The Pastor's Testimony of a Call to the Ministry

Amen. I enjoyed that worship as always. If you would go ahead and take your Bible and turn to Acts chapter 13. I did say earlier that we're going to go over to Acts chapter 2 and then towards the end of the message we'll turn over to 1 Timothy chapter 3. Those verses will be easy for you to find and follow me and read together. Now last week when I shared my conversion to Christ's testimony, I said that some may think that it is strange to share something like that during a Sunday morning service. And some may also think that it is strange for me to share my call to the ministry testimony.

But just like I said last week, I think that every pastor should be able to and should share often from the pulpit their call to gospel ministry. But you know something hit me this past week in my study and meditation and preparation time for this service. I speak often about how I was converted to Christ, but I do not think I have ever shared very much about my call to the ministry. Well if I'm going to say that a pastor should share often about their call to the ministry, well I need to heed my own words. So I'm correcting myself a little this morning. But just like I asked you last week, I want you to use your mind here.

Think with me here. I'm going to raise the standard, raise the bar. Would you want a pastor that could not share how he was called into the ministry? Would you want a pastor that could not share that he knew for a fact that God had called him into the gospel ministry? And would you want any elder serving in the life of the church that could not share the very same thing? Now I hope you would answer no. And if you have not thought about those things, I hope that you've been educated and understand that you should always say no if they cannot articulate those things and explain those things.

Now similar to last week, there are two reasons why I'm sharing how God called me into the ministry. These things have been on my mind for several weeks. Now I did mention last week that this message this morning and last week's message has been on my mind for a few weeks. Let me explain that. You know during our Christmas and New Year's Eve season, we take a break on Wednesday nights and on Sunday nights. During that time, I always use that time to study about certain messages and series of messages. Well these two messages just came out of that time in my life and my time of study and prayer.

But first many of you are new to our church and you're new to me as your pastor. So you don't know me as well as maybe others. And last week I said to know me you need to know how and when I was converted to Christ. To know me, that is the first thing that you need to know about me as your pastor. But second, you need to know that God called me into the ministry. You need to know that I am my pastor and more specifically I am your pastor for no other reason other than God called me. And then second, we need to see that God will call and is calling other men to serve in the life of the church.

We should expect God could call other men and I do believe that God is calling and will call men according to his time plan and our need in the life of the church. Now let me give you a few examples, kind of flesh this out for you. We should expect God to call men in the Deacon ministry. The Deacon is a biblical position. Deacon ministry is a biblical ministry and a position in office in the church. And Deacons are particular men given to the church to serve in physical needs in a whole host of ways. Oftentimes Deacons are called table waiters. That might catch your attention.

Oftentimes Deacons are called table waiters because some see those men chosen to serve in Acts 6 as the first Deacons. They were at least prototypes. In Acts 6, there was a conflict in the life of the church because ministry of physical needs to widows, it was being overlooked. Those widows were suffering. Simply those widows were not being cared for. They were not being fed. Those were great in real needs. Well the disciples called together the church and they called the church to appoint seven men to take care of those physical needs and the needs of the widows.

Simply the Deacons took care of physical needs so that the apostles could be released so as to give their full attention to prayer and to the ministry of the Word of God. So we should see God call men to Deacon ministry in the life of our church. We should see God call them and we should see us as a church appoint them. We should see God do that work to bring Deacons into the office and into the place of service. Now what kind of service do they do? Primarily physical things. Things that are of need in the life of the church. Obviously the Jerusalem church had a need with widows so they met that physical need.

Well if we had a need like that, a Deacon would meet that need and there are a whole host of physical needs in the life of the church. I think about our day and in our culture. We live in a day at a time where we can have church facilities. We can own buildings and land and for us we rent a church facility and there's a whole host of needs when it comes to renting a facility and owning a facility and using a facility. And there will be very soon I believe a need to appoint Deacons and see God raise those men up to serve in a more official capacity. But also we should expect to see God call men to serve as elders in the life of the church.

Now in looking in the scriptures we see that Deacons serve in physical matters. I've mentioned that. But elders serve much much differently. Yes an elder may serve in certain physical ways. I believe they should yes. But primarily an elder is gifted and he functions in three ways. They are gifted and called to teach or to preach the word of God in the life of the church. So an elder has a teaching or a preaching calling and gifting. The elder knows they have that gifting. That elder knows they have that calling. And then the church recognizes this gifting and calling and the church benefit. They benefit in a whole host of ways from those men.

And then also they shepherd they pastor the sheep the people of the church. So they have a shepherding or a pastoring calling and gifting. The elder knows they have this calling. The elder knows they have this gifting and the church sees this calling and the church benefits from their calling and from their gifts. And they also are gifted to govern the affairs of the church. So they have a governing gift. They have a calling to govern. The elders know they have this gift and this calling and so does the church. And the church will submit to those governing gifts and their calling. So notice with an elder you have one office.

You have three functions. You have three gifts. And a lot of times you'll see different titles to describe that one office. To call an elder an elder is biblical. To call an elder a pastor that is biblical because pastor means shepherd. To call me a shepherd is biblical. To call one a bishop that's a New Testament word that speaks to governing. To call one an overseer that speaks of governing. So I'm your pastor. I'm an elder in the life of the church. So if you call me your pastor or shepherd that's biblically accurate. If you call me an overseer that's accurate. If you call me a preacher teacher that is accurate.

And I think you understand that. And look as our church grows we will need more elders in the life of the church to teach to govern and to shepherd. You see. But then third we should expect to see God call men to serve in vocational ministry in our church and out of our church. As our church grows and ministry needs grow and ministry needs expand in the life of our church we should expect to see God gift and call certain men to serve in the church vocationally. Now I serve vocationally in a full time capacity. Brother Keith serves vocationally in a part time capacity.

There are elders who serve and it's not their vocational calling but then there are elders who serve and it is their vocational calling. And another part of this vocational gifting and calling is this. We should even expect God to give and to call other men to pastor in other churches. Maybe one day we plant a church. Yes maybe one day we plant a church. Maybe one day we come alongside another church just like we used to be. You know there was a time when we were a dying, floundering, struggling, small, weak church. And maybe we come alongside a church like that one day and help plant a pastor there and then help the rebirth of a church.

Maybe one of our anchored in truth churches needs a pastor and we send out one of the men of our church to be a part of a sister church. And look this is a part of church growth. We grow numerically. We grow with babies and children. We grow when people come to faith in Christ. We grow when God brings other Christians in the life of the church. We grow when we have financial resources and material resources at our disposal. But we also grow when God raises up leaders, even leaders that we send out. And I'm sure there are other reasons why it is good for me to share my call to the ministry testimony.

But those two reasons were really at the top of my list. Now when it comes to an example of one being called into the ministry there's really none better than Paul and really these events here in Acts chapter 13. Actually we have two men that are being called. We have Barnabas and Paul. A little side lesson here. I don't know if you noticed but in these verses that we read earlier Barnabas is listed first. And that's because it wasn't quite clear who was going to be the leader of the bunch.

If you follow the progression of that ministry endeavor, their first missionary journey, it became quite clear that Paul was the leader and then you'll see those names change. It was because he was the leader among the band of brothers. Now I want us to notice four things in this account. These verses that we read earlier were God called, He gifted, and He sent Paul into the ministry. First we see a local church, the church in Antioch. This is one of the strongest of those first churches. Second we see the working of the Holy Spirit of God in men and in the life of the church. Third we see the sending church. We see the sending church.

I've already mentioned this. They sent out Paul on his first missionary journey folks and he came all the way back to Antioch to give a report. And then fourth we see the fruit of their labor. So if that is what we see in Paul's life in ministry, I want to share those things from my life. I want to use this as my pattern as I share my ministry testimony and call. Now first and surprisingly important to some, my call to the ministry came out of and was a part of a local church. Just like Paul was called in the life of a local church, I was as well.

After I came to faith in Christ in 1989, I plugged my life into the life of Highland Baptist Church there in Laurel. Now I shared a lot about my home church last week when I shared my conversion testimony. And if you've not listened to that message, you really need to go listen to it because these two messages really come together. They build on one another. But as a Christian in those early years, I was very, very active in every part of the life of the church. I was active in Sunday school. I was active on Sunday mornings in worship. I was active on Sunday nights. I was active on Wednesday nights, on Wednesday night services.

We had an outreach and a visitation program, very evangelistic. I was active in that program and I was active in a men's prayer ministry. Let me say something about this real quick. Active does not mean that you perfectly attend. Active means you actively, consistently attend. Sometimes folks text me and say, "Pastor, we're sick and I'm just sorry we're not going to be there. Please don't banish us. We don't do that." I'll never forget years ago, I was a man in the life of our church because of his vocation and career. He missed a lot. One day he came up and he said, "Pastor, I've been out because of work.

I've been traveling here and there." I said, "Brother, it's okay. A man has to work to feed his family." And one time he marched up to me in the summer and he said, "You know, I've been out for work and I've been out because of this work issue." And all of a sudden I realized my wife planned our vacation here and then we had this family event here and I'm going to be out quite a bit. And I looked at him and I said, "You got to correct those things." Balance, yes. But I was faithful. Now here's where I want us to turn to Acts chapter 2. I want us to look at really just one verse. One verse.

This is after the Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost. This all relates to the church there at Jerusalem, that very first church. And this is a description of those early believers and those who were born again at the day of Pentecost. And what we have here, Luke is writing and he's describing these believers in the first church there. And he says, "And they, the believers, were devoted, they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship and to the breaking of the bread and to prayer." That's verse 42.

Now there are two observations from this Jerusalem church and this verse that I want to apply to my life during that time in my life when I was called into the ministry. First, those early believers were continually devoted. This simply means what it says. They were devoted. They were devoted continually. They were faithful and faithfully devoted. They were not devoted for just a period of time or when it was convenient, but they were faithfully devoted continually. But what were they continually devoted to? Second, they were devoted to certain specific things in the life of the church.

The verse that we read said that they were devoted to four things. First, they were devoted to the apostles' teaching. This would have been the taught word of God and the preached word of God from those chosen men of God assigned to that job and that task. And then second, they were devoted to the fellowship, which means the fellowship of the believers. This would have been the community of or the gathering of the believers as they gathered together. And then third, they were devoted to the breaking of bread. Now this is very important. This is more than just a fellowship meal.

In the New Testament, this phrase speaks of the Lord's Supper and eating a meal together. So they were devoted to worship through the Lord's Supper and to fellowship over a meal. And then fourth, they were devoted to prayer during their worship gatherings and at specific times they prayed and they were devoted to prayer. Now listen to how all of these things were in my life during those years. I was faithfully devoted and continually devoted to all four of these things as an early believer. I was devoted to the apostles' teaching through my pastor. I was devoted to the fellowship of the believers.

When the fellowship of the believers met, every time the believers met, as best as I could, I was devoted to the breaking of the bread. That would have been the Lord's Supper and fellowship. And I was devoted to prayer with men in the life of the church. Look, my home church had a wonderful prayer ministry, strictly men. And we're going to step up to that ministry soon here. Something I've been praying for for quite a while. Men, I'm going to call on you to start to serve faithfully in prayer in some sacrificial ways, all right? But I was faithful. Now, I want to throw something out here for you. I'll phrase, "Ask Joe." Think for a minute.

I've just made some audacious statements. I was faithful. I was faithful. I did this. I did that. And what I'm saying is this. You can get in your car and you can drive to Highland Baptist Church in Laurel, Mississippi right now, and you can track a man down that I knew then named Joe Johnson. He was a deacon and a leader in the church then, and he still is now. And you can say, "Joe, would you explain to me, would you tell me, was Chris faithful, like he says he was faithful, during those years?" And he will chuckle and laugh and say, "Yup, he really, truly was." He would say, "I remember the first time he walked down that aisle.

I remember when he was baptized and I watched all of these things in his life." I've shared before that my home church pastor, Brother Dennis, is sick with Alzheimer's and he's out of the ministry. But his wife is still there. Miss Vicki is still there. You can track down Miss Vicki and ask, "Was Chris faithful like he says he was?" She would say, "Yes, I remember the first day he walked in the Sunday School class because I taught his class." I remember that day. Remember I shared that when I came to faith in Christ, I grabbed the Bible and I went to Sunday School that very next day.

I walked into Miss Vicki's Sunday School class and that afternoon she called me. She said, "Chris, I'm so glad you came to Sunday School." I said, "Yes, ma'am, I'll be back." And she kind of got quiet. And she said, "You know, I don't understand things." She said, "You seem like such a nice guy." She said, "The way your family described you, you were an animal." I was a lost wicked animal, but I was faithful. And look, see folks, this is a lesson, not just in faithfulness. This is a lesson in faithfulness, but this is a lesson in whom God calls. God calls faithful men. God calls faithful men.

I've seen men step forward in the life of the church throughout the years and say, "Oh, I'm called to the ministry. I'm called to do this and I'm called to do that." And they didn't even have enough strength to go to Sunday School. They didn't even have enough strength to come back on a Sunday night. They didn't have enough strength to just be faithful. They didn't have enough strength to be faithful and then to serve in vacuuming the floor or taking out the trash or doing something like change light bulbs. So how in the world could they be faithful to lead? God calls faithful men, not lazy men and half-hearted men.

But then second, things changed for me in a great way in June of 1994. That is when I volunteered to work with teenagers in the life of our church. Now I had no idea at that time, but this is when God began to work to call me and this is when He began to gift me for ministry. Now let me give you a little back story. At that particular time, we had a youth minister in the life of our church and I'm just going to say it nicely. It really wasn't working out that well. Everybody in the life of the church knew. It was very disorganized. There was not much leadership.

It was woefully behind what God would have it to be and what the leaders in the church expected it to be. So after that individual resigned, I stepped forward. You see, I saw the situation and it grieved me. The situation grieved my wife. Now we were not married at that time, but we had a heart for the situation as we saw it. So what did we do? We walked into the door of Brother Dennis's office and we volunteered to work and serve with the youth with the teenagers in the church. And let me tell you, Brother Dennis leaned forward in his office chair and he put us to work.

He asked me to teach the teenagers on Wednesday nights and he asked us to plan a few local activities for the teenagers. Now this is something that you need to really know. I had never taught anything in my life. I don't think I had ever even sat down and taught somebody how to clean a gun. Well, what did I do? I marched down to the local Baptist Book House and I got me a book on Bible lessons. And that first night in the choir room of Holland Baptist Church on the second floor, I opened that book up and I taught a lesson and it was awful. I walked out and I took that book and I threw it in the trash can right there before I left the room.

And I began to pray. I say, "Lord, if you want me to teach these young people, you're going to have to show me what to teach." And lo and behold, the Spirit of God began to work and he would show me what to teach. I would deal with topics and things like that that they needed, but God did that in me. Another thing I did is I told Brother Dennis I would teach them if we could have the youth class before Wednesday night service. So you got to remember what was going on was the teenagers were really just running around the church.

Now I didn't make any friends there, but it worked because I was giving them the word of God as best I could before service. And then the teenagers were there under Brother Dennis on Wednesday night as he taught the word. But something shocked me. God began to bless. God began to work in the lives of teenagers. We had some come to faith in Christ. God used his word as I taught and the ministry began to grow. And I had people that would come up to me and say, "Maybe you need to go into the ministry." And I verbally probably threw chairs at them. I was like, "Nothing. Me? Heavens no." I ran from that. But things changed soon.

The church hired a full-time paid youth minister. Well, I assumed that I would step down from serving in the youth ministry and all that I had been doing, I was willing to do that. I had no problem with that. But this new youth minister saw that God was working. And he said that he saw God working in me. And he said, "I don't want you to step back. I want to keep you working in the ministry." And I did that. I worked and I served and I just submitted to his leadership. Well, it was during that time when God, by the work and the voice of the Holy Spirit in my life, specifically called me to go into the ministry.

There was a series of events which led to a specific event in my life. He spoke to me and he worked in me and God called me to what I understood then and I still understand as vocational ministry. I'll never forget that night. One of the things that this youth minister built in the life of the church was a student worship service where the Word of God was taught. And I'll never forget, I was sitting in the gym of Highland Baptist Church in the back on those rollout bleachers.

And that very night, March the 5th of 1995, as everything was going on around me, ministry, student ministry, ministry in the life of the church, the Spirit of God came to me and he spoke. Now he didn't speak audibly. He didn't speak audibly, but it was even louder than that because it dramatically affected everything in my life. You know what the Spirit of God said? He took all of that and he brought it to my remembrance and he said, "I can do this through you." He showed me this understanding of lost people who needed the gospel.

And he said, "I have come to seek and save that which was lost." He brought that verse to my mind and he said, "I can do this through you." It's important to know how I reacted to all of these things and God calling me and I'm seeing vocational ministry. I did not run, but I did not run to make some quick decision before the church either. Here's where I want us to turn back to Acts chapter 13. Just a couple of pages. Acts chapter 13. I want to read the verses again.

"Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers Barnabas Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Meneon, a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch and Saul." We understand that's Paul. "And while they the church were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.' Then after, it's understood this is the church and all that are involved there, then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and the text says they sent them off." Now here I want to make one observation from these events and I want to apply this to my life during that time when God was calling me.

Notice after God worked to call Paul they prayed and they fasted. Paul and Barnabas prayed and they fasted and the church also prayed and they fasted. Collectively they prayed and fasted over this call from God in the lives of these particular men. They all saw and they all knew what God was doing and they were all participating in this work. Well that's exactly what I did. That's exactly what we did. I begin to pray. I begin to fast. I begin to get into the scriptures. I begin to counsel with a few men. I begin to counsel with my pastor. I begin to counsel with that youth pastor who was over me. I begin to pray. I begin to fast.

I begin to deny myself. I begin to seek godly counsel. Why? Because it wasn't a decision that I was going to make. It was a decision that collectively we as the church we were going to make. A lesson here. There are guys that will come up and they'll say they were called. They will even say I'm doing a particular ministry and if you'll notice sometimes it'll be completely disjointed from a New Testament church. I'm not against the fellowship of Christian athletes but that's not the church. I'm not against the Baptist Student Union but that's not the church. I'm not against what's called parachurch ministries and organizations.

No but they cannot substitute for the church. Can God use those organizations? Yes. Can that influence someone into the ministry? Yes. But look if Paul was called out of a church shouldn't we be called out of a church? And if men are sent out of a church shouldn't we send men out of a church? I think the answer is yes. Well this is what happened next. God worked in me and God called me on March the 5th of 1995. I explained that. I engaged in much counsel, much prayer, fasting, denying myself, seeking God to know God's will in the matter.

And after I was fully convinced this work of God was complete in me I made a public declaration to my church family that God was indeed calling me to vocational ministry. That was on February the 4th of 1996 with my pastor standing right beside me vouching for me publicly declaring that he saw it as well. And notice the dates. I prayed, I fasted, I sought to know God's will for almost a year. I sought counsel, I studied the scriptures, I sought to know God's will for almost a year. Now why did I do that? I did not trust myself. I didn't trust my emotions, I didn't trust my feelings, I didn't trust what I wanted, I didn't trust myself.

I did not want what I wanted, I wanted to die to what I wanted and I wanted what God wanted. And then by May of 1995 God had placed me right down the road at First Baptist Church in Ellisville, Mississippi just south of Laurel as a youth pastor. Now here's where I want us to look back at Acts 13 again. I'm going to read the verses again verses 1 to 3.

Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers Barnabas Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Menean a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetris and Saul while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." And then after all of them collectively fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and they sent them off. There is one observation I want to make here and apply to that particular time in my life. Notice what finally took place at the end of the verses.

In the church they met in the city of Antioch and God did this unique work. While they were worshiping the Lord praying and fasting the Holy Spirit said and spoke to Barnabas and Saul and even to the church, "Set apart these men for the ministry to which I've called them." And then after more fasting and more prayer the church as well as Barnabas and Saul knew that God had truly called these men. And when they were convinced that this calling and this work was complete the church sent them out. The church laid their hands on them in prayer and they sent them out.

And for me and many at Highland Baptist Church we all knew that God had done this work in me. Not because of me but because of him. Brother Dennis knew. John Stockstile knew. Those deacons and other leaders there they knew. The leading men of the church they knew. Remember my phrase? Go ask Joe. Really go down all the way to law in Mississippi. Walk in the door of that church. You ask Joe and he'll say, "Yep I was there. I was there.

I saw it all." But then after I had served at First Baptist Church in Ellisville for a little over a year my pastor there in Ellisville and the leaders of the church there in Ellisville and my pastor from Highland Baptist Church felt that I needed to be formally ordained to the gospel ministry. And in November of 1997 in an ordination service at Highland Baptist Church those men formally ordained me. They were publicly testifying that they saw that God had set me apart for the work. So in a sense there were two churches that joined together to say these things and they sent me out. Now what's the lesson here?

We have a call yes but there is a process. There is a process by which the church does these things right. Yes it takes time. It takes work. I'm a little bit skeptical of the guys who jump up, run down the aisle and they publicly real quickly say I'm called. I'm called. Do these guys work out? Sometimes yes. But what do we see here? Yes a call. A call to individual men. A call to the church and a process of prayer and fasting and seeking to know and understand God's will collectively and then ascending. There are many reasons why I am extremely happy to be a part of the Anchored in Truth network. This is one of them.

At the center of Anchored in Truth in the churches that are a part of Anchored in Truth it's about raising up God called men to pastor. It's not about planting churches it's about planting pastors. Look the church at Antioch did not devise a ministry scheme for the first missionary journey. They sent out men. See the difference? There is a huge difference. You can scheme and strategize anything but you can't raise up men. God does. And that's what Anchored in Truth does. God plants men and they work through the process.

They plant men and pastors and elders and I can give you examples and stories and tell you about men that I know who benefited in churches as well. Now what about the fruit of Paul's labor? I mentioned that earlier. Well that really needs no explanation unless you're ignorant of what the scriptures say. We know that God used Paul as the apostle to the Gentiles. God used Paul to spread the gospel all throughout the Gentile world. Some say that God used Paul unlike he used any other man. I don't have a problem saying that but there are a lot of men that we know nothing about. Well by no means am I comparing the fruit of my labor to Paul's.

That would be very ignorant and arrogant. But what has been the fruit of my labor in ministry? What has proven that God did indeed call me into the ministry? Well I spent six years at First Baptist Church in Ellisville, Mississippi. That was a part-time position when I went there. I'll never forget when I went there. I knew it was part-time. We did not have children at the time. My wife worked full-time and we made a conscious decision. Even though I was paid part-time and expected to work part-time, I did it full-time.

I went from about 15 hours a week to about 20 hours a week to about 30 hours a week to about 40 hours a week on the job description and I never changed a thing. But what did God do? God built a ministry. We had a successful ministry. We had a healthy ministry. God did a work and that ministry was not segregated from the church. It was a part of the total work of the church and it impacted the entire church. Remember I said earlier go ask Joe. Well your journey is a little shorter. You can go ask Jared. Jared was there as a result of what God did there. God brought Jared into the kingdom and I'm very very thankful.

But then you can also go to East Haven Baptist Church. After being at Ellisville, First Baptist for six years, God moved me here to Brookhaven to East Haven Baptist Church. Now this might sound a little harsh but it's true. In many many ways that youth ministry was very very unhealthy. Now there was a strong emphasis on missions which was really really good. But God used me and enabled me to move that ministry into a more healthy place. I worked real hard to make it word focused. I worked real hard to bring parents and adults into the ministry and we built a successful balanced ministry there. I'm very thankful.

Again you don't have to travel very far to ask Joe about this. You can just go ask Colby and Misty McMorris. They were there. You can ask Tommy and Patty Alderman. They were there during those years. Some of you know this. I left East Haven Baptist Church really through some great difficulty. There was a lot of problems in the life of that church and God had me not serving in a full-time capacity for about four years. I call it an interim period. I preached a lot. I did an interim or two but God had me waiting during those four years. My life verse was Psalm 40 verses 1 2 and 3. Wait patiently on the Lord. I waited on the Lord.

Now I had ministry opportunities. Every time that opportunity would come my way God would take that verse and bring it before my mind and heart and eyes and he'd say wait. He'd say wait and I would wait. Now I didn't necessarily wait patiently but I waited and I waited and it was during those years that God purged me. During those years God changed me. During those years God got me away from a lot of unhealthy ministry and the influence of a lot of unhealthy ministry and during those years through much prayer and fasting and seeking the Lord it was about God showing me what was wrong in a lot of ways.

Now I didn't know how to fix them and God had a surprise for me. That was when God led me to Nola Baptist Church in 2010. I became the interim there and God led me to take the church as pastor there at Nola Baptist Church and oh we experienced a wonderful thing from about eight or ten or twelve people. A church that was almost about to close. We had a glorious wonderful rebirth. God rebirthed the church. God breathed life into the church. A few people came to faith in Christ. We began to see healthy children's ministry. We taught the word.

We poured the word into the life of the church and God began to show us from the word what a true and biblical church should look like. You don't have to go very far to ask someone about the Nola days. Go ask Chris and Clarissa Travis. They can tell you. They were there through the whole thing and many of you know God led us to move. We moved and we replanted and we reconstituted and we renamed as Grace Life Church. See it was during those years at Nola Baptist Church that I reached out to Anchored in Truth. We were alone. We needed help. All alone.

It was so difficult as a bivocational minister just burning the candle of life at both ends and then some. And see it was Brother Jeff and Brother John O. You know those men and the whole Anchored in Truth organization who came in and said let us help you not tell you what to do. And I have said this before publicly in some other Anchored in Truth churches in context. We would not be here where we are now today if it wasn't for them. And so here we are now. Here I am now as pastor of Nola Baptist Grace Life Church for some 12 years or almost 12 years. Now earlier I gave two reasons why I wanted to share my call to the ministry and testimony.

I want to revisit those briefly and I want to expand on things just a little and I'm going to make some instructional comments. First I share how and when God called me in the vocational ministry and eventually into an elder pastor ministry because you need to know how I was called in the ministry and what that has looked like all throughout the years. And you know that I am genuinely called in three ways. You hear how God called and gifted me in the beginning. You hear how God has called and gifted me for the ministry throughout the years and then on top of that you personally see the gifting. You personally see the calling.

You benefit from it. You grow from it. You watch the giftings and the callings being fleshed out. It's not just enough to hear about what happened yesterday. And look, look at a vitally important lesson here. When a man is born again and called to ministry both of those events are a work of the Holy Spirit of God in that man. This is an experiential work of God. This is a birthing work of God. This is a calling and a gifting work of God. This is a supernatural work of God that he and others in the church and the people in their lives and in their families can see and will see.

And in my opinion if someone cannot explain that they have this experiential call to the ministry by and through a work of the Holy Spirit of God in relation to a church and leaders in the church attesting to that call, it makes me wonder if they are not simply assimilating into the ministry just for some human reason. But then second, I believe that God will call and is calling men to certain types of biblical ministries. I believe God is stirring and working in some for Deacon ministry. But listen, number one you've got to be called of God and number two you've got to be qualified. If you read 1 Timothy 3 you'll see the qualifications.

God doesn't just call anyone, the church just can't appoint anyone for someone to be a Deacon and to serve even in physical things they've got to be qualified and called. But then I believe God is calling and singling out certain men for elder ministry. Again, you must be called of God, the church must see that you're called of God but you have to be qualified. If you're not qualified you have to question the calling. If you meet the qualifications and you're not called, you're not called. If you're called and you're not qualified you have to question the call. You see?

But then I believe in time, vocational pastoral ministry, I believe that we will send one or two or others out. Maybe that's one of you. And my question for you is this, will you count that cost? Will you pay that price? Would you be willing to leave a very comfortable place in the life of this church to go out where it's not so comfortable? Where it may be hard? Where you might have to burn the candle of life at both ends like I mentioned earlier. Now if God is working and moving and calling in you about these things, I want to give you some instruction here. I want to give you some critical guidance here. Go to 1 Timothy chapter 3.

Look at verse 1 with me. We know this chapter is dealing with the qualifications of elder or pastoral ministry and deacon ministry. Notice this one verse. "The saying is trustworthy. If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he, he desires a noble task." Here I want to make one specific observation and I want to point you to some critical life and death teaching. Notice this word aspire in verse 3. The English Standard Version, the New American says aspire. The King James says desire. Paul is saying that if any man, stop right here and look at me, every one of you, please look at me.

He says he, all of this language in the original is gender specific. There's no such thing as a woman pastor. That's all make believe. That's all demonic. It's a cheap substitute. It's make believe. You might say, how can you say that pastor that's rude? You cannot find it in the scripture. As a matter of fact in 1 Timothy 3, it says that a woman's not supposed to have authority over a man in the church. If there's a church that has a woman minister, it's make believe. It's nothing more than like Peter Pan. It doesn't exist, but it's worse than Peter Pan. It's demonic. I'll always take a stand against that.

Not because I'm a chauvinist and I'm putting women in their place. That's the way God designed it. Paul is saying that if any man, if any man aspires or desires this office of an elder and then later he goes on to talk about the office of Deacon, this means he literally wants this in his mind and in his heart and in his being. He is reaching and stretching out for it. That's what this aspire means. This is not a passing whim. This is a fixed and firm desire. This is a continual non-fading desire and aspiration. Let me show you something.

Remember those years I said that in between two churches, I was in this interim period where God wouldn't let me serve. God took me out of ministry. Now I didn't leave the ministry. I still preached and I saw myself as being in the ministry. A pastor friend called me once and he said, "Do you think you'll ever go back into the ministry?" Well, I think he was trying to encourage me, but it didn't encourage me. I was waiting. God wouldn't let me go. And oh, I aspired that. I desired that. It killed me to no end.

Although I was in the middle of God's will, it was the most unhappy time in my life because that which I aspired to do and I was called to do, God said, "No son, you put it aside. I've got a greater work to do in you." So this is a fixed desire, a continual, a non-fading desire and aspiration. And if we study this chapter, we will see one thing, one thing, testing and sifting and testing and sifting to do what? To see if one is truly called of God, it could be a passing whim. And then we see this testing and sifting to see if one is truly qualified for the office and for the task.

You see, if someone says they're called and they're not qualified, they're not called. Someone could be qualified, but they not not be called. Both have to be in the life called and qualified. Paul says the one who is desiring to be an elder, they must be tested. They must be examined to see if they're qualified. They must not be a recent convert, the text says. They must be examined and proven to be truly called of God and biblically qualified for the office. And then we see that Paul says the same thing about the one aspiring to be a deacon. They must be tested and examined to see if they are truly qualified and called as well.

Their wives must be tested as well. Yes, look at the text. They must be examined and proven to be truly called of God and biblically qualified for the office of service as a deacon. Somebody say to even change light bulbs? Yes. And look, quick, spontaneous, emotional decisions for these things is part of the reason why so many churches are in a mess. They're led by men who are not called and they're not qualified. Now here's my instruction. Men speaking to you. Wives, don't say anything. Be quiet in your husband's ear. Listen to me. Be quiet in your husband's ear for a minute.

Men, if any of you feel or sense that God is calling you and gifting you to deacon ministry or elder ministry to preaching or to teaching ministry to vocational preaching and elder and teaching ministry, this is what you do. Listen to your pastor. First, read the qualifications. Read and study the scriptures. Not once. On your knees in prayer and fasting, surrendering that desire, that aspiration up to God, sifting it through what God's word says. Prayer, fasting, denying yourself up early, late at night, studying the qualifications, looking at Paul and all of these other men. If you need to know some scripture to read, I'll give them to you.

And then second, pray and fast and deny yourself while seeking to know God's will. What did we learn in Ephesians 5 verses 15, 16, and 17? Paul says, "Don't be foolish. Don't be stupid. Understand and know the will of the Lord." So you pray, you deny yourself, you seek to know God's will, you die to your feelings, you die to your desires for your own life. You can't trust yourself. And then third, you come see your pastor. Yeah, come see your pastor. I will walk you through the scriptures. I'll deal with you with the qualifications. I will pray with you and pray with you. I'll meet with you. I'll counsel with you. I'll give you tasks to do.

I'll give you jobs to do. I will listen. I will look and I will observe. And you know what? This is what God will do. If you're called and if you're qualified, we'll see the same thing happen in you, happen in me, and happen in us that we saw in any of them. I've known guys who went off into the ministry and their pastor never knew anything about it. Paul was the Apostle Paul. He subjected himself to the leaders of the church at Antioch. Paul didn't just run off into the ministry without being sent out by a church.

And if God is indeed gifting you and God is indeed calling you to some type of ministry with God's help, we will find out what that is and I will lead the church to do exactly what the church at Antioch did. If it was good for Antioch, it'll be good for us. So last week you heard my personal conversion to Christ's testimony. You heard how and when I came to faith in Christ. And this morning you have heard how God called me and how gifted He gifted me, how He equipped me for vocational ministry, and eventually He had gifted me and equipped me for elder pastoral ministry.

And I pray and believe that this morning's message and last week's message will be good for us in the life of the church. We might not see it next week, but we'll see the ramifications, all the results in a positive way in the days, weeks, and years to come. So let's pray and let's commit these things to the Lord.