Becoming a Person of Influence

[Music] today on excellent leadership with sama DMA so you need to be deliberate about the release of your flavor because whether you are conscious of it or not it's affecting someone I'll be sharing with us on becoming a person of influence as I lay foundation for the awesome messages that are coming in the course of this conference I read a poem the author is unknown but I found it inspired it reads my life shall touch a dozen lives before this day is done leave countless max for good or ill assets the evening song this is the wish I always wish the prayer I always pray Lord may my life help other lives it touches by the way influence is the capacity to have an effect on the character development or behavior of someone or something or the effect itself influences the capacity to have effect or the effect itself let's check other words that describe influence the word effect so when someone or something has the capacity to influence it means that it has the capacity to affect it has the capacity to have an impact on someone or something influence means that you can determine you can determine or you can decide or you can control or you can guide inference means that you can ship influenced means that you can govern so when I look at Genesis chapter 1 verse 28 in the Bible and it says and God blessed them Adam and Eve and by extension all of mankind and God blessed them and said be fruitful and multiply replenish the earth and subdue it rule over it and have dominion over the birds of the air over the fish of the sea and over every moving thing that moves on the earth that's influence to me you have influence if you can cause change you have influence if you can alter the state of something I sincerely believe that you have the god-given capacity to alter the states of people places and things it's a god-given capacity to alter States to alter the state of a person alter the state of a place to be an organization it could be a city I mean a geographical location and you have the capacity to alter the states of things you have capacity to create you have the capacity to innovate you are literally a change agent my prayer is that your family your school your organization your nation and your world will never remain the same just for the fact that you came to this world Jesus described you assault he described you as light he describes he described your capacity to cause change as your flavor because he said in Matthew 5:13 you are the salt of the earth and if the salt has lost its taste or its flavor or its saltiness you have flavor that thing that gives you the ability to alter the states of other people Matthew 5:13 in the message Bible reads let me tell you why you are here you are here to be salt seasoning that brings out the God flavours of this earth if you lose your saltiness how will people taste godliness you've lost your use use usefulness and will end up in the garbage it's amazing that flavor that God has put you is what brings out the God flavors on this earth something is lost if you refuse to release your flavor but what strikes me most I think in that verse is if you lose your saltiness how will people taste godliness somebody said if the food has no taste I know what to do to it I will add salt to it he said what when salt has no taste what do we do it is God that puts the saltiness in salt and God Himself is saying here once that capacity is taken out of salt there's nothing else that can be done said it would be thrown out and out of frustration people would trample it on their foot so that's what happens if you lose your capacity to affect your capacity to influence your capacity as a change agent people lose their value for you people value you to the degree to which you have value to add to them I say that in our world the poor man is not the one with our money he is the one that is not adding value because when you understand the way money works money is only a means of exchange of value so your relevance on this planet is in your flavour or in your saltiness you hold the promise of positive change for others and if you don't fulfill that promise you can be ignored I press the point that you have the capacity to affect other people because I believe that every human being is an extension of God in fact all of creation is an extension of God every little bit of creation is an extension of so you will find a part of God in every single one and every single thing that God created I believe that there is a part of God in you there is a part of God that is musical and he's dropped that part in some people you hear the voice you hear the songs or you hear the lyrics amazing or it's the ability to play an instrument God has done and he puts that flavour in some people there's a part of God that is artistic he puts that in other people there is a part of God that is aesthetic beautiful see you read the Bible you realize heaven is the most beautiful place ever described am i right God loves aesthetics some people think the more ugly it is the must be ritual it is I'm serious they do not associate excellence with God they do not associate beauty with God but God is beautiful heaven is beautiful and I'm I got jolted to value excellence at the day I was reading Deuteronomy 23 and Moses was speaking to Israel why had the way in the desert verses 12 to 14 he said you shall keep the camp holy for the Lord your God who comes to deliver you must not see a nun clinton okay he was describing in verse 13 how if they wanted to pass out any waste they should take the equipment go outside the camp dip the ground do whatever they wanted to do and cover the refuse he said for the Lord your God who comes to deliver he said let the Lord your God who comes to deliver you see the unclean and turn away from you I said oh my god Wow a better environment Anton got away Wow Africa needs to hear that cosmos can prey on a garbage heap and Moses described that as holiness keep the camp holy amazing so I realized we are a part of God's kingdom anyone that represents God's kingdom should reflect God's beauty and got cleanliness amen but then you just find out some people are beautiful I see some guys Wow you see some ladies Wow beautiful it's a gift it's the flavor some people are more time we learned yesterday because they recognize the flip that their beauty is their flavor I was at a shop a gift shop you know some few years back in Lagos and as I was checking out what to buy two of the ladies who worked in the shop we're having a chat and one was saying to the other about one of their colleagues that she's struggling too hard to look beautiful she's struggling to her to look beautiful she doesn't know that beauty is a gift you know what the shop owner and myself just looked at each other this was I mean an attendant such profound wisdom I said I love this lady so she recognizes it it's a kid that's not punch struggling it's a gift have you had someone tried to sing before who who is not gifted for singing I'm telling some people sing and I have a feeling the Holy Spirit just goes on the straw when you're done I'll come back there's a part of God that is scientific taste technology in God there's a part of God that is poetic but what I'm trying to say is there isn't a single human being on this planet that does not have a part of God in him or her and that part of God in you is what gives you the capacity to affect and to influence people places and things my encouragement today is that you discover and celebrate your flavor I pray that in the course of this conference somebody will hear something someone will see something face that eyes have not seen that ears have known hard things that have never entered into the heart of any man before I place this will be the place of Revelation the place of discovery of papas the place of recovery of lost opportunities in the name of Jesus Christ when I read from Paul the Apostle in Galatians chapter 2 verses 7 to 9 he describes how he went in Jerusalem and how the leadership of the church Ben had to recognize his flavour he said for he that worked in Peter the Apostleship to the circumcision that is the Jews also worked in me effectively Apostleship to the uncircumcised it's amazing that Paul got his best results when he spoke to people who were not Jews he was a Jew Peter got his best results when he spoke to Jews it happened on the day of Pentecost it happened when this man who had been lame all his life was healed in Acts chapter 5 it's amazing how it works or in Acts chapter 3 so Paul said they recognized that we had our own different flavors they recognized my I like it even though Paul had this passion for the Jews when you read Romans chapter 9 Romans chapter 10 I mean he got it where where he said he wished he could be cast just so that Israel could be saved anywhere Paul went he would look for a Jewish synagogue and pitched there first and they would beat him then he would go to his right customers I want to encourage someone here they have beat you enough you've experienced in North Philly oh you should have identified by now the things that are not working for you go to your right customers recognize and celebrate your flavor whether you are conscious of it or not you are influencing someone so you need to be deliberate about the release of your flavor because whether you are conscious of it or not its effect in someone I had dr. mezzo Taub you share some years back how one day he was driving in Accra Ghana where he lives and there was heavy traffic on the way and he was in the horror you know I understand what he's talking about because I've been to a crowd before you a few times heavy traffic so he said he was driving behind this taxicab and somewhere along the line the taxi cab branched off the road you know and he taught himself these taxi drivers always know the back roads so he turned after the taxi driver and then the taxi driver go to a road junction and taunt he turned up that taxi driver every time the guy turned he turned after him and turned and turned and turned and turned on till the guy parked in front of his house now my focus is on the taxi driver whether you realize it or not someone is some way is it a copy you copy your behavior or something okay there's this other interesting one was President Calvin Coolidge in the United States and he had a guest at the White House and they were having breakfast and and the man wanted to comport himself well so at the table he was looking at the president he saw the president you know for his tea he poured his it was it was just doing exactly what the president did and then at a point the president took the teapot and poured the tea on the saucer and president put some sugar and put some cream so he took poured his tea musasa he wanted to be sure he was obeying the laws of etiquette so he poured his tea in the saucer also put some sugar and put some cream so he was waiting for what the president will do next eventually the president took the saucer and put it on the floor for his cats [Applause] ha someone is copying you somewhere you have to be careful what you're doing whether you're conscious of it or not you are influencing someone somewhere for good or for bad if you want to be deliberate about how you influence I'll encourage you to do this build relationships first because salt effect when it makes contact with the food you have to make contact with people you've got to relate with people proximity is the key to impact so it's interesting that when they asked Jesus which is the greatest commandment it was relationships he spoke about your relationship with God and your relationships with other people so you want to influence people you have to build relationships to build relationships you've got to be a loving human being that's what Jesus said you have to be someone who has capacity to love capacity to recognize the value in people but God value in people and to reflect that value when you see God in a person whatever God deserves is what the person deserves so the proof of love is given you want to add up to the measure of the presence reality to to measure up to the vision that you have of the person whatever God desires the person deserves so you give John 3:16 for God so loved the world that he did what he gave so you've got to be generous if you want to influence people be generous the poor man does not have many friends the rich man has many friends the poor man does not have why because most of the time what the poor man is focused on is what to get that's the challenge there and the poor man can't turn that around I'm serious when he cultivates capacity for generosity be a giver add value to people's lives and if you're going to build relationships with people you have to be humble person you read first Corinthians 13 you see that in the Bible if you're loving you will be humble if you love someone you recognize the God value in them you won't be out to prove anything you wouldn't be out to prove your superiority to them you won't be hard to prove that you are better than they are no you will be out to prove to them that they are better than they think they are who wants to hang around someone who belittles them nobody who wants to hang around someone who despises them or someone who rejects them nobody so to exact influence that's the spatting point we've got to cultivate relationships we've got to love people genuinely and of course the flip side of the coin for love is forgiving so we have to be people that recognize people are not perfect we are not perfect people are not perfect so we can draw on the power of the Holy Spirit to overlook people's faults to overlook their mistakes and to write off their emotional debts forgive who doesn't want to hang around someone who can overlook your mistakes even though they know that you have faults see who wants to hang around the person who will continue to remind you of your faults who will hold against you what you did over the last 15 years when Jesus described love pita had to ask him because Jesus was talking about forgiveness and how it could hurt your relationship with God and Peter said you know what we have to put some data to this day forgiveness so so how many times should my brother offend me and I forgive him should we make it seven times jesus said oh you want to use figures let me stretch it for you seventy times seven so we've got to build relationships if we are going to influence people secondly salt preserves salt preserves salt prevents corruption or decay you need to have impact on the quality of people's lives and the key word I would encourage there is mentoring mentoring now beyond just being good to people you now need to deliberately help people to succeed you want to maximize your influence with other people help them to succeed provide guidance for them push them teach them how to do it I'm telling you at this stage you are multiplying your influence I have enjoyed the benefit of mentoring and I'll tell you it's preservation of destiny mentoring delivers you from mistakes delivers you from mistakes delivers you from your ignorance sometimes when I when I remember some of the conversations that I've had with one of us because today dr. David a Depot I laugh all by myself and I'm just grateful that I was not left to myself I'll give you an example one day our church was still very young and we were searching for a property to move into so we we found one we have not paid yet we found one when we when I went to him and told him oh we found a place and we're about to pay for it and in fact as soon as we move in there we have some strategies I have some strategies that were going to execute for growth he said fine like what I said as soon as we move in the first thing we're going to do is to do 21 days prayer and fasting so good it's about wait a minute what's the longest fast that you and the church members have gone on as a church I said well seven days seven days I've led them on prayer fasting for seven they said good how far is this new place from where you are where people have to take commercial transportation maybe get on the bus before they get the acid yes said okay so the likelihood is that some people around where you are now may not be able to go with you if they unable to pay because it would cost them money now I said yes okay he said well what would you say has been the major attraction for your church up until now I said it's the word it's the teaching sir said good he said so when you move into that new place you'll be trying to get some of your hold members to come along with you and you'll be trying to get some new people from the new environment to join you I said yes he said if I were you what I would do for 21 days would be what has been the major attraction of the church I said - he said - are 21 days prayer and fasting on the inconvenience with the inconvenience of coming to your new location I'm not sure if that's going to be a fantastic strategy you know what as he was saying that I was smiling I didn't tell him what I was doing I was thinking to myself what was I thinking like that how what made me think that the major attraction from the church will be putting people on hunger strike so you don't know you may not think that you have achieved much but sincerely speaking there are a few things you've learned to do well that for some other people are a huge struggle you are the one who is on the valuing or on the estimating what you know how to do I mean you're a guy you know how to tie your shoelace you know within a few seconds there are still some people strong with Lenin they may even be teenagers how to tell shoelace or how to not tie wherever you think you are you are a potential mentor to someone and you can exert that influence if you will choose to provide guidance mentoring encouragement to somebody somewhere you can preserve somebody's destiny by releasing your flavour through mentoring let me touch on one more thing about salt scientists have helped us to realize now that - from salt you need the combination of sodium and chlorine am i right and they help us to understand that one of them is positively charged the other one is negatively charged the one that is negatively charged simply has an extra electron am i right the one that is positively charged lacks one electron so the one that has the extra electron actually gives it to the one that lacks the electron and in the process the sodium and the chlorine come together to form something that either of them could never have become on their own because one of them was willing to sacrifice the extra electron to sacrifice the extra electron you see what happens this is this is my point you will never realize your potential to affect or influence other people until you break free from self-centeredness the people who function at the highest level of influence when you research into them you realize they have capacity for sacrifice we had an interesting experience here in this church the first three years the church in terms of Groot was crawling and I was wondering what is it and eventually one day I was pray I knew it was time God wanted to do something and I was pray Lord you've got to meet this judge Groh because I've read in the Bible and the Lord added to the church daily those there were bishop so you're the one that brings people to a church why are you not bringing people and it has to be a question you've had me say it before for those of us would be here he asked me a question why do you want the church to grow I thought wow I thought God wanted the church to grow he said why do you want the church to grow but you know instantly I realized hey there's something coming here because God when God asked you a question it's not because he doesn't know the answer usually it's because he wants to confront you with your foolishness and I sensed that was coming for me okay so I I kept silent and the Holy Spirit said to me I know why you want to church that just to grow because you want to be more comfortable you want to be more comfortable it was true as long as the church was small in size compare me a good salary come cover my bills discharge needed to grow the mom of God needed breakthrough okay so I so God was right on the spot as I said so so he said you will never find the definition of success for your ministry until you help those people that I sent to you to succeed was an amazing deliverance for me took the attention off of myself because my focus one was on how to be a successful minister how to succeed in ministry that was the focus I understand for many pastors if you've experienced depravation before the kind that we experienced in this part of the world suffering is no Street you remember the song some of us know the song here and I said suffering is not you was a very very famous song yeah a sovereign is no Street is not super the you want to get out of it as fast as you can you want to get out of depravation as fast as you can so when we get into ministry that's part of the motivation for everything and God saw through all that and he confronted mune was that took the attention from off of myself and focused on who focuses on people that then I'm exchanged completely absolutely then I could focus just on adding value to other people the one thing our church members don't doubt is the fact that if I get anything that is useful for them I'll give it to them amen so it's sacrifice that makes relationships possible and takes them to the highest level of influence it's the fact that my wife and I can sacrifice come together walk together that makes it possible for us to bad things but kids that either was could never or neither of us could never have produced on our own makes it possible for us to but visions and dreams and projects and organizations it's the same thing for us and especially for us in our part of the world I must say having so many people in this room in the overflow watching on the internet today tells us there's hope for Africa and for our world amen but with most understand that it will not happen when each of us operates as an island refusing to cooperate with other people refusing to sacrifice to make that happen Christ give up who he was so his followers could become whom they could never be on their own John chapter 12 verse 24 he said except a corn of wheat falls to the ground and dies it remains the way it is but if it dies it does what it brings forth much fruit I pray that in the course of this conference God will take you to the Montford dimension of your life in the mighty name of Jesus Christ to influence people positively you must develop character and competence you must develop character and you must develop competence I love this story in Georgie's chapter 9 Joe Tom you know was given this parable about trees how the trees got together I wanted to appoint a leader they approved the olive tree duly pre-wash the only tree said why should I leave the production of oil that brings Horner to both God and man just so I can exercise leadership over all the trees they approached the fig tree fig tree devil said why should I live the production of my sweet fruit just to load it over or the trees they came to divine the vine said why should I leave the production of my wife that brings joy to men just to exercise lordship over the trees then they came to the bramble the bramble is a shrub they said bramble come on be king over us the bramble said if you want me to be king over you all of you have to come and hide under my shape she was saying that to the olive tree taller trees bigger trees see I know I'm small but I won't feel comfortable being your leader as long as you are taller than I am so we will have to reduce your size is that if you guys would not submit to my leadership let fire come out of the bramble and consume all of you when I read the story I said no one that God kept it small just imagine what it will do if it was bigger than that so that's your understanding of leadership right it's fire that you have to give to consume other people you know what I love about the other trees they said they were not going to leave their opportunity to add value just to occupy a position remember as I close this down your value your influence is in your unique flavor if you occupy a position without having value to give that would cause positive change you are only within space the key to influence is service but you notice something about the only about the victory about the vine they are usually processed the olive fruit is crushed for you to get the oil the vine is also crushed for you to get the wine so people may not enjoy your flavor in its raw state you need to develop crack you need to develop competence I read the story of the rich man and Lazarus in the Bible I see the rich man pleading with Abraham send Lazarus to go talk to my brother's I don't want him to come here Abraham says no it can happen say okay send someone at least Abraham says no is that someone needs to go warn my brothers and it will cost to me one of the greatest regrets that people will have after their time on this planet will be what they did or did not do with their influence over other people he had influence over his brothers but he squandered that influence you can influence people also for evil I pray in the name of Jesus Christ that your opportunity for influence will not be squandered I pray that as we go through this conference the power of the Holy Spirit will rest on you and God will use every session to bring out your flavor to anoint that flavour and to send you for to be a world class change agent in the mighty name of Jesus Christ [Music] you [Music]

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Length: 41min 57sec (2517 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 06 2017