Bridging the Old and the New: Succession

Cleaned from the live recording. Lightly edited for reading.

The purpose stays the same

I don't know what's happening here, but I consider myself young. When Minister Candace was ministering and said the old people don't have as much energy, I looked at Elder Esther and it looked like she wanted to remove that title.

But it is so powerful. We need to be able to bridge the divide. We must be able to evolve, but not evolve into something totally different. One of the things I love from the message is this: corporations may bring in a new CEO. They may bring in somebody in marketing to help rebrand the company. But one thing remains. The purpose remains the same. The vision remains the same.

God is still a covenant-keeping God. He is still the God of Abraham. He is still the God of Isaac and He is still the God of Jacob. And if you don't understand this, He is the God of yesterday, today, and when you are no longer there. When there is another generation there, He will still be God.

Once we understand this, it is the same mission of preaching the gospel to the lost, the same mission of discipling individuals and discipling nations.

Every generation fulfilled its purpose

We had great people who died recently, and Pastor, and I think Pastor Jack Robinson. We had great men like Morris Cerullo, A. A. Allen, William Seymour, William Branham and so many other ministers who have died. We are still reading about. We are still reading about Kathryn Kuhlman. People are still reading.

What I am simply trying to say is that all of these people did what was necessary and fulfilled their purpose in their generation.

I was reading this morning, Apostle was mentioning that many ministers who are flowing in healing today, people like Benny Hinn, had others before them who pioneered the way. The whole healing revival took place in the 1940s and 1950s. So many came out of that. People like Morris Cerullo and T. L. Osborn blew the door open in these areas, and many of us now are taking pattern off of them. We are still reading T. L. Osborn's books. We are still watching different ministers' messages, and we are growing because somebody needed to pave the way. Somebody needed to set the foundations.

This is what Minister Candace mentioned. We don't get rid of the old. We build on those foundations.

Don't scrap the project

We are not like some politicians today, and let me just say it, who destroy nations because they have an issue with a previous administration. They tear down everything the previous administration did because it is not their party, forgetting that we are a whole country. We can preach oneness from a podium, but if we don't practice it, people will just watch us and make a mockery of the word and of the nation. You need to learn to build upon what your predecessors did.

When I watch the programs on marvels of engineering, one of the things that sometimes shocks me is that nations like the US, and China is doing it now too, plan engineering projects that take twenty or thirty years to come into operation. The father or grandfather of the organization started the project, and the new CEO does not come in and say, "We had a contract for what? Scrap it, because another CEO did it." Maybe the son takes over and he sees the project to completion.

If you take over and decide, "I don't like that project, let us scrap it," because you want to do something that bears your name and your image, I am speaking to Christians here also. If you do something like that, you have no respect for the people who put you into leadership, because you are wasting resources.

Say I came to this church and saw that we are building rooms upstairs, because we want a proper office for the Apostle and guest rooms for ministers when we bring them in from other nations. And in the middle of the project I decide, "I don't like that. Let us break it up." Whose money is going to waste? Maybe I want to say I'm the one who did this project. I know all of us love to be honoured, but we can't do it at the expense of a nation or a church because we don't like what the previous generation did.

Build for the future

This brings me to another point. As the current generation, we must keep the future generation in mind. When we are working on projects, we must plan way into the future. The truth is, if our vision is narrow, the next generation may really have to scrap what we started, because it cannot accommodate the future. So we talk about not tearing down, but we also need to build for the future.

It must be future based.

You ever see somebody building a house, and you look at the foundation and it's thin like this? Then they put blocks on it and you wonder, what are they building? Sometimes when I look at it, I realize people are wicked, because many of the ones doing it are not going to live in it. They are going to sell it. So they plaster it, paint it nicely, give it a nice little show, nice little moulding. You come and look at it, nice style, nice interior, and you are excited. "Wow, it looks lovely."

I remember when we were building, and I won't say where, there was a contractor building not too far from us. We heard the workers talking: if he could do this on his own house, what will he do on other people's houses?

In the early years we were doing a survey in a community on the West Coast. I won't call the name. An organization was building homes to sell. When you saw what they were doing with the foundation, and they were building not too far from the ocean, it was alarming. They were cutting cost so much, with total disregard for the people who would live in those homes. After a few years those homes start to deteriorate, and those people will still be paying a mortgage to the bank.

So when I talk about these things, especially to leadership, listening to Minister Candace, we need to build for the future and plan for the future. We can complain that people are tearing down our work, but sometimes it is necessary, because nobody can build on that foundation. You see people buy property and want to go upstairs, and they have to bulldoze everything, dig deeper foundations and start from the beginning.

Jesus mentioned it. We need to make sure we don't build our faith upon sand (Matthew 7:26-27). Our foundation must not be set on sand. Look at some of the roads in our nation. There is so much sand under them, one little flood and... leave that there.

Old leadership does not mean old people

That's so true. I remember Apostle Williams telling a story. He was preaching somewhere in the US, and there was an older man there, a big old man, but full of energy, full of charisma, dynamic. He said when he got old he wanted to be like that man. So he asked the man to pray for him, lay hands on him and impart to him.

Having new vision, being energetic, does not necessarily speak of age. Some people we look at, they are grey, they don't have hair, but they are on the cutting edge. Like my father. Talk to my father about technology. When I go there, the computer is open and he is on Amazon ordering. If there is a latest phone or latest thing, he purchases it. He says, "What am I going to do at this old age? Let me enjoy myself. If I see something, I just buy it." So some people we consider mature in age are up to date.

We are not an island

(Elder Esther Wood reads Titus 2:4, the older women teaching the younger.)

I am going to look at it from a different point of view. Almost every field of study depends on the older ones. There is no field of study where people don't learn from those who went before. And we don't only learn from them by having them come and talk to us. We learn from them when we read their books. They put their experience in writing.

I was reflecting on something I was studying and writing the day before yesterday. Language is not only spoken. Language is also written. Language can be audible or it can be visual. So each one of you has learned something from an older person. You may not have spoken to them physically, but you interacted with them through their works, their books.

I say this because some people say, "I don't have anybody confidential to talk to. I don't have anybody around I can speak to." There are people who went through similar situations and they wrote it down. Medicine, geography, archaeology, rocket science, generational wealth. It was all built upon the experience of another.

Some of you may say, "I only had my mother." But your mother learned from somebody else, from her mother, who learned from her mother and father. This is especially for the young people. We are not an island by ourselves. No matter how much we think we know, we need to be very careful that we don't play down other people's advice and their experience.

I passed that way. I felt I knew everything. You felt your parents didn't understand anything, they're old. The bridge wasn't connecting. But as I matured, I realized I really don't know anything. When I was young, I did not know what I did not know. When I got older, I knew a little more of what I don't know.

What David did

Bridging the divide or the gap between the old and the new is so important. I hope you are hearing not only the why, but the how. We can hear a lot of the why, but we don't know the how.

In the story of David and his son Solomon, David had a desire in his heart to build the temple. This was his dream. Many of us here have dreams, things we want to accomplish. But the Lord said to him, "You will not build, because you are a man of war. Your son Solomon will build a temple for Me" (1 Chronicles 22:8-10).

That by itself is not bridging the divide. Bridging the divide is what David did.

The first thing he did was make sure Solomon was on the throne, because there were other brothers fighting for the throne. We know about Absalom. We know about some of the others. One of them had already invited a whole crowd, his own prophets and priests, and made a declaration that he was king while his father was still alive (1 Kings 1:5-10).

Nathan went to Bathsheba and told her she needed to approach the king, because one of the sons had already declared himself king over the nation. She said, "This can result in my death if I'm not called by the king." Nathan said, "You go, and I will come in and support you. It won't be you alone doing this thing" (1 Kings 1:11-14). A promise had been made for her son to sit on the throne after David. But another son, from another wife, decided to usurp his father's authority and take that throne. When the father heard it, he did something about it.

These are the important things when we talk about bridging the divide. Things can be happening in a nation, in an organization, in a church. But until those in authority have succession planning, and identify the new leadership, nothing changes. We say we want to bridge the divide between the old and the new, but we never identified the new. We just decided the idea sounds nice. We never identified them. We never trained them. We never made any provision to help the new.

Gather the resources

David realized he couldn't do it himself. Many of us realize there are things we want to do that we can't do. We want to accomplish them, but we can't. But we never put our hands in our pocket. We never called somebody on behalf of the younger person and said, "I have somebody I'd like to introduce you to. I'm sending this person to you. This is a very good person. There is great potential in them. This is a person I'm grooming to succeed me."

God told David he could not do it, but he did not get angry and he did not get selfish. He stored the wealth. He had a blueprint. He knew what it would take to build this temple, and he started to gather the resources. There must be a gathering of resources (1 Chronicles 22:2-5, 14-16).

He gathered it so that when his son started to build, the son didn't have to go and find a blueprint. The son didn't have to go and find the resources to do it. He had people around him. He got his timber because of his father's connection with another nation. The money and the different things, the father laid aside, and the son was able to build.

If we are going to bridge the gap between the old and the new, we need to make the resources available for the new, for the younger people. We need to open the connections for the younger people. We need to take them along from place to place so people can see them.

Providing a platform on purpose

Look at some church programs. You will never see certain people. You just see the pastor. You know why? Because the pastor or the apostle might be thinking, "If they come up here, they might start their own Facebook or YouTube channel, and the people following me might start following them, and they might get more followers than me."

But the reason we do these things is to do exactly that. Some of them don't know that I am providing a platform for them, and I'm doing it deliberately. When people see you up here, and you start a Facebook page or a YouTube page and start to talk about God, you don't have to start where I started.

(Elder Esther Wood shares that no one bridged the gap for her generation. Her mother made beautiful stuffed toys that were sold to Guyana Stores, but no one carried it on. A panelist reads 1 Chronicles 22:17-19, David commanding the princes of Israel to help Solomon.)

I did not learn this by myself. I learned many of these things from Apostle Ellsworth Williams. He has always been a man of team ministry. Always works with a team. Look at his life. Many times when churches needed leaders, when pastors or apostles migrated, he was able to send out ministers from his church, because he trained us and sent us out to different places to minister. So we gained experience. We went along with him to many places. So what I am doing is building upon that.

I see her leading a work, like a Joyce Meyer story.

Elder Esther, she will have an idea how to organize. We have different people in here and we give them different tasks. Why are we doing that? So that wherever they go, they can function. All of you won't remain here. Some of you will migrate, and some of you will go to churches where you have to support other pastors. I am making sure you can function wherever you go.

Some of the things we are doing in media and audio, I say to them, "Yes, you're volunteering here, but I see you can make money." You take the skills, you develop them, you get the experience, and sometimes we go to some big organization or some big event and we see you are the one providing those services. So everything we do here is strategic, setting a platform for others.

I remember one time a young woman had just started at UG . We weren't in a position to finance her as much as we'd like, but we said we would provide a certain amount every month. All she needed to do was use her skills in the audio department. That's all. We didn't need anything else from her.

People don't understand how important the skills you are getting are. People look at Sammy and see him worshipping. He didn't start like that. I tell my sons, and sometimes my daughter, that he was part of a prophetic team, part of a prophetic school. A young little boy prophesying. You see him making music now. He didn't start like that. He and Prophet Aaron were in the same class, under the same move of God. Prophet Aaron is preaching all over, and Sammy is singing. They were part of the same prophetic school. They were just called to different areas. Prophet Aaron took over from Prophetess in Germany, and he is now principal of Prophetic Academy.

Somebody needs to build the foundation.

Mission takes money

Getting back to this scripture: you build by putting in resources, and that includes your time. It includes money. The next chapter goes into it a little more (1 Chronicles 29:1-9).

There are some nations I go to where you may be saying, "Those are nice nations. I want them to hear the gospel," but you don't want to support it. We have a partnership letter. This is a good time to talk about it. Just let us know if you want to support the ministry.

I'll be going back to Pakistan. I'll be going back to Nigeria. Ghana before that. There is something we are planning for Ethiopia, and when we come back, Antigua. Then there will be some other things later in the year. These things cost money.

You'll say, "Well, you'll get an offering." Let me tell you, sometimes the offering you get can't even buy you a lunch, because we're not doing these things for money. So when we ask you to support us, we are asking because it is expensive. As a matter of fact, when you go to those places and see the needs, you end up pouring into the people out of your own money. People are going through difficult times. So when we ask for support for these missions, it's because it's costly. Let me leave it there. Mission takes money.

Unless you're in it, you don't know. Some people see us asking for money. Now we ask for partnership. If you understood how much it costs. In many places you go, you don't want to be a burden to anybody, because they are going through their own.

Invest like a parent

Building and leaving a foundation requires us to do something. It's not just talking. David did something to bridge the divide between the old and the new. One purpose, one vision, but two different people fulfilling different parts.

You all do it with your children. You invest in their lives. You don't invest in your children's lives because you expect them to come back and give to you. Any good parent knows this child may grow up and have his own family and have to take care of them. But you still invest in them. You invest into the future. That's succession planning. Some of them will come back and give you something, and some will come back and give you a kiss. "Love you, Mommy." That's life.

Report card time

(Prophet Jonathan brings in Matthew 17, the Mount of Transfiguration, and the disciples who could not heal the boy.)

Let me put it this way. Any parent, after investing in their children and sending them to school, gets back the report card and looks at it and sees it's not matching the investment. It's war in the house.

It was the same with Jesus and His apostles. He made a lot of investment in them. When exam time came, they did not pass the exam. So He dealt with them (Matthew 17:14-20). Which means God always looks for a return.

Brain drain

Let me share. There's an organization I worked with for a number of years. I won't call the name. After a certain time they started to feel the consequences of brain drain.

One of the hardest things for an organization is to invest in its human resources and then have them leave the organization in droves. You invest in your next level of leaders. You have succession planning. You sit with the executives and managers and plan: this person will take over here, this person will take over there. You send them on training programs. Some you send overseas to study. For some you bring in international trainers. And after they finish receiving the training, they apply to another company and leave.

That destroys an organization over time. While the resources are draining, it causes a psychological issue inside the organization, because the first thing people start to ask is, why is there such an exodus? So people start to look at management. Maybe something is wrong with the managers, the executives. Then you see people getting fired because we can't retain talent. Those things destroy churches. It doesn't matter what organization it is. It means the succession planning, the transition, is failing.

Declaration

But we declare in Throne Room there will be no failure. We declare in your family there will be no failure. We declare in your business there will be no failure. What you have planned, you will reap. The areas where you have sown, you will reap.

I prophesy over you: you will see growth. Your children will make you glad. Those people you have invested in will return with glad tidings, will return with finances. Some of you don't expect it, but I declare over your life, the children you invested in will return with cars. The spiritual children you invested in will remember you. Some of you will have vacations you never dreamed of, not because you paid for it, but because someone you invested in is now returning to bless you. You will have profit on your investment.

I declare over your life, the things you studied will not become obsolete. You will upgrade, and you will find yourself being a blessing to companies and companies being a blessing to you. I prophesy over you right now, those struggling in organizations who thought you were forgotten, who thought you studied for nothing: promotion is coming. Increase is coming. You will get a return on your investment, in Jesus' name.

Strengthening the containers

We need to wrap up this segment. But don't say church is different now, nobody falling under the anointing, nobody fasting and praying, nobody laying hands. What we are planning is that every month we will have a session of impartation. Every month we will have a session dealing with healing, miracles and deliverance. So you will see things changing. It's just that in the season we are in, we are more structured.

The anointing can flow, the oil can flow bountifully, but if we don't strengthen the containers, they will burst and there will be waste. So we are not wasting the anointing. We are not wasting the grace of God. We are making sure we build in such a way that you can contain it, and that you can do marvellous things with it. God bless you.