I do not personally know Apostle Baird, however, my girlfriend shared this with me, and I just wanted to share wisdom and acts of humility with you all! Be inspired, we need it! Thank you my friend.
Sayings of Apostle
Baird and how my
life changed as a result.
While
living in Trinidad and Tobago for the past three years, sitting in Apostle
Baird’s discipleship class was one of the most impacting experience I had.
Although I was not able to attend many classes, what I learnt was indeed life
changing.
A leader does not
wait to be introduced; but introduces his/ herself- This impacted me greatly because
over the course of my life I had developed insecurities as a result of feeling
invisible. I realized that sometimes you have to take initiative and not wait
to be seen to get things done.
Sex is not for
love, it is for marriage/ I never saw my wife’s legs before we were married;
and I did not die!
– This is one of Apostle Baird’s classic statements. By giving us a ‘follow me
as I follow Christ’ example, in this, I was reminded that I can be sexually
pure before marriage (and also in marriage) and that it is possible to do so
because it has been done and done well.
God is my source! This is one of my favorites.
Sometimes I get caught up in thinking and worrying about how the future is
going to pan out et cetera. I have to consistently remind myself in many
situations that no company or man or institution of men is my source, but God
alone is my source. I can rest securely with that knowledge.
A leader sees a problem before it becomes an emergency. This has
encouraged me not to take things at face value. But to look for root causes so
that I can solve the problem before disaster strikes instead of attacking
symptoms of the problem or waiting for the problem to manifest before doing
something.
Take the
responsibility to lead without usurping authority- Now that I have returned home
from Trinidad, I have found myself faced with many problems with authority
figures in my life. I see many problems that have to be dealt with and my first
instinct is to jump in and say something that I may later regret. I got this
advice from Apostle Baird on skype and pondering on it made me much more aware
of how dangerous and catastrophic threatening and usurping authority could be.
So through prayer and with God’s help I have been able to shed light on small
matters concerning me and will by God’s grace be able to make reasonable
suggestions for change.
Learn to honour (I
owe parents my honour).
This saying made me question how well I honoured my parents. I always tried to
be obedient to them and basically to not anger them, but I had never thought
about owing them my honour. I realized that in my growing independence I had
not been honouring
them. I then began to try to inform my parents of my actions and ask for their
advice even in situations where I thought I could predict what they would say
or when it is not instinct to do so for example in relationships and looking
for academic and social opportunities. Although this has not been easy to do, I
now have a greater appreciation for their wisdom now.
Church needs
accountability and discipleship/The more you isolate yourself the more you set
yourself up to strengthen your weaknesses. In Apostle Baird’s discipleship class I learnt that
I was in terrible need of accountability. I was not accustomed to going beneath
the surface with anyone farless confessing my faults etc. When people asked
questions I only offered generic answers and I suffered much pain as a result.
I began to pray for persons to whom I could be accountable and God provided me
with such persons. I am wiser as a result and also more mature in my opinion. I
am definitely less lonely and think more carefully before doing certain things
because I now have people who will ask me the difficult questions. Thank God.
The Importance of
Self Government.
This to me meant that I needed to put things in place for myself instead of
allowing myself to walk into situations unawares. My decisions need to be well thought
out and not done in a rash manner. I also need to know my frame and put things in place to support me. I have to
know myself, what I can handle, what I am susceptible to and do everything that
I can to protect myself and keep to the narrow path that God wants me on.
Dad loves you. This is probably one that amazed me most. It
always surprises me. I do not doubt its truth; yet it leaves me speechless. I
have Christian parents and so I had never seen the necessity of having
spiritual parents. Yet I have learnt so much from Apostle Baird that I now do
see him as a father spiritually. To hear him say daughter I often felt strange
and undeserving because I was not the most regular at discipleship class, but
yet I felt accepted and affirmed. J
Apostle
Baird is truly a man of integrity, a man of truth and a role model; a man of
God and it was and is a great experience to sit under his counsel and
discipleship. May God richly bless him and his lovely wife as they continue to
labour in the soul vineyard. Great shall be their reward in heaven.
