feeling18:45 that they can do the job better than their senior pastor. They may not say it outrightly, but they can portray that to you, that somehow he doesn't18:57 measure up, Somehow, that person is failing. Somehow, they can do a better job if it was given to them. That's the devil. Listen to me carefully. That is not of God.19:09 The bible says, humble yourself in the mighty hand of God that he will exalt you in due time. The moment you put yourself up, you will have a great fall. Listen to me19:21 carefully. Why I'm saying these things is because conflict arises out of 1 man's ambition. Conflict in a church arises of 1 man's deep desire to have prominence19:33 or to be preeminent or to have glory or to have platform or to have appreciation or recognition or whatever it is. That's why I want you to listen. In an intentional disciple making church, we emphasize we don't serve19:45 the people. We serve the audience of 1. We don't live for the applause of men. We live for the approval of God. Will God approve your life? And if he does, he will lift you up. The station, the portion, and the season19:56 for your life will come. But you gotta wait in humility. But the moment you run wild to cause divisions and chaos, the Bible says, avoid them.20:08 Look at this. In Titus chapter 3, Paul goes on to say in verse 10, as for a person who stirs up division after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him. If anyone is contentious,20:20 this is what I want you to do. Zone shepherds, life group leaders, listen carefully. If anyone causes keeps causing the same kind of stirring of division, warn him once, warn him twice, after that, nothing to do20:32 with him. Why? Because this is serious issue in the eyes of God. Knowing that such a person is warped up and sinful, he is self condemned. In other words, there's no humility in that20:44 person. There is no harmony. He doesn't wanna work towards unity in the body of Christ. Now I wanna take a moment to address this because as a church, I'm20:56 grateful to the Lord that God has brought in our midst people from different church backgrounds. In other words, people who have been in Presbyterian church, Baptist church, Anglican church, charismatic church,21:07 Pentecostal church are here. So people who are Calvinists or Armenians are here. People who love the word of God and want to grow together, they are here in this house. And I'm grateful to the Lord for bringing us21:19 together and showing us that we are from diverse cultures, diverse church backgrounds, but we are united in the cause of disciple making of all nations. I'm grateful to the Lord for that.21:31 But can I humbly say this? When you sit down and talk about things, there will be disagreements because we may not agree on how we structure ourselves, what programs we run, or how we do things, or whether we21:43 speak in tongues, we don't speak in tongues, whether we lift our hands in worship, whether we sing hymns or do the there could be a lot of lot of things which we may not agree with. But I want you21:55 to listen to me. Those things don't matter in the long run. Can I give you there are 3 things when it comes to beliefs? 1, there are 3 levels of beliefs. 1, there is a belief that you die22:07 for. There are beliefs that you defend, and there are beliefs that you discuss. For me, it's very simple. What are the beliefs that I die for? There are beliefs that I would die for is that Christ Jesus is22:19 Lord. He is incarnate son of God. He is eternal son who became an incarnate son. And I believe that Jesus Christ was born in a virgin birth, lived fully God, fully22:30 human life, died and bodily rose again, and he is ascended into heaven, and he's coming back again. That to me is a it's a it's a22:42 belief to die for. The inerrancy of the scriptures, that scripture is God breathed, that all scripture is given to us from above, now that is something that we22:54 believe. Hallelujah. So these are things that you that you are that you die for. But then there are if you ask me personally, there are beliefs that I would defend. I'm a23:05 continuationist, not a cessationist. In other words, I believe holy spirit is for today. The gifts are for today, and the speaking of tongues, the prophesying, and all that, because I move in the gifts of the holy23:15 spirit. And I've I've and and people will come and say that the lord spoke through my life, through my ministry for them prophetically. Now I can't keep sharing testimonies here. So those are things I will defend. So if23:27 I'm talking to somebody who believes that everything is ceased, cessationists believe that the gifts are not for today, that it ended when the apostolic age ended in the book of Acts, I want you to listen. We can still23:38 dialogue, and we can still do life together, because that's not something we need to die over. It is about things that you can defend. But then there are things that you can discuss. Oh, baptism. Is it23:50 sprinkling? Is it water baptism? Is it immersion? How how long you need to keep the person inside? Is it 1 second? Is it 3 seconds? Is it 5 seconds? Or is it until they die? I want you to listen to me. Those things we24:02 can discuss. Those things don't matter in the long run. So why I'm saying this is because I want you to pay attention to this. Don't make a minor thing a major thing when you walk into a new church.24:13 Don't major on minors. Major on the majors. As long there there's so much to do in the kingdom of God. Let's put our hearts together, hands together, heads together, and do the work of the gospel, because salvation24:25 to all mankind needs to be preached, and then the end will come. The Bible says, Jesus is coming back to his church very soon, so let's love 1 another. John chapter 13 and verse24:37 34 and 35, the Bible says, new commandment I give to you, that you love 1 another. Just as I have loved you, you're also to love 1 another. Love 1 another. By this, all people will know that you are my24:49 disciples if you have love for 1 another. Love is seen in how you disagree. Yeah. I can agree to disagree, and I still love you. That's the25:01 key. Saint Augustine said this, in essentials, unity. In non essentials, liberty. In all things, charity.25:13 In other words, in all things, show love. That's why 1 of the core things in my mentoring, I always tell the leaders to pay attention to this. There's a difference between posture25:25 and principle. You and I can agree to disagree. We can dialogue around principles. But in our disagreement, don't make the disagreement become personality issues.25:37 I will love the person, but I can dialogue about the principles. Because the principles will either help me strengthen my conviction or help me to correct their wrong perception. It'll help25:49 us. Dialogue around the principles, and we still love each other. But the moment you turn it into personality clash, the disagreement has now become between 2 personalities. Now you26:01 become disagreeable. Now this is key. Don't allow it. And even when you're presenting an issue or a problem with your leadership team, always have this humility of heart to know, I could26:13 be wrong, or maybe I'm not seeing everything clearly. Could you help me understand? These are language of humility. In other words, I always say this, posture is more important than your26:25 position. You may take a stand about something, but in what posture do you communicate it? What posture do you approach it matters for your own soul, for your own soul's26:36 sake. Embrace the right posture. Hallelujah. Finally, I wanna give you sixth 1, heartworking. What is heartworking? Heartworking is you know, there are 2 kinds of people,26:48 someone who is hardly working, someone who is hardworking, but this is heartworking. Colossians chapter 3 verse 22 says, bond servants. In other words, these are servants. These are slaves. He's talking to the27:00 slaves. Obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye service as people pleases, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Not by pleasing men, but27:12 pleasing the Lord. Then verse 23, whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men. Hallelujah. Knowing that from the Lord, you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are27:24 serving the Lord Christ. No matter what you do, do it unto the Lord. The Lord is your boss. That's the key. You know, Howard Hendrix, he's a27:36 well known author. He was traveling in a plane that was delayed at the tarmac. And at the tarmac, when it was delayed, the the passengers were getting restless.27:48 And they started to abuse the flight attendant. But this particular flight attendant, he noticed, she was smiling, she was very calm and poised, and she was giving28:00 them, whatever they requested with such a pleasing personality. And then finally, after a long delay, the plane took off. Now when the flight attendant was serving the28:12 people, and she came to Howard Hendrix, Howard Hendrix asked her, would you please let me know your name? I want to write a recommendation letter to you, to your company, to the airline28:23 company, so that they would know how good you are. You are 1 of the most pleasing stewardesses who handle the frustrations of people with with a good poise, and28:35 a smile, and good, good good countenance. And the lady replied to him, sir, I don't work for the airline company. I work for my boss. My real boss is the Lord28:47 Jesus Christ. This morning, I came to the workplace. My husband and I, we laid hands on each other and prayed for each other that we will represent Christ well at our workplace, and I'm glad that you noticed28:59 it. Praise God. Listen to me carefully, church. You are always being watched. Serve the lord with gladness of heart. Let people be amazed by your excellence. Let people be29:11 amazed by the way you go the extra mile. Let people know that you are a person who will follow through. Never be said of you that you are late, and you're always mediocre, and you're29:22 always someone who has to drag their feet to do work. No. No. No. People of God, we need to recognize that whatever we do, first Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 31 says, whatever you do, whether you29:34 treat, eat, drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Hallelujah. Do it all for the glory of God. Praise God. This is important. I remember years29:45 ago, this is going back almost 20 years ago in this country, my wife and I, we just finished a leadership meeting in 1 of the shopping centers. We had dinner with a group of leaders. And, at around 7 or 7 15, we come29:57 out of the, into the car park, and there I saw a man, a husband, waiting outside the car, and he looked very distressed. And there was a there was a wife seated in the car, and there was a young30:09 primary school boy in the car, the back seat, and he was wearing his school uniform. Now, I asked them, how can I help them? The man approached me and said, you Sir, can you30:21 show me? In those days, they didn't have GPS, right? They used to have this huge map book that it connects from page to page and page to page. They are obviously from out of town. He said to me, we have driven for 630:33 hours straight, and we are here. And by 8 o'clock, I need to be in this stadium. I need to be here for my To enroll my son for a30:45 competition, but we have been lost. I don't know where to go. And could you please help me show the direction? Just write it down for me, because it's too many pages.30:57 I'm familiar with this area in the Hills District where we live and work. So I asked him, sir, don't worry. What time do you need to be there? They're, oh, they've closed by 8 o'clock. It's already 7 1531:08 now. I said to it'll take us half an hour to get there. I would do 1 thing for you. Just follow me in the car. You just drive behind me. I'll lead you there. He said, no no no no. You don't need to do that. Just mark. I31:19 said, no no no. If you make the wrong turn, you will again be in a place where you're limbo. You just wait. So I drove, my wife and I, we drove that person 30 minutes towards that stadium, left him there.31:31 And once I got out to say bye to him, they We reached there around 7 45, and by the grace of God, they were in time. And he wanted to He opened his wallet and took some money, and he wanted to put it in my31:43 hand, and he said, with tears rolling down his eyes, he said, I can't thank you enough here. And I said, sorry, I didn't do this for the money. I did it so that you would know that there is a God in heaven who31:55 loves you. Jesus loves you. Now go enroll your son, and have a good night. I moved on. The reason I'm saying this is because it's not because people are watching you that you32:06 do. Excellence is a culture you should carry. Going the extra mile should be a culture, whether it's in church or outside, in your workplace or in your family life.32:19 Don't be a person who's mediocre. Don't be a person who, who does things half heartedly. Go full on. Do what do the best you can. Now finally, the32:31 seventh trait is hunger. You must be hungry. In other words, a highly effective disciple maker is someone who stays in the posture of hunger. The bible says in Matthew chapter 532:43 and verse 6, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, and for they shall be satisfied. Your hunger for God will be seen in how you live your life.32:55 Do you have hunger for God's presence? In other words, do you put on a worship CD or something and start to be in God's presence, enter into God's presence? Do you have that hunger to to be with God's people?33:07 Do you have that hunger to pray and cry out before the Lord to ask for help? That hunger is to be when you have that, the Bible says, he will satisfy you. It was John Wesley who said this, and33:19 I've always taken this to my heart. He says this, light yourself on fire with passion, and people will come from miles to watch you burn. If you have the hunger and you light33:30 yourself on fire with passion, and people will come from miles to watch you burn. Wow. So how do you stay hot for God? How do you stay in that posture of hunger? You33:42 gotta declare an absolute dependence upon God. You gotta recognize that you can't. Only he can. He can't transform other people's lives. He can't transform your family life. He can't33:54 help your kids to have a godly life. You can't do these things. Only he can. So you and I, we need to recognize our absolute dependence upon Christ. At the same time, we need to34:06 declare our absolute surrender. Lord, I can't. Not that I give up, but I want to give in to you. I want you to step in to do the work. When you have the right hunger, you want to be34:18 filled with the holy spirit. I want you to see this whole thread, church. There's 7 things, and it's a pearl, it's a necklace, and it's all connected to 1 another. When you have the right hunger for God, you34:30 recognize your bankruptcy and your dependency upon Christ. Your adequacy is not in yourself, but in Christ. So therefore, what do you do? You want to be filled with the holy spirit. You wait upon the holy spirit to be34:41 filled. You yield yourself to be filled with the holy spirit. And when you're filled with the holy spirit, you become holy. You become humble. You become happy. You will be harmonious in the way you do work with other34:52 people, and you will work with your heart. And when you do all this, there will be a posture of humility, happy, harmonious, and there is a holy spirit empowered35:04 life, and there's a place of hunger. Listen to me carefully. These are the 7 traits that I pray that you will cultivate. And if you're leading a group of people, that you will help them to cultivate,35:16 That if you're leading a group of, leaders, that you will help them to cultivate. And this is my prayer for you, and I pray that the Lord will continue to empower us to live for his glory, be filled with the holy spirit,35:28 empowered by this Holy Spirit under the lordship of Jesus Christ, establish ourselves in the word of God, and do his will. God bless you. I'm praying for you. Let's pray together. Heavenly father, I thank you for this35:40 moment. I commit each and every 1 of you in your loving hands, mighty God. No matter what their station of life is, whether they are young person or a old person or whether they are a member in a church or whether they35:51 are a leader in a church or whether they're pastor of a church, Lord, I pray that your grace be upon them, that they will continue to live out a godly life, holy spirit empowered, under the36:02 lordship of Jesus Christ, rooted and grounded in the scriptures, loving the Lord wholeheartedly, and doing his will wholeheartedly. Thank you, Lord. Help us to live36:14 a whole life. In Jesus' name, pray, and people of God said, amen and amen. God bless you.
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Paul Jeyachandran
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