TCA Tue26Jun24 - What makes people great #2 - Apst J Sithole

The speaker starts with a lullaby and then proceeds to pray before starting the lesson. He emphasizes that greatness is not automatic and must be intentionally pursued. He talks about the misconception that greatness can be obtained by shaking hands with an anointed person. He emphasizes the importance of developing faith and not relying on things happening automatically. He discusses the story of Abraham and how he became great by developing his faith and moving away from negative influences. He highlights the importance of environment in shaping a person's thinking and behavior. He encourages listeners to develop their faith and defy societal limitations. He gives examples of individuals who have achieved great things through faith. Umutimu wa yisrae, umutimu wa yisrae, umutimu wa yisrae, Sing a lullaby, sing a lullaby, sing a lullaby, sing a lullaby. Umutimu wa yisrae, umutimu wa yisrae, umutimu wa yisrae, Umutimu wa yisrae, umutimu wa yisrae, umutimu wa yisrae, Umutimu wa yisrae, umutimu wa yisrae, umutimu wa yisrae, Sing a lullaby, sing a lullaby, sing a lullaby, sing a lullaby. Sing a lullaby, sing a lullaby, sing a lullaby, sing a lullaby. Good morning and kingdom greetings to everyone. Let us pray before we begin the lesson of today. Father, we thank you for your word. We ask you Lord to give someone your word. And Lord, they get this word. Let it be a story-changing word. Let it be a word that will take them into heights that they've never scaled before. We pray that all those who listen and never hear, that Lord you open their ears so that they hear and they get the necessary faith received from you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Father, let there be a flow of your power even this morning relative to the release of faith. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. I want us to continue with what we started yesterday throughout the week about the making of a great person in life or in the kingdom. Greatness doesn't just jump on you, but greatness is something that you intentionally strive for and build your faith around it. The things that we shared with you, connecting with your peoples, drawing power from your altar, all these things are things that make people great. From childhood until now, I hate mediocrity. I don't like an ordinary lifestyle. And I see greatness in people because anyone who is born or introduced in this world comes with greatness in his own unique way. And that potential needs to be developed. It doesn't happen automatically. It doesn't happen automatically. I see as we travel, meet people, most people value shaking hands with men of God. And they believe that greatness jumps on people, which is a wrong belief that is taught around, I don't know where that comes from, that if you shake your hand, if you shake a hand with an anointed person, then anointing jumps on you. But it is a belief that most people hold. I think recently we were walking into one speaker's lounge and we walked in there, we found a number of pastors in that speaker's lounge. A good number of them were not speakers. By the way, in the program, to do one thing and so on. I was shaking hands with each one of them. Then the next thing, I had somebody just touching me on my shoulder. And when I turned my head, I realized that one pastor is picking up a little boy and the boy is stretching his hand to shake my hand. And I shook his hand. But I realized that it's a belief system that when you shake hands with an anointed person, then it jumps on you. It doesn't jump on you. So you have to watch. Amen. Amen. Now, let's talk about the development of faith. But before we get there, I want to thank those who came to the Next Generation last night. And those who came, just shout Amen because we had problems even controlling the attendance yesterday. Our Zoom was jammed. And thank God for Facebook. Who are you? The Next Generation. Just shout Amen. Amen. So get the recordings. Listen to the recordings. Especially people who are pastors and leaders and those who are running businesses, running families, and so on. You need succession. Success without a successor is failure. My heart was so warmed with Dave that he took a baton from a man who was a friend that I knew closely and we shared platforms around the world. Dr. Myles Monroe. My heart was so warmed to realize that this man has taken the baton and he learned a lot from his mentor. And we thank God. Here is the issue. I said success or greatness doesn't jump on you. You learn. And one of the things that makes you great is developing your faith. The will of God does not happen automatically. The promises of God do not come to us just automatically. Some people say, well, if God wants to bless me, he'll bless me. If God wants to give me that, he will give it to me. It's a wrong doctrine. You cannot just sit there and wait for God to do something. You have to look at promises and apply your faith. Then receive those blessings. Receive those promises. It's not automatic. It is by faith. Even in our giving, even in our tithing, we have this thing of just throwing money at God and never releasing our faith around it. We have this thing of throwing things of value to God and say, well, I'm waiting upon God. Well, God will see and so on. It's not automatic. Release your faith around everything you desire to have. Develop your faith. And whenever we talk about faith, most people shut and throw us out. In most cases, people will shut you out and throw you out and never want to go that route of faith. They'll rather trust their own heads and their wisdom and their understanding rather than trusting God. All these things, wisdom, knowledge, have their place in life. But faith is the fundamental basic that we need to develop for our greatness. Amen. Amen. Look at Genesis 12, 1-2. We're talking about the great Abraham. Genesis 12, 1-2. Genesis 12, 1-2. Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee, and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. Amen. Amen. He says, I will make thy name great. I will make thy name what? Great. Great. Now, this is God speaking to Abraham, but he just didn't become great automatically. You see, the mere fact that you have received the prophetic word, that prophetic word won't automatically come to pass. You must develop your faith to access that prophetic word. Can I repeat that? Amen. Abraham, God speaks to him. That is prophecy. God releases a word, prophetically. He says, your nation will be great, and I will make your name great. But Abraham didn't just sit here to believe that. And by believing that, then he begat a great nation, and he became great. How did he become great? He became great by developing his faith. Amen. And it is through his faith that he moved out from three dimensions that are very dangerous. Those dimensions are very, very, very dangerous. Read verse 1 again. Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee. Amen. Watch this level. Get out of your country by faith. Faith will take you out of your country. Faith will take you out of your kindred, meaning your people. Amen. Somebody was whispering something there. And again, taking you out of your father's house. These are three dimensions. Which translation were you using to read that? King James. The King James. Okay. Let's go to LLC. The Lord had said unto Abraham, Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father's family, and go to the land that I will show you. Amen. Now, when we talk about a country, we're talking about your country. And now, your country can shape your thinking. Amen. And your lifestyle. Take for instance a person who is born in Malawi, or a person who is born in Zimbabwe. The things that are happening there in that country, underdevelopment, poor governance, weak economy. Can you really aspire to be a great person living in such a place? You are living in a failed state. Is it possible for you to jump out of such trappings? The second thing is looking around your relatives. Just your relatives. Is it possible for you to come out and become different and become great? Is it possible to look at your father's house and come out from it? Now, God is saying for you to be great, you've got to come out from these three levels. And coming out from that will take faith, and it will take deliverance. Some people need to be delivered from their surroundings. Because your environment is your habitat. For instance, if you are living in a particular environment, that environment shapes your thinking, your actions, your everything. Even the way you walk and the way you talk is shaped by your level of exposure and the environment. I wish I could have somebody saying amen on this one. You get to the nearest village, just get there. And just park your car and see how people behave there. Women walk the same way. Men walk the same way. And when you talk to them, they talk the same way. They behave the same way. Why? Because of the area, the environment shapes their thinking. You get to Soweto, talk to ordinary people there and talk to them. They walk the same way, they talk the same way, they are shaped the same way. You get... Environment will always shape your thinking. It's not about where you live, where you stay. It is how you follow the word of God and the word of God begins to shape your thinking. Amen. And you come out from that. And God says to Abraham, depart. The Bible says he departed by faith. He just left by faith. Develop your faith to be a great person. Amen. Amen. And move away from these trappings. The mere fact that I'm a South African and I live in Africa with a lot of failed states, failed governance, failed whatever, poor economy, does not mean that I must follow that. The truth of the word of God can make you great. And it is by faith. Hallelujah. Amen. Let's go to the issue of developing our faith. Developing our faith. Faith defies any national, family, whatever, status. It defies that. Because the truth of the word of God does not respect such things. It destroys such things. One man called Bill Winston, his ministry, in fact, he's a businessman and a preacher. So, he bought a whole mall by faith. Bought a mall and the church is worshipping there and there are shops, there's everything around in every level, there's everything. But in another level, there is a church fellowship in there. And by faith, the ministry bought a jet, uses the jet to go around preaching the word of God in nations. And he started a school, they call it Joseph, the Joseph Business School. And we are going to take that curriculum of the Joseph Business School into the master classes of the next generation to mentor people and they get certificates around the Joseph Business School. But there's one thing that he said that struck me. He said, one man in Africa said, well, you can afford that, you can afford a mall, you can afford a jet because you are an American. And he rebuked him. He said, God is not a respecter of persons. God is not a respecter of persons. The word of God, I don't care if you are an American or you are a South African or you are whatever. God is God everywhere and he is not a respecter. That's it. Amen. Amen. You. Now, it all happens because of your faith. Romans. Romans, 12, verse three. Romans, 12, three. King James. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. Amen. God has dealt to every man the measure, the measure of faith. There's something that keeps on dragging me and I have to obey. Romans, 14, verse 23. Romans, 14, 23. And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith, for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Can I repeat that again? Amen. Amen. Whatsoever is not of faith. When we dealt with this scripture on Sunday in Limoa Homu, and picking up the faith of the people to the level where, I think we went up to 120,000 pledges in one Sunday, pointing out this one thing, that whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Now, if you are doing anything and you are not in faith about it, that's sin. The Bible says he who comes to God must believe that he exists. I've taught about the fundamentals of faith. I've taught about the fundamentals of faith and I don't want to get there because I don't have time. Amen. But I was just highlighting several things that are important. Now, here is the issue. When you develop your faith, you increase the measure of your faith. Amen. The Bible says God has dealt unto each one of us with their measure of faith. In other words, we all start at the same level of faith. Amen. We start at the level of what we call the saving faith. Amen. It is the same level, saving faith. Yes, sir. It is a measure. But we need to grow it to certain levels. We need to develop our faith to a certain level. Luke 17, 5 and 6. Luke. Luke. 17, 5 and 6. And the apostles said unto the Lord, increase our faith. And the Lord said, Amen. Increase what? Our faith. So, anything that can be increased, it means this thing can grow. Yes, Amen. And anything that grows can be measured. As much as we measure things, for instance, we have what we call family albums. I think, I have a family album. You know, where we take a picture of this one, this little child, and we take a picture of this one, and we take a picture of this one, and we take a picture of this one, and we take a picture of this one, and we take a picture of this one, and we take a picture of this one, and we take a picture of this one, and we take a picture of this one, and we take a picture of this one, and we take a picture of this one, and we take a picture of this one, and we take a picture of this one, and we take a picture of this one, and we take a picture of this one, and we take a picture of this one, and we take a picture of this one, and we take a picture of this one, and we take a picture of this one, and we take a picture of this one, and we take a picture of this one, and we take a picture of this one, and we take a picture of this one, and we take a picture of this one, and we take a picture of this one, and we take a picture of this one, and we take a picture of this one, and we take a picture of this one, and we take a picture of this little one. and we take a picture of this little one. Now, So it is with faith. Can we track your growth of faith? Can we track your growth of faith? And it is easy to track your growth of faith. And it is easy to track your growth of faith. We track it because we know the beginning. We track it because we know the beginning. We track it because we know the beginning. We track it because we know the beginning. The beginning where your faith started functioning The beginning where your faith started functioning the day you got saved. the day you got saved. And now from that point until today, And now from that point until today, And now from that point until today, we can measure your faith. we can measure your faith. We can track your faith. We can track your faith. Now, the Bible tells us Now, the Bible tells us that the disciples have increased our faith. that the disciples have increased our faith. So that increase in our faith So that increase in our faith can be measured. You can draw your graph of faith. You can draw your graph of faith. I started believing I started believing at this level. And I have moved And I have moved and achieved until this level. You can track your faith. You can track your faith. Amen. Somebody is not getting me. But I'm trying. Somebody said, Apostle, try. Apostle, try. Apostle, try. I'm just trying to get this thing. Faith can be tracked. We track your faith We track your faith by how you speak. by how you speak. We track your faith by how you handle the affairs of life. We track your faith. We measure your faith by looking at the characteristics how you behave in different situations. We can track your faith. We can say this one is at this level and this one is at this level. By just sitting with you and spend five minutes with you, I can track your faith. Sitting down with some folks and talking to them you can track their level of faith and know what these people are at this level. Amen. As much as the disciples increase our faith faith can be increased. Amen. Now Jesus had a habit of tracking people's faith. He would discern people's faith track people's faith and measure their faith. Mark 8 verse 10. This is Jesus tracking the faith of individuals. Mark 8 verse 10 And straightway he entered into a ship with his disciples and came into the paths of Dalmanita. Amen. Read on. And the Pharisees came forth and began to question with him seeking of him a sign Are we talking? No, no, no, no. Mark 8. I think it's Matthew 8, 10. I'm sorry. My mistake. Matthew 8, 10. Now we are talking in tongues. When Jesus heard it he marveled and said to them that followed Verily I say unto you I have not found so great faith No, not in Israel. And I say unto you that many shall come from the east and west and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the king Amen. Okay, let's stop there. Let's stop. This centurion says I'm a man under authority. I say to my subjects go and they go. Come and they come. And he says my servant is sick at home. Speak the word and my servant will be healed. Just speak the word and my servant and Jesus says I have not found such great faith in Israel. He is measuring the faith he calls it great. Yeah. Yeah. Amen. He calls it great. It will take great faith to produce a great person. Greatness is produced in every sphere of life. It can be politics, it can be business, it can be it can be in the church, it can be in the community. Greatness is always produced by great faith. Amen. Amen. And great faith means large in quantity, large in size, in quality. Large in quantity, large in in quantity. It means, now this faith is great. Amen. But it doesn't end up there. Jesus is striking people's faith. Let's get this one. Great faith than Matthew 17 verse 20. Matthew 17 20. King James. And Jesus said unto them, because of your unbelief, for verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Now Matthew 14 verse 31. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and called him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Wherefore didst thou doubt? Amen. Now the issue is Peter walked on the water and as he was walking on the water because Jesus said, come. He gave him a weight. He took the weight and he walked on the water. But when he saw the waves he started fearing and he was sinking. And Jesus said, you of little faith, why didst you doubt? Now Jesus is striking the faith again. He said, little faith. Little faith. Now, there's great faith, there's little faith. Yeah. Amen. Amen. Let's go on. But faith can be tricked. Romans 4 19-20 Romans 4 19-20 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. Amen. Strong in faith. Weak in faith. Strong in faith. Abraham was strong. He had strong faith, not weak faith. So, meaning that you don't develop something that you... How do you make your hands strong? How do you make your body strong? You do that by exercise. You do that by eating right. Then you develop muscles. Amen. Now, faith can be developed into strong You can increase your faith from little to great. Amen. You can break your faith. So, we establish that faith can be developed. You develop your faith from no faith at all to little faith. From little faith to faith itself. From faith itself to great faith and to strong faith. Amen. You can increase your faith. And when you increase your faith... Now, what am I saying right now? I'm saying ladies and gentlemen, we will receive the promises of God relative to the development of our faith. Amen. We will become great in the kingdom of God relative to the development of our faith. Amen. The big question this morning is achieving greatness is always attached to developing your faith. Amen. Develop your faith. When you go back to the fundamentals of faith, we said, stay committed by hearing and hearing by the word of God. That is a revelation. Number two, find a role model of faith. It be in the scriptures or in real life. Number three, get a regiment of faith, which is the prescription of how to grow your faith. Amen. And finally, have a righteous resolve to grow and to use your faith. What is a righteous resolve of growing and growing your faith and so on? The righteous resolve, it's simple in a sense that you must have the right motives. You don't develop your faith so that you can get the promises of God to compete with somebody. You don't develop your faith just to consume and prove to the world you are a great person. You must have the right motives. You must have a righteous resolve because if you don't have the righteous resolve, your faith cannot grow. Because the word of God cannot dwell around people who are how can I put it? People who have wrong motives for things. Always. Whenever you do things, God will ask why is that one doing this thing? Is he doing it to consume? Is he doing it to prove a point to somebody? Is he doing that to compete with somebody? And so on. You must have a righteous resolve. But these are the fundamentals revelation of the word. Role model, regiment, and righteous resolve. Ladies and gentlemen, I think I'll set them out for less close with this one. Luke 9, verse 23. Luke 9, 23. And he said to them all, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. I want the same patch here. Luke 9, 23. Or something stronger. Must be wrong. And usually it's wrong on my side. It comes wrong. Let's go. Yeah, you see? That's wrong. Mark 9, over here. You see now, and I'm going to pick this. Mark 9, 23. Mark 9, 23. Jesus said unto him, if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. If thou can. If thou can. If thou can believe. If thou can. Now, emphasize this. The word can shows ability. Amen. Let us all say, if I can. If I can. Believe. Believe. Everything. Everything. Or all things. Or all things. Are possible. Are possible. To him. To him. That believeth. That believeth. Amen. Amen. Watch this. Watch this. I've had folks coming to me and saying, Pastor, if I can get a believer, I will surprise you. If God can give me so much, I can do so much for God. That is a statement of unbelief. It's not how much you have. It is how much faith do you have. If you can't believe, all things are possible. Amen. Watch this. There are people who say, you see, Mama, I'll take you to the church. That is the worst kind of unbelief. This person, currency, the quick currency of having things that can make you buy things is faith. Amen. If thou can believe, ability of doing things is not measured by the bank balance. Ability of achieving anything is measured by ability to believe. If you can, your ability to believe is the one that makes things happen. Amen. It's not your bank balance ability. No, no. It is your ability to believe that makes things happen. Amen. I just want to rebuke this thing. Can I rebuke it? Rebuke the thought that you are going to live a life that you want through money. Rebuke that thought. Amen. Rebuke that thought. Get the currency of a developed faith. How much of faith do you have? Do you have little faith? Do you have faith? Do you have great faith? How much of faith do you have determines what happens to you and what you do to people? Amen. Hallelujah. Amen. Revelation 3. Revelation 3. It says, you say you are rich but you are poor. You say you are clothed but you are naked. Come to me. Let me give you gold. And that gold is a symbol of faith. The currency of faith makes you wealthy. Amen. Amen. Amen. The currency of faith makes you wealthy. Amen. Amen. Oh Jesus. Amen. Get the currency of faith and you will be wealthy. Things are possible. Possibilities for you are not measured by the currency you have or whether dollars or whatever. But possibility in your life is defined by your ability to believe. Amen. Amen. Amen. That's why I avoid meetings. And most people are saying, Oh God. What's wrong? Charity meeting. I avoid meetings because when you sit with people who always see possibilities of things by their ability to pay, they'll always drag you to their level. Mmm. You don't want to meet a bastard. And you ask yourself, because they don't use their faith. Let's have faith talk and get to do things by faith. The Bible says do not lean on your understanding. Mmm. Mmm. Trust the Lord with all your heart. Yes. Leave the person who understands abracadabra, abracadabra, abracadabra, all the institutions, ah, ah, ah, and so on. Even in this family, right here, in the Stolle family, I don't work with buying. I don't want to buy. I just release the currency of faith. And those who buy Joseph and the kids must buy him. Amen. The currency. Am I talking to somebody here? Amen. Amen. Mmm. Your ability to believe and now, I'm going to throw you into the lion's den tomorrow morning. Amen. Now we are so today, I've just proven to you, you can grow your faith. Amen. You can increase your faith. Hallelujah. Amen. Tomorrow, tomorrow, we tell you how to increase it. How to develop. How to build. How to construct. How to build your faith. Hallelujah. Amen. Amen. Amen. And please, when we conduct a meeting with Judah, don't try to impress me or if you don't understand, don't say what you don't understand, so that you may strike your faith. And you grow from there. May the good Lord bless you. Amen. And if you have received something this morning, shout Amen. Amen. Amen. Let's start. Amen. Let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's let's