The Importance of Continuous Growth and Receptivity

Many people believe that once they have achieved a certain level of success or knowledge, they no longer need to listen to anyone else's message. They become so busy with their own work that they have no time for others' programs. However, the level of your growth is not determined by how much you give out, but by how much you take in. A person cannot give anything except what he has within himself.

If you truly want to be giving and generous, you must always find yourself in places where you can recharge, reload, and have enough to give out. Every year, pastors leave their parishes to attend conferences and programs, not to preach or lead, but to receive and become better themselves. They may not even take the microphone for five minutes—they have come to be lifted up, so that they themselves can become better.

The Principle of Humility and Descent

If you want to go high in life, learn to come down. The way up in life is down. Jesus Christ says that except a grain of corn falls down and dies, it remains alone. In order for it to flourish and grow, it must go down first. You take root downward in order to bear fruit and go up. John the Baptist said, "I must decrease so that he can increase." It takes a humble spirit to do what many leaders do, regardless of their background or achievements.

A true example of this humility is seen in leaders who, despite their qualifications and standing, remain teachable. Even when they have reached a position where they could claim they need no correction, they humbly ask for guidance and feedback. A true leader is a servant.

Servant Leadership

Jesus Christ tells us that anyone who wants to be the greatest must also be the one who is least in service. When you have a leader or pastor with that kind of spirit, you should be glad and grateful. It means that you will never remain low in life. It means that you are going to go very far in life. If you can emulate that spirit, the sky is not your limit—your limit is the heart of God.

I celebrate all the pastors who have come to this meeting as a proof of their teachable spirit and humility. Some of you have left programs to be here, and we do not take that spirit for granted. May the Lord lift you up.

The Power of God's Word

I want to give you resources that will help you teach your congregation to speak the mind of God and lead them in prayer. But first, you must teach yourself and learn yourself in prayers, and then you can teach others. When you go back to your parish, you can use these materials to grow spiritually.

One pastor shared how a publication blessed and changed his entire ministry. This is what the Word of God does. If you are receiving any book, my greatest plea is this: please do not keep it on a shelf. Read it. Use it. Trade your prayers for it. By the grace of God, if you read just two chapters and do not feel like praying, I will refund double what you paid—on one condition: that you go for a deliverance prayer session with the pastor, to be separated from the spirit that blocks prayer.

Volunteers for God

As we continue, I want to give our discussion a topic: "The Volunteers for God." This is what we will be sharing for the remaining time.

Psalm 110:1-3 reads: "The Lord said to my God, 'Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.' The Lord shall send the rod of his strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people shall be volunteers in the day of your power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning."

I want us to focus on verse 3: "Your people shall be volunteers." God desires a people who willingly offer themselves in His service. This is not about forced labor or obligation—it is about willing participation in God's work. When you have been lifted up and refreshed through receiving from God's Word and through humble service, you become the kind of volunteer that God seeks: someone who gives not out of compulsion, but out of the abundance of what they have received.

Do business until Jesus comes. Do not be idle. Every one of us has been given gifts by the Lord that should keep us perpetually busy for God. I pray that those talents will not be buried. May God give you grace to manage wisely and the wisdom to recognize that true greatness comes through service and availability to God's purposes.