0:04 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Glory to God. Amen. Good evening, everyone. Praise the Lord. Amen. Um, we're having an interesting subject tonight. We're talking about ordination and what it means to be ordained as a minister of the Lord. Amen. Um I want to go through this because we uh this ministry Bible teachers international is uh quickly approaching our world conference wherein many of our ministers are being uh either rellicensed or new 0:34 ministers are being ordained. And I I just want to go over some of the some of the qualifications or the criteria really for ordination. what it what it really means and why it is so important that we understand this criteria that God has given us and that we stick to it that we that we stay with what the what the Lord has said about it. Praise the Lord. And so I'm I'm excited, 1:04 glory to God, to go through this again. Bless the Lord. However, I I'm I'm coming out of a u manual that we did some time ago, and I'm looking at the fact that all of our ministers have not yet downloaded this manual. It's in the faith library, and it's it's called Evaluating Ministers for Ordination. So, if you don't have your copy of it, go to the faith library, marybanksfaith library.com. and download your 1:34 copy. You can get to the faith library also through marybanks.netfaith library. Amen. Um but get your get your copy of this. This this should be in the in the library of every licensed minister in this ministry. And those of you who are not a part of Bible teachers, if you des if you need to understand ordination, if you need to understand what it means to ordain someone and uh loose them to work 2:04 ministry in your particular ministry, then this this uh manual is for you as well. Amen. Ordination is not a uh is is is not a um a ritual in the church that we just something that we just do. No, this is this is very very serious. Um working with me tonight is Daniel Chin, Bishop Daniel Chen. And Daniel, I I need you to look up a scripture. I think it's Hebrews the 4th 2:34 chapter. It talks about every high priest. Amen. Hebrews uh 4:1, I believe. And let's go. Let's start right there. I I'm in the manual. I'm in page uh I'm I'm home page five for those of you that are following me. Evaluating ministers for ordination. Amen. This is our first um uh page of study notes. Okay. Hey. So Hebrews 5:1 and 2, it says, "For every high priest taken from among men is ordained 3:04 for men in things pertaining to God." Okay, that so every high priest is taken from among men. Okay. So that tells us that, you know, ministers are just ordinary people. We're just we're just ordinary people that God now has decided to use. And so it's God that takes us from among men and ordain us in things pertaining to him, pertaining to God for men. Is that right? Yeah. Is that what it says? 3:35 Amen. God now takes us from among men and ordains us, calls us, positions us, sends us, equips us, amen, to work in the hearts of men. That's what an ordained minister is. And I I want the reason why I started there is because I think that the the idea of ordination in a ministry, I I can only speak I can speak for Bible teachers. The mindset of ordination is just not right. Come 4:05 on up, Apostle. Glory to God. We can use you here. Glory to God. Just add another seat. Praise the Lord. The the mindset is just not right. It's just not right. And what what am I referring to? the people the people in the body of Christ that that are potential candidates for ordination, they have been given a legacy. You know, they a legacy was passed down to them through through their predecessors of 4:35 a mindset that is erroneous and is not the mind of God. is not the mind of God regarding what ordination is. Remember now this scripture tells us that every high priest and the reason they use high priest is because we the sons of God are the mediators for the world. We're the ones that that stand between God and the world. We're the ones that are the intercessors. We intercede for the world. Glory 5:05 to God. We are the ones that preach the gospel. We take we get the word from God and we bring it to the world and we're the ones that go out and we gather the flock for God. Amen. So now that being our calling, that's the calling of an ordained minister. So now if that being so, then God is the one that makes that selection. God is the He said the scripture says 5:35 every high priest, those who have access to God, that's what that high priest represent. someone that has access to God. In the old covenant, it was the high priest. He was the only one that had access to God in the Holy of Holies. That's not true. Now, everyone in the body of Christ has access to God. Amen. And so, now we are now to take that access very, very seriously because God now 6:05 is the one that chooses us. He's the one that chose us to have that access. He's the one that chose us and he's the one that decided. He's the one that decides how he's going to use us inside of that access. He makes that decision. We don't make that. We look at the body of Christ and we see we see the the gifts in the body and we see those gifts as hierarchies. 6:35 Glory to God. God doesn't see them that way. God sees these gifts as methodologies, operations, the way he's going to use individuals in the body of Christ. Is there governance? Yes. Glory to God. The the scripture tell us he set the apostles first, the prophets, and then the pastors, the teachers, and evangelists. Glory to God. Um and prophets. Glory to God. But Amen. That is the that each one of those gifts has 7:05 a responsibility. Glory to God. We're given different responsibilities, but there's no one person that is any greater or better than anyone else. It's just how God uses that person. I was ordained by God before I ever received a a hand of fellowship from any flesh, human beings, fleshy human beings. God ordained me five years before uh I was ever even given the right hand of fellowship as an apostle. I did the work 7:35 of an apostle for five years. Amen. Before that ever happened. So God is the one that chose me. He's he's the one that chooses every real leader. Okay? God is the one that does that. But but the mindset and I I'm glad Apostle Kareem and and Daniel are here. Amen. because we need to talk about that that mindset the of ordination. It's it's as if now um ordination means now I have come 8:05 into authority. I've come into authority in the church in the body of Christ. I have come into authority. And watch this. This is the this is why this is so important because it says that you have come this is the mind the mindset says you have come into authority in the body of Christ and there is no concern as to whether you have authority in the spirit world there's absolutely no concern about 8:35 that ordination now just simply means that I have come into authority over some of the people of God. I've come into some type of authority in the church. I'm I'm I might have been a teacher, but now, glory to God, I'm a I am a pastor. I I'm a an assistant pastor or I'm an evangelist. And now I have some authority inside of the church government. This is what is looked at. But 9:05 the intent of the Holy Spirit, the intent of God was to ordain us by giving us authority in the spirit world so that we can deal with Satan. We could set captives free, people that Satan had bound. We can set them free. But there's a mindset that completely um alienates itself from the possibility of having power in the spirit world. As long as I have power in the church, as long as I'm 9:35 inside of a hierarchy in the body of Christ, something's wrong with that. Something's wrong with that. Now, I know uh Kareem Daniel, you guys have been in Bible teachers quite a while now. Do you see that mindset and and what it's actually uh how it's actually guiding uh some of the people in uh in the ministry? Absolutely. Hello. Hello everyone. Absolutely, Doc. Um, and I and I believe that it's it's definitely God's 10:05 wisdom for us to revisit this, you know. Um, I know in the past we've mentioned this and this study guide has actually been out there for a little while now, maybe almost a year now, but like you said, um, God has need for us to revisit this. I'm I was thinking back on as you said ordination in Hebrews Paul goes and references a high priest right and anyone that knew about the law 10:35 knew the role of a high priest and knew even how a high priest is chosen his authority his servitude right and God always always had a criteria for someone being called a high priest or even a servant or a minister in his house. Even those who would carry the ark, there was a a requirement. And it was not something that you should just give to anyone, right? And we saw the severity of 11:05 it. I'm looking back at when when Samuel, God sent Samuel to find the next king of Israel and he sent him to the house of Jesse. Mhm. And Samuel, God told Samuel, I believe, don't look on his on his countenance or his appearance, right? Because God is going to inspire Samuel with the criteria with who God has chosen. But we have to examine in the body of Christ if we have gone back 11:35 on even the instruction that Samuel got because sometimes we look at things that God is not seeing as the criteria for ministry. We have taken that on in in the culture of the church now, right? Where let's say if someone has been here for 5 years, it's time to ordain them, right? or if someone has is a good giver to the ministry, we better go ahead and ordain them, right? And and there 12:05 has been somewhat of a change in the requirement of an of a minister. The change of a of the definition of what this high priest is to where now we just give it as as if it's a token or a or a prize. And that that's what it has become. It has become something like a a recognition of your of of who you are or what you are. And so people have come 12:35 to expect it now. Mhm. So when you come to expect, okay, I've been here for a while and sister so and so got it and she's my friend and I do just as much as her and brother so and so got it. People stand in waiting because of maybe their association with a pastor or maybe their their involvement here and there in the ministry. And so what happens is that people become disappointed 13:05 a lot when God doesn't choose them. And so they compare themselves to one another. And now you have strife in in ministry. You have comparisons. You have people looking at people uh divisions among us because of this new definition of ordination, you know, and and so it shapes the culture of the church even further than we may we may realize or or redefin ordination. Amen. Apostle. Amen. I I totally agree. Um I 13:35 remember the day when ordination was simply about calling out what you already see. Amen. You know, if if someone was working as a pastor, you look in their life, you see the heart of holiness, first of all, you see their passions for souls. You see them working in people's lives, producing fruit. That's the Holy Spirit using them already, approving their life. He has already declared them as a pastor. And so an ordination 14:05 was simply us acknowledging what they already are and what they are already walking in. But we, as you were saying, doc, we've entered into a culture where the title means more than the actual operation of the gift. Amen. There are so many people that they will fight for a title. Yes. But when you sit them down and you ask them, whose life are you working in? What what kind of ministry are you 14:35 are you doing? Where's the fruit of your ministry? If when you sit them down, they're not really doing much in people's lives. But if if there's a threat or some sort of insinuation that you might lose a title, oh my lord, they get frantic when when that's not what it's about. It's about God. It's about our walk with the Holy Spirit. And if the Holy Spirit has approved my life, he is the 15:05 gift working in me. If someone takes away a title from me, that shouldn't stop God from working in me. Exactly. But the problem is we have indeed shifted our focus from God actually using us from us being holy and pleasing unto God to now focusing on something before our names. Exactly. and and and pastors pastors I I handed ordinations over to you. I handed it over to the pastors to make the evaluation 15:35 of the people and you got to make sure that you're being true to what God set as criteria because it the buck stops right there. Glory to God. you know, you're the one that that I'm supposed to be able to trust that because you're with those people every day, every every week, every month, every year. And if I can't trust your evaluation, who do I trust? I'm not with them. I don't know 16:05 them as as intimately as you do. And so that God has put that in the hands of the of the senior pastors. Amen. To make those decisions. And um you're going to have to really revisit whether you have been um careful to stay with the criteria that God set because let me show you the detriment here. Let me show you the sin that's in it. You can prematurely or have someone put someone 16:35 up for ordination. Glory to God. And have us to lay hands on that person. That person may be a novice. That person may be may not be ready for for ordination. They may not be ready to handle a congregation. They might may not be ready to to venture out into evangelism. They not be they may not be good at counsel. They may not really know and understand the mystery of Christ. Glory to 17:05 God. The very basics. And so, but like like Daniel said, they've been here a while. They they they're very faithful. They're loyal. Glory to God. But they still may be a novice. They may be a half done cake. And if you put them up for ordination and they get ordained, that says now that you've had us, the leadership in the ministry to bestow a title upon them. And that's all they received was 17:35 a title because God did not confirm that. God, even though we laid hands on, God did not confirm that. Amen. And then they go shipwreck. And that that now that that life and whatever shipwreck they whatever damage they do is on you. Amen. And and and probably on us too because we you made us party to that. You made us um you know complicit in that. And so uh I'm I wanted to 18:05 go back and revisit this because God is saying now wait a minute. You know, the world is coming to an end and we have to we have to have real ministry out there now. We can't we can't just put titles out there. You know, I I was I was sharing something with um with Bishop with with Bishop Daniel. I was I was sharing something with him. Glory to God. Uh a principle that 18:35 I that I really want you leaders to hear and I want to talk about it now before I forget it. Glory to God. I I'll I'll you know, hey, those I'd get those senior moments sometime where I might forget. All right. Um there's a principle that God revealed to me some, you know, through the years of ministering. Amen. And serving the Lord and serving you. Glory to God. Pastors, I want you to 19:05 consider what I'm about to say. Pastors, evangelists, glory to God. Whoever you are, prophets, apostles, whoever you are, I want you to consider something. When you are are even considering ordination or ordaining someone or setting someone amen up for ordination, when you're considering that person, I want you to really look at that person. I want there's something I want you to look for. I want you to look for um look at that 19:35 person's disposition toward the word of God. look at their disposition. Let me give you for instance, I have a very good um a handy example of someone that's in the ministry and this is what God showed me from day one from when I when I saw when I first met this individual um Aikita, Bishop Akita in Canada. Glory to God. He has he when he came into the ministry, he might not have 20:05 known this particular message. He was saved when he came in, but he might not have been, you know, up to speed in the mystery of Christ. Um and um that's no reflect. There's no throw off on him. It's just a fact that he acknowledged. Glory to God. And he might and he was not he didn't come in seeking any ordinations. Glory to God. But there's a quality that he has that you that 20:35 that those who are truly truly candidates for ordination must have. One of the things that I saw, the thing that that that that really gets God's attention is that Aikita, amen, is fascinated or is drawn to the action of the word, the operation of the word. Then let me show you, let me show you why I say that. He's drawn to the operation, the physical operation, the actual action of the word of 21:05 God rather than the academics of the word. Okay? There are many of you that are drawn to the academia. You you you you cherish preaching and teaching, good, sound teaching. You love it and you you gather in knowledge. But there are some people that go beyond knowledge. Their fascination is not with just gaining the knowledge. Their fascination is with what the knowledge can produce. Once you show them, and that's what that's what 21:35 anchored Aikita in Bible teachers. I've never talked to him about this. Glory to God. And I hope he doesn't mind me using him tonight as an example. But what anchored him in Bible teachers was that after hearing the word of God, hearing the word of God and actually seeing the word in operation, he was fascinated with what the word can produce after knowing you know coming in maybe not knowing mystery of Christ. 22:05 Glory to God. and and that you know the depths of that mystery, but having heard it, listening to it being taught and then seeing the evidence of it, seeing the evidence of that teaching, seeing what that teaching can do in a life. And he first saw what it did in his own life. He saw how the the power of the word. That's that's that's the that's the description. The power of the word. 22:35 He saw the action, the the the the power that the word had that what it could accomplish. And that's what fascinated him. And that's what now pricked his heart because he listens now with his heart. He listens to the way. He's always been like that. He's a man that that that that listens. He listens. Everybody doesn't listen. Glory to God. You're not really listening to God until you listen with your heart. and 23:05 he listens and he's fascinated with with what the the power of the word how the word can actually change things. It can literally change things as and that person is will walk in whatever they are taught. You know the scripture tells us in Philippians it says as far as you have obtained walk in that. That's what a will do. Whatever you teaches, you teach him, whatever he comprehends, he will walk in that. 23:35 He may not know all the stuff that's down the line that's going to be taught. But he's going to walk and he's going to do his best to try to walk in the thing that he's already been taught because he's fascinated with the impression the word makes on his heart. He's a he's fascinated with the action the actual operation of the word that he sees in other people's lives that you know he 24:05 watches his his upline. He watches his leadership glory to God very closely. He sees an operation of the word in their lives. He sees it in his life. And that's what fascinates him. And that's what he strives for. That's what he is um is um uh pushing pushing amen himself to obtain. He wants that operation to to remain in his life. He wants that word to operate in his life. Now, that's the 24:35 difference between someone that is that that hears the word for the sake of gaining knowledge and and because now I've got the knowledge, I can stand up and I can teach. I can stand up and I can preach. I can counsel. Glory to God. But let me show you the difference. You ever entertain people that are ordained and they can teach or they can preach, but they have no anointing? They have no 25:05 anointing and they don't you don't see you you you you see them um acting like um probably Israel would have acted with the law. They oh I can't do this. I don't do that. I don't do this and I don't do that. But as far as there being an anointing on their life, an anointing for ministry, as for their as far as them now um being a person that you can always entertain 25:35 Christ in them that that's not there. Now they have all the academics. They can talk about it. They can they can talk about it. They can teach it. but they don't have the power of that word operating in their lives. And you don't all you you know you're not sure what you're going to entertain. Glory to God. Uh you you may you know entertain religiosity. They're very religious and you know they pat 26:05 themselves on the back because I'm very loyal to my leader. I I I I'm faithful to the church and I don't do this and I don't do that and I don't do this and I don't do that. Okay, that's great. But does that qualify you as an ordained minister? Did God now give you a gift? Give Did he give you one of those gifts? Amen. Uh that says, "I'm an evangelist. I can 26:35 compel people to come to the Lord. I'm a I'm a prophet. I can prophesy cuz I dream. I I'm an apostle or I'm a pastor." You know, does that qualify you because you've been faithful to the church? Glory to God. God is the one that ordained. Amen. Apostle, you wanted to comment on that? Any any of you guys that operation, you know, to be fascinated with the operation of the word instead of 27:05 just the academics of the word. Yes. I I think it's so key, doc, what you're ministering because this goes beyond just ordination. Mhm. It goes all the way to what is life about for you, you know, because we're talking about um let's talk about actually what causes our gift to come forth. Okay. What causes our gift to come forth is plain old simple holiness. Holiness. Just holiness. Mhm. And so if what you're 27:35 saying, doc, you're saying there are some cases where you don't see the evidence of God working with someone, you don't see an an anointing. There is no other place to look but at the life, at the heart, you know, is that person truly holy? And if I'm not holy, what is my life about? You know what? Where's my focus as a son of God? Because if I'm still if I'm still chasing podiums 28:05 and chasing platforms, when my God, the savior of my soul, looks at me and say, "You're not right. You're not righteous. You're not holy." My focus is off, right? You know, my something is very wrong. Right? Because at the core, at the core of every son, I believe it's a part even of salvation, there's a longing to please the father. Yes. There's a longing to be holy. We're willing to sacrifice. There's a 28:35 sting that comes when conviction when when we hear the voice of conviction. When the Holy Ghost speaks to our heart and say, "You're not righteous. This is not how you should think. This is not how you should deal." And there's a longing in the heart that says, "God, I want to be holy. If I never hold a microphone, if I'm never seen, if no one knows my name, I just want to be 29:05 holy." And that's what life is about for the sons of God. But here comes um that that dangling carrot we say or that temptation call a title. Mhm. That gives you influence, that gives you notoriety. You could be no one could have known you before, right? You know, but as soon as a title is on your name, everyone's watching you. I remember that even in my my life, the moment I was ordained 29:35 an apostle, people started looking at me. I'm like, why are people staring at me? It's just what comes with a title. But title should not replace the longing in our heart to please the father. M if I am holy before the Lord, there's an assurance that ministry will flow out of me. If I'm holy, if I believe on him, if I believe the scriptures, if I'm fascinated with the life of the truth 30:05 of the life of it, actually living it, when I hear messages that say love my enemy, do I actually put that into action or am I just quick to preach it? You know these things when we become fascinated with that saints. Hallelujah. The Holy Spirit will will voice himself. He will say I approve this one by works by an anointing. You will know God's hand. You will know God's approval because he is 30:35 going to validate. He's going to vindicate. He's going to declare those that are his, those that are truly in fellowship with him with a title or without a title. Without a title, it is God that's going to make himself known through us. And so, we need to really examine what what is my life about if it's not about living holy. Praise you, Jesus. Daniel, you know, there's a there's something that comes to 31:06 mind when when you were given that example. Um there there's a man um you may or may not know him. Um his name is Glenn Mills, right? Glenn Mills was the coach of if I'm correct is a coach of someone who you may know called Usain Bolt. Everybody knows Usain Bulls, right? Glenn Mo Glenn Mills is his coach, right? And it always interested me what qualified Glenn Mills to coach the fastest man 31:36 in the world. Come on. Right. And I think sometimes we look at how that happens because Glenn Mills as if just by looking at him, you know, he can't run. Okay. And I'll just leave it there. Right. Okay. You know, he can't run as fast as Bolt. But what put him in authority over Bolt? because he has the authority to tell Usain Bolt, don't run the 400 and don't run the 200, only 32:06 run the 100. Right? And so he he is telling this very skilled, very able man what to do, right? And it seems as if he took another route. He didn't wake up every morning and train. He didn't devote his life to this thing. He he went some other route to get authority over people that actually train, actually spend the time to do things. They they get up early in the morning, they train 32:36 four times a day, right? And so it's it's you also see this in corporate, right? Sometimes people are put in authority like for example in an IT firm, you may have the project manager doesn't know a line of code, right? but is supervising geniuses. Right. Right. And it's almost as if we've looked at these operations in the world and there's a there is the inclination to look at, okay, real holiness takes a 33:06 lot, right? And if I look if I look at people that I really see as really what I say have made it or is worth looking at as an example, wow, they do a lot. I remember there was a time when Kareem was punching a new hole in his belt every week where he fasted and fasted. He he came down and but you looked at the anointing on his life. Yes. And it 33:36 was undeniable. Right. But some may look at that and say, "Well, I see what you're doing, but I wonder if there's another way to get authority, to get the anointing and the authority that I see people work hard to get, you know, and it's it's as if we have we're trying to find another way outside of what God just dictates as this is just my way, right? And another thing I was thinking, 34:06 doc, and and this is as soon as we started, I heard this thing in my mind." Okay? Right. When it comes to ordaining people, it's as if God was saying they were fine before they got ordained. Oh my God. Right. Yes. Yes. And I'm looking at the page you're looking at in the in the study guide, page five. Right. And Paul is saying to Timothy in when it comes to ordaining ministers, here's 34:36 here's what you don't do. Don't ordain a novice. Right. Right. And he tells us why. He says, "Lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil." My God. And like Kareem was saying, as soon as you get ordained, here comes the eyes. Here comes the examination. But also, here comes the devil. And one of the first thing the devil tries to do is attack you with pride. Yes, 35:06 pride is his first attack on a minister, right? Making you feel like now you're all of that. But being a novice, you're susceptible to that. And as ministers and as those that submit the names, as those that are looking on your congregation to say, "Okay, um, the time for ordination is coming up. I wonder if this is a good one. I wonder if this is a good one. How do I know?" Right? 35:36 This is a good check. Are they a novice? Not just a matter of because a novice could have been in church for 25 years and still be a novice. You have to not be a novice when it comes to the life that you live holiness. You can't be a novice in holiness because the devil is coming to to tempt you with pride. And many people they were like like I heard that voice 36:06 in my mindet. They were actually on that path to becoming solid to becoming experienced in God. But their leader has taken them off that path and put them somewhere that they are completely unaware. My God. Right? And because of that now they're in a very vulnerable position and unequipped to even handle life now with this weight on me because I have not been prepared for this. That's why this is important. It's not 36:36 it's not some sort of control that we're trying to exert over this ordination thing or whatever. The people's lives are at stake. Exactly. People's lives and their souls are at stake because of something as simple as an ordination. You can you can throw someone's whole path of ministry off. That's right. In in being too quick to put someone somewhere that they're not ready for as yet. Exactly. You know, because it is a 37:06 serious calling. Um Paul calls it in Hebrews a high priest. That's a serious calling. That's right. you know, and we can't be quick or even ignorant in what we're doing when we're doing these things. My God. Praise you, Jesus. You know, uh, Daniel, I was thinking, uh, on page 8, there's a scripture from Colossians 1 and10, uh, you want to read that for us, please? 37:34 [Music] Well, well, on my book, it's on page eight. Okay. I phoned it. It's page four. Colossians 1 and 10. How did it get to be page four on your book? It's complicated. It's complicated. Okay. It says that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. To walk worthy of worthy of the Lord. Walk worthy of God. Right. Walk worthy of the Lord. Amen. unto all pleasing. 38:04 In other words, please God. This is this is a criteria for ordination, right? Pleasing God. Amen. Being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Increasing in knowledge of God. This is the problem here, saints. There are many that are increasing in knowledge but not in the knowledge of God. You say, "Well, how how how is that possible?" Well, you can learn the word very academically and not apply it to your life. You're still not increasing yourself 38:35 in the knowledge of God. You're not experiencing the word. You're not experiencing it. You're only learning it academically. Um there was, let me give you uh for instance, well well this is this is kind of a maybe a slightly different example, but I'm going to I'm going to use this. there was a a person that was going to be ordained. The pastor had recommended this person to be ordained and uh normally I don't you know interfere but the Lord spoke to 39:05 me and said this person's not ready that this this person is just not ready for ordination. They were going to be ordained as a pastor because they were a good teacher. They were considered a good teacher. So I started to listen to that person teach. I started to listen to that person teach and what I heard was the knowledge of the of I I heard the I heard academic knowledge. Okay. And then I as I listened and kept continuously listen then 39:35 I heard some insight. I heard some insight into the the knowledge. Okay, that they that they were receiving. I heard them come forth with some insight. But what God showed me was that they they because they were a teacher, the the pastors wanted to ordain them as a pastor, but the pastors were overlooking the fact that they had a somewhat high-mindedness. They had this person was high-minded and the pastor was going to what do you call it? fuel or embolden that 40:05 that pride. that that that's what Paul was talking about ordaining a novice that doesn't know how to now uh harness you know or or subdue that pride because when you in other words when you are highminded in the gospel when you think of yourself you know more highly than you ought because you have some academic knowledge of God the reason I say you have academic knowledge is because if you really had true knowledge of God, ex experential knowledge of God, you 40:36 wouldn't fight high-mindedness. High-mindedness wouldn't wouldn't even be something you're dealing with. Glory to God. When you have a real experential knowledge of God, you become humble. It humbles you. So, you you don't you don't you don't have to you're not struggling with being high-minded. No, you you walk in humility. And so when I saw that this person was would would would possibly go shipwreck, you know, if you they were being pushed. So I, you know, I said, "No, let's wait a 41:06 little bit." And and and and I saw the potential in this this young person. I saw I saw the potential and I but I wanted that potential to be cultivated. I wanted it to be cultivated just like with with you guys. Amen. I saw the potential in you when you were you were a teenager. Glory to God. uh barely above. Amen. And I I but I I knew it had to be harnessed. It had to be harnessed. It had to be 41:36 discipled. Some things had to be discipled out of you. Some things had to be discipled into you. Glory to God. And some things had to be dramatically cut away. Just cut away. Glory to God. So that you would be able to work ministry with liberty. with liberty without the threat of captivity and and um when I did that with this in this person's life it was I was fought of course I was fought and um and so you know eventually you 42:06 know well I'll leave it like that I was fought amen and um but you know if you put up a person prematurely and you don't really disciple Well, and disciple doesn't mean just having all of these little sessions session session session session session session. You can have a bunch of sessions, but are you really discipling? And and let me tell you what what's let me just add this for the benefit of those who are not a part of Bible teachers and 42:37 some of you who may be new to Bible teachers. Amen. You can have 10 sessions a week, disciplehip sessions a week, but if you are not Christ, your your sessions are unfruitful. If the person that's doing the disciplehip is not walking in the spirit, then your sessions are not fruitful. Because people hear what you say, but they do they watch what you do and they follow what you do. You're making more of an impression by what you do than what you 43:07 say. Glory to God. And and one thing is is is is is true that we can demand more of people than we demand of ourselves. Glory to God. And that does not disciple. Glory to God. when I I was sharing I was this in a um uh a retreat of a a women's retreat the other day and I was sharing with some of some of the women that that the the women that follow me in Bible teachers glory to God we 43:37 don't only disciple holiness but we demand it. Yeah, we demand it because we have so many examples. There are some good pastors and leaders and people that are not even pastors that are holy. There are some holy women in this ministry. So, we have cultivated a a a um a society of of holiness. Glory to God. I think holiness prevails in in Bible teachers. I think it prevails. Glory to God. We have our faults. Yes, we have our faults. and and 44:08 we've had our missteps and we've had our sin and we've had glory to God to wash ourselves and cleanse ourselves. We made our mistakes, glory to God, in growing up. Praise the Lord. But holiness prevailed. It prevailed. And so when and when when when when I made that that analogy that yes, we we you know, we have women that are that that that we teach the word. We teach the word and we we minister to them, but we demand that holiness. 44:38 We don't just teach holiness, we demand it. We expect it. We have made ourselves accountable to one another. Glory to God. It's there's no real uh you know hierarchy in accountability. All of us are accountable to each other. The scripture tell us to wash each other's feet. Glory to God. Are y'all working with me? So um if you're not fruitful in every good work and increasing in the experential knowledge of God, then you're still not fruitful. You're not fruitful. If you're 45:08 not increasing in experential knowledge, you if you're just learning the word and you're expounding on the word in counsel or in teaching, glory to God, you're still not fruitful. You're you're you're not making disciples. You're not making disciples. Amen. You have got to walk in that word yourself. You've got to be the forerunner. You've got to be the one. A leader means that you're in front and people are watching where you walk and they're following in your footsteps. Amen. Glory to 45:38 God. I was a young girl. I was a young girl way up north somewhere and um we were working we were migrants and seasonal farm workers. Glory to God. And we went way up north in um probably Vermont or or upstate New York. But we went as children as children. I probably was maybe six, seven years old or whatever. And the older uh the older kid in the bunch, he probably was maybe 15 and he was leading us and it was 46:09 a whole line of us, you know, and we just following. We're not we're not mindful of anything. We don't know that we have gone so far into the woods. We we we first of all, we lived in the woods. We were so far from society, you know, cities and whatnot. But we went into the woods. what what what the what the city calls the wilderness. We were actually in the wilderness up north where there are grizzly bears, brown bears, whatever they 46:39 you these bears. They said that it was the those woods were infested with bears and we're kids. We we're kids and we're just following we're just following along. And the the leader said, "Watch that snake now. Don't step on him." And I'm like, "What?" Glory to God. Glory to God. Watch the snake. Glory to God. So I slipped over to the side. Glory to God. And kept walking though. Kept following the leader. The leader is walking. So I'm following him. Glory 47:09 to God. We now follow. We're supposed to follow leadership. So we've got to be careful who we put up to lead. We got to be careful. We glory to God. We went in, we come out of the we come out into a clearing and there was a a a river there. I'm trying to remember this. There was a river there and a bear out there fishing in the river. Suppose that bear had turned on us. You know, it happened in the 47:40 Bible. You know, two bears went and killed 40 kids in the Bible. Praise the Lord. So, Amen. because they were picking at the apostle, picking at the prophet. Glory to God. And so, uh, we kids, we didn't know. We we were probably if the leader had have gone up there tried to pet the bear, we probably would have gone up there to try to pet him, too. Why? Because we're following the leader. Glory to God. We're following the leader Daniel. So, 48:10 in light of that, right, leadership um because everyone is ordained by someone. Well, I'm hoping, right? But even let's take this ministry for example. Everyone that has been ordained was led by someone, recommended by someone, and and ordained by someone, right? But you're what I what I like about what you're saying is that there is a responsibility on the leader of that person because you know sometimes someone could be ordained and many times I've heard well nobody told me what to 48:40 do you know I have this title what even is this you know and there is a responsibility on the leader of the person that either is being looked at to be ordained or has been ordained there there remains a responsibility on that person. And you mentioned something I wanted to kind of explain um disciplehip, right? Because a lot of the times you would reference disciplehip or a lack of disciplehip as the reason for certain things, but you were saying that disciplehip 49:10 is not the same thing as just having a session, right? What what makes that difference? What makes disciplehip actually disciplehip as opposed to a meeting or a Bible study? Okay, we our pattern for disciplehip is Jesus Christ. Jesus worked with the apostles for three and a half years. He had these guys with him for three and a half years and um he had many sessions with them a separate and apart from from the population that was following him. Who is Jesus 49:41 Christ? Jesus had a revelation of God's will, God's heart. He was a walking manifestation of the word of God, the will of God. Amen. And the power of God. And so now his disciplehip was to bring them into that same mind that he had. That was the purpose. The purpose was to sit with these guys, separate and apart from everybody in private, and show them the mind that they were walking in and how contrary it was to the mind of God. 50:11 I remember one time he even told him, he said, "You don't even know what spirit you're in." Glory to God. And this is the purpose of disciplehip, to show what spirit you're in, to show what mindset you're in that is contrary to God. Now if the leader doesn't have that mind, if the leader doesn't have the mind of God, then you cannot bring someone else to that. You cannot expect scripture, reading scripture to people in disciplehip sessions to to cultivate that 50:41 mind because scripture, amen, must must be embedded with experiential knowledge. Jesus had experiential knowledge of the word of God. He and and and as a disciper, I've got I I I can't bring you to some place I've never been. I don't even know how to get there. I don't even know how to get to that place if I've never been there. Glory to God. But if if I have walked in it and if I have experienced all of the all of 51:11 the pitfalls trying to get to it, if I've experienced all of the the fiery darts of the enemy that tried to keep me from getting there and I learn from God how to handle those darts. Glory to God. Then now I can I can expound on that. I can show you what you're thinking. I can show you how you feel. I can show you how to shake it. I can show you how to defend, glory to God, off those fiery dots. 51:42 But if I've never done it, you don't have an example before you. Glory to God. The scripture tell us that Christ is our example. And we're supposed to be the example to those that we lead. And leadership is is trying to ignore that. Amen. In many instances, there are leaders that try to ignore that. I thank God for the leaders in Bible teachers. I thank God that we have some good pastors. We have some good pastors. Glory to God. But God 52:12 is tweaking us now. And he's saying, "Look inside and make sure now that you're not bringing people to an ordination platform prematurely. Make sure that they are holy. Make sure that they are a living example. Make sure that they have a passion for holiness. Make sure they have a passion for people, that they love people. Glory to God. And make sure that they are willing to deny themselves. If you can guarantee that or if you can see that and you can 52:42 say I see all of those attributes in that person then yes they are candidate but you got to also make sure you are ordaining them in the right gift. Amen. Don't just don't you just decide well you know I think that they are this. I think that they are that. Glory to God. No no no no. Go back to what Karine said. Amen. We go back to the days when I was ordaining people based upon what I saw God using them. 53:13 How God was using them. That's how I ordained. I ordained. They were already working in their gifts. They were already producing fruit. And because of that, I was able to say, "Yes, this person is ready for ordination now." Glory to God. And that's what I want us to go back to. I want us to go back to that looking see see the fruit. See if they have been approved of God before you approve them. Make sure they are have been approved 53:43 of God. That they are now pleasing God and that they are fruitful in every good work. Amen. Bless the Lord. Anything else, guys? I want to read um First John 1. When you were when you were ministering, I I realized that John is explaining how he was discipled, right? First John 1 says, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word 54:13 of life." And you know, by now we can figure, oh, this is Jesus he's talking about, right? So he's saying Jesus, right? That whole verse is saying Jesus he was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and now we show unto you that eternal life which was with the father and was manifested unto us. So Jesus spent his life discipling. Yes. And we can read what he said. But there's there was also a life that he lived before his 54:43 disciples. And when John started writing this letter, he says, "Look how I was raised." You know how Doc would always say, "Well, Jesus raised me." You know, John is saying, "Jesus raised me." Amen. Right. And that's all I have. I don't have anything else to give to you but the word of life. Amen. I have handled it. I have been around it. I have touched. I've asked it some questions and I have seen how it operates. Right. Yes. because he lived 55:14 with someone who manifested or showed this life, right? And so John now is writing to churches. John now is in a position to disciple others. And now he is saying, "Look, I'm not coming with any other strategy. The only thing I know to do is to live a holy life and let you handle that. Let you see it. Let you witness it." Right? We know a lot of time disciplehip can be wordy and we can go into a lot of explanation 55:44 and stuff but disciplehip as apostle Mike taught us is sometimes unconscious you know it's it's not in a formal setting you are learning by seeing someone go through a trial and as leaders we have to know this we have to know that disciplehip doesn't just happen when I when I pull Anthony aside and say oh Anthony I have something to tell you an Anthony knows that he's watching ing my life and I better live a life that's that's worth watching if 56:14 I'm calling myself discipling him, right? But we we sometimes separate that. We sometimes separate disciplehips into these sessions on Wednesdays or these sessions on Tuesdays, not realizing that every trial you go through, anything that the people that you're leading is privy to, they're being discipled, right? and your response is discipling them into what to really do. Mhm. Regardless of what you told them on Wednesday or on Tuesday, your life is showing them what to do in this situation. Amen. And that 56:44 disciple John, John says, "This is the only way I can disciple and this is the only way we can disciple." Exactly. is to live a holy life before those that we lead and and trust that that will have the same effect, you know, that that people will will even by entertaining our lives know exactly what the life of Christ is. Amen. Praise the Lord. Glory to God. Well, I hope that you guys are I hope you just reaching, you know, reaching 57:15 for that that high calling that is in Christ Jesus. I hope that you know this stirs you up. We've got to be on the right side of this thing, guys. We've got to please God because time is winding up and there the you know that they people are talking about a great outpouring, amen, of the spirit. That outpouring is going to come out of us. It's going to come out of the sons of God. Amen. Those who live holy, those who 57:45 live holy, out of their bellies are going to flow rivers of living water. Glory to God. And so I am trying to get us to that place of holiness where we now please God in everything we do, even ordinations. Glory to God. So I just want to remind you, go back and get this manual. It's been out there for a year now. But there are some of you that did not get it. And every every ordained minister, every licensed minister should 58:15 have this in their library. Amen. So go into the faith library and get this downloaded. Praise the Lord. And also, praise the Lord, you know, just go back, if you already got it, go back and read it. Amen. And and re revisit the criteria for ordaining leaders. Look at it, saints. That's not a a small thing because as J Daniel said, lives are at stake here. We we're handling people's lives. Glory to God. And I for one don't want to miss 58:46 heaven because I mishandle someone's life and I cause them to go shipwreck. I caused them to to go back and go into iniquity or whatever. Glory to God. And that blood is on my hand. So please let's go back and and revisit let's revisit this manual. Amen. We're coming up a couple of months now uh to ordinations. Glory to God. Make sure that you're operating the way God told us. He put all of these thoughts inside of a manual and he 59:16 said for us to take it on, read this, study it, and take it on. So, I'm trusting every leader, especially every every uh senior pastor and and associate pastors, assistant pastors, glory to God, and all of you that are licensed, you need to go back and look at what the criteria is and see if you're actually meeting that criteria. See if you're actually coming up to that. And and another thing I want to say before we go tonight, if you have 59:46 been ordained in a gift and you know that that's not your gift, you have a right to come back to that pastor and say, you know what, I I I I'm not there. I I don't see that as my gift. You may be have been ordained a pastor when you know you're just a teach you're a teacher or you're an evangelist. Glory to God. And there's no, you know, there's no harm in that. Or you might have been an ordained an 60:16 evangelist but you see your gift as a teacher. Glory to God. Or you may have been ordained as a teacher and you see your gift is is a gift of helps. Amen. Or the gift of administration. That's a gift in the body. Glory to God. That you may be one that God is just called to help to help the ministry. You may be and and help is more than just finances. You may be called to just give your expertise to the 60:47 ministry. That's helps. Amen. You may be called into the gift of administration. Glory to God. That's a ministry. That's a gift. Praise the Lord. So, just because it's not the five, you know, the famous five-fold ministry, it's still a valuable gift that we're lacking in. We need more administrators. Glory to God. So, you know, if you know that you've been slotted, you know, in error, then come back to us. And if if if you're worried about it, if you don't know 61:17 how to how to deal with it, just slip me an email. Just send me an email, okay? Just and and I can show you how to deal with it. Okay? So, you know, sometimes people are kind of embarrassed about uh saying, you know, I was, you know, the pastor, you know, ordained me and and I I but that's not it. Sometimes you're embarrassed to do that, but so just, you know, send me an email and we'll work it out. We'll work 61:47 it out. Praise the Lord. Amen. and and we got pastors that that will listen. We got pastors that will listen to you. So, if that's your heart, go sit down and talk to your pastor. Okay? Praise the Lord. All right. Anything else, guys? Praise the Lord. Glory to God. Well, our time is up. I promised you I was going to try to keep these sessions down to one hour and we're trying to stay true to that. Praise the Lord. And I 62:18 hope that you have been blessed. I'm going to get, you know, uh I I I know I'm going to get a lot of flack, but it's okay. It's okay. It probably won't get it from Bible from too many people in Bible teachers, but you know, it's okay. Praise the Lord. Uh if you if you are a mind, if you love what God is doing and how he's bringing this word to you, praise the Lord, then please please feel free, Amen, to 62:48 to bless the ministry. Help us keep the lights on. Help us keep the building. Amen. Help us keep bringing these broadcasts to you, okay? Praise the Lord. I'm excited. I'm getting ready for world conference. Amen. I'm working hard. Amen. I tell you, God has given us a another Amen. Tech technician. Praise the Lord. Amen. Anthony. Anthony, what's the Anony's last name? Goldson. Huh? Goldson. Goldson. Anthony Goldson. I tell you, he's going to be a guru at this. He's going to be 63:18 a guru. Amen. He is working so diligently. Praise the Lord. This young man is up 4 day in the morning because I'm awake. Amen. And he and I hear him in there hooking up those computers, firing them up. Glory to God. And and getting getting ready sometime before the sun even comes up. Praise the Lord. And there late at night and he and he has accomplished so much. And Daniel just he just like a kid in a candy store. He don't 63:48 know what to do with himself. He finally got some help. Praise the Lord. And I'm so proud of him. I'm so proud of Micaia. She's she's coming along in tech. I'm so proud of Maya and and Amy, those who have come on to the tech team and getting, you know, helping Chenise with social media and whatnot. I I tell you, I'm just it's just I'm just being blessed. I'm being blessed. Amen. My daughter, glory to God, uh Jessica, she did such 64:19 a beautiful job. She she's just this child is working ministry. She she's the one that put that retreat together for these ladies and it was such a blessing and it was a beautiful place down in Gavinston. We really enjoyed it and I you know hats off to her. Praise the Lord. Keep on doing what you're doing, baby. I just love it. Praise the Lord. You know, you you're an awesome awesome minister. All right. If all hearts and minds are clear, glory 64:49 to God. Make sure that you give something. Amen. Uh we're going to put the QR code up so that you can uh go to marybanks.net/give and you can use any debit card or credit card. Amen. Go there. Even if we you have cash app, if you go to marybanks.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.net, you can use your cash app right there. Praise the Lord. Amen. The QR code is up. Praise the Lord. So please, I'm trusting you. I need you. It's first of the month, guys. 65:19 And you know what happens first of the month. We need your help. We need your support. Remember Project 87. Praise the Lord. Amen. We're working to get this word to all the nations of the world. Glory to God. In their language. So, please give. We're close. We're so close. Amen. Uh these videos now, we you it's not just the the written material, but the videos are actually being translated into other languages. And uh you would think that that I spoke Russian 65:49 that that I spoke Spanish. Glory to God. when you see these these lessons, you're going to think that, well, that's a Russian. Praise you, Jesus. Amen. Praise the Lord. It's just that good. So, amen. My I'm so proud of Anesta for taking that on and and she's really working diligently. Also, I want to shout out to Kashif. Amen. I saw the video that he did. Amen. You It's fantastic. I didn't know it was your work. I didn't know that that came 66:20 out of Bible teachers. I didn't know it came out of BTBN. Glory to God. And I thought it was Oh my Kashif, I love you, man. Please, please don't stop. Glory to God. Amen. I love you guys. Okay. I have a question from online. Oh, okay. I thought I I thought I thought I got away. And it's a good question. Okay. Um, this person is asking, "Well, what if there is no true disciplehip happening in a church?" Um then the church 66:50 will truly fail. Oh, okay. No hope. No, it will. If if there if if if there's no true disciplehip, I don't know what you mean by I don't know. They they went on to explain the leader may not be a discipler because they're a carnal and only see the word through carnal eyes. Oh yeah. Then that then the people will be carnal. Right. The people will not, you know, and they're the unless the people seek out, you know, something beyond that 67:20 leadership, you know, that, you know, that what else are they going to do? If they follow that leadership, if the leadership is carnal, then if you're following that leadership, what are you going to be? You're going to be carnal. So, you you either have to seek out beyond that leadership, praise the Lord, in order to get what you need from God. And there are people that know that the leadership is carnal. Know that that leadership can't take them to the kingdom 67:51 of God. Can't can't show them how to walk in the spirit, but they'll still sit there. They'll still sit up under that. Amen. And not reach out not reach out for something more. Praise the Lord. So, it's your responsibility to reach out for something more. That's your responsibility. God deals with his own leaders, but your responsibility is for your soul. So if you're lacking, glory to God, you know, you can sit there and complain or you can reach out for for 68:21 for something that nurtures your soul. Amen. Praise the Lord. God bless you. Heaven smile upon you. This is Spring Texas, Mary Banks, and all of the BTI staff out here saying we'll see you next time.
