Transcription
You are most welcome to the presence of the Lord. And um, today we will be sharing on becoming a person of great value to your generation. Becoming a person of great value to your generation. A person of great value is someone whose absence or departure will be too painful to bear, someone whose absence or departure is significantly felt afterwards.
Now, if you look at the life of Dorcas, the Bible says in verse 36 that this woman was always doing good things for people. She was always doing good things for people. So this meant that her sphere of influence, her positive deeds went beyond the boundary of her nuclear family. It went beyond the boundary of her relatives. Obviously, it went beyond the boundary of her friends. She was doing good things for men and women, not necessarily within her family cycle alone, but even to people she wasn't related with, and giving money to those in need, not borrowing money, but giving money to those in need. This was her testimony.
The day Tabitha died, she didn't know it will happen. And that has always been the pattern. Eighty percent of the time when people die, it takes everyone unawares. But at the point of death, the story of your life is complete, except by the mercy of God, the Lord chooses to bring back such a person back to life. In verse 36, we read a summary of the life of this woman, Dorcas. She was always consistently always. And always has a lot of implications. Even people that are blessing to others in life, they have challenges, they have personal burdens. It may not be financial, but from time to time, there will be something that they are also bothering about and crying out to God about. And sometimes it may not be about the person himself or herself. It could be a challenge in the life of someone very dear to him or to her. It could be the spouse, it could be a challenge with one of the children or a friend or someone somewhere. Even people who are channels of blessing to others consistently in the realm of giving materially and giving financially, we have also discovered that they keep on giving even when they actually have financial needs.
The Bible did not introduce Dorcas as a very wealthy woman. Our habit of consistently doing good to others, giving to those in need, was not necessarily a result of the abundance that she had. It had more to do with the quality of heart that she had, and not the quality of her purse. She was always doing good things for people and giving money to those in need.
From verse 37, it said that when Peter was there, she became sick and she died. The moment she died, from that point, it became impossible for her to do anything on the surface of this earth anymore. Everything that happened now thereafter happened because of the effort of the people that she had touched their lives. And it's quite instructive to note that the people who reached out to Peter were not necessarily members of his immediate family. When you widen your cycle, your sphere of influence, indirectly you are also opening up the channels of help, of support, and blessing that will also come flow back to your life, all to your loved ones at their time of need.
Dorcas died. If Christ carries, every one of us will also go someday. Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse 1 through 2: "For everything under heaven, there is a time and there is a season. A time to be born and then it goes on." The next new year is a time to die. You could do a hundred years, you could do 120 years, but the next major event that will come up according to the pattern of life, we certainly come up. You may live so long, but you cannot avoid or escape that second part, phase of the experience of life. There's a time to be born and there's a time to die.
They washed her body and put it in a room upstairs. They do this for most people, but something happened for her that is not done for most people. What happened in verse 38 is not done for most people. The Bible says the followers in Joppa heard that Peter was there, which was not far away, not near. So they sent two men. Now, they sent two men to Apostle Peter, not just to inform him that Dorcas was dead, which is normal and which they do for everyone that passes on. The motive and the intention for sending this urgent message to him was in another direction. It was for the purpose of an intervention, an intervention. And what kind of intervention? A divine intervention. Peter, as a man, had no power to do anything concerning the death or resurrection of Dorcas. So if they had any expectation tied to this invitation, it had to do with the grace of God upon him. That we are believing God for an intervention, possibly through the instrumentality of a proven servant of God in the person of Apostle Peter. So they sent two men. Now, you can you see what is happening in her absence? Can you see what is happening after she had died? So people refused. These are not relatives of Dorcas. These same people that sent a message to Peter. On an annual basis, which we all experience, they have the loose people that they know, but they don't send such a message to Peter. But here was one that that they found it hard to accept. They found it hard to comprehend. They refused to accept the reality of the death of Dorcas and they still felt that something, something can be done, and let us do all we can to see that thing happening. And that was a divine intervention.
I pray that beyond your own personal efforts, in your hour of need, people that your life has touched will rise up on your behalf. Let heaven hear your amen. People will rise up on your behalf. People will seek for a solution concerning your need, and they will be urgent about it in the name of Jesus. Do you recognize what happened here? They sent two men, and these two men do what? They traveled where Peter was. It wasn't so far, but it wasn't in his, it wasn't in the same location. That did not deter them. It did not make them change their mind. They sent two men to Peter wherever he was. And I can tell you from what we read here, that if Peter was further, further away, they would still have sought for Peter wherever he was. That is the extent people can go when you have truly touched their lives. And you see one of the things that also drives people to go out of their way to pay you back well in return is when they also recognize the fact that you really had no reason so much for them. You were not bound to do so much for them. One of the reasons people don't also bother to show gratitude is because they feel that they deserve whatever good has been done for them by that particular person. "I needed this, he gave me. I couldn't do this, he solved it." Why someone may be extremely grateful for that, another person may just take it as a right. "Yes, is he not, is she not this to me? Is she not mine? And so she was supposed to." They sent two men who begged him. When they got to Peter, they were desperate in trying to achieve their mission. Have you observed that some, a lot of people, they don't go the extra mile when it has nothing to do with them benefiting personally? When you see some people running up and down and trying to get something done, if you investigate well, you discover that that person has something to benefit from it. And the moment you just tell such people that, "Sorry, uh, they can't see you," they go back without even putting any extra effort. Now, this is the same man or the same woman who, when she's after or is after something, and you tell her no, she will never accept no. She will beg, she will put a lot of pressure on that person, "Please do this for me now, please." But when that thing is not for him or her as a person, it's so easy for them to just put in the least effort and back out when the initial attempt is not granted. But these two men that they sent begged him, "Hurry, please come quickly, quickly." To come and do what? To come and do what? Not to come and mourn. "Come quickly, perhaps God can work through you for an intervention." I pray that anyone here that urgently needs a divine intervention, by the mercy of God, may the Lord show you and give you that intervention. And if you don't need it at this hour, please say another amen for the people that need it now, in the name of Jesus.
Peter got ready. Why did he get ready immediately? Because of the manner with which those who were sent presented their requests. There is a way you go about things on behalf of other people, and if you are just doing it passively, the response that could have come if you were more desperate and serious would not come. But here was Peter. The Bible says he got ready and he went with them. Help is coming for someone here. A great divine intervention is starting off for someone here. He got ready and went with them. When he arrived, they took him to the room. All the widows, all the widows, all the widows stood around him. Why are they standing around him? All the widows were looking forward to a divine intervention. Now, take note of this. Dorcas did not tell these widows, "In case I die, please you people should rally around for me." In case I die, rally around for me. On their own volition, they got involved. They stood around him. The Bible says, "What they were crying and showing him the coats." And now, this cry here was a different cry. This cry here was not the initial cry that they had been crying over her departure. You know, there are times where the moment you remember something good again, something good about that person, the moment you remember something good about that person, it affects your emotions. They were not crying now that the fact that she had no. The moment they reflected on the good things that she did consistently, they broke down and they were crying and they showed him what? Evidence. Evidence. Behind you, behind you, may people have good things to say about you. Behind you, may people have things to show, things to show as a result of the good that you have done in their lives. I'm hearing the amen. Showing him the coats and all the clothes that Tabitha had made. That Tabitha had made. You know the implication of that? You know, if they said she gave, now there is a possibility that what she gave could have been things that she had used. No, the Bible says they showed Peter the things she made. That these were brand new clothes. Brand new clothes. There are people that can give you what they have used, and sometimes there are people, before they will give you, you will know that that thing, they've used that thing so much that possibly there are some little holes. Now, they are not tired of using that thing, that is the only time they will give it out. But Tabitha impacted. She could have given also things that she had, clothes that she had. That is normal, that is good, and we are encouraged to all do that. But one very peculiar thing here too that we dropped out of this was that she went to the instinct of making clothes for them, making clothes for them, brand new clothes that she made during her time with them, during our time.
In Proverbs 27 verse 1, the Bible says, "Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a single day, not a week, not a year, not a year, we're not talking of a year now, thou knowest not what a single day we bring about." Any good thing you are in a position to do now, do it now. Have you been honoring your parents? Have you been supporting your parents? It's not about giving them so much, it's about giving them something. You can always improve on what you do, you can always increase the value of what you give, but it must never be on record that you are one of those few children that do not honor and support their parents. Because have this in mind, your parents will discuss someday, and even if your father, your mother, never wanted to say anything, someday when he hears the testimony of his friends about what their sons and daughters are doing for them, to support them, to keep them in good health, to make them more comfortable, your father or mother who never wanted to say anything will be compelled to say something. If you have been doing something, he will say it. If you have not been doing anything, he will be compelled to associate, and it will not sound well if the people he is talking to discover, observe, or recognize the fact that you are in a position to at least do something. Do something rather than leave your father or your mother without any kind of support. God himself gave this with a promise in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 1 through 2: "Honor thy father and mother; that it may be well with thee." The tears of your father can affect you. The tears of your mother can affect you, especially when you're in a position to do something to address whatever is bringing them that emotional pain.
Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse 1: "For everything under heaven, there is a time." You have, you have a limited time. We all have a limited time we can spend. Nobody will live here on earth forever until the day of the rapture. At a point, everyone, every believer will die, and 90 percent of the time, it will happen as a surprise to everyone.
Peter sent all the people out of the room. Somebody say, "It's time for divine intervention." If you are expecting it from God, say it one more time. Say it a third time, and let the heavens hear you. Peter sent all the people out of the room. He knelt down and he prayed. Then he turned to Tabitha's body and said, "Tabitha, stand up." The people you have touched their lives have refused to let you go. Tabitha, return back to the surface of this earth. The emotional pain your departure has brought to the people you touched their lives positively is demanding your return. Tabitha, stand up. At this point, the role of Peter ended. Anything that happened after this comment by Peter was no longer the power of Peter. Any man of God can pray, but whether or not that prayer will be effected or answered by God is not in the power of the man of God. It's possible that Peter also prayed for some other people in the course of his life and ministry, and God didn't raise them back to life. That is something that happens in any ministry where a man of God has even been used so much by God in raising people back to life. It was never a hundred percent testimony, but in this instance, mercy spoke on our behalf. So the merciful God says he will show mercy. He will show mercy. And the way God will show it will be unprecedented, to the extent that God can bring you back to life in an act of unprecedented mercy.
She opened her eyes. Who? Dorcas. The woman they said was dead. The woman that was certified as dead. The woman that was confirmed as dead. Suddenly. Somebody said, "Suddenly." This didn't take time, does it? I don't know how, how organized the enemy was in that spiritual attack, possibly that led to her sudden death. And if the death of Dorcas had any influence from somewhere, and it wasn't really God's time for her, obviously there would have been joy from the quarters where that attack came from. But they rejoiced too early. I'm telling someone here, but the message of God that those who think you are finished, God will surprise them anytime from now. Those who thought you have lost out completely, God will surprise them anytime from now. Defeat is about to be turned to victory, and it is going to be instant victory in the name of Jesus. In that area of your life where the enemy thinks you are now permanently out, God is about to raise you up again. And your rising will bring great joy, great celebration, great celebration, great celebration. God will do something now that will restore the joy of your entire family in the name of Jesus. She opened her eyes. Oh, thank you, Lord. I just heard the Spirit of God tell me to tell someone here that there is nothing beyond the power of God to do. And he said it quietly, "There is nothing beyond the power of God." So that means there is hope for someone here. He gave us his hand and helped her stand up. Then he called the believers. Take note of what happened here. Peter called the crowd, he called the believers as a crowd, then, and the widows, because these are the people that have the greatest expectation. There are people in life that you have touched, their pain becomes their pain, your fall, your affliction becomes the affliction. Your victory becomes your victory. So you find out that in life, different people have different measures of positive influence. Even the 80/20 rule is observed by Pareto, often also called the Pareto Principle. It applies to the positive and negative impact of people. He observed that in any one point, a majority of any phenomenon will be explained or caused by a minority of the actors participating in the phenomenon. There will always be a majority that have little impact, and a small minority that have a major, dominant impact, positively or negatively. So the key point is that just a small percentage of people have greater impact and contribute much, contribute much more to the overall result compared to a higher percentage of others that are equally involved. We call this minority, these few people, key players, key people, key destiny partners. Few people will often contribute a greater percentage to the overall result or productivity of the entire group. This happens even in church, it happens everywhere. Out of any given total of different people, in most cases, just a few of them will turn out to be key or most valuable, and they are the ones that would most affect the overall result. Can I tell you something? A great deal of relationships, if you really want to look at it critically, are unimportant and can actually be discarded. While on the other hand, there are always a few people or relationships that have an influence even beyond their numbers. These are people and relationships that must be identified. For instance, at the end of a year, you naturally should appreciate certain people, starting with God. You must appreciate God, appreciate and show that appreciation through your church personality towards God, through your church, and some other ways that the Lord has ministered over and over. Then there are some people you must appreciate as well. You, you shouldn't do this for everyone. And if only God gives you the resource to do it for so many people, you need to do it a lot more for certain people. Can you also see now, even from the story of Dorcas, that those people she touched their lives, they deserve to be blessed by God with more divine helpers and channels of blessing? There are women and men in the same position of Dorcas, and in their own time, despite the lives they touched, the people they touched, what was done by these widows for Dorcas was not done at all. No attempt was even made. It's not just about raising someone back to life. In so many other ways, there are things that could have been done that also applies to being a channel of blessing to someone that has blessed you consistently in time past.
So how can we, in rounding it up, how can we become a channel, a greater, uh, a a greater channel of blessing and become of greater value to our generation? I will quickly share. Let's quickly look at Daniel chapter 5, John chapter 5, verse 10 to 16. Daniel chapter 5, verse 10 to 16. Daniel correctly interpreted what was written on the wall. At the time when it matters most, God's hand will be upon you to deliver. You will excel. In fact, you will perform beyond the expectations of the people. Can I hear that man or woman say, "Loved amen"? So Daniel was of great value to kings, not just one king, two kings. In churches, we have the ministries where they have many branches. There are times where they want to transfer a worker from that a branch, and the pastor will even secretly pray against it because he has found that worker such a blessing to what God is doing in that branch of that ministry. And there are other instances where someone, there's a demand that someone be posted away from the particular branch, and the pastor will say, "Oh, thank God for answered prayer." It's the same type of relationship. You can be in courtship with a man, in courtship with a woman, and it's been done for some time, and close friends and family have made observations. And then suddenly, for some reason, a courtship breaks up, and your partner says, "No more." Ideally, when your friends, when your relatives hear, or when his friends or her friends and relatives hear, they are supposed to reach out to you and ask why, or to him and ask why, because they are convinced that you are a blessing and you are ultimately getting married to him or to her would have been a great blessing to that family or cycle of friends. If they were convinced you are going to be a blessing, they will reach out to you and they will ask why, why, why do you want to break it up? In some other instances, the same thing will happen, and nobody will make an attempt. Why? In their hearts, they see what is happening as an answered prayer. They see what is happening as deliverance from fire. There are people that leave an office, and people left there, everybody there is happy that the person has left. I'm not talking of a situation where, you know, we have people who are morally corrupt, people who are on serious. And if there was a serious-minded person there, a morally upright person there, that was trying to put things right, of course, when such a person is removed, the morally bankrupt, we celebrate the exit of that person. We are talking of an ideal situation where those left behind, the people in the environment are upright, and they go out for the good things. When a good, very good person leaves, it affects everyone emotionally. Sometimes, even when the person is being promoted, and but that promotion will take the person away, people still feel partially sad, even though they are happy he or she has been promoted. But at the same time, someone can be transferred or even sacked, and everybody goes back home happy because that person was, was in, you know, a toxic, possibly, you know, an instrument of toxic, uh, influence and relationship to people that he or she encountered. And in, in, as we close it up, so I don't live out this aspect of it. You see, one of the things the Spirit of God ministered is that many people have lost out in terms of appreciation, in terms of reward from people that would have appreciated and rewarded you for some of the good attributes about you that makes you a person of great value. And why the Spirit of God specifically mentioned to me that is as a result of the things you say, the things you say behind those people, behind such persons. A leader, a boss that could have promoted, appreciated you for so many other things you do well, by the time the person hears the kind of things you say in gossip about him, about the organization, it cleans off all the good that you have done in other areas. The tongue, the tongue, the tongue has ruined the goodwill that many people could have received in so many quarters.
Laban had an encounter with Jacob, and he was, of course, a channel of great blessing to Laban to the extent that in Genesis chapter 30, verse 27-28, Laban acknowledged that God had shown him, he had discovered that God was blessing him, Laban, because of Jacob. And for that reason, he asked Jacob, "Tell me, how much I will pay you, whatever, and I will pay you, because I have discovered, I have just learned that you are the reason why God is blessing me so much."
So, what makes people earn greater value? One is the kind of heart that they have. The kind of heart that they have. First Samuel, First Samuel chapter 16, First Samuel chapter 16, verse 7. "But the Lord, I'm reading from the King James version, said to Samuel, 'Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.'" The Lord looked on the heart. The kind of heart you have. And God was saying this even before David became king, before David became king.
Number two: Possession of a rare character strength. What are those things that are rare these days? Honesty. A selfless spirit. A selfless spirit. Help people not because they can help you. Pick friends not just because you feel they are materially, financially relevant, and then you dispose of them the moment you observe that they are not, they are no longer as buoyant as they were in the past. A selfless spirit. Do things for people sometimes without necessarily expecting anything back in return. Loyalty. Loyalty is rare. Proverbs 20 verse 6: "Every man will boast of his faithfulness of his loyalty: but a faithful man who can find?" Faithfulness, humility, integrity.
So the sec, the third, uh, of key is your pleasant character and attitude. And we said a lot about it. Four is the spirit, the attribute of excellence upon you. The attributes of excellence upon you. Something good that you consistently do much better than other people. Proverbs 22:29: "Your level of wisdom, your level of foresight, your level of initiative." And then number five is when you are a reliable support to other people, even at least to one person. A reliable support will make you a person of great value. Number six: A solution finder. Take note, I didn't say solution provider. A solution finder. You don't have to be the one to provide the solution. You don't have to be the one to provide the solution. It can come, that solution can come through anybody. It was the friend, the widows were not the ones that raised Dorcas back to life. So they were not the solution provider, but they were the solution finder. They knew someone that God could use to work the miracle that they needed. And then the last one: Your positive influence and impact on anyone that is exposed to your words or attitude. Your positive influence. The lives you have affected positively. You can be a contagious character positively, and a contagious character negatively. Anybody that comes, husbands that come in touch closely to you, with time, they become more faithful in their marriage. They become unloyal to their wives. You can also be a very negative influence that even people who were faithful before to their spouses, when they come closer to such a woman, they eventually become unfaithful to their husbands. Your ability to transfer knowledge. It is not about what you have, it's about how many people you have been able to transfer those good things you have onto the people you have affected, the people you have helped, the people you have empowered. Your ability to transfer knowledge, transfer skills, transfer. That is why people cannot ever forget their trainer, their coach, their teacher, their lecturer, their pastor. And you cannot then understand why some people who came in as a staff in what is even supposed to be a family business eventually adopted as a son and giving shares, rewards, positions, privileges that were reserved for just the children. Such a staff had proven himself sometimes in loyalty, productivity, commitment, and some of the things mentioned.