Success is no accident. The outer success is the result of what you have made you inner self. Any success is hard work. We must build within a stem, otherwise people will be of a shapeless mass; a jelly: driven and carried by winds.
For example: If you tell a girl that she is ugly, she will become hysterical and depressed, because since childhood, it was assured that she is the most beautiful: her inner core was not built. She has been taught only how to look good and keep her posture – as if all of her value lies in it. “Sit upright” in 70 years will not work. It has been drummed into her head that she is the body, figure, and posture. The fact that she raises her voice to her mother, steals and meets with anyone she wants – no one cares.
Another example: If you say the same to the daughter of Pastor Sunday.
If you said to her that she is ugly, she would tell you that it’s your opinion, to which you are entitled. So she does not get upset, she turns a deaf ear to all the insults, because she knows: “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and my soul realizes that” (Ps.138:14).
The first rod, which we must build, is to know WHO I AM.
What is the core? I KNOW WHO I AM, YOU WILL NOT TELL ME ABOUT THIS.
Everything you say to me – that’s your opinion. But you must not only know this in your head. It takes time to lay the foundation and build the rod inside, so that when an earthquake happens, a person can withstand everything.
The rod is not the same thing as knowledge. You can be smart, but not have the rod. For example, many professors are known to have a wealth of knowledge: a big head, however, they binge and raise their hands to their wives.
The rod makes us human. The strength of the rod in a person determines the power of his personality. This is a reinforced concrete foundation, and the anchor to which a person can hold onto during a storm. An anchor does not allow us to be carried away by the wind and currents.
When the criminal case against Pastor Sunday was to be closed, but for a certain amount of money, Investigators put pressure on pastor for 16 hours each day, but upon leaving after a meeting with them, he would go on preaching, and no one suspected that such things had taken place.
What saves us in critical situations? Earthquakes happen among a lot of people, but the only ones kept are those who are formed in their inner core. Why do so many men, when faced with a crisis, grab onto the bottle? The situations may differ, but the truth always wins.
Your body – it’s not you. You are a system of values, which are lined up inside of you.
The value system should be built within the person:
1. I am created in the image of God, I am His image and likeness, and I know who I am.
2. I know why I was born here on earth, I have been sent here by God to accomplish a specific mission.
- The rod means to know who I am.
Every person should be able to give himself a clear concrete answer. If you do not know who you are, if it’s hard for you to articulate this, then you’ll get an unenviable future “because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways “.(James 1:6-9)
When I know who I am, call me what you like, do with me what you will, I know who I am, and I stand firm on this, so that no one can shake me.
How does Pastor Sunday answer the question: Who am I?
“I am God’s representative, the carrier of the Kingdom of God, His way, His hope on earth, His light. A redeemer for Him. I have to give hope to people, bring light into the darkness”.
For example: everyone knows how to insult Africans. Usually Africans are offended and ready to get into a fight. However Pastor Sunday makes everything into a joke and leaves his visit: “When there is a need, think of me.” The pastor does not take offense, he sees everything that happens as a challenge to himself, and he continues to see himself as the representative of God, even in this situation: it is a chance to save them, bring them back and help them.
IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT THEY THINK ABOUT ME, IT IS IMPORTANT THAT I KNOW WHO I AM.
2 . What does it mean to know your mission? The mission, is to be, for example:
– A Millionaire with money to glorify Him,
– A Politician to restore order in the country,
– A Preacher to restore the relationship of people with God,
– An Example of a man to reveal the paternity and responsibility of other men.
We are not intended to be a biomass.
I’m not just meat that was born, like an animal. I was not born to plant a tree. I was not born to get married and give birth to a son – any dog can give birth to more than I can. I was born with the mission God has sent me here for, and I’m here to represent Him.
Whenour focus is only on how to raise children, feed them, and then take them somewhere: to kindergarten, school, and university – we do not build a rod: we destroy them. There are masses of wealthy people who have a prominent position, and much money, but who appeal to Pastor Sunday for help to save their family and children.
What is a Biomass?
A Biomass is when a person is brought up, caring only about his body and the external components of its existence. So far as we have deliberately and systematically not begun to establish values: this is not a person, but a biomass.
What is the value of a person?
The value of man is not in how he looks. People see the body, but when the pastor begins to speak, it appears that there is more to the body. For the one who called the pastor a nigger–the pastor has become his savior, because “nigger” is not at the pastor’s core.
Do not be driven by external attributes. No car, no apartment, no expensive phone will help to make you become a man. How to check this, search your name on Google: how many results do you get?
For example: Some women much more closely monitor their hair than what is inside their heads. So it seems that they are sure that the head is given to them rather for the hair than for thinking.
When Pastor had to go out, his car was held up somewhere, but he was ready to stop any vehicle, even the “Zaporozhets”(an old fashioned Soviet Union car). Pastor’s security guard tried searching for a better car, something more prestigious at the time – when it was more important for pastor that he gets there quickly. Pastor Sunday could take even the “Zaporozhets” – it does not affect his perception of himself: “I know who I am, what difference does it make in what I am driving?’. Pastor is advised to change his phone, as it is cheap and old, and now there is a need to get a more expensive one. It does not matter to pastor how much his telephone costs. If it rings, it’s good enough.
“I am Henry Ford, no matter what I put on” (Henry Ford).
The story of Henry Ford. One day, when he was already a billionaire, Henry Ford arrived on business in England. At the airport information desk, he asked for the cheapest hotel in town. The employee looked at him, as his face was well known. Newspapers around the world have often written about Ford. And now he is here – in a coat that looks older than he does and he asks for the cheapest hotel. The employee asked timidly: ‘If I’m not mistaken, are you Mr. Henry Ford?’–“Yes”, he said. The employee was surprised. ‘I watch the news, and I know that when your son is going somewhere, he always stays in the best hotels and is always beautifully dressed. You have asked for the cheapest hotel and you are wearing a coat which seems older than you are. Do you really save money?’
Henry Ford replied with irritation: “I do not need to stay in an expensive hotel, no matter where I am, I am Henry Ford. In the cheapest hotel I am still Henry Ford, there is no difference. My son is still young and inexperienced, he’s afraid of what people think if he stays overin a cheap hotel. And this coat – yes, my father wore it, but that does not matter, why do I need new cloths? I am Henry Ford, no matter what I put on, always and everywhere I am Henry Ford. The rest does not matter.”
People are trying to find a rod in external things, but the core should be built from the inside.
“I will put my spirit within you …” (Ezekiel 36:27)
“For behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke17:21).
“You – the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Corinthians 3:3).
“Whose adorning let it not be that outward … but the hidden man of the heart, in the incorruptible [beauty] of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God” (1 Pet. 3:3-4).
“The most important – is that which is invisible …” (A. Saint-Exupery).
We are called to be the image and likeness of God.
Man was created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26), and each person must clearly know this. If I know that I am a carrier of God, I cannot walk past people without giving them life, because I know that in me is the source.
“IF YOU WANT TO FIND GOD, FIND ME!
“The most important value that you want to work out is, I’m like God. For this you need to know God, to be able represent His attributes; His qualities. That is why we read the Bible and pray: to be like Him, to learn to be like Him, to think like He does, since the rod is formed inside.
How to pass on values.
Pastor Sunday arrived in the Soviet Union alone, when he was 19 years old. At the age of 26 years, he moved to Kiev, and at 27 he started a church, telling people about God. Sowing the biblical values young Pastor Sunday began with the first seven people, followed by an even greater number of people. A graduate of a rehab center that never came into contact directly with the Pastor, his “offspring” of the tenth generation, was able to help other addicts.
Although it is not Pastor Sunday who taught him, he was told certain values that pastor sowed in his first disciples, and it works and helps so far. It helps, because these values are from God. By accepting God people can be like Pastor Sunday.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO KNOW IS HOW TO SOW IT
IN ANOTHER PERSON, HOW TO EXPLAIN THE IDEA OF GOD TO PEOPLE.
Pastor Sunday’s Occupation:
Pastor Sunday can help all over Ukraine, any person, from any state and raise them up to any level – to which other people can only dream of.
The most important thing is to know God and His principles, and to strengthen their position in God. They then become a pivot, so that they can already help others.
The ways of forming the rod:
to do this, Pastor Sunday, for at least three hours a day engages in self-development, growth and consolidation in God, to acquire knowledge about the problems that are bothering people.
THE MORE WE KNOW GOD, THE MORE WE CAN HELP THE WORLD.
It does not matter what our education or past is.
You have to be obedient to the Word, and to the pastor, because “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John1 : 1). The Word is a weapon. If you are obedient, then anyone can be all he wants.
There are no bad people; they just do not have the rod. We become poor because we have not built a rod. If one brings people back to the source, to help lay the proper foundation in their lives, then you may find that even the most disgusting man is a good man. Pastor Sunday was willing to say, “Give me the most notorious villain, and I’ll give you the best man.”
WHEN THE VALUE OF GOD IS CREATED IN MAN THEN MIRACLES HAPPEN.
Questions for homework:
- How do you understand the phrase: “The success of the outside is the result of what you have made of yourself inside?”
- What is the core?
3. What makes us human?
4. What saves a man in critical situations?
5. Your body is not you. Then who are you?
6. The main rod which must be built in me is to know who I am. List who you are.
7. The second most important core that must be built in me is to know what I live for. What is your mission and purpose? Why do you live?
From Leadership School #7
October 11, 2013. Kiev,
Press service of the church
“God’s Embassy “
Translated by Irina Korovnichenko
Edited by Bridget Hopley
