Video Transcript: The Seven Connections

So there truly is a relationship operating system, whether it's in the human relationship or in  the relationship, one for us at the price through Jesus Christ and the power of the  resurrection. This relationship habit is a talking, listening repeatedly habit. And everyone has  a spiritual dream. So this is relevant to people. So today, we're gonna go deeper with that,  and talk about the seven connections. And again, I am amazed, and how Professor Steve  Elzinga back in the 1990s really was inspired to talk about the seven connections, and I was  there when he was articulating that and giving input in this whole process. And I praise the  Lord for just trying to understand, you know, we were back then all end up doing evangelism  in terms of it, how to look at it as awesome core. And we found that common dream and have  you asked someone, maybe you've had an opportunity to ask your spouse, what's your  spiritual a dream? Have you thought about that yourself? So today, we're gonna go deeper  into the seven connections, and ask ourselves, okay, so then a connection is a walk with God. So connection is a walk with God. And the fact is, you minister out of the reality of your walk  with God, the metaphor of walk with God appears hundreds of times in the Bible. And so, you  know, get this. So, this is not just an intellectual discussion about how someone comes to  know God and how to as a minister, your ministry, the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of  the Word of God, if it is not for you, who is it for? This is so fundamental, you minister out of  your walk with and the walk idea, whenever you see the word walk with God, your walk, it's  many times you'll see it in the New Testament, be careful how you walk, you know, as you  walk, you know, that is, you know, a metaphor, you know, the time of Noah, you know, Enoch  walked with God and was no more. So that's that was, that's that connection idea. So as you  walk with God, you're you minister, out of that walk with God. So let's remember that  foundational habit here, that foundational habit talking is equals prayer. And so that aspect of  prayer, we actually have a prayer class here, right Christian leaders Institute, by which you  can go even deeper in prayer. So what is it? Well, it could be formal or informal prayer habits.  It could be worship. That's it can be personal, congregational worship, and we're going to talk  about how the various connections work with this habit. It could be singing it to be fasting,  communion, reciting scripture, where you're reciting prayers. In some traditions, it's speaking  in tongues. So there is that foundational habit of prayer. There's also the habit of listening.  And ultimately, listening in a relationship with God is his words or the Word of God. And again, some people could say that, that God does speak in his creation to but His Word of God, the  Bible is very specific as this is the redemption book. This is the light book, this is the walk with God book. So connecting to the Word of God, through the Holy Spirit. In a lot of ways, we've  called that devotions. Maybe this is relating to journaling. The journaling part could be the  prayer part. the listening part could be putting scriptures down that affect your life is very  much the dialogue, a relationship. Again, it can be devotions study, listening to sermons,  recalling memorize passages. Um, in some traditions, they would talk about words of  knowledge can be a word of knowledge and temptations. In some traditions, as the liturgy has been shared, the word of God is be is opening up into your heart. It could be the scene of  Christian hymns, in music, media, and more. So there is there are many examples of how this foundational habit of talking and listening, and then it comes down to the repeated part. And  what is the repeatedly aspect like? Well, it's those habits of your life, the habits of your heart,  the habits of your relationship with God, regular or a subtler regular tendency or practice. A  relational habit. Yeah, I think about how relationships thrive with habits. Yeah, some I think  we'll think about, but they're just so much in our life, we don't even think too much about it.  For instance, I have a habit of going to work, do my work, I have a habit of coming to my  house. Now, that's powerful habit, a crazy part and proximity. And families grew up the habits  of being together, we don't have families, and then send, you know, our kids, you know, asked for more else to be in that family know, they're in our home. So Much, much of the relational 

stuff is the function of seeing one another. And sometimes you see one another, and it's just  kind of opens doors, just see them hi, and so forth. But out of those habits, amazing things  occur. You know, I ever heard the story of many people in the liturgical family tree of the  church worldwide. And they'll talk sometimes about, like going through the habit of the liturgy.  And at some point, the Holy Spirit came and changed their heart. And again, very subtly,  they'll often say, but also see where, you know, someone's in the habit in a more Pentecostal  church. And so from child on, you know, they're watching the, some of the amazing healings  and other things that are going on in the worship. And at some point, through that habit, the  Holy Spirit entered into their own world and in their own life. So, these things we do  repeatedly, become really important. So relational have with God is talking prayer types of  things, Bible reading, listening, the word of God and types of things, and repeatedly, the  habits we place in our life. So let's talk about how these habits are understood in seven key  connections in our lives, that create a tapestry, that create a pattern for our existence, that  helps us make sense and categorize our priorities and even make priorities based on the  knowledge of these habits. So, the first habit is, or the first connection, I should say, is  connection, one. And connection. One is, you know, dealing with our own personal talking,  listening with God. So we are a person, one person, you, the you, the I and we relate to God.  In some ways, this is the most primal connection of all the, you know, your name is written in  the book of life. So that connection habit is prayer, listening as Bible reading, repeatedly is,  let's maybe we'll call it the habit of personal devotions. And now, I've mentioned in the last  presentation that as a minister, we can constantly be reproducible. So a reproducible walk in  evangelism is sharing the message of gospel in sharing your testimony of what helps you  connect with God so you can see how your personal testimony is absolutely essential. So, so  connection one is, you stand someday before God, if each of us have this truth, each of us  are born as an individual. And each of us die as an individual. In some ways, this is the most  personal connection, it's the connection of the soul. It's that connection of our efforts.  Connection, one. And this is where the dream probably is the most pronounced. Where we  feel the pain of our sinful separation, and the joy of our grace, one redemption, in connection  to God. And it's here that we feed our soul, it's here, when you driving in the car, when the  Holy Spirit puts a word in your heart. And you just start praying while you're driving. It's here,  when you open up the Word of God in devotions, and, and the words speaks directly to your  situation. And your relationship with God is in the hands it's here. Like when you relate with  others. You are changed in others and help you and we're gonna talk about more connections when the others connect in the process. But in connection, one, if someone is saved to new  life, ultimately, they themselves, you yourself, your I is transformed, is born again, no one else can be born again for you. And you cannot be born again for somebody else. So connection  one, is you. And then the question in ministry, is that? How do you in your personal life? grow  in that connection? One? And how do you help others do that as well? You know, we talk a lot here at Christian Leaders Institute about your testimony. And your testimony is vital. Because  in a lot of ways, I don't know what you're going through. But if you open up your life, than I  can relate, and maybe I can take that next step in my own personal life, and lean back and  trust the Lord more again, the devil wants to deceive and people are deceived. But we all  share a common dream. In in connection, one, we all have that, you know, certain problems  that each heart knows its own troubles. You know, and so in a sense, when we come to a  relationship with God, it's really is first about connection, one, and how connection one  functions. Now, what's really exciting, is that that's not all. God did not set it up only in  connection, one or all these individuals alone. Deal with God and deal with hope. No, he puts  us in with other people. So let's call it connection two and when you're married, and the Lord,  this is something that is precious. You're talking the prayer part is praying with your spouse, or

if you have maybe a friend that you can, you know, have just a encouraging connection with,  or listening Bible study devotions, with your spouse, repeatedly the habit of marriage or  friendship devotions. And again, think always about being reproducible. Sharing what you do  in your marriage. Again, you're sharing the habit, not just how God has changed you, you're  sharing the habit that helps others, you and others and you and your spouse, that habit,  sharing them with how they too, could have that habit. And I want to play something out here  that I think is vitally important, you know, what's reproducible? In some ways, habits are more  reproducible than experiences. You'll your experience and my experience are very different.  But habits you know, we know that the windy path is around the word of God as essence and  we know it's in prayer as essence and how someone experiences that is very different than  even like in evangelism over the years, as we have taken the connection style evangelism.  You know, some of the, you know, a couple may be handed in marriages and they don't know  what to do. And so what we'll do is we'll say, hey, we have a few verses, we just want you to  read those verses at night, before you go to bed for the night, and then pray together. And  they're gone. Like what I mean, we haven't seen a counselor and, and nothing's helping us.  You know. But if you want, kind of a spiritual piece, and have God, maybe part of bringing it  closer together, you know, just read these Bible verses, and pray. Now, again, you're  reproducing a habit there. And what we've seen is that couples that will that are struggling, or  not struggling, but actually do this, that habit, God often shows up. Now, we can't force that to  happen. But if on a windy path, the word of God has opened up in prayer is done. Something  may change in somehow, that to individuals with individual connections, something happens  where then that habit of praying or reading the Bible, somebody else affects the soul, the  heart. So the connection to strengthens connection, one, in a lot of ways, this habit,  connection, one in connection, two, in that we're talking about connection, habits, three, next,  which is your family connection, I'm going to help them as they form the holy discipleship  habits. But in connection two which we're talking about right now, what we see is how God  shows up, as his word is opened up in prayers are spoken, the Holy Spirit the treasures, of  our relation with God comes through this habit. Now somebody say is the habit magic. No,  what is communication? God communicates and you communicate with God, and you can  communicate to God with someone else. And the Word of God can speak to a couple. And  there's transformation that occurs, you know, and I always say, Be careful on this one thing,  somebody may say, Well, if I do this, is that automatic? No. You know, it's not automatic. But  God is relational. And God communicates to all of us. This is no formula, no, we found  something nobody else has. This is the obvious, simple, relational way. We all relate to one  another, and God who were made in the image of God, so God communicates the Father,  Son, Holy Spirit communicate, when Adam and Eve were created, they already had language, language is already used in communication with in the Godhead, theologically, we reflect on  that. So, you know, communication language, is core, you know, somebody may say, you  know, I don't really know if I believe that Adam and Eve were that amazing. They just came  from evolution, or they, I always say, like, look, look at their language. Already. They can  speak and communicate, humans need language, to even survive. And that's communication. So I find it interesting. So here we have a connection two, but there's also a connection,  three. And I mentioned that this is a family connection. So connection, one personal life  connection two spouse, if you're married connection, three, if you have a family. And, you  know, what's the habit? The Talking is prayer, in prayer with family and maybe can be seen  with family. We talked earlier about different ways to look at that. Bible study with family  devotions, with family, doing a Bible reading, playing with the family, repeatedly the habit of  family devotions, and then understanding that reproducibility piece of that is vital because as  you share this with other people, you know, that's an important thing to have is, you know, 

what is it that's reproducible? Let me talk about that just a little bit. So, family is getting  together now. It used to be when people were together in Christianity, they tied this family  connection to devotion Family devotions when they ate their dinner. So families would get  together, they open up the Bible. It is really interesting back in 1999, I believe, Steve Elzinga.  And I went to a conference on put on Biothane Institute in London. And it was all talking about Christianity in Europe. And in the decline of Christianity. It was interesting. There was a report  that looked at all traditions. There was a family unit that read the Bible, around dinner or little  habits. And they can see when the wars occurred, World War One World War Two, that the  decline of these habits occurred, and simultaneous that decline, Christianity declined. So they were making the point that somehow the habits of the heart with God, were being taken out of families. So families became like, relationally, illiterate with that. So when I grew up, we read  the Bible. Almost every day, we prayed. When I raised my children, we read the Bible, we  prayed, we memorize Scripture, we sang songs, we studied the Word of God in our family,  now is that a guarantee that they're all going to be believers. There are no guarantees. But we know this is a windy place, a windy path. You know, if you're looking for when you go to a  place where there's a lot of wind, so go by the seaside, and you know, there's wind because  there's no trees to stop. You know, wind happens in certain places more than other places,  centering your life around the habits of the word that does not guarantee it will be windy. But if there's wind out there, you'll feel it there. And I think, in seeing and believe and observed in  ministry, it's so true. There are places that are windier than others around the word of God in  prayer, it's more windy than not. Whether it's connection, one connection two or family  devotions connection three. So you know, these home discipleship connections, if that report  back in 1989, is true, in many Christian homes, have fallen away. So what's happened is,  many people walk with their walk with God on some of the other connections, we're going to  talk about it a little bit. And these first connections are more aware in their lives. And because  there were in their lives, there's a spiritual illiteracy that is occurring. So as a minister, you see intensely okay, my goal here is to help spiritual literacy, in the personal life in marriages, and  families returned. So this is extremely important in a lot of ways. You know, we talked about  reproducibility though that is ministry, how to reproduce a healthy, vibrant relationship, and a  person, how relationships and family in God grow. All of those things become really vital.  Next, let's talk about the next connection. So connection one is your personal connection  talking listening repeatedly. Connection two is if you're married, or if you have a good friend  and you can create like a little group connection three could be your biological family. Now, as you become empty nesters, my wife and I are now empty nesters. So for us, there's  connection one, there's connection two, and connection. Three, the family will operate when  we have holidays or when we have grandchildren over to our house and all of those things.  But beyond that, those home discipleship protections there's protection for in connection four  our small groups and friends. So often we hear about small groups right now. I'm talking is  prayer with a small group prayer request, Bible studies, listening Bible study with small groups repeatedly the habit they'll meet twice a month, once a week, once a month. You know,  reproducible walking that leads to evangelism sharing what you do in your small group that  helps you connect with with others, you know, that's that ministry piece, you know how to  encourage others within your small group to walk with God. Now I find so interesting. I'm in  various Bible studies. You know, a lot of times with men men's Bible study on a Friday  morning one, I have a Thursday morning one, when I'm in Michigan, I have this one. I'm in  Florida, this one. And so we have our interesting, if you look at what happens in these small  groups, you'll see we open up the word of God. So we're listening in, it's always fascinating to  me, when I watch the men open these, you know, the Bible in we talked about these paths.  So many times, there'll be an interjection of like, Oh, I didn't know that, oh, you know, I need 

to, in that area, walk closer with the Lord Oh, yes, this is a troublesome area. So we find  accountability around the word of God. And that's a beautiful habit, see, have some  accountability. And then we have prayer. So there's a prayer request, we have talking,  listening, you have repeatedly going on. And again, there could be a danger, where my entire  relationship with Lord is in that small group. And it does not really support or reinforce my  connections, one, two, and three, it is that connection. And that can be dangerous. So we  always are thinking, you know, in terms of ministry, if we're leaving a small group, you know,  we're having this together, but never forget to constantly encourage connection, one, two, and three is that connection four exists to support connection, one, two, and three, how amazing  is that? You're a minister now. So, you know, one of the things you could do interesting  ministry things here, for instance, you could have like, the one minute spiritual update of each  person, like okay, George, what has God done? You've got 30 seconds, one minute, okay,  and you go around the room? What has that done in the last week? It was or is there a Bible  verse, you know, maybe that's a thing you could do is you can say, hey, we have our small  group. And our we have one assignment. And that one in the you know, what's the one  assignment is bring back a Bible verse that spoke to you during the week. So you share it,  when you come back. All within one minute, remember, you're being reproducible. Now, there  are some people you can actually have a small group that's only purpose is to give everybody five minutes of how their personal walks, connect, and how they can encourage one another  and those personal walk in, I totally get that. So you can do small groups. But notice, if we're  intentional about it, there is talking listening repeatedly and a father, but it could also keep  encouraging the home discipleship connections. Now, the next connection is the connection  with church. And let's call that connection. Five, it's bigger, you know, in some ways, you've  probably seen the pattern here. You know, things are starting from small connection one and  going to connection five. Now, so you have connection, one is personal connection to you and your spouse or a friend if you're not married. Good action. threes are families, they have one.  Connection four is maybe a small group of some friends. And now let's talk about connection.  Five. So connection five is church now what is happening at church? Well, it's a dialogue.  There's prayer and singing, testimony, there's talking, there can be in some traditions,  tongues, there can be where, there can be fasting going on through the whole congregation  and, you know, there's communion, you know, there's various ways. Again, it's a more  complicated occasion of talking, listening to repeatedly, the listening, again, the Bible reading  of the sermon, there can be a liturgy there can be a word of knowledge on some traditions.  And the habit is the weekly church services, the other weekly church devotions or that time  when, when you get together as people of faith, and again, evangelism, reproducible. Walking into evangelism, sharing what you do in your church service, and how it helps connect you  with God and others. I think sometimes we lose track of that, you know, one of the most  powerful things of church is when people share just a little bit about what's going on in their  personal life, you know, in terms of a minister who's preaching, what I recommend is you think about how, as you're preaching your message that your walk with God suddenly gets in your  messages. So if someone's new, they can tie in right away. So there's this concept of  reproducibility that we're constantly talking about, and to be careful that Christianity stays  reproducible. Let me give an example. So as a minister, a lot of times, you know, the stories  that we give are often the hard to reproduce stories, you know, where we share by a sister  who has one hour of devotions every day. And in all of us sort of like, wow, that's really neat.  But also remember to share how, what five minutes of opening the word in prayer can do if it's habitual, if it's regular, and every day. So, again, connection five, exists, not just to be an  occasion for talking listening corporately, and individually with others, but it also supports the  other connections. So I can see and envision churches where small group leaders are 

recognized. And though supporting the lots that are happening in the church are talked about, all from a reproducible standpoint. I always was amazed by John Wesley and how John  Wesley, when he set up the Methodist church, you know, he begin tickets to those who had  demonstrated walk with God in some people laughed at that, look at these given tickets,  these recognizing people having a walk with God in their personal lives, and so forth. But in  some ways, that really was powerful in making the Methodist Church in the early 1800s,  expand all over the world. So we could be very intentional about being reproducible in our  connection, five. So that brings us next extension, six. So what's connection six? Well,  connection six, let's just call that the Kingdom, you know, Christianity, Christiandom, all the  denominations, the ministries that are all part of things, the opportunities to, you know, be a  corporate, global, international body where we all help each other even in our personal and  local communities. And really, what is talking, you know, in a lot of ways, as we relate to you  right here, it's this whole preparation for ministry. Where, as you are praying, it is a walk is a  steady walk, it is a spiritual warfare walk, you know, it's hard to be able to take time and do  this. So you need the presence of the Lord and the power of the Holy Spirit in the courses, as  the word of God has opened, and as you are sharing insights about scripture, and, and  creation and culture and all of those things, is a powerful thing. To see how God is using all of  these things in its repeatedly the habit of interacting the broader the broader Christian world.  You know, we have a Christian leaders network, for instance, where the students can talk to  one another, we have websites, and we have conventions and conversations and locally,  students have gathered together to encourage one another as graduates have come together, ordained leaders and the Christian leaders Alliance have gathered together and it's  reproducible. Hmm. How to help communities relate to God. But the point in all of this is it all  support people in their vital relationship with God it supports churches and support small  groups. It supports families and couples and individuals in the end of the day, it's all about  connecting to God. And you know, you your kingdom walk is As the ministry, intentional walk  of learning growing, it has issues of credibility there. There's, what's theology Challenge is a  great example of that, you know, theology is basically people who have special gift of  discernment, writing down how the Word of God specifically speaks on the subject. Okay? So you can read, for instance, the entire New Testament, and see Father and the Son, the Holy  Spirit. And it's hard to put that all together. So through the Providence in Holy Spirit of God,  the first 300 years, those things were talked about in the Kingdom Connection. And eventually the Apostles Creed was agreed upon, you know, God, the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit. So, the whole creed example, is a Kingdom Connection, the statement of faith and Christian leaders Ministries is a Kingdom Connection, how we as believers, and professors,  and ministers, and ordained ministers, we come around a kind of a, you know, North Star of  how we understand stuff, that's a Kingdom Connection. Now, what's the whole point? The  whole point is to support the earlier connections. So if we understand Father, Son, the Holy  Spirit when we pray, we understand that we can pray to God the Father, we can pray to Jesus Christ, and we can pray to the end through the Holy Spirit. So we feel a sense the Kingdom  Connection is supporting the earlier connections where we are connected. And we're  intentional about this. So from a ministry reproducible standpoint, we're seeking to recruit  others to be ministers, you know, if someone's led to the Lord, we want them to start Christian leaders Institute to start studying, get connected to, you know, ministry training, and who  knows, as the spontaneous spread of Christianity happens, as more leaders are built up, you  know, Christian leaders Institute, this, it's free ministry training. Well, who pays for that free  Minister training? Well, that's the Kingdom Connection, as people tithe and give, now at a  local church, you tithe in connection, five, you tied to your local church. But in this movement  of raising up more home discipleship leaders, more ministers, what this is, is a connection six 

times that we want this to be free. We don't want money to hold anybody back from the  training. We want accessible, even things that have some small fees, like you know, the  college went accessible. You're right now 92% of the world doesn't have access to a college  degree. And that also includes a ministry degree. Well, we want to change that. So everything here has to be as reproducible as possible. So when you try to become a vision partner,  you're on team with us in connection six, to raise up more leaders, ministers, who are thriving  in a walk with God. So that's connection six. And there's one more connection to talk about,  and that is the evangelism connection. Connection. Seven, talking is really of your vocal  witness and prayer for the unsaved. And listening is sharing scripture and you're sharing the  gospel. Witnessing opportunities happen as you reproduce the practices of your connection. It transformed life is the foundation of your witness, a healthy spiritual and DNA is passed on.  So you know, what is evangelism so there so get this there's two key issues here. One key  issue is an evangelistic habit, the operating system, you'll get people talking about  relationship. Another important piece is who you really are the I believe people see it, though,  it's very difficult to reproduce the relationship and all of its longevity and various experiences.  People do see that the habit of talking Listen, staying close to God has changed you and you  Really, it's very endearing. It's, it's very drawing to, in people, there's almost like a holy  jealousy that occurs, like, do I want that, I want that joy. Tell me more, it shifts a little bit of  that, to, you know, let me show you the path. Let me show you the walk, why the walk is going to work for me, you know what, I don't know, either, but God knows. So sharing a little bit. And always knowing your own testimony, and sharing that. So between the habit of sharing the  word and teaching people how to pray, which is very reproducible bringing someone to  church, I mean, in a sense, inviting them to church, let them interconnection five, and the  minister has prepared a message, there's worship, I mean, that's a windy place. It's highly  reproducible. You know, if you have a house church, bringing someone to a house church,  highly reproducible, as you relate in the Bible study, you know, sharing the word that getting  that on a Bible reading plan, finding a reproducible Bible reading plan, all of these things are  highly reproducible, and we call that connection seven. So each of us have an operating  system, that's very similar, its relationship. And as we share our faith reproducibly in the  ministry, we see that God works. The Holy Spirit transformed lives, and our own life is  transformed as we stay close, and we are self aware of the connections, you know, so many  things are being removed, in a technological way right now. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat,  you know, all of these new technological things, and somebody may say, you know, is this  even going to work? I actually believe it will. In fact, if we're wise about it, we can embed  these habits in our social media, we can embed the encouragement everywhere, because  what's the whole point is to keep people on a path to keep people on walk, where the word of  God and prayer and repeatedly starts functioning more vividly and more alive. So I wish you  well as you reflect upon this, and have these connections, living an active and reproducible in  your own life.