Inspiring and Challenging Dreamers

Jesus told us that the Pharisees “strain at gnats but swallow camels” (Matthew 23.24). It means they got upset by tiny things and didn’t get upset at great big things. I have met pastors like that – really upset that a baby cried in the service, but not upset about how mean they were. I have met many leaders like that and we need to make sure we are not like that!

I recently met a Bible College student who I apparently failed to say hello to at an event. They were very upset about it, and I know that as they told other people how terrible I was. They were upset about a small thing (if I was close enough to say hello to them, they could have come over and said hello to me, amazing how the universe works, and there could be 100 different things that could have distracted me at any time, I run 10 churches! There’s lots of times I am in a meeting and do not have the time to say hello to someone especially if they arrive late and leave early!) – but they were not upset that they were gossiping and slandering me and running me down. The gnat mattered a lot to them, their camel didn’t. That person unless they mature will if they enter the ministry quickly become Pastor Pharisee!

Remember when Jesus used to heal someone on the Sabbath, the Pharisees were really upset it was the wrong day to heal, but not upset that a child of God was sick, which should never be the case. They should have stopped caring about a little essential work on the day off, and cared about getting people healed and saved and delivered.

Pharisee Pastors never care about the lost, never care about getting people healed (unless it makes them look good). In Matthew 12, they did not care that a man couldn’t use his hand, which no doubt affected his income and livelihood, not to mention playing with his children (not to mention playing with his wife). They had zero compassion for something big, but they cared about something tiny.

No rule is more important than Jesus. But that rule is the truth! No – Jesus is the truth! You want to live a life of truth, follow Jesus – He is the truth (John 14.6). The Pharisees loved the gnats but didn’t realize how serious the camels were because they did not know the truth.

I saw someone once in a prayer line. I was sitting near the front of the meeting, and it was a healing meeting, and this young person was in the prayer line ready to pray for people. A little old lady came forward for prayer and asked, hestitantly, for prayer for her arthritis. Well, this young man, and two people with him, started yelling at her, screaming in her face that it was not “her arthritis”. Mark did not have their level of revelation because he said “the woman WITH the issue of blood”, but that’s not the point. The point is if you wanted to correct an old lady, you could do it with respect and kindness, but they in their desperation to get rid of a gnat, let the camel of rudeness, and even meanness, into that prayer line. It was very sad to watch, and the lady turned around and left the meeting. I am not convinced she will ever come forward for prayer again!

Those young people were not close to Jesus, they no doubt had been studying how to pray and how to minister, but they forgot the truth, Jesus is the Truth. When you are a pastor (or any of the fivefold ministry, or aspiring to be) never forget to walk closely with Jesus, that is more important than any gnat-principle you cherish so much! Many churches have been great, many revivals based around restoring a truth to the church have become distant and cool to THE TRUTH, Jesus. Don’t think grace people cannot become ungracious people, they can. Don’t think some people know a lot about Jesus but do not know Him, that happens. Do not become a Pharisee! Spend time with the Lord, be in church – even when you are not being platformed, spend time in the Word – not just to prepare messages, and keep the main things the main things.

Selah.

One of the things that happens to me disturbingly regularly is the amount of people who offer to be my pastor. I’ve had people who ran a church into the ground and it closed down offer to pastor me, I’ve had Bible College students who haven’t finished Bible College yet, I’ve had Bible College students who finished college and now do not even go to church, I’ve had pastors who were given churches and never started one and the church they were given has been shrinking. All of these people are acting like Pastor Pharisee and I will not let them be my pastor. Let me explain, again, using the words of Jesus Himself:

They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch (Matthew 15.14)

You see if you are going to pastor people you need to have been where you are leading. You want to have a church where people boldly heal the sick (I ran three healing conferences in March, only went to one of them, but people got healed at all of them, because I have led people into that ministry) you need to have been there, and not be blindly walking into healing hoping you hit one!

Everyone can bump into a healing now and again, especially on a mission trip or in a place where people around are expecting healing. But to lead people to a place where healings are consistent, you have to be able to take the blindfold off and know where you are going – in other words, you need to have been there! You need a proven track record.

I see so many people trying to lead others with no track record. They tell others how to get healed, but they are still sick. They tell others how to get into abundance, but their ministry hasn’t grown financially for years. They tell others how to get free, but they are not free. They are Pastor Pharisees, blind guides leading blind people. And the people will never see because their pastor will never see.

You have to walk with God to be a pastor. You have to forgive. You have to pray when you don’t feel like praying. You have to read the Word. You have to study the Word. You should without a doubt be in conferences and events that don’t platform you. You should be pushing into growth, dealing with your flesh, renewing your mind. You should be stepping out in faith. You absolutely should be tithing and giving above your tithe, even on a pastor’s salary. If not, you have a blindfold on, and you will be leading blind people. Anyone with any insight will leave your church before long, looking for someone who knows what they are talking about!

This is something I have seen far too often to be surprised by it, but it always disappoints me. A pastor is not praying, not reading the Word, not making healthy strong declarations, not living by faith, is living by sight and they end up depressed and defeated. What will happen next if they do not sort themselves out as soon as they can is they will build a stronghold in their mind to justify their behaviour. A stronghold is a collection of thoughts that stop you dealing with behaviour. You will start to say “God loves me no matter what I do” – true, but not helpful here. You will end up saying “God put me in this dark place, it is His will” to avoid dealing with it. You cannot let yourself get there.

I want to challenge every spiritual leader reading this – do not be a Pharisee, do not be a blind leader or the only people following you will be equally blind. Rather, take the blindfold off – turn on some worship music, pray in tongues, open your Bible, repent of your sins, forgive who needs forgiving, be kind, be patient, stop drinking, stop losing your temper, delete the porn on your phone, and kept short accounts with God! It’s that simple.

Take the blindfolds off. If you need help, email me at ben@tree.church, and I will do what I can to help you directly or find you help. I want you to win, I want you to be Pastor Victorious not Pastor Pharisee! We are starting a pastor’s alliance in June 2023, and we would love for you to join if you need a place to keep you warm: https://www.grovealliance.com/

I have seen more than one pastor turn into a Pharisee. Normally, they have been pastoring for a while, and it has not gone so well visibly for them. And then the pastor transforms from being anointed to being a Pharisee. It’s an amazing transformation. How anyone with a Bible can end up like a Pharisee when we know all about how they failed is beyond me, but it happens. There are pastors today far more similar to the Pharisees in the gospel than the Biblical office of a pastor.

In Matthew 23, Jesus chews the Pharisees out for their selfish, religious behaviour. One of his criticisms was “they love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi”. They want prestige and fame and renown, and they don’t necessarily want to do anything to earn it.

I’ve been in big meetings where all the pastors are about who sits where, and so on. I have been deliberately moved to the back before in an attempt to put me in my place! People don’t realize I absolutely don’t care about being sat on the stage, being noticed and so on. But I have seen pastors yelling at each other about who gets to sit next to the great man of God! It’s pathetic and Jesus already told us about it!

The greatest person in Heaven is the biggest servant not the one with the best seat! It’s really that simple. When I speak to Bible College students, I often ask “why do you want to be in ministry” and I never get a good answer. A lot of people just want the prestige.

At a pastor’s conference I was at once, a man came and sat next to me, he said “People are calling you an apostle, how do you get people to call you an apostle”. I said “No one called me an apostle until I had planted four churches, you need to plant more churches than your one church. Is there a town where many people come to your church, or a region or district in your town that a lot of people travel from, maybe start having meetings there and raise up a pastor and start a second church”. He said to me “I do not want to do that, I do not want to plant churches, I want people to call me an apostle”. He said “apostle” in a very holy and religious tone of voice, like ah-poooost-ul, and it was clear that he loved titles!

If the driving force for going to Bible College, for being a pastor, is not to love God and serve God and love people and serve people and it is for acclaimation, you are a modern day Pharisee. We can all fall for this, so pray for me and I will pray for you!

Pastors can get into pride, can get into fear of the opinions of other pastors and can be insecure too. We need to make sure we spend enough time with Jesus so He is the Lord of our lives, He is the peer that pressures us so to speak.

So ask yourself today – do you love positions and titles. Read Matthew 23.6-8 in the Message and ask yourself honestly – is that me!

They seem to take pleasure in watching you stagger under these loads, and wouldn’t think of lifting a finger to help. Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next. They love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking in the most prominent positions, preening in the radiance of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting called ‘Doctor’ and ‘Reverend.’

You have to reach a place that you don’t care where you sit, where you do anything, what happens, and who notices. You need to be absolutely indifferent to the spotlight. It’s so important. I am seeing more and more travelling ministries who are only in meetings that platform them and that really concerns me, some do not even have a home church! That’s very concerning. I once knew a director of a Bible College who didn’t even go to church. The arrogance that drives that will make someone a modern-day Pharisee.

I was at a conference several years ago, and I had brought nearly one hundred people from my churches to go to the conference. When I arrived I was offered a seat at the front, in fact right next to one of the esteemed guest speakers. I declined because I wanted to use the time to sit with my congregation and minister life to them and build deeper and stronger relationships with them. But when I declined and explained why the people who told me I had the seat could not believe I would ever make that choice and started to tell me I was making the wrong choice. Be careful – the wrong choice is to love the seats at the front!

I know some pastors who are summed up by the phrase “preening in the radiance of public flattery”. It defines them. They have to be praised all the time or they get upset. That’s not how you build the church of Jesus Christ and expend the kingdom. Repent!

Next week, we will continue to look at the dangers and problems of being Pastor Pharisee!

I think that the church as a whole is suffering because it has become earth-bound. It’s great to teach about how to prosper and have abundance. It’s great to help people get promoted, get out of debt, pay their mortgage off early, how to invest, start businesses and be in the market place. I am for all of that. I believe in all of that.

But in addition to that, Jesus actually said to His disciples that if we believeth on Him, we can do the works He did (John 14.12). That’s another level. Well done on completing your pension and paying off your mortgage, but Jesus is talking about raising the dead and turning water into wine and healing everyone in the room and feeding crowds with one loaf of bread. There is a place prepared for each of us in Heaven, so let’s get a bigger visions than passive income!

We should definitely choose getting ready for Heaven and bringing people to Heaven with us. We are in fact told not to lay up for ourselves treasures on the earth, but lay them up in Heaven (Matthew 6.19-20). There’s nothing wrong with having treasures on earth, but never ever think for one second they come anything close to the treasures of Heaven.

I know people who could never leave a well-paying job or career and become a full time pastor. They love money far too much, and deep down they think if someone does that they are stupid. But the ministry is a wonderful way to lay up treasures in Heaven. I know people think I should have a lot more saved for a building fund, but I am aiming to give away £250000 this year to world mission. I want my treasure in Heaven!

There are Christians who would never give to world mission, never serve in a local church, never turn up early or on time for church, never invest in a church – but if there is a business deal, they are early, they are there, they have their bank card out. To me that’s the crazy person! I know born again tongue talkers who pray they will never be called to ministry. I know people who are in ministry and all they talk about is how little money they have.

Listen, we are called as pastors and leaders to do something for Heaven. We are called to lay up treasures in Heaven. So stop those negative attitudes. No wonder so many pastors and Christians never see miracles.

If we are to impact the world in the 21st century, we need the same attitude as the old missionaries. The Puritans, the Methodists, the Salvation Army. The old Methodist missionaries to Africa would pack their belongings in a coffin and sail to Africa, keeping the coffin because they would die there. That’s the attitude that changed the world – treasures in Heaven.

If you love money as a minister, let me prophesy over you: your future is going to be hard and its going to hurt. How about loving God? How about loving Jesus? How about loving the Holy Spirit? He sent Jesus into this world so that we would not perish!

Stop being earth bound. Don’t chase money, it will find you soon enough if you are seeking the kingdom of God. Find out what God wants you to do and do it with all your heart. If it involves selling all you have and giving it to the poor, rejoice. If it involves entering the ministry full-time for 1/3 or 1/4 of what you used to be paid, join the club and sing a happy song as you join it. If it involves going overseas to a nation that does not have all the amenities you are used to, who cares? WE ARE LAYING UP TREASURES IN HEAVEN!

Every pastor and minister should be rejoicing day after day that we are laying up treasures in Heaven!

Jesus said very clearly that whatever you want people to do to you, you should do also to them (Matthew 7.12). The Passion Translation reads: be careful to treat others in the same way you’d want them to treat you.

That is a standard of character that we all should be keeping to as an absolute minimum. The Nigerians have a proverb: before you stab a bird with a stick, stab yourself, then you will know how it feels to be stabbed with that stick. Godly character involves thinking about how your actions and behaviour as a leader affects other people and their feelings.

We have had to deal with a leader recently who was talking about other leaders behind their back, that was someone who did not consider what it would feel like to have the stick in themselves at all. Even the most basic level of forethought would have made them realize that it is very unpleasant to have people you thought you trusted talk about you behind their back. That person showed a true lack of character.

Character involves thinking about how your actions affect others by considering how you would feel if you were in the same position. As Christian leaders, we need to think about these things and consider others. That is part of being a loving leader. And it is an easy way to consider your actions. You ask yourself before doing something: would I want to be treated that way? We all want to be treated well, so it is an easy way to understand what is the right thing to do in a situation.

There was a pastor who treated me very badly once. They told some people I was a poor man with a small church and not worthy of respect, they lied about me and treated me bad. They thought because our church income was less than ours they could treat me badly. Now, over the years, Tree of Life has grown considerably, and we are larger and much richer than he is. So, I treat him with respect and kindness. I am not treating him how he treated me, that is not character. I am treating him how I would want to be treated. That is what I am talking about.

We often treat people badly because they are not like us, don’t agree with us, or are different from us. That is not the standard people set. You do not treat people according to their income, their talent, their background, their lifestyle. We treat people one way – the way WE WANT TO BE TREATED.

A new person comes to your church? Treat them the way we want to be treated. Have to stand down an elder because of immorality? Stand them down the way you would want to be stood down, with dignity and kindness. Teaching someone a doctrine they are just not getting? Teach them the way you would want to be taught. Having an argument with your wife? Argue the way you would want to be argued with. This principle in Matthew 7.12 can bring you to a place of expressing character in any situation.

You see a lot of people think doing the right thing is hard, it’s not – you do not have to study philosophy, read the whole Bible, pray in tongues for hours – you just have to think – how would I want to be treated if I was in this situation, and treat the other person the same way.

As a leader sometimes you do not know where to go next – well, this is like north. You can always use this principle as a compass to find out what to do next.

You need to be honest to have character, and you need to start off by being honest with yourself. The hardest people to pastor and lead are the people who are lying to themselves.

We have had to deal with leaders before who are not honest with themselves, and it always comes out, they stop being honest with others before long. This is one of the easiest way to destroy your influence – be dishonest. Because when people cannot trust you, they cannot follow you. It really is that simple.

Do not be dishonest. Do not say I am always a good person if you have issues you are dealing with, but look in the mirror and say “In the spirit, I am righteous, and I am going to work out my salvation and end up living righteous, I am going to deal with this problem”. I have had to deal with people with huge problems, but they will look me in the eye and say “it’s not a big deal” – a lie they have told themselves hundreds of times before they tell it to me!

Most Christians are trying to live right, but the truth is that a lot of us struggle to live right when it becomes inconvenient to do so. Sometimes doing the right thing can really upset people. Self-discipline is hard, church discipline can upset people so much. Every time I correct someone in the church, I am aware it might be the last conversation I have with them, and next week they suddenly feel “led of the Spirit” to go to another church, or go to Bible College and never go to church, or some other crazy idea that came from their own flesh. They know it is the flesh, but they lie to themselves, justify their flesh rather than subdue it.

We cannot be like that – we have to live for God. Most Christians think living for God is optional, until they meet another Christian who is not living for God and their behaviour directly affects them.

Make a decision today to be an honest person, and most importantly be honest with yourself.

There has been a sort of understanding across the world that character is just for your personal life. It’s got nothing to do with ministry, business or politics. But that’s absolute rubbish.

A lot of the crisis in business today is a crisis of credibility due to a crisis of character. Students are cheating in tests, people lie at work, cheat on their taxes, steal office supplies and they get upset their corporation tells lies to them! The same politician who lies to his wife will lie to the country.

We need to realize that having character is essential in every single area of life. And it’s not just for other people – you have to work on your character.

I want to have good character and I believe that you want to as well, and I want you to know that you can have good character and still win in ministry, business and life. It really breaks my heart to see ministers take short cuts, verbally abuse other ministries to get ahead, play games to get ahead, copy other churches rather than seek the Lord, cosy up to larger ministries to gain advantages. It’s tragic.

Just live for God, live with character and integrity and do what is right. You cannot be long term rich and successful without character. You cannot grow a church without character. You can go from church to church, spout your sermon, but you cannot have lasting fruit without character and integrity, without walking with the Lord.

You can fool people for a season, but in the long term, a lack of character will catch up to you. In the short term doing the right thing can look like a loss, but eventually it will not.

Proverbs 4 in the Passion Translation:

16For troublemakers are restless if they are not involved in evil.

They are not satisfied until they have brought someone harm.

17They feed on darkness and drink

until they’re drunk on the wine of wickedness. 

18But the lovers of God walk on the highway of light, 

and their way shines brighter and brighter

until the perfect day.

19But the wicked walk in thick darkness,

like those who travel in fog,

and yet don’t have a clue why they keep stumbling!

So many people think a win is measured in numbers and finances! Now we love more people coming to Tree of Life because we know we disciple them. We love having more money because we spend it on advancing the kingdom. But all the people and money in the world won’t matter if we do not have character. The best preacher in the world is not in victory if he lacks character. We have seen people lose their ministry if they have no character.

Now I don’t know about you – but I hate losing. I want to win – and if the only way to win is through character – then I am working on character.

You cannot succeed in ministry, in business, in family, in life, in media without character. A lack of character is like building a building with no foundation, it might look beautiful with all those short-cuts you have taken but it will fall down eventually, and probably sooner than you think.

It is a lie that the good guys finish last – immorality is a costly thing to invest in, it will cost you. If you choose not to invest in character, you will lose everything else. It’s that simple.

Some people – even pastors and travelling ministers – think that they can succeed anyway possible, by hook or by crook. I have seen terrible behaviour from some guest speakers. I got a phone call the other day threatening me with judgment if I did not let someone preach in our church. That doesn’t work with me. And these people will fail.

The thing you need to realize and understand and appreciate is this: if you have to make the choice for character and it looks like a losing choice, you will in fact win. If you make a choice to take a short-cut because it looks like a winning choice – you will lose.

Selah.

A lot of people are fed up of leaders for one reason – their lack of character. Politicians lie and break the very rules they make. Business CEOs are dishonest and deal without ethics. Sportsmen cheat, paying judges, taking illegal substances, and so on – not to mention their character off the pitch or field! Pastors fall, in the very sins they preach against, manipulating and taking advantage of the people in their churches. When these things happen, it unsettles us, it upsets us. When it hits home to us, and where we work, and our church, and so on, it can really hurt.

Nothing affects your leadership more than your character, and nothing is more important for you as a leader than to work on your character. Large companies can have their stock price plummet if their leader is exposed as untrustworthy, and ministers can lose their entire ministry.

People no longer trust leaders in any sphere of life and we have an uphill battle to ensure we are trusted – and the secret key is character.

The biggest reason that leaders lack character is in my opinion laziness. When peope have a difficult choice, they just pick the easy path, the quickest way, the short-cut. I have seen pastors do things to grow their churches that are unethical but they are unwilling to do the right thing. Never cut a corner if it is wrong, do not tell yourself it is just this once. It’s laziness that undermines our character. We fold under pressure and take the lazy way.

We cheat in exams because it is easier than studying. We steal someone else’s ministry because it is easier than building one ourselves. We lie to get someone to hate someone, because it is easier than telling the truth. We gossip because it is an easy way to make friends and build a power base.

Doing things right is hard work. It takes effort and energy. That’s the way forward.

I know so many pastors have lost their way taking the easy route. I know Bible Colleges who rather than build ministers who plant churches who then have people who need to go to Bible College, just send students to my churches to try and persuade them they need a Bible College when I am planting churches at a far faster rate than they are, and raising leaders more effectively. It’s just laziness. It will never work. It’s the same heart and lack of moral fibre that starts pyramid schemes to get rich rather than doing prosperity God’s way.

Doing what God wants is hard. It takes time and pressure, and there are always short-cuts. Always ways of doing things that are wrong, and the reason why people do is laziness. Rather than shine and earn respect so that people follow you, it is much easier to whisper about another leader behind their back. Rather than start a church in a town where the gospel is not well known, you start a church across the road where you used to go and you contact all your old friends and beg them to come.

Last week we looked at leadership lessons from Noah, today we skip forward to a remarkable leader, Abraham. He started the Jewish nation and religion, and was a man of remarkable faith in God. He took a long time to get to the point where He fully trusted God, but eventually He found out you can trust God.

Abraham is the father of all those who believe (Romans 4.16) so one of the main aspects of his leadership that we can all learn from is that we can trust God. We have faith in God when we find out that God is faithful. We can trust God.

Abraham had several moments in his life where it looks like God could not be trusted, there was time between God’s promises being spoken and being fulfilled, a long time. When there is time between seed and harvest, we end up like children waiting for Christmas – if it does not happen tomorrow we don’t believe it. The fallen man is not good at waiting for things. Abraham got impatient with God and decided to try and do things his way.

You Can Trust God When Things Take a Long Time

Abraham I think took the step that I have seen many take – from IMPATIENCE to SELF-PITY. It takes a long time to build a church, and I have seen pastors get impatient for growth step into self-pity. When you get into self-pity, you compromise, you start to lick your wounds, you play the victim card, then you use that fact that life is so hard as an excuse to do what you want.

“I’ve left my father’s house for you, God, I’ve left my country because you said you would bless me and my children, I’ve been through famine, I’ve got Pharaoh chasing my life, Lot is an idiot – but I still risked my life to rescue him, but I still have no baby.. and God that’s on you”. So he went and had a baby with his maidservant.

We have to be careful not to step into self-pity while waiting for God’s promises to come to pass, while waiting for our harvest to come in.

God knew that and told Abraham that He was His shield, and then in the middle of this God made a covenant with Abraham, but still Abraham did things his way because he didn’t get his way with the timing.

One of the lessons we can learn from Abraham (and that is better than learning it the hard way) is that a promise delayed is never a promise denied. God is in no rush – His sense of time, maybe because He has been around for all eternity, does not match ours. We think it is a long time but God still comes through. Now we can delay things by our unbelief and rebellion, but even when we are in exactly the right place, doing the right thing, it might take some time still. You cannot build a million pounds overnight, you cannot build a healthy, thriving church overnight, things take time!

You Can Trust God Even When He Does Not Trust You!

There were times where it would have been hard to trust Abraham! He lied about his wife being his sister, not once by twice. He slept with his maidservant. He took Lot with him when God said leave your family behind. But God still came through for Abraham when Abraham was not coming through for God.

This is powerful – God will come through for you, even when you do not come through for Him. God can be trusted, even when you cannot. You do not need to be perfect, you just need to know God is. Your deliverance, healing, success, your ministerial success, is due to God’s faithfulness, not yours. You will not be a successful leader by trusting yourself, you will be a successful leader by trusting God.

I’m sure, like you and like me, Abraham was aware that he was not perfect. I’m sure he thought “why on earth would God call me and bless me, how on earth can I help God” – but he was not perfect, and nor are you, and that’s not the point, walk with God, trust Him, and let Him change your heart!

You Can Trust God When It is Irrational

There was a moment in Abraham’s life where God spoke to him and asked him to sacrifice his son Isaac. You cannot make sense of this on a rational level – it does not make sense, it goes against God’s promise to make his family into a great nation. But Abraham did not ration it out, he did not demand God make sense to his peanut, carnal brain – no, he got up early the next morning and just did what God said. Finally, after years of arguing with God, trying to do things his own way, negotiating, lying – Abraham reached, over time, a level of trust in God, and realized how good God is. He had tasted and seen that the Lord is good, and he believed God and did what God said. Did it work – yes, it did. He got a revelation of God’s character – Jehovah-Jireh – that no one had ever realized or seen before. He got his son, and he became the father of a great multitude. There is no better way to live, and no better lesson in leadership to learn from Abraham than if God says it, get up early the next morning and go do it with all of your heart.