Why Your Preparation Matters More Than Your Luck

We're running this series about Joseph's Principles. And the series is specifically for the person that feels like they've been in a pit for far too long and needs somebody to come and take them out. this is specifically for somebody who feel rejected for so long been rejected by the family been rejected by the mothers uncles being rejected at work you have so many ideas but yet your ideas are the one that has been cut off. So this series is specifically meant for you. The series is specifically meant for you as a person that had dreams and every time whenever you are so excited about your dreams, people cutting your dreams short. This is specifically for you. The series is if you think that there's something that is not in the series for you. You are wrong. You are so wrong because this is specifically meant for each and everyone under the sound of my voice, whether you are online or whether you are sitting here this morning. This series is for you. This series is literally, literally for somebody who has been literally being imprisoned by the situation and feel the need to get out of the situation, to get out of prison, this is for you. This is specifically for you that think that my good looks has brought me nowhere. But here I can tell you, this series is for you. And I specifically mentioning Joseph that had Potiphar wife running after and rejected Potiphar wife and yet got to be in a place where things is better off So I speaking to you specifically you that has been running from one job to another, thinking that this career is the last career I'll be having, yet to find out, oh, it didn't work that way. Everything didn't work that way. So if you think that there's something that is not for you, you are wrong because this is literally something for everybody. And I want to take the time and just give you a quick brief on on on the previous points i gave you but i don't want to prolong this we went from uh from principle to surrender uh control to god from principle love in a life of honesty purity faithfulness regardless so that is to to have your integrity And if you can just picture this now, the integrity comes actually from the word teleos. Teleos meaning to be a whole, complete, undivided devotion to God. That's teleos, the Greek word, I mean, for integrity. That's teleos. and then serve others selfishly where you find the principle leadership is about serving others, not just pursuing personal success, forgive and let go. So if you haven't listened to the previous parts, I would suggest that you can go back and listen to them in any which or ever order. But I would suggest that you start from the beginning so that you can go along and see all these things in practice as well. Because remember, I'm giving you the principle. I still give you a scripture reference to it. And I will give you how to apply this principle as well. Because it's no use of having something but not applying it. You remember my favorite scripture, James 1.22, which is literally, literally saying that let it not be just mere words. So this principle I said another principle I gave you is forgiveness frees you from bitterness and allows you to move forward in God plan That another one Then to be diligent and excellent in your work which the principle is his work as unto the Lord striving for excellence in all you do And then you have to seek the wisdom and discernment, which the principle is that seek God's wisdom and decision making and leadership. then i also said to you to stay humble which is the principle of humility which is the key to godly leadership not just godly leadership but a godly life then trust god's timing which is a principle of god's delays are not his denials um waiting for his perfect timing there um also then i i've given you another principle god is with you in the hard times The principle is here, God's presence sustains us in difficulties. Then I said to you, be a steward of God's blessing, which is the principle here is to recognize that everything you have is a gift from God and use it to bless others as well. and then i i've given you um to lead um with compassion that's another principle lead with love grace and compassion reflecting christ character and today i want to start off with principle number 12 to keep your eyes on god's eternal purpose to keep your eyes on god's eternal purpose. Now, this principle is love with eternal perspective, knowing your life is part of God's big story. So if you love with purpose and you know that your life as you are living it, it's a part of God's purpose, God's bigger picture. i mean if you can picture this net let me make an example if it wasn't for for uh what's his name if it wasn't for joseph to be going to jail he wouldn't have been the one that would have been in charge close to the king So that is the bigger picture of God allowing him to be in prison So, if you can set your mind above, I mean on things above, according to the scripture of Colossians 3, I don't know, you remember the scripture of Colossians 3? Should I go there? Let me go there. I actually just wanted us to go quickly, not to waste too much time. And this collusion is a small piece in the Bible. How do you call it? It's a small book. it's a small book and because it's so small you'll not find it but Colossians 3 verse 2 set your affection on things above not on things on the earth not on things on the earth so when you're looking at things on the earth it's a good thing to be a part of it it's a good thing to work with it But it's a better thing is not to set your eyes on it, but look at God's perspective, the bigger picture that God has for you. So these are the things that you're looking at. And in the same Colossians 3, I'm going to read 17 to you as well. 17 says as follow and whatsoever you do in word or deed do it all in the name of the lord jesus giving thanks to god and the father by him so can you see i'm not going to go in depth with this because if you can just picture your life your life as a map and every you go when you're looking at where you go keep in mind that god is also allowing you so this to apply it is to keep on making every decision that you make go back to the the 90s in the 1990s i don't know if you can remember in fact not in the 90s it's even up till today, people are still wearing the bracelet. You know, the bracelet that says WJWD something. The bracelet which is, what would Jesus do? I don't know. You can remember those bracelets. We used to, I don't, I've seen it long time ago, but I actually see now and then with people where they have this bracelet on. And anytime when the bracelet is on your arm and you want to do something, and the bracelet is there as a reminder that tells you that whatever decision that you're making now, what would Jesus have done? So you now keep on being reminded of what would Jesus do. So this put your mind in a perspective of eternity, making sure that you can see heaven. So that is one of the principles as well, is to live with an eternal perspective. I want to take some time on the next one. I want to take some time on the next one. To be prepared for opportunities. Now the principle here is Preparation positions Positions you To seize God Given opportunities When they arise To position you To see God's opportunities When they arrive Now one thing about Preparation You should understand is that Preparation is the key Towards a quicker meal Let me make an example If my wife is at work she will ask somebody if she doesn do it the morning before like the Utsamans in the morning She will ask somebody to take out some meat out of the fridge. And normally the fridge is, the food is frozen. So what she will do is take it out so that it can defrost in the meantime. So by the time when she gets here, it doesn't take her long time to defrost the meat still before she can start cooking. That's preparation. And God is allowing you to be prepared in certain circumstances for him so that when the time comes, you are ready. I so much wish that this could have been the last point but I'm so much cognizant of the fact that if this would be the last point that I would make it might be something that somebody should miss because I'm in a rush to finish it you understand what I'm saying ma? if it is picture thee Preparation is key If I can go back And I'm taking us back to way back If I can remember We were staying in a place Which was One bathroom apartment Do you call it one bathroom apartment? Or do you call it It's not a bachelor that one Bachelor is an open One bathroom apartment So one bedroom was a place that being three in the bedroom, it's not a good place to be. Especially not as a man and a woman. And when you look at that now, now you have a child that every time, whenever you want to cuddle, the next thing the kid is here in the middle of the bed. So you can't have a place like that. So while I bringing this to preparation at that time we were planning to get a bigger place so we went into a two apartment which was then better where our eldest she could sleep in our own room and we have our own room but remember at the same time it was not about us wanting the the privacy. The privacy. It's not about us wanting the privacy, but has been looking at me staying with a girl that becomes a grown-up. And you know when a girl becomes having titties and hair and things like that, as a man, you can't be in the same room with her or sleeping in the same room with them. because now the girl starts becoming uncomfortable, especially when it's that time of the month where you know it's that time. You can't share that with a man. You rather share it with your mother. So that was a preparation so that we can prepare her to be on her own so that whenever that time comes, there's more privacy. So when the time came, she had her own privacy. not forgetting that moving to another place now where it was still the same two-bedroom apartment and the family started growing. So we had to be prepared for our last one who was a Lachey at the time. We had a car that was a Sherry J2. in fact I've commented on it some time during the course of the week when I put it on Facebook in 2016 so we had this car and it was a nice car I must say that car was really a nice car especially because when we bought it it only had about 9000 kilos on the clock which was nothing but preparation made us to look into a Dodge Journey seven-seater because we know that when Lachey comes, there won be enough space for us because at that time there were already three people which was I mean we were five Let me rather say it that way We were already five at that time and a car like a Sherry J2 is perfectly although it yet small for that family But when we go out, let's say we go to Postmasburg for argument's sake, the luggage couldn't fit all of our luggage. And we had to be prepared. And that's why we went to the Dodge Journey, which was the seven-seater then. And being prepared at that time when Lachey came, or let me say Lachey was already born at that time, it was easier for us to go to a trip like a Kimberley, a Kuruman of Carnarvon without having to give up our comfortability. So it was preparation for us So picture this If I be a man Can prepare like that Just imagine When God sees you are prepared already God sees you prepared No, I want to become a company owner one day Which is a million dollar company Wearing flip flops like me hey it's tough day because when people see you with flip flops that is supposed to be on the beach they don't take you seriously it's when you start dressing up dress to impress so you prepare yourself because you have seen the million dollars already you have seen the billion dollars already now you start putting clothes on like a CEO. Putting clothes on. I can't remember when I've seen my CEO. I can't even remember if I ever seen my CEO in shorties or in flip-flops. I can't remember. Because every time when I see him, it's like, dress looks like he's going to a meeting now, although he doesn't do the what is it, suit things, but the shirt is always nicely prepared. So, when we're talking about preparation, the Roman philosopher, you know the Roman philosophers said these words, he says success occurs when opportunity meets preparation. Success occurs when opportunity meets preparation. Now let me make an example. There's a contract out for government or a tender for government. all they want is a company name they don't want much you have not registered your company you forfeit you forfeit imagine somebody telling you you know what I only need somebody of your skin color because you are seen as a BEE BEE BEE Imagine The person said I need somebody And with your skill set You will fit in perfectly And there you don't have the company name I'm just saying So whatever you are doing today Prepare For making sure that When opportunities arrive you are already saved for it imagine imagine me looking for a job the first thing they asked me look I've seen you've been in this industry for a very long time from what I can see it's 2009 up till 2019, that's already 10. Then another 6 years, you've already been in the, let's say 5 years, you've already been in this industry, which makes it 15 years in the industry. I have a job opportunity for you. And you are like, wow, this sounds like my kind of job. You know what I'm going to give you? I going to give you a monthly salary of about 70 Rand And that after deductions You know the calculations Ma The calculations in our head. Yo, I can buy myself the house. I can buy the car. And next thing, I will buy that Gucci suit that I like. You know. And the next thing, you're thinking, yo, 70,000 Rand will allow me. to make the school fees easily. So when you picture all these, and then the next question comes, but you need to have your own car. You look at the garage, you see, it's Korokoro. Ah! You are in trouble. You got the 70,000 rent already, but the car that is in the garage, is having so much problems that it won't be able to even go to Centurion from where we are at the moment. It is only allowing you to travel 5 kgs a day or kilometers a day. Be prepared. Be prepared. So prepare yourself for the things that you... So be prepared. so preparation positions you to seize God's given opportunity God will give you opportunity once and it will sound like I'm at peace with it and when God gives you opportunity and you are at peace that's the right opportunity that is the right opportunity if you are in a situation where you're not prepared tomorrow you need to go to an interview the interview is in Chubbac transport money is about 120 it's already 10 o'clock at night how would you be able to go there if you don't have the 120 rand? So, transport money small small 120 rand and they telling you the specs of the job is that you will earn about 30 rand per month But the 120 that you have at the moment or that you don't have at the moment is stopping you to be prepared for the opportunity that God has been given to you. I want you I want to take some time and just dig deeper dig deeper into this so to be prepared in the Greek is I won't tell you how it gets spelled in the Greek but I can explain to you in English it's H-T-O-I-M-O-L so to be prepared is HITTOIMO that means to be in a constant state of readiness implying both spiritual and intellectual preparation. That's to be prepared, the Greek word. Let me go to another one. The what is this the exams is allowing you to give answers that's that's exams for you not allowing but to be prepared to answer let me say that way where answer the greek word for it is apologia apologia It refers to a well-reasoned defense, not just in argument but in explanation why we believe what we believe in So are you prepared to answer in an interview when they ask you tell me about yourself And do you know Momo goes in and say, I was born in Griekwa-Stad? Momo, I have four wives and six children. Momo, talking about their personal life in an interview. taking you away from the action interview question. Do you know what is the answer there? The answer is not about you answering about who you are as a person. It's about where do you stand career-wise. That's the question. That's apologia. The answer to that is to say, wow, I've been in the insurance industry doing some leadership in the industry. I've been a leader into generating leads. And as I generate leads, I can sell them at the same time as well. And when a client wants to cancel, cancel it, I can retain it because of my experience being in retentions as well. and I can reason why the premium is, how the premium is, because of the reasons for how long I've been in the industry, I know, you see, it's an answer to an interview question about my profession. But picture this, Joseph, being where he was, he didn't start with the king's dream no he started with making a mistake to tell his brothers I dreamt that you will bow down before me at that time interpretation was not part of the plan imagine you go bragging You will bow down before me one day. I'm telling you now, you'll bow down. They will put you. They will sell you. They will slave you. can you see how preparation was done from the time when joseph was in the beginning due to the fact that he didn't know how to interpret the dream he gave it to his brothers and that made him to become somebody that the brothers hate at the moment because i can guarantee you now they knew what was the interpretation of that that's the reason why they took him out imagine you telling your family members you know what I'm having this plan of starting this company the company will earn me about 200,000 rent a month in profit where I will generate this and that ah they think ah this guy he will be the problem was. So now they talk to the guy that wants to give you this business plan, telling all the nonsense about why you can't be doing it. Joseph's brothers. Preparation was done. Do you know how, Ms. Kat, imagine Dina, somebody sits in prison. do you know what prison is prison is a place where you are excluded from others prison is a place where you are included as criminals you are a criminal so when you are in jail although you have done something how can I say you have not done it Yeah, that's the word I'm looking for. Although you have not done it, it's still a criminal record. You've sat in jail for how many years? It's a criminal record. Picture this, somebody sitting with a criminal record on his name. So you are excluded from everybody else. But lo and behold, one of the things that I can tell you Joseph's preparation came when somebody was like him not knowing what a dream is and starting to ask it was you know what when i dreamed this dream was making me trouble and this dream was making me trouble and this was a person that was working closely to Pharaoh. Is it Pharaoh, Potiphar? Which one? Okay, mark your side. Yeah. So when he was preparing himself, the time when he gave his dream to his brothers, he already knew that it's better to interpret the dream first before you get to say to somebody. And when the guy that was with him in prison came to him, he was prepared to answer the guy what it meant. And it came to pass. That when that guy was sitting next to the Duna of Duna, the big Makulubos, he could tell them, there's somebody in prison. He's prepared already. Have you prepared yourself? Have you? has there been a preparation for you moving into a new place of work knowing that where you're going to go is going to be a place where they will respect me because I'm already respected at this moment because God has already showed me I'm a leader. So he prepared me to show others already leadership. Leadership. Mamroti, do you know that where you're at at the moment? In leadership. People don't see you as leader but you're in leadership. So the preparation for your next leadership position. This is a prophetic word, Ma. Don't take it lightly. Please The next position as a leader where you will make the decisions and anytime you say something it goes they will not think should should should not they will go with your word imagine that this guy calling you in I have this dream you already know the interpretation of the dream as he is speaking to you and when you give it to him this is the interpretation but you know what he said I don't have it every time whenever he made dreams interpretation he was saying how he this is the interpretation but on this one he says I don't know God knows so the preparation there was that he's fully aware that he cannot interpret dreams without God. So he prepared himself to be so fully reliant on God that it's not necessary for him. That is why I'm saying this one, I want to use it first because I want to make sure that you grasp it. you take it you know like take it to heart when exam starts you don't have to run away because remember the preparation of an exam never starts in the exam rooms it starts way before I remember Laverne was telling me one day we were driving in the car and she was mentioning something I can't remember what you were saying it was something like at least I've already prepared every day a little bit of that you remember that conversation we had you were talking about exams that was there and it wasn necessary to take take so much time to write it or I mean to study for it because you been listening in class and you've been doing your job daily. So we were talking about that. And I knew it. Cramping, or cramming, is it cramming? Cramming for exams is not a good idea. it's not a good idea so claiming for exams is not a good idea the better way is if you know that you are an auditory learner or a visionary learner or a kinetic kinetic meaning feelings learner do that so rather study like that do you know how I used to study because I know for a fact that I'm a good listener I can listen when the teacher speaks in class I will not just listen but I will reason it out in my mind you know how I reason it out when a teacher says the board is black right on the black board I'll be like hey ma the English that we're Englishing is not the English but I saw a green board didn't you see green board there why they call it black right on the black board I'll reason no they say black pot so that's what i heard so to me it's like ah that thing is green so when i look at these things i reasoned it out as they were talking so that by the time i get home I don't have to do anything. I've already reasoned it out and the only thing I can do is just to write whatever was asked to do. That is preparation for you. Prepare even though You don't know what it might come tomorrow. You should actually ask, man. It's just recently I used my phone more than the books. But I was a reader. I can read. I don't know, even up till today, I would take information like nobody's business. For somebody to prepare a sermon for a whole week, Ma can I tell you I can prepare a sermon while you tell me come and speak about life by the time I get up here I'll be prepared I'm done not because of I have the grace for it it's because of God has prepared me from the year 2000 up till now to prepare i've been saved now the 10th of february i'm saved 25 years and in the 25 years it has never been about us talking about christ and listening to others say no no no it's about me delving into the scripture reasoning it out god how can you talk about something in this bible and I don't understand. What does it mean? What does Psalm 93 mean? I don't just take the Psalm and say, that's it. I want to know what has it had to do with me in today's life. I can't say a sling was used at that time when David was alive. today I don't I don't even have you seen a sling for how long have you I haven't been seeing a sling since the day I was in Posma's birth and that was already 25 years ago probably if it's not more what has a sling to do with me today so you're reasoning it out this point I'm taking too long now. But I want to make sure that we do have it I want to take you to Proverbs 21 Let me do Proverbs 21 for you And listen to this. When you talk about preparation, Proverbs 21, verse 31. Proverbs 21 31 The horse is prepared against the day of battle but safety is of the Lord picture this you have never taken a horse to a place where shooting happened every day. The first gunshot lifts you, takes you back, run. Horse preparation. You sit without the horse. And the guys with horses and guns come for you. A horse is prepared. What kind of preparation do you need to do today? Where is it that you need to prepare? Sure. Is it because of you are looking for... What is this thing called? Let me make an example of this. Tendering. You're looking at tendering. Do you know how to tender? You need to have your company number one. you need to have your VET certification or SARS certification no VET is different VET is for higher money that you earn more money I mean certain amount then you take VET but you do the SARS you do the let's say you want to do health and safety if you're tendering for health and safety you need to have a health and safety certificate. You need to have a health and safety representative So you are prepared for that kind of thing Then when the time comes you know what they do You give them everything. Company profile, I think. Yeah, it's called company profile. Yeah, you write a company profile. tell them this is my company this is what my company does once you do that when you get that thing there's no need for you to everything is prepared like now if i can tell you now ma do you know my my my text bin is already is there. It's safe. It expires next year October. No, this year October, sorry. You know it's only lasting for one year. So I'm prepared for anything that comes my way. What is it that you need to prepare for? If you are prepared to get a husband, the worst part of you is that waking up with breath that stinks, walking in the street with pyjamas, but you're looking for husband. You won't find a husband, you'll find a husband. Imagine. You can't find a husband with pyjamas. You can, yes. Yes. But those ones that is just after one thing. Let me not go there. Be prepared. a horse is prepared for battle but don't let me stop you then because if a horse is prepared for battle one thing that you should know preparation is not the key part the key part is the Lord the safety but safety is of the Lord why do you care about your safety prepare yourself thank you look at description you go to battle and you fear that you die You go back and you say God has not given us a spirit of fear You go to that scripture and then the moment you have that scripture, you take it upon you. You come and bring it together with this one of Proverbs 21, 31, where it says, but safety is of the Lord and you say God you keep me safe although I go into this battle I am fear no even Psalm 23 comes in I will fear no evil for thou art with me for thou art with me the safety of the Lord is with you therefore when Joseph was sitting in jail, he was saved. He was saved. Although he was in a situation where, do you know that in jail somebody can anytime comes with a toothbrush that has been sharpened. Yay! Bring the lighter. Make the toothbrush home. Something rough. knife. Prepare for battle. Somebody will make that knowing they want to kill somebody. They prepare to kill somebody. I want to take you to 2 Timothy 2 verse 15. And I read to you, do your best to present yourself to God as one approved. A worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Sure. 2 Timothy 2 verse 15. No, no, no. But I don't want to read so much out of the King James because I'm reading now out of a different version, but no, let me leave it at that. So preparation Lead to effectiveness. Let me make another example of preparation. Do you know that when somebody comes into a company, they don't know, they don't have a clue what's happening. And there you'll find Ronell Zal over 20 years in stock controlling. in parts, what is this thing called, truck parts. Do you know that my wife knows even the part numbers of the suppliers? Part numbers of suppliers, not the part numbers that they use in-house. Talking about a part number of somebody out of the company. she can tell you I'm ordering part number what what what and the guy will be like sending something else and she will be like I've told you the part number therefore you can't get my order wrongly it's so effective to use that kind of language in a place where mistakes are easy to make. You are prepared for it. I can tell you now, when somebody asks me about insurance, I know how to choose my words. You know how I choose my words. Insurance put you in jail. You say something wrong, you are in jail. Because insurance, you have to use your wording so that it doesn't affect yourself and the person hearing it. If I say to you, am I covered? No, let me reverse the question. If your question is, am I covered if I make an accident? I will be saying to you yes you are covered if you drive under the South African law I will explain to you why I say it now. I Don't know if the person's license that they are having Is a real license or they don't have a license they only have what we call a learner's license. Now the person asking the question, am I going to be covered for an accident? When the thing comes back to you, you have said yes. You have not made conditions applied. Do you know what conditions applied is? 11. You know what conditions apply this? They give you something a guarantee or warranty and then when they give you a warranty on a cup like this one of the conditions is this cup can take what do you call it? It can hold ice in it for a whole 24 hours Mike can hold ice for 24 hours but when I do this it can't so you can't say this cup can hold ice for 24 hours you must condition it the cup can hold ice for 24 hours when it is closed. Wedding. I've prepared myself that whenever I speak to somebody, the words I choose to use, it's words that has been taught over to make sure that for that specific place I am it the right word Preparation So when you are effective in your words there some of the words that gets emphasized the word you has a different meaning when I say you it can mean an attacking to you. You are useless. I'm attacking you because I set the emphasis on you. Let me not get into that but when you prepare to speak public speaking your public speaking preparedness is in your way of body movements the way of body movements is like this let me prepare you for public speaking public speaking is very intimidating because getting up and speaking to a few people a hundred people or whatever people makes somebody's hands sweaty it's normal it's normal the way you overcome that is by not looking at the audience but look at your message and you know what your message is your message is the one that should be putting you at ease because you only focus on the message because remember anybody else that sits in the in the in the audience the only question they ask what's in it for me that's all question they ask they don't care about how sweaty you are they don't care about how wrongly dressed you are. They don't even care about how eloquently you speak. They care about what's in it for them. But to get the message over in public speaking is to focus on your message And once you focus on your message you can see empty chairs Because the message is the thing. When you do public speaking, you know how do you prepare yourself is that instead of just speaking, you will hear some of the words comes out wrongly because I've not prepared with it. You know, English is not my mother tongue. So when I swinglish, I don't care because I just make sure that you understand what I'm saying and I overemphasize what I say. What I mean by overemphasizing is that sometimes when you speak like, just listen to this. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved. A worker who does not need to be ashamed. Can you feel that energy? It's low. The energy makes you tired. You want to sleep. So how do you get somebody to to to How do you get somebody to listen to you? It's to use speech that have pitches, tones, like up, down, up, down. Because this is what I can tell you. when a when a sentence ends up in a higher pitch it's a question do you know what I mean? did you hear? it's a higher pitch that it ends it makes a question do you know what I mean? do you know what I mean? it's a statement do you know what I mean? It's a statement. It's not a question. Do you know what I mean? Do you know what I mean? It's a question. Do you know what I mean? It's a statement. Public speaking is preparing yourself to go out there. And there's things that I can tell you now. I've been learning this not from today. I've been learning this for a long time because I was a stutterer. And stuttering makes you to be discredited. Your credibility falls immediately when you stutter because somebody that doesn't know you are a stutterer might look into you as a liar. So I needed to get the stuttering out. Preparation. If you are prepared. So where can you prepare? I wish I can take more time. You see why I said I want this one? Because now when I look at it, already our time is up. is the thing that I can tell you now I just want to give you three more scriptures that guy is happy that we are done did you hear that remember this one thing about preparation one thing about preparation you should know is that you need to go to Proverbs 16 verse 3 because if you use Proverbs 16 verse 3 it will say to you commit to the Lord whatever you do and He will establish your plans so whatever preparation you do commit it to Him and He will establish it sorry that's one scripture i'll just i'll just brief lucas 12 verse 35 and 36 this is about the the the the lamb the burning lamps what they call it those ladies with the lamps or something like that what do you call it man um i'm um No. You see? So the English is not English in B but the Magda med the Lampe Afrikaans Be when you look when you read Luke 12 verse 35 and 36 it says be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning like servants waiting for the master to return. That readiness ensure we don't miss divine opportunities. Imagine if their lamps were sharp sharp, all of them would have gone or would have been gone but because once Lent went out they had to go and look for something that's Luke Proverbs 22 verse 29 do you see someone skilled in their work do you? do you see somebody skilled in their work? they will serve before kings they will not serve before officials of low rank your gift will make room for you Proverbs 22 verse 29 let's seeest thou a man diligent in his business he shall stand before kings he shall not stand before mean men so when you talk out of your out of your skilled ways when you are skilled in talking or skilled in the subject matters you will stand in front of people that wants to know. Let me take you to Solomon. Do you know Solomon? He charged people a lot of money. People don't understand it. When you go read Solomon, he says kings of all over the world came to him. And when they came, they came with Lots and lots of gold. And every year they came with gold. You come here Momo give your advice for free Advice is not for free Because it will transform somebody life forever Transform somebody's life forever. I can tell you now, let me give you some advice. if you want to become somebody of influence take one subject not only one and make it I want to tell you make it focus on it so that you can become skilled in it. Yes, that's what I'm trying to say. So, if you go to this guy with a not the one with a coffee here, the other Jewish, yeah, Jewish. If you go to Jewish guys, a Jewish guy who is a doctor will not fix his own car, nor will he cut his grass. He won't. The reason being because there is an expert in cutting grass. And they don't call themselves grass cutter. It's something that has to do with gardening service and irrigation or something like that. They call it a different name because the guy is skilled landscaping. Here's the word I'm looking for. The guy is skilled in landscaping. so when he comes in there he doesn't call himself a gardener I'm a landscaper because he's skilled in landscaping and when he enter your house he goes out there you won't believe it so Jews had the tendency of making sure they are skilled in only what they can do good with and they are passionate about it And once they are passionate about it, they know they will not leave that thing one day and say, I've made a mistake. Somebody like me wanting to go and study a carpentry today i can even pick up a saw and saw a hoot because my focus was carpentry but today i'm totally different because of i didn't do it out of my passion you know Esther 4 verse 14 says something nicely Esther 4 verse 14 and who knows but not you have come to your royal position for such a time as this like for such a time as this for such a time as this meaning to say that there has been times but for a time as this it's something else you need to be prepared you need to be prepared I'm leaving you with this I'm sorry that on this one I had to I had to because if I keep on passing I'll be in trouble we're going looks like this will be something that I will take more more time of Heavenly Father I exalt your name I left your name up high I know that sometimes whenever we do things we're doing it half heartedly and when we do things half-heartedly we give up quicker and therefore we don't prepare to the end I pray now in the mighty name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior that as we are going out there let us prepare for the opportunities that you have already prepared for us long time ago. It's just that we need to align ourselves with that opportunities. And being in alignment with it, I pray in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, that that alignment will be our readiness. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, as we prepare for anything during the course of this week, Father God, let success follow us. Not just follow us, Father God, but according to what I've said, Success occurs when opportunity meets preparation Let us be successful Because we have prepared Not successful because of luck There is no luck in any place Only preparation That meets opportunities So therefore in the mighty name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior I pray for anybody under the sound of my voice to be prepared in Jesus name, Amen Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the sweet fellowship of the Holy Spirit rest and abide with us all until Jesus comes surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever in Jesus mighty name, Amen Thank you.