Video Transcript: Communication Objective: Inspiration

All right, we are in communication class, I hope you have been practicing some  of the things that you've heard me talk about communication can only improve  with practice, and you have to go out there. And don't be afraid or discouraged if you get it wrong and doesn't go well. In this session, we're going to look at how  the objective of inspiration How do you inspire someone by what you say?  Definition to inspire means to breathe into. It's interesting that when God created a human being he shaped that human being out of dust, and it wasn't alive, it  wasn't alive until God breathed his breath into it. And that's what inspiration is, is breathing life into something. prerequisite, what do you need before you can  actually inspire people, you can use words, you can tell stories, you can say  things that are inspiring, but people will sense that it's fake. Unless you yourself  become an inspiration, before you can inspire people with your communication.  You must be an inspiration. Number one, how do you do that? Be a bold leader,  Joshua 1:9, Moses has died. Joshua is about to take the people into the  promised land. Joshua 1:9, have I not commanded you be strong and  courageous, do not be afraid, do not be discouraged. For the Lord, your God will be with you wherever you go. And Joshua boldly brought the people into the  promised land. If you want to be a inspiration in terms of communication, you  have to be an inspiration in your person. And one way to do that is to be a bold  leader. I planted a church in Vancouver, British Columbia many years ago, and  there was a group of people, maybe five families that had been working on this  church plant, their dream was to plant this church. They had been working on it  for two years. And finally, the denomination that I was in, sent me as their leader. So I come two years later, they've been working on this thing for two years. And  then I come and I'm in charge. How easy do you think it was for me to get those  people to think that I was in charge? They had been working on it for two years? What am i What did I do? I remember the first time my wife and I came there,  they had a Bible study that they were doing every week, and they had a circle of people. And they had these books that they were using. And when we joined  them, we were on the edge of the circle. And they didn't give us a book. I mean,  I don't think they were thinking that. But they were suddenly excluding us. Who  are we and I'm supposed to be the leader. So it's very difficult. And I was  frustrated. How do I get to the head of this thing? How am I going to lead in this  church plant? And how's it going to go? One, Sunday, we met on Sunday night,  one Sunday, my wife and I went door to door, we went door to door knocking on  people's doors, asking about whether they went to church and what they thought about church, what they would want to do with church, etc. We just took a pad of paper and we did that. And when we came to the Bible study that night, I told  everyone, well, this is what we just did. We just spent two hours before we came to this meeting, we spent two hours knocking on all these doors. Here's what we learned. And by the way, this is your assignment. This week. So next week,  when we come back together, I want you to all have a clipboard filled with the 

stuff that that we have done. And from that moment on, I became the leader. I  became the leader because I was an inspiration myself. I didn't just talk about  things. I actually did something. I, I went out in front of them and did something  and not asking them to do it. And the next week when they came back, I mean  they didn't dare do it, but they went out because they had to it was filled with all  these stories that were excited about what they had done, but I'm the one that  helped them do it. Number two be a bold risk taker, the Lord had said to  Abraham go from your country, your people, your father's household to the land, I will show you take a chance with certain things. I mean, that's what my wife  and I did. We took a chance, we went out, we stepped out and boldly did  something. I was living in Michigan, and I took this call to Vancouver, British  Columbia went to a different country and, and if you're not willing to take a risk,  then who's going to follow you? Before you can inspire people with your  communication, you must be an inspiration, be a bold, God Walker, Joshua 1:8,  keep this book of the law always on your lips, meditate on it day and night, so  that you may be careful to do everything written it written in it. Then you will be  prosperous and successful. You can't be an inspiration unless you have the  breath of God in you. How do you get the breath of God in you? Walk with God.  How do you walk with God? Talking, listening, repeatedly. Prayer, Bible, if you're  not daily, walking with God personally, with your spouse, with your family? How  are you going to be an inspiration without God inside? You're just going to be a  limited human being. Number four, be a bold disciple maker. Then Jesus came  to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations. A disciple maker is one who  does what Jesus did. And what did Jesus do? He made disciples. And what are  those disciples do, they went and made disciples, a disciple maker is someone  who not only helps someone grow in their relationship to God, but helps them in  such a way that that person then goes on to help someone else. You don't know  if you have a disciple, or perhaps a dependent, until the person that you're trying to disciple actually makes a disciple. A lot of times we try to help people, we try  to help people grow in their relationship to God, but they never then help  someone else. They don't help someone else, you have a dependent, not a  disciple. Number five, be a bold person of character, Philippians 4:12-13, I know  what it is to be in need, I know what it is to have plenty. I've learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether  living in plenty or in want, I can do all things through Him who gives me strength. Paul was a person of character. He demonstrated that when things, when times  are tough, you keep going. When you're struggling, and you don't know what to  do you trust that God will somehow pull you through. So if you're going to inspire people, by the words that you say, you have to be that kind of person, you have  to be a person that keeps going when it's difficult. Whatever it is you're trying to  do, maybe you're trying to help out in the church, maybe your dream is to be a 

church planter. Maybe your dream is to be a Bible Study leader, I don't know  what your dream is. But whatever it is, you're going to hit a lot of bumps in the  road. There'll be people that don't believe in you. There'll be people that think  that you're just wasting your time studying here at Christian leaders Institute,  because your your you just don't have what it takes. You're going to meet bumps in the road. If you want to be an inspiration. You have to go past those things.  And all the difficulties that you're going through. God doesn't waste any of those  things. He will use those things. Those will be some of the stories that you one  day tell. This is what happened to me. No one believed in me, but look, look  what I'm doing now. What does inspiration, communication do? Number one, it  helps people want to listen. If you're talking to someone, and you're just giving  information. And the book of Genesis is the first book in the Bible, it tells the  story of how God created the world. I'm just giving you in spirit information. So I  don't know what's all this information for when you inspire someone you're trying to move them towards something. People will listen more if you're trying to  inspire them rather than just inform them. It helps people want to change their  lives and believe that they can change their lives. A lot of people are not happy  with their marriage, or their family situation. They're not happy with what maybe  what they're doing or, or their vision for life. They're struggling. And then you  come along and you say some things that give them hope. Maybe I'm not stuck,  I thought I was stuck. I thought, you know, I'm just coping in my marriage, I've  given up on believing that it could be better. But then you come along and you  inspire them. And they go meet, maybe, maybe this, maybe it can happen for  me. Or three, it helps people want to do something. If you're just giving  information, you're just talking, it's just information, like, Okay, I'm learning this,  but what do I do with it? Ultimately, people want to do something. Number four, it helps people believe that they are precious children of God, who stand guiltless  before him by the sacrifice of God's Son Jesus, with gifts and abilities  specifically given to them by the power of the Holy Spirit, for the edification of his church and the building of God's kingdom. Isn't that inspiring, just just listening  to those words? Well, how do you do it? How do you how to communicate?  Inspiration? Number one, know your audience? Number two, tell in inspirational  stories. Number three, share inspirational quotes. Number four, quote,  inspirational Bible verses now let's look at each one of these four. Know your  audience. Who is your audience who you're talking to? You know, when I'm in a  church, I'm speaking to all kinds of people. And so you know, older people, and  there's kids, there's people going to school as people working there married  people, unmarried people, who is your audience? Why are they uninspired? If  you're going to inspire them with something, why are they uninspired? What's  going on in their lives? What are they struggling with? Where in their lives? Are  they uninspired, work. They're doing things just to pay the bills, but they don't  love their job. Or they uninspired in their relationship to God as the uninspired in 

terms of their vision for life, or the uninspired in the church, they come they sit,  they go, but they're not inspired. They're not like gung ho about where exactly  specifically, are they struggling? Where are they, you know, just bored with life?  See, if you understand that, if you know your audience, I have a bunch of people that have mediocre marriages, how do I inspire these married people? How do I  inspire these people who are just struggling along that are discouraged that are  unemployed, or whatever the situation is? What is holding them back? A belief in themselves. Education, no money, no opportunities, what is holding the people  that you're talking to back? What are their fears, their uncertainties, their  insecurities, maybe they're afraid of failing, so they never try anything. They  never learn anything? What what's holding them back? Tell inspirational stories,  stories from your life. For myself, so some of the most the things that turned my  life around, I couldn't read very well. started school and I just couldn't put the  words together. I don't know if I was dyslexic, or put things backwards. I just  couldn't comprehend. I would read a paragraph. And at the end of the  paragraph, I had no idea what it said. So in third grade, I was put in a special  reading class for all the kids that couldn't read very well. And I just struggled  along. My father and my mother met with the teacher conference thing. And the  teacher looked at my father and said, you know, your son probably will never get this, you should teach him a trade because he's never going to go on to college.  Now my father could have just said, okay, and started teaching me a trade. But  he didn't. My father said, nuts to you and what you think. And so he found these  books that my brother and he made my brother and I do these reading books  and fill in the blanks and, and when we finished a book he gave us $1. And then  we had to do the next book. And then we had to do the next book, then the next  book and the next one. Now I don't know if that made all the difference or not.  But I eventually went on to college and then I went on to graduate school. And  now I'm teaching I'm a professor here at Christian leaders Institute. So That  teacher had no clue what she's talking about. And that may be true in your life  too. There are people that have told you, maybe your pastor, maybe someone at church said, You'll never be a church leader, and they list off all your limitations.  And you may have those limitations, I don't know. But that doesn't mean that  you're going to be stuck with those limitations. So I'm telling you my story. This is what happened to me. And so if you're struggling like I was, who knows what  God may do through you, so I'm trying to, you know, from my own life, inspire  you towards some possibility. Stories of people that you have heard of. I, I was I  was a teenager, I hadn't made Profession of Faith yet. And in my church, in my  church, you made you made a public profession of your faith, generally, in your  teenage years, or, or somewhere about there, where you stood up in church,  and it was kind of a formality. The pastor would ask a few questions, you would  just say I do and you sit down and bing bada boom, you've made your  profession of faith, you're now an official member of the church. But I was like, 

you know, I was struggling with Do we really believe this? Do we believe in God  and, and the others, others just going through the motions stuff? I didn't want to  just do that. But I didn't know what to do. And I was timid, I was shy. I hadn't  done this whole public speaking thing. I didn't know what to do. But one, one  Sunday, I was watching television, there was some I don't know what show it  was. But someone got up and gave a testimony. And it was a guy in a  wheelchair. He had muscular dystrophy, he could hardly talk and he could hardly communicate with his words. And he said some things. And at the end of his  little talk, he said, he looked at the camera, and he said, is someone like me?  And he could barely say these words, you had to really listen to understand  what he was saying, if someone like me, can get up and testify to the glory of  God in Christ. Then what's holding you back? When he said that I was like, you  know, I'm shy. I don't like getting in front of people. I don't like communicate. I  don't like talking. Remember, I had trouble reading this, getting the words out  and pronouncing them, right. But when I heard that, this guy who could hardly  talk, he got up, and he is giving it all that he has, regardless of his limitations. It  was like, I gotta do this. So I did I prepared this thing. I asked the pastor, if I  could actually say a few words, no one ever did that. So I got up, and I had this  whole prepared thing. And not only that, I just say a few words. But I was I was  really challenging the people. At the end of it. I had this. You know, when I think  back about it was crazy. As you know, I don't know if I would do it again today.  But I said something like this. If you love Jesus, and you are excited about the  faith, I'm going to count to three, and I want all of you to stand up and shout it. I  love Jesus. And this is a conservative church when no one ever shouts  anything. This wasn't a Baptist church where people are saying Amen, Glory to  God. This is a church where no one says anything. No one smiles. No one  laughs no one does anything. You know, 1, 2, 3, and a few timid people stood  up. But I was so inspired by that guy. So what people around you have inspired  you. Those are the stories that you can tell stories of people from secular  history. I think Max Lucado tells this story about a priest in World War II, and  he's in a concentration camp. And the commandant is going to kill someone  because someone escaped. And so he, you know, randomly chooses, you  know, this guy, you're the one that we're going to shoot. And a priest named  Colby raised his hand stepped forward and said, I would like to take his place.  And the commandant, he was scratching his head, and this priest said, I don't  have a family. This man does. Take me instead. And so he was shot in that guy's place, which is a wonderful story of, of God's sacrifice of His own Son. But it's  also an inspiration for all of us. I mean, I don't know what you're going through,  and I don't know what you have to do to sacrifice, maybe there's a fight that you  had with some close friend, and you're waiting for them to apologize. And they're waiting for you to apologize. And you just don't want to do it. Well, you know  what? This guy gave his life for someone else, can you not sacrifice your pride 

and just do this thing. See the story up people's stories can inspire people to do  things that they need to do stories of people from church history. All the martyrs,  Martin Luther, you know, willing to risk his life for what he believes here I stand, I can't do any other. I mean, just that phrase, knowing that phrase has helped me  in my life, there are times where I have to go, this is where I stand. I don't know  

what's gonna happen. But this is where I stand. I know, in the whole dating  thing. And when I was dating, and you know, people were promiscuous and  having sex and and you know, I'm close to this girl. But I had in my mind that this is where I stand, I am not, I'm going to save myself for marriage. And it was a  weird concept for every one that I knew. But it was like, here is where I stand.  And I can't do any other. stories from the Bible, Abraham, Gideon, David Paul,  there's so many good stories in the Bible of people that that overcame incredible odds, Abraham, I want you to go to a place you don't know, I'm going to give you a land you know nothing about and I'm going to make you into a great nation,  even though you don't have any children. And then he can't have children for  many, many, many years. Like, how does a guy like that keep going? Then he  finally has the child. And then God says, I want you to take your only son, I want  you to sacrifice him. Really? How could you do that? Yet, Abraham was willing to go into the darkness, he was willing to walk into an area he didn't know. And  that's for many of us, we have to do the same thing. share inspirational quotes. I have not failed. I just found 10,000 ways that won't work. You think you've tried  and failed a lot? Thomas Edison 10,000 different ways of trying to figure out how to make a light bulb. The filament tried this thing tried that thing. And he didn't  quit. So why are you feeling like you want to quit? 20 years from now you'll be  more disappointed by the things you didn't do, than by the ones you did do. So  throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in  your sails, explore, dream, discover Mark Twain. What would you attempt to do  if you knew you would not fail? And in some ways, as Christians, in the end,  we're not going to fail. I mean, you may fail the particular thing that you do, but  in the end, we win. We already know how this story goes. So why not people?  Why not try? What is the worst that could happen? The best and most beautiful  things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the  heart. Helen Keller was born blind and deaf. Can you imagine that? Can you  imagine in the closed in feeling and yet, she could say something like this.  Here's another quote from Helen Keller once I knew only darkness and stillness, my life was without past or future. But the little word from the fingers of another  fell into my hand that that clutched it emptiness and my heart leap to the rapture  of living. Her teacher kept spelling. You know sign language is done with your  fingers. And she kept making signs and putting them in her hand because Helen couldn't see she couldn't hear. And she started making these letters and trying  to get her to associate the letters with something. And it was a total frustrating  exercise. That finally in one moment, Helen Keller got the idea that this letter 

connected to that thing. Water I think it was and all of a sudden the world  opened up and she became person who went around and inspired millions and  millions of people. So what's holding you back? What makes a good story?  What makes a story inspiring? If you think at the very nature, what makes  something inspired? There's often an unlikely hero, the Lord of the Rings, you  know, you have a hobbit a small little guy with hairy feet. How is this person  going to save the day? How is Jesus going to save the world? He's a  carpenter's son. He doesn't have a home. He doesn't have money. He, what  does he have? How's it? And how are 12 disciples This fisherman and, and a  tax collector and all these? How are these people going to change the world?  unlikely heroes is often a character that endures a lot of suffering or failure  before achieving success. You know, this is almost every movie that you watch.  There's always a problem. And there's always a person that is, you know, the  main character, unlikely hero goes through all kinds of problems. It looks like  there's no way in the world that this is going to work out. There's often a lot of  opposition that must be overcome, okay, that's what makes an inspiring story.  So think in your own life, where have you been that person, you're an unlikely  hero. You have endured a lot of suffering and failure. And there's probably a lot  of opposition in your life. See, you are set up to be an inspiration. And all you  need is for God to come in and show you the way in your own life in the lives of  the people around you. So inspiration is not something outside of your grasp. It's it's within your grasp. Think about your own life. Think of where you are  struggling, struggling, and then somehow something happened in your life that  turned it can be a small little thing. And then that's the thing that you share.