 Good afternoon pastor David. Hey John. Welcome everybody to unfiltered a random moment with pastor David today pastor on Thursdays I thought our conversation will be a little bit more ministry centered and as you've been going through Mark on Sundays and Titus on Wednesdays You we talked about in Mark last week the disciples facing a huge need in meeting the need of the multitudes and Jesus Was saying I have many things to teach you. I want to show you many things paraphrased, of course Last night you're going through Titus and you wrapped up you went through verses one through seven and it was looking at the different aspects of an elder or bishop in In and where Titus was at as Titus was due and struck these Leaders there and I was thinking about you know, there may be some who are watching today Who may have a sense of God's calling in their life? What does that look like pastor in terms of the person who's listening who feels that God's calling them? What's the process and the steps to be taken with that? That's that's a real good ministry question John You know, we have been meeting with and mentoring a number of men now for for a number of years You know and that's something that that I've tried to concentrate on and just recently We were speaking concerning some of the things that relate to a sense of calling in ministry and and The certification of such a call and all and I had mentioned with to the men I had mentioned that while there's an internal witness in 1st Timothy 3 verse 1 for example Paul says if a man desired the office of a bishop he desires a good thing and and I mentioned how that an internal conviction a sense of calling Actually is originated by God, but is Experience within that person so there's that sense of calling I I desire the office of of an elder of a of a pastor of a leader in the church And so there's that sense of an internal witness and I have also mentioned that there's the confirmation That will occur through those who are leaders in the church elders within the church That they will recognize that call and the person's life and then finally There's also the confirmation of a congregation The individual might think oh, I'm called by God and there may be some who say you know I can see that you could shepherd you have a heart of a pastor But if people don't show up and learn from and support and And work together with that individual Well, perhaps he's not supposed to be where he's at at that time or It may be that he really isn't called And so as we've spoken about that I've mentioned to you because somebody in the in the class asked me what do I What do I think is a great danger in the church and And I mentioned I said well after After being in ministry I got saved 51 years ago this month, but I've been in ministry For 48 years and so 48 years of experience Gives to me I would believe a platform especially in that the ministry here has been faithful I do believe that I have a platform That I can actually utilize to answer questions like that. And so I said One of the greatest concerns I have right now Is the lack of accountability that many ministers have It seems to me that sometimes when somebody feels that his success As elevated him into a position of authority that he's making a great mistake Because sometimes people think that because that Quote-unquote pastor or minister or whatever he may be called has a large following he must therefore Be a man with God's anointing when in fact, that's not always true There are different kinds of ambitions John there's the the ambition to to be an elder which is a god-given ambition because To be an elder to be a leader in the church is a heavy responsibility And the qualifications are in scripture You know and their character qualifications out of the qualifications you see in Titus as well as in 1st Timothy 3 The qualifications are character traits and then you have a spiritual gifting To be able to communicate and to teach proper doctrine and to be able to To refute error and correct those who are in opposition and somebody may be able to Get the church aggravated over causes or involved in a variety of things and Even get them emotionally moving, but that doesn't mean that they're being shepherded It doesn't mean that they're being trained in the ways of God We're living in time for example right now Where people don't want to hear doctrine They want to walk out informed about what's going on or have a strong emotional Response to the things they're hearing or or even are looking for for heroes in the pulpit Somebody they they can say that's my voice. They're saying what I'm feeling But what what happens if what I'm feeling is carnal? I mean if I have somebody saying something that I'm resonating with but in fact, it's not right I could be actually in spiritual danger Paul said that in chapter 3 of Titus that We were not to speak evil of people That includes the politicians that includes people in general and when he said you're not to speak evil of them The words speak there is in reference to common conversation It's not necessarily Just standing there in the pulpit and preaching against this governor or that president or whatever Though I do think that that sin needs to be called out and Paul had no problem doing it and jesus spoke to pilot and let him know who was in authority I I don't have a problem with the spiritual leader calling out sin as long as we're fair and we see it On both sides of the aisle if you will but Sometimes what happens is we speak evil and we create In the congregation We create within them a sense of rebellion rather than An attitude of learning what it means to respectfully submit or what it means For us to say no, I am drawing a line here And we ought to obey god rather than men and so I believe that when a man Senses a call into the ministry In an eldership position There are character qualifications That should be confirmed by those who know him best And then as the attempts to do the work the congregation recognizes that god is feeding them through this shepherd You know pastor, that's interesting that you mentioned that I remember where Early on I knew I was called I just didn't know how or where or what that was until I started learning these steps that you're referencing And I remember I would come first service and I would try to sit Positionally right like so when you're teaching you'd look right at me and I had this idea that When sunday you're gonna look at me said oh There is the holy anointed one, you know and what I'm trying to say is that Even though I felt called sometimes I felt that the responsibility landed on the pastor which Really the pastor's only to pray for that person that calls really between themselves and god, right amen And the funny thing about that john is Is I never look in the front row I never do I got in the habit of that when I first began to teach Because sometimes the ladies don't sit like ladies And so I had to learn to look over their heads, you know, so I never even noticed that you were there And I kept thinking look lordy I you're gonna show pastor david today that I'm called and I'm Anointed and and what's funny about it is that I was kind of putting that Calling as a responsibility for my pastor But it's not you're responsible. You know what I've got to saying john That the cream rises to the top. I believe that ultimately Somebody who is doing something good well that that good will be spoken of And it's going to come to my ears and I'm going to hear that this individual really is a servant and boy I just love this this guy or whatever and and Then what I do is I'll begin to To kind of like to watch and to ask questions and And to see for myself, you know, does this person come to church? Is this person somebody who's serving? um Things that pertain to the life of the church is this person have a good reputation Do people look to this person as? someone that um that they like and And even are influenced by in a good way. So yeah, I watch those things but But the one who would sit in the front will never be noticed because I I don't ever look in the front I would try to look okay. He looks here. So I'm going to purposely sit here And then you wouldn't look at me. So then I'd sit on this side And so uh, but I wanted to bring a word of encouragement to those three or what you're sharing with us of those who are called To seek the lord Well, they seek the lord first They ought to let the person know at their pastor that they have a heart to serve the lord um Not in a push away because I've had people who sometimes can Feel a little pushy because they're very anxious and all No, they just ought to be involved and You know, it's it's really good when somebody speaks of them without them having to trumpet themselves But once they get to know the pastor, I don't have a problem at all. You did this With someone saying I have a sense of calling. I want to be used of the lord And um your path into the position you hold right now Took a bit of a detour in your mind, but I felt it was the right path for us And it's turned out to be that way. So no if you have a sense of calling A confirmation by all is if you're accountable to somebody if you can be corrected Because again in closing that, you know, we're going to go a little long but in closing of this I would say that That the dangerous one Is the one who can't be corrected that that person is not a true shepherd A true shepherd Needs to have an ear to hear what the spirit is saying And yes, I I've had over over the years on occasion. I've had Criticisms about who I am and and I've had many people leave the church because I'm just not good enough for them And and I understand that I do And perfectly they found themselves at a place where where that shepherd was able to reach them and I want that But you learn from these things you you learn how to communicate better you learn how to love more You learn how to to do the things so if you're not if you're not open to to learning and being corrected You can't be used in the kingdom of God. Amen. Well pastor david, thank you And I'm sure there's someone here listening who needed to hear this and maybe feel a call in their life But we are calling for one thing for sure come to church on sunday 8 30 a.m And 10 45 pastor you're taking us through mark And it's going to be an exciting study Walking on water. Yes. Yes. I've tried it a couple times and obviously it doesn't work I want to invite you guys also We have our christmas eve service on christmas eve at 7 p.m. And christmas morning at 9 a.m And our new year's eve service at 7 p.m on new year's eve great opportunity to invite the church family Invite your friends and we look forward to seeing you pastor. Thank you for your time And church family. God bless you and we'll see you soon