Your Association Determines Your Success
To succeed in life, career or ministry, the type of people you associate with matters. This is why you must consciously choose those you associate with. They will determine or influence who you will eventually become. Your association will shape or influence your attitude, and your attitude determines what you do or say. Your attitude will determine the kind of places you go.
You will either consciously or unconsciously learn or re-learn some virtues or vices from your association.
Oftentimes, I am drawn to people I can learn some virtues or positive attitudes from. A few years back, I put a call across to Pastor Sam Adeyemi, Senior Pastor of Daystar Christian Centre, Lagos. I observed some good attitudes that I needed to learn, so I told him, “I am coming to see you, and I left for Lagos. Sam Adeyemi was shocked that I only came to ask him some questions. At this visit, I told him, “Don’t see me as a friend, please. We shared some challenges and expectations. It was at this frank talk between us that I heard of Pastor Dick Bernal. He is the founder of Jubilee Christian Centre in San Jose, US and the pastor of the renowned worship leader, Ron Kenoly.
Dick Bernal was once driving Lester Surmral, a member of the board and a close friend of Dr. Yongi Cho. He has also worked with Dr. Oral Roberts, Billy Graham and several others that he was close to. What an amazing person! Immediately, I sought an opportunity through another friend of ours, Pastor Mark Culum, and in four hours, a meeting was fixed for a very odd time the following day. I requested Pastor Talabi to go with me. The meeting turned out to be a School of Ministry. Trust me to ask all manners of questions, and he was ready to share his experiences.
At 79 years old now, Dick Bernal recalls all his journeys with several great men of God, the various revival stages and what is coming in the future. It was an awesome moment to learn from the experiences of this great man of God.
There are books that men will never write, you only hear them from those in custody of such information. The character, strength and secret of those great men are timeless lessons of life.
The church he founded is now pastored by Ron Carpenter, while he focuses on Jubilee Legacy International, a mentoring ministry.
There is hope for the Church if we can obey 1 Sam 15:17 “And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?”
The emphasis in the above scripture is: “When you were little in thine own sight…” Please note the phrase, “..in thine own sight,.” This connotes that you deliberately, and intentionally humble yourself. It is not about men saying you are humble, but you deliberately reduce yourself and stop that noise-making because it’s just showmanship, which can cause offences.
David deliberately reduced himself before God when he was dancing freely, not conscious of the fact that he was the king of Israel. It takes humility for a king to dance that way. When Michel, the daughter of King Saul asked how the king made himself uncovered in the cause of dancing. David told her, “I will yet reduce and abase myself before the Lord. This is humility. Being humble is not an attitude we put up because that will be cosmetic.
We should really be humble inside our hearts before it shows in all that’s about us. Men may think you are humble until they know you’re not when they see you act out the pride in you. Pro 29:23 “A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.”
I am glad at the School of Ministry I went to yesterday, while in the US for Gospel preaching. A special thanks to Pastor Dick Bernal for the lessons. I see a revival coming but let’s reduce our size to normal.
