Video Transcript: Qualified Leaders

So you're called into leadership, and you see an internal calling. Then you see external calling issues such as who you are, what are some of your interests. And so your putting this  together, but you know, still, you may not be qualified to be a leader. And the early church  actually talked about qualifications for ordination for office bearers for elders and deacons.  And these qualifications found in First Timothy three are so incredible to me. Because if you  can attain these qualifications, no matter where you are right now, you will do well, in a  church, you will do well in business, you will dwell as a community leader, you will do well as  a parent. These qualifications are so transferable to success as a person in Christ, that the  early church talked about these qualifications. So whatever reason you're here at Christian  leaders Institute, master in the Holy Spirit, these qualifications, because in the end of the day, this is about character, character. The early church was about character filled, grounded,  character grounded leaders. In the early church, all the positions were voluntary. But the  Apostle Paul laid out qualifications for leadership positions. These qualifications did not focus  on any specific role in the church, they focused on character. The leaders needed to be those  who walked with God and displayed the fruits of the Spirit in their lives. Paul gives these  qualifications in First Timothy three. Traditionally, these qualifications are applied to official  church leaders and I like that. But I want to challenge students who are called in the  enterprise to aspire to these expectations. If you are coming out of a difficult past, these  expectations will transform your life if you live them. If you are called to be a Christian  business leader, these qualifications will help keep you safe from behavior that will discredit  you or your company. If you're an employee. These qualifications will protect you. If you are  married, you will thrive more in your loving commitment to your spouse if you apply these  qualifications. qualifications for the office the ordination of elders and deacons. The ordained  positions of elder and Deacon were instituted in the earliest church. The ordained elder and  Deacon are the foundation of all leadership in the church of Christ out of this leadership  structure bivocational leaders emerge. This is why Christian leaders Institute puts a premium  on a local connection, mentorship and sponsorship. If someone senses the call to ministry, the local church members, their leaders and others have seen the truth of their walk in faith. If at  a local level perspective, students do not have the coppers of their faith community. Those  students may want to seriously consider whether God has called them to church ministry. You  know, it's finally, who has the character to be a ordained leader or to be a leader in general. It is appropriate to want to be ordained. It is inappropriate to want to give leadership in any  enterprise. This is an important question. Some will argue that wanting to be ordained to be a  deacon elder pastor is not something someone should do. But the Bible encourages believers  go as far as they can go in serving the Lord. Paul says in Timothy First Timothy three verse  one, here's a trustworthy saying, If anyone says his heart and being an office or an overseer,  he desires a noble task. If some if that someone is you and you sense the urgency to serve  God, in a great capacity, that is something you should explore and you are exploring here in  this Getting Started class. Here's the trustworthy saying Whoever aspires to be an overseer  desires a noble task. Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife.  temperance, a self controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given too  drunkeness and not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money, he must  manage his own family well and see that his children are obeying him, he must do so in a  manner worthy of full respect. If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how  can you take care of God's church, he must not be a recent convert, or he may become  conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good  reputation with outsiders, so that you will not fall into this race into the devil's trap. And I'm  going to continue by reading First Timothy three, eight to 11, in the same way deacons, and  that's that word minister, as translating the Latin are to be worthy of respect, sincere, not  indulging much wine, not pursuing dishonest gain, they must keep hold of the deep truths of  the faith with a clear conscience, they must first be tested. And then if there's anything  against them, if there's nothing against them, let them serve as deacons. In the same way,  the women are to be worthy of respect, not malicious talkers, but temperment, temperant,  and trustworthy and everything, A deacon must be faithful to his wife, in the must manage his children, is household wealth, those who have served well again, excellent standing in great 

endurance in the faith in Christ Jesus, of I hope to come to you I'm writing you these  instructions. You know what I love about this? This passage is referring to elders and deacons. It really gets to the heart of character that a revival leader is one who has character. And you  can look at these lists, the lists for elders, the lists for deacons, and they are a powerful  reminder of what we're aspiring to in all of our life. Now, what I'm gonna do is go through the  list of elders, there's a lot of overlap in the list of deacons. So I feel like if we do the list of  elders and set ourselves as getting those qualifications, then the ordination level that we do  around Christian leaders, Institute of Minister Deacon, those qualifications just fall right in line anyway. So I love to think about this lift in the qualifications. So the first one is leaders who  stay out of trouble. Not arrested is a literal Greek translation, not arrested can be an objective qualification. But the key question, here is how you are staying out of trouble in the areas that will hurt the gospel ministry, or hurt your business, or hurt your work area? In other words,  are you keeping sinful practices away from you? Are you seeking to be well respected by your community of residence, if you have a reputation for, for greedy, immoral activity in your  community, and people can come forward, personally to accuse you of shady activities. This  is inconsistent with ministry. So the first one is, the Greek word is don't be arrested. Here's the next one leader to do that practice. Polygamy. Polygamy was practiced in Bible times, it was  present in the early church, and is prevalent today in parts of the world. Polygamy was  practiced in many, by many of the converts from Judaism, especially the wealthy. And while  these new converts to Christianity, may have continued to practice polygamy, Christian  leaders in the church, were disqualified for participating in this practice. Leaders who are  sober or temperant in attitude, this qualification is not talking about drunkenness, that topic is still to come. This qualification has to do with judgment. Are you circumspect? In your  reasoning? Are you balanced in how you evaluate yourself and others? If you always jump to  conclusions, if you are always to positive or to negative, that is something you want to be  aware of as you learn ways to be more balanced. Here's the next one. Leaders who are sober,  or temperament in attitude. Oh, I just did that one. Let's move on. Here's the next one.  Leaders who act orderly and respectable. The Greek word here is from the word Cosmos,  which means literally order Christian leaders who are called to the pastorate or ministry or  anything else. Have a certain orderly and respectable traits to them. For instance, are you on  time Are you habitually late to meetings? Is your dress appropriate for those who are called to reach? Do people respect your opinion? The next qualification is about leaders who are  friendly to everyone. The Greek word here is a combination of two words the first word filos  means friend. The second word means people, strangers foreigners, leaders call to the  ministry are friendly and welcoming to people that are currently not part of the group. Many  times this is considered by some not to be as an important trait. Yet, this has everything to do with your character. If hospitality hospitality is showing love to someone, even someone you  do not know. The next one, leaders who are willing to teach or mentor many times leaders  think that this refers to teaching or preaching at a program or worship. There's a lot of ways  to teach or mentor church leaders to see the need to pass on the faith and the lifestyle of  Christianity. If you're called to be a pastor, this qualification applies to you. If you are a  preacher, you will take this responsibility as a calling. This qualification means that you will  always be walking with God learning his word and sharing what your walk and learning bring  to others. Here's the next one. Leaders who are not given to addiction. The Greek word  explicitly talks to here about wine, literally not near wine, referring to drunkeness. This needs  to be taken metaphorically as well. pastors and church leaders and all leaders Christian  leaders have to stay away from addictive behavior. This is challenging because addictive  behavior comes in many sizes and colors. Many pastors, Christian leaders, have struggled  over the centuries of various addictions, it seems like the evil one attacks in this area  ferociously. The common addictions today has a lot to do with what technology brings into  society. The next one leaders who are not violent. The Greek word used here literally means  not a striker. It means someone who is not given to violent outbursts or angry blasts. Christian leaders are not given to revenge or payback. hate and anger are not the operating system of  a pastoral personality or a Christian leader or a leader of Christian leaders enterprise. Have  you ever seen a pastor leader exhibit a violent outrage, this outrage will bring harm to their 

ministry more than it will make some points to the person they offended. The next, leaders  who are not greedy misers. The literal meaning of the Greek word here is based or selfish  gain. In other words, leaders who are solely motivated by what they get financially or in other  forms of repayment, are not qualified to be pastors or ordained ministers, whether it's elders  or deacons. While the apostle Paul writes that the worker divert deserves his wages, there's a  fine line here between career and calling. You should not become a pastor because you think  it will be a nice job, where you will get paid well. Leaders who are self aware and their  gentleness, the Greek word here is appropriate. By implication, the word is translated as  gentle, mild or patient, we need to add one more dimension to that word, and that dimension  of self awareness, in your responses in every relationship, and every and every church, things will happen in every relationship and every business. Things happen. In every relationship and every family, things will happen. And maybe even offensive words will be said to you. Many  times someone will treat the pastor in a way that gives the pastor a clue of what is needed.  Now, the point that I always believe this is that if someone treats you poorly, however, they  treat you as a leader, whether a father, a business leader, a pastor, a minister, someone in  charge of others, someone who is a leader, however they treat you often as their very issue.  And in this ministry training you're going to receive, we're going to go deep and how you can  understand the clues to how people take your leadership. And if they take your leadership a  certain way. You will know a lot about how you can serve them better and about what some of their struggles. So that self awareness piece you're gonna learn here at Christian Leaders  Institute in a large extent leaders who love peace. Some people have to win every fight and  be right on every issue. This does not make a good pastor Christian leader. While some fights  are crucial to win, most fights are not worth the time required to get involved with. The  apostle Paul encouraged us to live in peace with others. He writes in Romans 12, verse 18. If  it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone, leaders who are not  covetous. This is a killer in ministry. The Greek word here means wishing for more silver refers to thoughts and desires that will sink your ministry calling. The fact is that you will never have enough money, you will never have the perfect church or business or employment situation,  you will never have the perfect family or spouse, where you are now may not be as good as  where you were, where you were a year ago. Imagine, imagine that a future may be better  than now may not help you. Effective Christian leaders are content even while they're seeking to improve calm leaders are to content with who they are and where they are. So to be  covetous, you know what I call that in your going to learn more about this is destination  disease. Where where you are now is where you are not content, you want a different  situation in life. You want different people you want a different spouse, you want a different  church is always like, attitude for I want something different. In I find that you don't find  happiness there. The joy and contentment of where you are is where God's put you now, you  may have a certain form of uneasiness or hunger, because you're being called out of this but  not motivated by comparison, or envy, motivated by instead, you know what God do have for  me next, and there's a fine line there but important line to meet leaders who lead in their  home and are respected. The issue of leadership is a microcosm of the issues of leadership in  any church setting. If you can give appropriate leadership in your family, including your  spouse, this will directly translate to the church. This will directly translate to an enterprise. If  your children do not see you as a biblical leader who commands respect, people outside your  family will have a hard time seeing that as well. All the issues of leadership, have a foundation in your personal relationships. Leaders who are settled in their walk in doctrine, the apostle  Paul observe many early leaders that fell away from the faith. If you're called to ministry, you  want to be settled in your walk and your doctrine. Paul writes in first Timothy 3:6, he must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall in the same judgment. As for the  devil. When you are unsettled in your walk or doctrine, you are open to additudes and ideas  that lead the biblical worldview. If you or your spouse, are recent converts, go slowly in  pursuing your ministry calling later in First Timothy three, the apostle Paul encourages that  Deacons be tested, they must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear  conscience, they first must be tested. And if there is nothing against them, let them serve as  deacons. You know, that's what I love about Christian leaders Institute is that you have the 

opportunity to study and start the testing process. So you take your first class which you're in  right now, you take the Christian Basics class, you find a mentor, a pastor, a local leader to  help you now it's interesting. That process of getting a local mentor leader is very important  for a few reasons. One of those reasons is if nobody wants to take you as a mentee. There's  an issue. Why? If you can't find a mentor, that's an issue. If your mentor basically does not  see you at all, as even serving as a simple Deacon minister, bivocational vocational,  vocational Deacon minister in a local church or local setting, local ministry, that may tell you  that, go slow and establish these relationships. Take more ministry training classes. So you  have that trend transformation through the power of the Holy Spirit. And see in the six  months or a year, what the Lord does, through you and to you and see if your spouse sees  changes, you see changes. You see confident changes because there's that Clear Do not be  hasty in laying on of hands that is, or ordaining, someone who's walking is not settled and  whose life have not settled. If that is you, you want to slow this down and ask the Lord, to just fill you with His Holy Spirit and the holiness that that creates a revival leader, by God's  purposes, the God's power in your life. So be settled in your walk in doctrine, you know, it's  just so damaging, to have someone who gets into ministry, and then they fall away and they  leave the truth or they leave a lifestyle that honors God is such a negative witness. So again,  be settled in that. Leaders are respected in their community of relationships to the next  qualification. The same principle applies here, that applies to a leaders family, if someone is  interacting with people, and they see the leader is fair and honest, this is an indication that  this person can be qualified to be a pastor. On the other hand, if the community has  experienced that the leader treats people badly, one would question if a person is ready to be a pastor, a church leader, a Christian leader in the community, to take these very serious is  something very important. You know I want to end by saying, do not get frustrated by these  qualifications, if you see that several of them are a struggle, you know, in some ways, I look  at all them as a struggle, if you read the deacon qualifications on your own. And we have a  Deacon Minister program, you can actually say, No, I don't want to do any of this. That's one  way to look at it. Another way to look at it is to pray to the Holy Spirit puts those qualifications as real in you Now I went pretty fast through that list, but I wanted you to be aware of them. I  think this list again, applies to every area of life. But these are the lists for the church. So I  want to be very careful to say these were the list to be leaders in the church, but I would take  them if I were you, whatever you whatever, why ever you are here at Christian leaders  Institute, you aspire to these qualifications, you will do well to serve your community to  minister in whatever field God has called you. I want to end this session with prayer. Oh, Lord, I pray for each person here. We've talked about the internal calling, we talked about the  external calling. Now we're talking about character qualifications for office bearers,  ordination, all of these things, Lord, this is a journey. And you have a sanctifying you have a  changing ability for us that your Holy Spirit can change us and can make us those leaders that bring revival to our community bring renewal and bring restoration. So I pray, Lord, if there's  someone here right now, who needs a fresh wind, a complete transformation, I pray, Lord,  that you give it to them in the name of Jesus, that there's one or two areas that somebody  here is struggling with. I pray, Lord, that you will help them get over that hump, and by Your  grace, bring change to their life. But for all of us, Lord, though, we are not going to be perfect  that we do have a sinful nature. Help us not to just to be comfortable with us, but help us  through being teachable and through the power of the Holy Spirit, through Your Word of God  through our walk with you may we be more qualified leaders, who hear our calling act upon  that calling and that calling is confirmed. And that revival comes through your power, our  participation, and together your kingdom may come in Jesus name, Amen.