In the last session, we were thinking about
serving the Lord, and we spoke about certain
negative things that should not be found in
our life, the power of money and the
power of the soul, dangers to avoid.
We want to look at something positive now.
We get rid of the negatives.
How then should we serve the Lord?
First of all, let me turn you to
a verse in Matthew chapter 18.
Jesus said to his disciples when they asked
him this question, Who then is the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven?
Jesus said, He called a child to himself,
Matthew 18, 2.
And stood him in their midst and said,
Truly I say to you, unless you are
converted and become like children, you shall not
enter the kingdom of heaven.
Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he
is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Now this was so contrary to the disciples'
understanding of greatness.
Because they had for many years grown up
in the synagogues where the older a man
became, the more he knew of the Bible,
the more capable he was as a speaker
of something, he was considered great.
And if you were to ask Peter, James
and John, before they met Jesus, who were
the great men, they would have mentioned the
names of some of the old Pharisees in
the synagogue.
And they come to Jesus and find that
Jesus doesn't even care for those elders and
those leaders.
And he says, You must become like a
little child.
The values that Jesus presented were so totally
different from that of the religious world.
Today we have the same religious world that
existed in Jesus' time in the synagogues with
the same type of rulers, with bishops like
Nicodemus, who need to be born again.
But there is no one like Jesus to
go to them and say, You must be
born again.
Everybody is scared.
That's the only difference.
But the world is still the same.
The religious world is still the same.
And unfortunately, young people look at all this
and think that this is Christianity.
And what they need is to go back
to the scriptures and see who is the
greatest person in a church.
Is it the man with the greatest Bible
knowledge?
Is it the man with supernatural healing powers?
Is it the man who is a great
leader of an organization?
Come back to the scriptures.
And you find Jesus saying, Whoever becomes like
a little child, he is the greatest.
Now, if I were to ask you today,
who is the greatest person in heaven today?
And who will be the greatest person for
all eternity?
We know the answer.
The Lord Jesus.
God has given Him a name which is
above every other name, and He is the
greatest person in heaven.
And if the greatest person in heaven, Jesus
said, is the one who humbles himself as
a child, Matthew 18, verse 4, then that
must prove that Jesus, during His entire life
on earth, He lived like a little child,
dependent on His Father.
This is the greatest person in God's kingdom.
There are many things we can learn from
little children.
Do you want to be a servant of
God?
Okay.
First of all, let's learn from a little
child.
To be a servant of God, Jesus said,
you want to be a great servant of
God?
A really great person in God's kingdom?
Then look at a little child.
Don't look at these great preachers and great
men.
What all can we learn from a little
child?
I've sometimes thought of a, looked at a
little baby lying in a cradle, two months
old, and I thought, what are the thoughts
going on through that, the mind of that
child?
Is he thinking, oh, what a great, smart
person I am?
Do you think those are the thoughts going
through his mind?
Everybody's admiring me.
Nothing of that.
He's just so happy, he's not thinking of
how great he is, or how clever he
is, or what a great work he's doing,
or what other people think of him.
That's the mind of a child.
You want to be great, in God's kingdom?
Seek to have a mind like that, which
when you are at rest and alone, you're
not thinking of what a great work you
did for the Lord, or what an important
person you are, and what people think about
you, and how smart you are, and that's
not the thinking of a child.
Those are the thinking of adult people who
have gone far astray from God.
The message of the gospel is, become like
a child.
And you can become like a child by
the power of the Holy Spirit.
Simplicity.
Where you're not thinking about what other people
are thinking of you.
That's very, very important.
That's what we can learn from a little
child.
What else can we learn?
A child, a little baby lying in the
cradle, he can't remember the harm that you
did to it yesterday.
Supposing you go and give that baby a
very hard pinch, hurt it, and it starts
crying.
And you were just evil, just wanted to
hurt it.
And next day, when you come and look
at that child, he'll smile at you.
He doesn't remember that you're the one who
pinched him so badly yesterday that he was
crying.
How blessed it is to be like a
child.
Adults remember.
Adults will remember 20 years later, this is
the fellow who pinched me in 1978.
But not children.
They don't remember even what happened yesterday.
Do you want to be great in God's
kingdom?
You think you're going to become great that
will only make you great in the eyes
of men.
If you want to be great in God's
eyes, be like a little child.
Meditate on what a little child is.
And say, Lord, I want to be like
that.
Humble, small, with no sense of accomplishment.
You know, we have a sense of accomplishment
maybe even at the age of 20.
You've accomplished something.
Maybe you can play an instrument or sing
well or preach well.
We accomplish as we grow up.
And the more we have accomplished, we read
about Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 4, that he
looked out at this great kingdom of Babylon
that he had built and he said, what
a mighty, isn't this great Babylon that I
have built for my glory.
But a two month old child, what can
he boast about?
What has he accomplished?
He has accomplished nothing.
He cannot think of any accomplishments.
Do you want to be great in God's
kingdom?
Be like a little child.
With no sense of, I have accomplished this.
That is all Babylon.
Everybody who thinks that I have done such
a great work for God and I have
blessed so many people and I have done
this, that and the other, it is all
Babylon.
Beware of such thoughts when they come into
your mind because your thoughts will finally mold
your character.
And the more you think about your accomplishments,
the more proud you will become and the
more you will lose the grace of God.
Paul said in Philippians 3, forgetting the things
that are behind and pressing forward to the
things that are ahead.
Now many people when they read that verse,
they only think of forgetting our past failures.
In fact that verse is very often quoted
to people who have been failures.
It can be.
It is a very good verse to quote
to people who have messed up their life
and say, well you have confessed your sin,
God has forgiven you.
Forget the things that are behind and press
on.
But I want to quote that verse also
to people who have been successes in their
ministry, in their life.
Forget the things that are behind.
Press on.
Many times I think, Lord, I want to
serve you today as if I have never
served you for a single day in my
life so far.
As if this is the first day I
am serving you.
With no sense of accomplishment Lord, I want
to preach a sermon today as if it
is the first sermon I am preaching in
my whole life.
No sense of having done something for the
Lord.
Forgetting the things that are behind and saying,
Lord, I have got just that much left
for you.
I want to do something for you.
If I am 59 years old today, I
want to say, Lord, I want to think
as though I have done nothing.
But at last, in the little time left,
I have the opportunity to do something for
the Lord.
And that produces in me a tremendous zeal
and passion to make the most of the
little time I have left.
But, if you constantly look back and say,
well, I have done so much for the
Lord and you congratulate yourself, you are going
to lose grace.
No.
Who is the greatest in God's kingdom?
Not the one who accomplishes so much, but
the one who has the mind of a
little child and who says, what have I
got which I did not receive?
What have I done which God did not
do through me?
I cannot boast about anything.
It is humility that is the greatest thing
in God's kingdom.
The more humble you are, the greater you
are in God's eyes.
Not the more you have accomplished.
In the world, people measure people by accomplishment.
Some great scientist, some great political leader, look
what he did for his country.
Some great preacher, look how many people he
has brought to Christ and how many sick
people he has healed and how many millions
he speaks to.
You see these advertisements of great preachers.
They tell you all the countries they have
traveled to and all the millions of people
they have spoken to.
It is alright for other people to say
that, but if you yourself feel like that
about yourself, then it is dangerous.
You cannot stop other people from saying things,
but if you yourself feel, this is what
I am, this is what I have sacrificed,
this is what I have done, then you
are a child.
And that hinders your usefulness in God's hands.
Let me tell you something else about a
child.
A child is very dependent.
It cannot be independent.
When it is a baby, its mother has
to do everything for it.
It is a life of dependence.
An adult is not dependent.
An adult is independent.
And Jesus' humility, the humility Jesus spoke of
here, is a humility which brings a life
of dependence upon God.
Lord, I can never do anything without you.
It is impossible.
I can never do anything without your support
and strength and help.
I am always dependent on you, Lord.
There is an amazing statement that Jesus made
in John's Gospel, chapter 5, which shows how
he had that attitude of a child.
John 5, verse 30, I can do nothing
on my own initiative.
Verse 19, the son can do nothing of
himself unless it is something he sees the
father doing.
And later on, he even said, even the
words that I speak John 14, verse 10,
the words that I say to you, I
do not speak on my own initiative, but
the father abiding in me does his works.
Do you see there?
Jesus was so dependent on the father, like
a child dependent on his parents, saying, Father,
what do you want me to say?
At the trial, the father said, say nothing.
He kept quiet.
The ladies wanted to stone a woman caught
in adultery.
And they came to Jesus and said, what
shall we do to this?
Moses said, you must stone such people.
They wanted to find out whether Jesus would
support the law or be against the law,
so that they could trap him.
For Jesus, life was very simple when a
question like that came.
Like a little child, a small child will
go to his daddy and say, Daddy, some
people have come to ask you a question.
He goes and tells them.
So Jesus was like that.
He said, Father, what shall I say?
Tell them, whoever is without sin, throw the
first stone.
So Jesus said, whoever is without sin, throw
the first stone.
That is the end of the argument.
You know, when you listen to God like
a child, you say, Lord, I'm not clever.
I'm clever in earthly things.
Give me wisdom.
The father will say, and with one sentence,
we can solve a problem which a huge
sermon can never accomplish.
A child's life, this is what faith is.
Faith is a life of helpless dependence upon
God.
That's the greatest person in God's kingdom.
A humble person has no difficulty in depending
upon God like this.
No grudges, no sense of accomplishment, no ability
to do so many things oneself.
The biggest problem makers in all churches are
people who have not understood what it is
to be like a little child.
I've seen that in many churches that I
have seen.
The biggest troublemakers are the clever people, the
smart people, the people who have not understood
one percent of what Jesus taught of becoming
like a little child.
The most useful, effective brothers and sisters in
a church are the ones who know what
it is to be like a little child.
Do you want to be a blessing in
God's kingdom?
Wherever you go, be like a little child.
Your cleverness and your smartness is the thing
that becomes an instrument in the devil's hands
that's destroying it.
Be like a little child.
It's my advice to you.
I don't know how many of you will
take it because the world doesn't teach that.
And unfortunately the spirit of the world has
come into the church and even into Christian
leadership and Christian workers that they know nothing
of what it is to be like a
little child.
A child is helpless.
You know, if somebody comes, a big man
comes and hits a child, he's a father.
And that's how God wants us to be.
Jesus said, don't resist evil.
When you are attacked, don't hit back.
Go to your father and say, Lord, what
shall I do?
When they called Jesus Prince of Devils, he
never said anything.
He spent long hours with his father.
He would slip away into the wilderness because
he was like a child.
He needed to hear what God was saying
to him.
Do you find people like that?
You know, now I say one more thing
about a child and that is, you know,
if you hear children speaking, they're very simple.
They're not complicated.
I feel a lot of preachers and servants
of God are so complicated.
I myself can't understand what they're saying sometimes.
Don't ever seek to be like them.
The greater you are, the more simple you
will be.
You will be able to speak like a
little child.
Maybe with a tremendous depth of wisdom because
you walked with God so many years.
But when you express it, you will not
be making people terrified or impressed with your
heavy wisdom.
I've always felt that the best mathematics teacher
is the one who can explain a problem
very simply.
The best chemistry teacher and the best Bible
teacher is the one who can make the
Bible so living and so simple.
Seek to be like that all your life.
Start when you're young.
I remember when I was very young, I
said, Lord, I want to preach like you
did.
I don't want to preach like the great
preachers of my time.
I want to preach like Jesus did, simply,
clearly, so that the youngest and the smallest
and little children can understand.
If you will be like that and not
follow all the great so-called Bible scholars,
you'll be a blessing.
Otherwise, you will be like the scribes and
Pharisees in Jesus' time who couldn't help anybody.
Now, another thing Jesus said, we've spoken about
if you want to serve God, you must
be like a child.
Secondly, the kings and the
Gentiles lord it over them and those who
have authority over them are called benefactors.
But it must not be like that with
you because the greatest among you must be
like a child or the youngest and the
leader must be as a servant.
So if you want to serve God, you
must be first of all like a child
and secondly, you must be like a servant.
Now, there's a lot of difference between being
a servant and being a benefactor.
In Genesis 25, he speaks about a benefactor.
Now, benefactor means someone who does good to
others but makes those people feel very conscious
of the fact that I have done good
to you.
You know, they like sometimes some rich businessmen
or they call them philanthropists.
People who've got a lot of money and
they give money for the poor and they
have a fund with their name.
So and so name, fund or foundation.
For centuries, they want everybody to know that
I'm the one who did this.
You see that sometimes in church buildings.
This chair was donated by so and so
or this fan that's going round and round
and name is there going round and round
also.
People who have given must know.
They are benefactors, they are not servants.
And when you serve God in such a
way that you want people to know that
you're the one who did that, you want
your name to be known, you want yourself
to be projected, you may do a lot
of good.
For example, the philanthropists in the world, they
do a lot of good.
They build hospitals, orphanages, but their name will
be there.
Their name is there.
Even you go to some Christian institutions, you'll
find that.
This block was built with somebody in America
who was given that money and that person's
name is there.
They are doing a lot of good, but
they are not servants.
They are benefactors.
And Jesus said, the Gentiles are like that.
It's true, every heathen businessman who does good
to other people, they are like that.
But Jesus said, you must not be a
benefactor, you must be a servant.
It's possible even without that, for example, when
you help a poor person in a church.
You can either be a benefactor or a
servant.
A benefactor is one who makes that person
feel.
You won't say it like that, but you
give that impression.
I'm a rich man, but here I'm giving
you some money for his insecurity and his
lack of dignity because he's poor.
And you have further humiliated him by making
him more aware that he's poor.
You've robbed him of his dignity as a
human being.
That's why in our church I say to
the brothers and sisters, when you want to
help a poor brother, don't give it to
him directly.
Put that money in an envelope, write his
name and put it in the offering box
so that the treasurer will pass it on
to him and he won't even know who
gave it.
That way you preserve his dignity.
And if you want to give it to
him next month, use a different color envelope
and a different color pen and disguise your
handwriting so that he will not know it
came from the same person.
That way you preserve his dignity.
Do it a different time the third month.
You can give him every month.
You can give it to different people and
vary the amount.
We must be wise to preserve the dignity
of another human being.
You know, benefactors don't care for the dignity
of human beings.
They just want to get a satisfaction themselves.
I have helped so many orphans.
I have helped so many sick people in
my hospital.
And there are preachers like that who get
some satisfaction.
I have done so much for God.
These are all benefactors.
It is not like that.
Servants serve and disappear.
Think of a...
Supposing you have a servant girl in your
house and you have got guests coming there
to the table.
How does that servant girl work in the
house?
Does she blow a trumpet and say, I
am bringing the rice?
She will quietly come and keep it when
nobody is looking and disappear.
Anything, whatever you do, is quietly done.
If she sweeps the floor, she won't come
when the guests are there.
When the guests have gone, sweep the floor
and go away.
The guests never see.
That is a servant.
A good servant is never seen.
The rice is on the table, the floor
is swept, but you never know when it
is done.
Do you want to serve the Lord like
that?
Or do you want to serve with trumpets
and coming in such a way that you
may serve?
But you are not serving the Lord.
You are serving yourself.
Do you want to be like God?
God's nature.
The Bible says we are made to partake
of God's nature.
And one very important part of God's nature
we read in Isaiah 45 is this.
Isaiah 45 verse 15.
Truly, thou art a God who hides himself.
O God of Israel.
That has really thrilled my heart.
God is a servant.
And one mark of his being a servant
is he never behaves like a benefactor.
When he does something for me, he doesn't
blow a trumpet and say, listen, I'm doing
something for you.
In fact, he does so many miracles in
our lives and sometimes people think, oh, that
was a coincidence.
What do you mean coincidence?
That was an answer to prayer.
The only thing is, God did it in
such a hidden way that you thought it
was just accidental, coincidental.
That person happened to come at that time.
He didn't happen to come.
God sent him in answer to your prayer.
But he did it in such a hidden
way that you didn't even see him.
You see how God has hidden himself in
the universe in such a wonderful way that
there are people who are atheists.
There are people who don't believe that God
exists.
That is how cleverly God has hidden himself.
When the sun rises every morning, he doesn't
blow a trumpet and say, hey, do you
know who's making the sun rise?
It's me.
A servant.
God is a servant.
Do you want to be like God?
We say we want to be like God.
But we want to show ourselves.
We don't want to hide ourselves.
God hides himself.
He doesn't get any credit from these atheists
for what he has done.
People never thank him.
Some of us get disturbed when we serve
others and they don't thank us.
God is never disturbed.
When you are a benefactor, you are disturbed
when people don't come and say thank you
very much.
That was very kind of you and they
must write letters of thank you and all
that.
But 99% of the world never thank
God for all the things that he has
done and he is not disturbed.
He still continues to bless them the next
day.
That's the spirit of a servant.
Quietly do something and disappear.
He would walk around Israel quietly serving, helping
people.
He would heal the sick and say don't
tell anybody who did it.
I'm glad that you are healed.
He didn't heal people in order to pull
them up to the pulpit and make them
all give their testimony so that everybody can
see I'm a great healer.
No.
He was happy the person was healed.
He said don't tell anyone.
So different from the benefactors who are in
the Lord's work today.
And if you look at the benefactors, you'll
become a benefactor yourself.
Look at God.
How quietly he served and moved around Israel.
Sometimes once we read he walked 50 miles.
Do you know how long it takes to
walk 50 miles?
At least one full day.
He didn't go by bullock cart or horse
or anything.
He walked from Galilee to Tyre of Sidon.
And there he was led by the spirit
that was outside Israel.
He healed one Syrophoenician Canaanite woman's daughter.
Not even a Jewish woman.
A Canaanite woman's daughter who was demon possessed.
That's the Canaanite woman who said let me
get the crumbs that fall from the table.
Healed her.
Walked 50 miles back.
This is service.
How many people will walk 100 miles to
help one heathen woman's daughter?
This is the Jesus we say we are
serving.
We must have his spirit.
The spirit of service.
When he spoke to the woman of Samaria
he did not embarrass her.
He spoke to her and brought her to
salvation.
He was always like that.
He never humiliated people.
He served people.
He served and disappeared.
You know the Bible says in the Old
Testament they had the priesthood of Levi.
And that was a grand priesthood.
Aaron's dress was all fantastic dress.
Very impressive.
People could be proud to say I am
of the tribe of Levi.
I'm going to be the next high priest
when my father dies.
But in the New Testament we read that
God has got rid of that priesthood of
Levi.
Have you read that in Hebrews 7?
And you know what the New Testament priesthood
is called?
The priesthood of Melchizedek.
Now Melchizedek is Jesus is called a priest
after the order of Melchizedek.
What does that mean?
Well Melchizedek is mentioned only one place in
the Bible and that's in well it's mentioned
in the Psalms where Jesus is called by
that name in Psalm 110.
But otherwise the real Melchizedek is in Genesis
14 and you read about him in verse
18 to 20.
It's just about three verses.
That's all there is about Melchizedek in the
whole Bible.
And that man who's mentioned only three verses
in the whole Bible Jesus is called a
priest after the order of Melchizedek.
And you need to understand what it means
because we are junior priests under Jesus our
high priest of the same order.
Listen to this.
Abraham had just come back from a battle
with 318 servants he had fought the armies
of many kings and defeated them with the
power of God rescued his nephew Lot who
was captured and in those days the rule
was if you won a battle all the
property of the enemy was yours whoever won
the battle that was the rule in Old
Testament times.
So Abraham could become all the loot of
so many nations and secondly he could be
proud that with 318 not even soldiers but
servants I fought and slaughtered these soldiers of
a king and rescued my there was two
dangers that Abraham was facing at that time
pride and covetousness and thirdly he was exhausted
somewhere in that area in Salem Jerusalem there
was a man who knew God his name
was Melchizedek he was in touch with God
and God spoke to him and said take
a little food and go in that direction
there is another servant of mine coming that
way who is tired exhausted who needs a
little food go and give it to him
and not only food he needs a little
message from you to save him from his
pride and to save him from his covetousness
go to him and tell him two things
your God possesses heaven and earth that will
free him from his covetousness your God is
the one who puts enemies into your hand
that will free him from his pride don't
give him a big sermon on pride and
covetousness no need do it in a gracious
way we are talking about the priesthood of
Melchizedek so Melchizedek goes Genesis 14 verse 18
he first of all brings out the food
to exhausted Abraham and meets his first need
his physical need and then he blesses him
he doesn't give him a sermon he puts
this message it's a tremendous example of graciousness
and gentleness in giving a man a message
without even rebuking him he says blessed be
Abraham praise the Lord of God most high
possessor of heaven and earth and a little
seed is dropped into Abraham's mind that my
God possesses heaven and earth so why do
I need all this loot which I have
got here and blessed be God most high
who has delivered your enemies into your hand
and another seed gets dropped into Abraham's mind
I didn't get this victory myself and then
what does Melchizedek do he just disappears you
never see him again in scripture he is
gone and then the king of Sodom comes
and says to Abraham well Abraham according to
the rules of war I will just take
the people you can take all this property
and see what Abraham says I have sworn
to the Lord God most high possessor of
heaven and earth where did he get that
title from possessor of heaven and earth it
was what Melchizedek had put into his head
I have sworn to the Lord God possessor
of heaven and earth that I will not
even take a thread or a shoelace lest
you say you have made Abraham rich where
did he get that how did he get
protected from making a mistake there with the
right word a prophetic word and it was
one sentence the whole message just takes a
few seconds and Abraham was delivered delivered from
covetousness and he said I will take nothing
and from pride you see what the ministry
of Melchizedek is a hidden ministry to be
sensitive to the physical and spiritual needs of
people around us and God prompts us to
go and meet that physical need with food
perhaps or in some other way to serve
them physically maybe wash their feet that is
also the ministry of Melchizedek their feet are
dirty wash their feet if they are hungry
give them food it's a question of meeting
their physical need whatever it is and then
give them a word but don't give it
like in a rebuking hard way as though
they are you rob them of their dignity
say it in such a gracious way that
they don't even think it is a message
but you put a seed in their hearts
and that saved them from covetousness maybe from
lust maybe from pride maybe from jealousy maybe
from something or the other that they were
in danger of going into in a few
moments when the king of Sodom comes that
is the priesthood of Melchizedek that's how Jesus
lived all through his life alert sensitive to
the needs of others meeting that need and
disappearing how many of you want to be
junior priests of this great high priest I
want to but you won't get name you
won't get fame you won't get honor maybe
somebody else will get the honor for what
you did are you happy you do something
and somebody else gets the credit for it
praise the Lord your reward will be even
more when Jesus comes again the question is
where do you want your reward do you
want it now you want the acclaim of
people then you'll never be a priest according
to the order of Melchizedek forget it go
become a priest of Levi you'll get your
tithes and you'll get your honor and all
that now I believe if we can be
gripped by this and say Lord I want
to be like this this is real prophetic
ministry to be alert sensitive to what God
is saying and to care for the people
if you want a prophetic ministry to people
my dear brothers and sisters the number one
thing you need is a heart that cares
for people if you care for people you
care for their burdens you put yourself in
their shoes and you try to understand what
they're going through God will give you a
word that will bless them liberate them set
them free straight from heaven God will give
you money to give them because maybe they
need money maybe they need food maybe they
need a lot of God's people need material
things that's also part of the ministry of
Melchizedek but not as a benefactor but as
a servant Melchizedek is a servant it's a
priesthood of being a servant how many of
you want it and not just right now
when you think about it but say Lord
all my life I want to be a
servant of others at the end of my
life I want to sit at the feet
of my junior workers and wash their feet
I want to sit at the feet of
those who have come to the Lord through
my ministry and wash their feet that's how
I want to end my earthly life that's
how Jesus ended his earthly life can you
do better than that and I don't want
anybody to know that it was I who
did it I don't want any honor I
don't want any credit I don't want anything
I don't want to be a benefactor okay
now a third thing I want to say
we must if you want to serve the
Lord we must be like children we must
be like servants and this the third one
1 Corinthians 4 we must be like fathers
1 Corinthians 4 Paul says verse 15 even
if you have 10,000 teachers you don't
have many fathers you know there's a lot
of difference between a teacher and a father
he says here verse 14 I am not
writing these things to shame you but to
correct you as my children because he says
I am not a teacher I am a
father you know a teacher may say things
to shame you that happens in many schools
some student does something wrong and the teacher
doesn't care for the feelings of that student
and publicly humiliates him I remember in the
school where my children used to study they
told me once of a poor boy there
who was an orphan who did little badly
in the maths examination his marks were very
low and the teacher asked him stand up
and tell everybody how many marks you got
what an evil thing to shame a person
like that a father would never do it
a father will cover his child's weakness or
nakedness or failure but a teacher will expose
it shame the person publicly there are 10
,000 teachers for one father in Christendom that's
the proportion that's what it says here and
it's very it's much easier to be a
teacher than a father to just rebuke and
correct without any heart but to be a
father that's different you want that child to
develop think of a father who's got a
child that's weak in maths or physically weak
he's always wanting that child to get better
but a teacher would say well get out
of this class if you're not good enough
go and join some other school father will
never talk like that a father wants that
child to develop and come through into a
good and glorious life and it's very easy
when you preach the word to be a
teacher than a father to shame people you
know a teacher another thing about a teacher
is a teacher will be very upset if
you point out something wrong in what they
have done I'll never forget how one of
my boys pointed out to his maths teacher
in school something wrong that she taught she
never forgave him for the next rest of
his school life and not only him she
never forgave his younger brother also for your
older brother pointed out a mistake that I
made once in the classroom a father would
have said oh thank you son that's right
I was wrong there thank you for pointing
it out but not a teacher a teacher
feels humbled that a student can point out
something wrong in me I'm gonna get my
own back on him one way or the
other and if he's got a younger brother
I'll get my own back on that one
too are you like that?
and somebody much younger than you points out
something in your life which is not Christ
like questions your interpretation of the word of
God and you have a feeling that he's
right and you're wrong and you hadn't thought
about what he said but you're not humble
enough to say yeah maybe you're right you
know I hadn't thought about that you want
to preserve your dignity your prestige and then
you try to get back get your own
back on him and trying to say that
he's wrong in so many ways that's a
teacher God wants fathers fathers who care who
don't shame think of the father of the
prodigal son I see two things in that
father one is that when his son rebelled
and went away he allowed his son to
learn some hard lessons you see that's also
the love of God that father loved his
son so much that he never sent him
any money order in that far country never
sent him any food packets allowed him to
struggle allowed him to come to the level
of the pigs so that he'd learn a
lesson that is also love sometimes we can
have a foolish type of love think of
that story of the prodigal son when he
was in the far country and you if
you were his next door neighbour and you
saw this poor boy living with the pigs
and every day you give him good food
what would have happened?
he would never have gone back to his
father's house then would you have been serving
God's purposes or the devil's purposes the devil's
purposes sometimes your so called human love serves
the devil's purposes that is soulish love it's
not divine love there's a lot of soulish
love in the world that hinders God's purposes
in other believers a prodigal who needs to
go through a rough time because he's rebelled
against God rebelled against authority thought too much
about himself and you feel kind and you
say you must be nice to him sometimes
you know as elders I know we have
to discipline somebody because he's been like a
prodigal son and then there are other immature
foolish carnal believers who say no we must
be kind to him and these prodigal sons
gravitate towards those foolish carnal believers and find
some sympathy with them and the end result
is years go by and this prodigal son
never comes back to the father's house there's
a lot of this type of foolish carnal
soulish love which goes under the name of
love and goodness which does not help people
at all the father's love was I won't
send him any food packets yeah he's struggling
but he still hasn't learnt his lesson fully
let him come down to the level of
the pigs then he will come back you
know there are a lot of people who
leave the church and are disciplined and they
want to come back like maharajas God will
not receive people back like that you've got
to come back like the prodigal son and
say I'm not fit to be in the
church I'm only fit to be in the
servant's quarters and not just with false humility
but really feels that that's the time that
a person is ready to come back to
his father's house and true love will allow
a person to be out there till he
has come to that place do you understand
that?
if you're soulish you'll never understand it since
75% of people in the church are
soulish and carnal they don't understand this but
that is part of the father's love see
there are two types of backsliders one is
like the lost sheep who went astray by
mistake with such a person we have to
go after them and bring them back that
was not rebellion that was they got deceived
and went astray but the other type of
backslider is the one who rebels and goes
out you should never go after him the
father never went after the prodigal son let
him come back on his own when he's
learnt a lesson and if you don't have
discernment you're not a father if you live
by rules you see the christian life is
not a book of rules you're led by
the holy spirit we need to understand and
the second part of the love of the
prodigal the father for the prodigal is that
when he did learn that lesson and come
back the father embraced him loved him more
than anybody else could love him and showed
him his love and said I'm not going
to remember your past anymore he never held
any grudge against his son you need to
learn these two aspects of fatherhood if you
want to be a christian leader if you're
mature if you want to have discernment look
at these examples of fathers and see how
jesus did it how jesus taught it this
is what god looks for in us be
a child be a servant be a father
don't wait for people to be grateful to
you serve them care for them carry them
in your heart and help them to come
through to the life god wants them to
have if your concern is for others and
you're not seeking your own you can be
a union be a useful servant of god
in this land and god needs many many
people like that there's much more on this
the holy spirit will teach you as and
when the time comes in your own life
let's pray while i head about in prayer
i want to ask you has god spoken
to your heart do you want to be
a true servant of the lord then respond
to his voice in the areas where god
has spoken to you and say lord i
want to serve you i really want to
be different from much that i see in
christendom today i want to be a true
servant of god help me in jesus name
amen