READ: 1 Timothy 4:11-16
“Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ..” – 1 Corinthians 11:1
When a doctor is learning to be a surgeon, he has to study what his professor does. Soon, he gets an opportunity to carry out the surgery himself and he does so gingerly, following the procedure he has learnt from his professor. He may make a few mistakes, but soon he can perform the operation perfectly. With time, he develops his own additions or improvements to what he has learnt. Has the professor produced a clone? Certainly not! He has trained another competent surgeon.
When Paul was training Timothy for the ministry, he asked him to preach the same things that he had preached (2 Timothy 1:13). Was Paul producing a mindless clone? Certainly not! Watch out for people who try to re-describe godly things and make them appear stupid.
Expose yourself to the anointing by listening to recorded preaching messages by God’s servants. Many good things happen to you. You learn how to preach and you catch the anointing. Someone once said that he did not want to listen to tapes because he did not want to “lose his personality”. How would you lose your personality by exposing yourself to the influence that comes from special men of God? Why do some people try to confuse God’s sheep with clever-sounding phrases?
Remember what Paul said to the Corinthian Christians: he told them to follow him! It is okay to follow people and to soak in their messages as long as they are following Christ closely