Video Transcript: Hearing the Irresistible Self-Evident Calling

I remember it as if it were yesterday, that first seed, of a calling in the ministry. I was  fishing with my cousin Melvin at Lake Comus in Delavan, Wisconsin. There wasn't much fish.  They weren't biting. So Melvin and I well I was about 12, maybe 13. Melvin and I walked up  the big hill, and we put our fishing pole. We put our fishing poles in grandpa, and grandma's  garage. So when we felt the urge to fish, we just go over to the garage, pick up our poles, go  down, throw them in the water and try to catch fish. So we put our fishing poles away. Now,  my grandparents, on my mother's side, were stern Dutch immigrants who love the Lord.  Especially my grandma was stern. Honestly, I was just a little afraid of her. Because she would like be barking out very serious orders because of, just order, and cleanliness and a friend, a Dutch mother endearing, Dutch mother. So we're putting our poles away together, and we're  about ready to walk on to our next play time, whatever that's going to be. Go up to the tree  fort, whatever. When suddenly a voice the voice of my grandmother. Yeah, boy, I can hear it  called come come in here. Are we in trouble? Do we do something wrong? To sit. And she  walked over to her Bible drawer and got an old King James Version out. And she opened it to  the book of Jeremiah. And I can still hear it, though it happened. Seemed like a generation  ago. Reading from Jeremiah one. Before I formed you in the voom, that's how they did the W  was pronounced like V the voom. Before I formed during the voom I knew you before you  were set apart. I called you as a prophet to the nation's Sovereign Lord, I know I don't know  how to speak I'm only a child. But the Lord said to me, you must go where I send you and say  what I command you for today, and she went on and on, when she was done with that prep.  When that passage was over. She said vell boys, you can go and that was it. Very few words.  A passage from the Bible. But I can tell you it was as the presence of the living God was  stirring in my heart. A prophet to the nation's I felt the self evident presence of God in that  irresistible calling to ministry, though quickly in my mind. My dad was a mechanic My mother  was a factory worker, ministry preachers at 12 I knew I couldn't read out that well. I was a  dyslexic. How's that gonna work? I had a speech impediment. I still am not the greatest  speaker not the smoothest anything, but really prophet to the nations No way. But I knew it in  my heart. And some of you know in your heart, the irresistible calling of God to ministry. So  today, we're gonna talk about the hearing the irresistible, self evident calling. So what are you called to do? What has been God's saying to your heart? We all have different journeys. There  has been brokenness, not one of you at Christian leaders Institute, including myself and  everybody else. We not one of us lives apart from our sinful nature, we know it. In fact, in  Book of First John, we read that if we say that we are without sin, we are a liar and the truth is not in us. So each of us are sinners. So it also says that if you can keep on sinning, the truth is not in you. so what does that mean? It means called people are sinners and broken, but called people are not satisfied with that situation. So we come in confession, we come to God, we  know, a savior is needed because a Savior was needed for us. So, there has been a  redemption, maybe you have been far away from God, but he is now bring him back. He  wants to make you a prophet to the nations. What is God telling you right now, as you read  these words, as you hear these words, your family needs you your circle of influence needs  influencing for Christ. So what if a cultivation system for identifying training and mobilizing  Christian leaders was simplified? Like right now, the whole calling process to ministry is  extremely complicated generally, in the various denominations and so forth. And it's very  difficult, if called the ministry to actually get to serve in ministry or even serve as an ordained leader. In many of the denominations of some denominations. It's much simpler, but then  training is not really offered. So what would it be like if any leader to bloom where they're  planted? What if they could find local leaders in their local churches, businesses ministry,  community to participate with them in their education? Could these leaders become their  mentors or spots to become their mentor or sponsor, what if high quality Christian education  was available, free of charge and brought directly to leaders through an internet connection?  Now, when I say all this, what have I got that fire, and that passion of Christian leaders  institute that we can help any called leader get mobilized, where the system was set up in  such a way that strong accountability pieces were hired, hardwired into the process. So those  who sense the call could be tested in that call? What if the cost to develop all of this was so  efficient, that we can offer advanced training as a mission where contribute contributor 

contributions, were not lost to the high cost of the current models of higher education, that's  overhead, and buildings, and tenure, and all of those things in high tuition, with high amount  of debt with average amount of debt being $27,000. In for people in America? What if instead, for a fraction of the cost of traditional Christian colleges, or any college for that matter, you  could train 1000s of called so called or 1000s of called Christian leaders. You know, when we  started Christian leaders Institute, I will tell you many people didn't even believe that was a  good idea. What free free training. Nobody's gonna own this. And I admit that unless someone has a currency of calling and they don't own their calling. If they don't own their calling.  They're not going to take the time in the struggle in the study, to take this formal education.  So if you're not called to do this, I promise you, you will quit. Is your calling. self evident? If it's day outside you call it day. It's self evidently, day. If you're called to ministry, you can run but  you can't hide from it. You can do everything you can to suppress it, but it comes back. If you  think about it, it is there. You try to put it away sometimes, but it won't go away. It's that self  evident calling that fuels the sacrifice. Where people train at Christian leaders Institute even  though there's no force to get this training done. I am amazed at what I have seen in the fire  passion of Christian Institute or Christian leaders Institute revival leaders. So what happens at Christian leaders Institute with your mentor, you explore your calling with active study,  complete certificate level courses in ministry, including enterprise, the apostle Paul was a  businessman. So that's like Business, Enterprise Business, restorative justice. We're excited  about helping even the most disregarded people in society that they will come back be  restored, be called to ministry, totally forgiven by Christ. re enter re entering Society of  Christian leaders, I mean, come out some of the most amazing Christian leaders of the past in prison time. In philosophy, we really like this concept of ministry training, enterprise,  restorative, justice, philosophy, all of these things. Now we have this option that we are  introduced to 2014 and that's through the Christian leaders Alliance, which is one of our  divisions at Christian leaders. So we have Christian leaders is is the main 501c3 in the United  States. Then we have Christian Leaders Institute your at Christian Leaders Institute. that we  have Christian Leaders Alliance that's taking the responsibility of guiding through local  ordinations. We call it Deacon Minister where you are ordained in the Minister of Deacon  Minister role at your local church, at your local ministry situation, and that we have a  centralized directory of those ordained leaders. We send a letter of Good Standing, we as we  are a 501C3 that is sanctioned to ordain. So we are we have this ordination partnerships with  local ministries all over it's a good ordination cards. It's an exciting program, but it's totally  optional. If you do not have interest in ordination, that's great. If you are interested in that  fine, we will love to help you pursue that option. So we have complete diploma level training  for more advanced training awards. You can work toward degree program offer the Christian  leaders Institute in our sort of vision for degree is the Divinity degree, an enterprise degree  and a philosophy degree. Again, we're targeting the Apostle Paul as sort of our model for  raising up revival leaders, the apostle Paul was a ministry leader and apostle, God's chosen  instrument to the Gentiles. He was a businessman, he made tents, and he connected to other  tent makers. And he was a philosopher, and I love his his core of philosophic statements. If  the dead are not raised, lets, eat and drink. for tomorrow we die we have all the philosophy of how the Greeks were, eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. And then Paul sees  philosophy and connects it to Christ is not raised. And I feel we need to know why we do this.  So I I feel philosophically that ministry leaders, impact leaders need to know why. So we're  going to offer all of these options and offer all of those options. Another thing as you consider  your calling, is this is a generosity driven, free training. Generous vision driven students and  graduates they have been reached with free ministry training now CLI partners with their  vision to reach others I put this way, if you've been reached when you reach others through  your support, we are there tool to spread more training to more people. So if you give to  Christian Leaders Institute as a student, we're your tool to change the world gladhands people get that the other way around, they think will you support Christian leaders Institute with your tithing? Yes, that's true. But I look at it. No, I support your vision. You if you want to spread  free ministry trained let us help you do that by being your vehicle. So when you give, it's an  extension of your vision, not the founders vision, your vision, your call to extend ministry 

training everywhere. So generous individuals, churches, foundations outside of the students  also want to reach more people. So these vision partners see CLI as their mission to raise up  more Christian leader. So we have students and graduates and alumni, their business  partners, and we have outside Kingdom leaders who have a passion to raise up more leaders.  Now, why is the generosity driven free training model so important to your self evident?  Calling to ministry? Well, we don't want money to get in the way of that process with you and  God, put them up money to get in the way. And how is money not to get cut? Let's say you go to a Bible school or a university and then on to a seminary, I went eight years to college and  seminary. All that process, you're investing, you're investing, you're investing. And then  finally, when you're when you're debt? Are you expended a lot of resources. And you're  listening to God called to ministry, are you my call to ministry, I actually really money gets in  the way, it also gets in the way of the where you're going to work. So now you have to get a  ministry job to help you pay off your ministry training debt. I believe that messes with calling.  The mentor driven model where we beam the training in to you in the context of indigenous  leaders, local leaders, is a model where you can take one step at a time, get excellent training all along the way, and no one goes in debt. Go goes in depth. Now we do have some fees on  that, because we have to pay for the staff that makes these things official. But our passion is  that we give it to you, you process your calling, with God's with your local mentors, and see  where that goes. I said before about administration donation calls do support the  administration of the headquarters and other personalization of the CLI graduate experience.  These includes such things as customer service, official award services, for all those people  that need these services, we want to be there to help you in your calling process. Products  and services also contribute to the funding of Christian leaders Institute. So all I can say is  buy a shirt, buy a hat, support us. With your support, your vision is being spread through the  whole world. So now let's talk about calling it self evident calling. So you have this context  where it's free, generosity supportive, no one's going in debt. So what really constitute that  self evident calling. One of it is one of these key things is your victorious walk with God. In  this class, we're going to talk about the seven connections, this later on in this Getting Started class. And that's about a victorious Bible, reproducible Bible, walk in prayer, walk with God in  your personal life, your marriage, if your married, your family, your friends, your church  community, how that comes out to the kingdom, how does that go to the world in evangelism. So that is a vital walk, called leaders who minister in their community need the power of the  Holy Spirit, and the guidance of the Word of God, you are going to be put, you're going to put  to death, that old nature, not satisfied with the old nature. But want more and more to serve  the Lord, you need his help to be transformed, you will be more effective in your personal and family life growing with God. So, to me, I always believe like, you know, the calling to ministry  is every man or woman's calling over their life situations and in their life relationships. So if,  let's say you're a businessman, and you're called to take our enterprise training, and you're  gonna serve the Lord, by starting up a business, let's say, well, you're still being the minister,  to maybe have a wife and maybe you have kids, maybe have a spouse and children, you are  still being a minister. So all the training you do if it's valuable for just your family is not your  family, mostly the most one of the most important relationships in your life. If all this free  training was just to help you be a more spiritually lead Holy Spirit lead leader for your family,  would that not be worth it? And then he got All this enterprise training, business training that  just made you all the better making an impact in your community. So I started feel like you  know, people go like, well, is this training for those only going to ministering job or a ministry  position of volunteer? I say no. The relationships in your life are so rapid, that you are well  grounded in ministry training, you'll be able to share with others if your walk is real, relevant  and reproducible so that victorious walk truly fuels your minister train, never go into ministry,  because you think it's like a career. It's like a job. Your ministry is a calling, the currency is  calling in the what's underneath that calling, is a connection to the God of the universe in  Christ Jesus our Lord. If you do become ordained, your ministry will be more effectively  connected to God in a daily way, is that the Bible cautions against being too quick in the  ordaining of office bearers. First Timothy 5:22 says, Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands,  and do not share in the sins of others. keep yourself pure. So all the more a vital walk with 

God is the fuel that fuels calling. Now let's talk about some of the traditional articulations of  how someone thinks about calling to ministry or calling to serve the Lord. Traditionally, people thought of it there well, there's an internal calling. Christian leaders are called through an  internal call, and an external calling and confirmation. The internal and the external callings  are confirmed in various ways. These callings are confirmed by God and confirmed by others  in our lives. This is the curious in prayerful faith journey. So we see that in the apostle Paul,  Paul's servant of Christ, Jesus called to be an apostle, and set apart for the gospel. So there  was a sense that in Paul's internal understanding, he heard the calling, and the calling was  before Him every day, so much so that when he started an epistle, to like the Romans, he's  talking about the calling is that essence that fuels his ministry. So you must have a real walk  with God, if you want to be God's ambassador. Further, your specific call in urgency must  come to you from God out of your walk with God. This is this is called the internal calling. Do  you find yourself praying and meditating about your call to serve the Lord? Do you find in  your prayer and devotional life that God has placed urgency in your heart for reaching others, and helping others to reach others? Does your heart burn within you through the prot through the presence of the Holy Spirit? Now, my grandma said those passages and I sensed the voice of God saying those are for you. And then it was interesting, as I grew throughout my teenage years, at the church, and as we did devotions, because in our family, we read the Bible every  day. It was fascinating as I prayed and read the thoughts of the calling, kept building. And I  started picturing myself when the preacher would preach on Sunday, I started picturing  myself as that person. You know, as he as he was preaching, there's something inside of me  that was preaching to it was being identified. That's the internal calling. Then, traditionally, in  calling and ministry leaders, they talked about the external calling. What does God speak into  your heart is, this is the internal calling. Let's talk about the external calling. This calling  aspect can be more observable, we read the word it was he, who gave some to be apostles,  some prophets, some evangelists, Sunday pastors and teachers, how does your internal  calling connect to your person? What do you like to do? Here are factors to consider when you are called to serve in the kingdom of God. So let's talk about this, which are related to  externally who you are as a person who God created you to be. And then we're in talk how  these things are confirmed through prayer, but they're also confirmed by others in your life,  even be able to get through your ministry training is a form of confirmation, to actually  articulate what the Bible says and share it. So you First of all, some of those external things  are your are your gifts and ministry. So, you know, gifts would be, you know, what are your  gifts. The New Testament explores how giftedness connects to spiritual connects to spiritually  called Christian leaders. gift.com has a great definition of gifts. In the next presentation here  at Christian Leaders Institute, I'm gonna go deep into these gifts. They all say said gifts and  ministry, you know, ministry, if you're already doing something, if people are paying  attention, in what you say, are connecting to people that you're actually like, doing something in ministry, or you're serving another form of ministry is you're actually serving others and is  noticed. That's examples of external call. Here's some other examples of that external call  those observable things you can observe. In that case, even within yourself, your interest,  your interest is vital to a call to church leadership to ministry leadership to being an impactor  in your community. I will not venture I love this from Romans 15. I will not venture to speak of  anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, in leading the Gentiles, to obey  God, by what I have said and done by the power of signs and miracles, to the power of the  Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way to Israel, I have fully proclaim the gospel of Christ is been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, So I would not be building on  someone else's foundation. So what's fascinating about this is Paul even enjoys the external  aspect of his calling, that he is going to build churches. And he's not going to venture to  speak of anything but But what Christ has spoken to his own heart about. You know, I want to  talk one more thing about I'm gonna go back to interest, if it just really bores you to think  about serving others. And you're not interested in any aspect of that, you know, that is a big  connection to calling, do actually have an interest in youth ministry, interest in the youth? Do  you have an interest in maybe senior care? Do you have the interest in being a business  leader who wants to fuel your community impact? I mean, if you have no interest that it's 

hard to detect a call in that area. Another important external temper, external feature of a  calling is observing your temperament. Christian leaders needed temperament for leadership  in the church or in the community? Do they deal with a future failure? Well, are they leaders  of peace? Christian leaders have a huge responsibility in the eternal destinies of souls to  declare that, the eternal destinies of souls. If that doesn't make you want to study hard, in  your calling, to really know what the scripture says nothing will. Sometimes in the area of  souls, we are so shoddy, and we'll pay attention to the eternal destiny of souls, whether it be  able to handle the stress, or crack under pressure, people will criticize them, they'll criticize  you when you go into ministry. They can be easily caught up in a conflict with those, they're  called, they're calling to faith. The real conflict is between the forces of evil and the  resurrection, empowered forces of God. Interesting. Could they learn to deal with our  congregations and the compassion understanding way? In the end of the day, temperament is part of calling. I call it external, because you're seeking to now observe the features of your  personality. So I'm going to review that internal is what is the Lord saying to you personally?  What's the personal vision? Now you ask? Do all of the other things align, such as gifted and  such as interest in temperament? And here's one this is like, obviously, external confirmation.  If someone has called to ministry they should have confirmation. They should talk to those  who know the best their spouse, their family friends about whether or not they could see  them as a sustainable leader. Not having their spouse and family behind them in ministry is a  red and flag. I love this. But you know that Timothy has proved himself because of the son  with his father, he has served with me in the work of the gospel. You know, I love about that.  It's it's a story of reproducing leaders mentor mentees, Paul to the end now. Everyone has  seen that relationship and have seen, Timothy is also confirmed in ministry, and people can  observe it. So we put together a calling assessment exercise that will help you to serve your  calling, it's in your readings, do this exercise, do it yourself. And then if you're married, include your spouse. Include your mentor a pastor in the process, a friend. By only and dangerous.  Don't pick naysayers. I mean, naysayers. There are some people who just are going to seem  negative and everything. And you don't want to surround yourself with a naysayer who just is  gonna automatically say No way, is not going to be there for you. So what you're looking for  in this calling process in your studies of CLI is, you're looking for the voice of God to speak to  your heart internally. And then you're looking at all the external things, who you were made  by God. What's the confirmation? What's your temperament. And then as you study here at  Christian leaders Institute, and do ministry, with your mentor, through the start seeing a  pattern and through the confirmation process, as you go, for instance, through the deacon  Ministry ordination, if you want to be ordained, that's simple into the Getting Started class,  the one you're in right now, you then do the Christian Basics class. And then you study what it means to be a simple vocational Deacon, bi-vocational deacon or whatever it is serving in  your local context. Seeing if three people will recommend you you're doing these various  things. And then through that whole process, a fire can be lit in you as you then go further in  your training, and further realize what you're called to do. So as you assess your calling, this  is a wonderful time to reflect on what God is speaking to your heart, and what God is  confirming in your person, as well as confirming in your community, for the self evident as it  is light in the day, so self evident in your calling to ministry.