Training For Ministry Part 1

It's so good to have you in church want to welcome all the other sites that are joining us of Springs we're good to have you with us online Church it is exciting father as we go into your word today I asked you to guide me I ask that your presence will speak to each person individually in your name Amen years ago when I was younger I worked a fair bit out of a hospital as a paramedic and I would have these issues at times and it's kind of my preface for what I want to talk about today I remember going to an ambulance call one time where a person had died and they'd been an accident in on the farm and it had been a really bad cut and the person just bled out and the person kept calling the hospital and calling the hospital and where's the ambulance where's the ambulance and the person died and I remember after the whole situation was over how simple it would have been to have simply put direct pressure on the cut it's it's literally one of the first things you're taught in basic first-aid I remember going to situations where something really simple might have prevented a person was choking one time and no one knew what to do so it was like 20 minutes to get an ambulance out to where they were out in the country and and it would have been a simple that very simple thing to remove or to deal with an obstructed airway very very simple skill and I began to and I used those analogies when looking at our lives here for 2018 because there are some very powerful potent but simple skills that we must learn when it comes to working with Holy Spirit very important very crucial and so I'm beginning today don't know how long I'm gonna go on it but I'm gonna begin to teach in 2018 what I was been praying about for months get started on a series on teaching you to be pastors or a better word will be ministers if you call it ministry 101 or ministry training my passion has always been and at the very earliest days of me speaking to our leadership and to our members and Springs I've always said I want every member a minister every member in ministry every one of us are called to live lives so far beyond where we are and everybody here will have like I don't how to put it not in a negative way but almost like a haunted miss that there's more in you that you want to get out there's just more to my life than I'm doing that that I just I feel like something's Biggers got to happen something mores got to happen is it there's more in me there's more out to me like I just don't feel yet like I've accomplished like I've done and I think much of that has been we have not learned to listen to Holy Spirit and let him flow through us now I'm gonna just do a bit of an introduction talk today because many people have the wrong opinion of Holy Spirit now when you study the Bible one of the things that is a mystery but it's powerful is that God is in three persons but one God only one God but in three persons and you'll read a lot of really wild stuff on the you know the Trinity the triune 'ti you know God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Spirit many people think that Holy Spirit has only been here since Jesus on the cross because he said in John 14 it's good for me to leave so Holy Spirit can come but when you look at the Old Testament you see Holy Spirit working throughout in the very first couple verses in the Bible it says Holy Spirit was hovering over the waters even before God spoke and said let there be light you see when you and I pray we pray to God in the name of Jesus but it's Holy Spirit that does the work that interesting you pray to God in the name of cheese you don't pray to Holy Spirit you don't pray to Jesus but Jesus himself teaches us in the book of John you pray to the Father in the name of Jesus and that the name of Jesus unlocks all the authority that has been invested in you and I you have authority to speak to mountains authority to speak to careers authority to speak to finances authority to all the attacks of the enemy the crazy stuff you have the authority and then when you take you your authority of the name of Jesus it is Holy Spirit that is doing the work and if you think for a minute that Holy Spirit is this cute little Casper floating around making everybody love each other Holy Spirit is of course a spirit of love but yet when you begin to study the Bible it'll say things like he trains my hands to war Holy Spirit would come upon all not everybody but certain people in the Old Testament for example David who's that I can by him I can run through a troop leap over a wall a warrior God would always help his people to defend themselves some of the greatest battles ever recorded are in the Bible where God's presence the anointing or Holy Spirit would get upon Great War and one would take out an entire army we've made the mistake as Christians of of creating some kind of a religion when it comes to Holy Spirit yet when you talk about being filled with the spirit most people would think about some kind of emotional excess yet the very first time the Bible mentions a person who was filled with the Spirit was a business person an artist bezel eel very first time we find and it's in the Old Testament where the Spirit of God came upon him and helped him do art helped him do work with old and silver help them work with cloth and tapestry helped him to build did you know that in your life as you look at 2018 often when we think about Holy Spirit we think about what that's for church that's that's where we go and we all get emotional and and we all really raise our hands or people start to get a little bit edgy actually you're told that that's just what church is done with it and by the way getting emotional enjoying God there's nothing wrong with that but Holy Spirit isn't just here to make you religious Holy Spirit is here to work through you and he has given you gifts and skills and abilities everyone thinks Satan is creative he's not he's a pervert he just perverts what God creates the very first word we have for God in the Bible actually means great creative spirit and so there are those of you who are so good with people will put you in any room you'll have the whole room laughing and talking you are so socially gifted that's that's a gift that holy spirits place on your life and there are gifts on people today who aren't even Christians guys like pick on the King Elvis Presley he did not make up his gift he did not just develop some skill there was a gift on him to use that for God he used it the way he wanted and people have the freedom to do what they want with their lives but when you use it for God your life would have been a whole lot happier marriages would have stayed together health would have been better you to live longer either than more for God you'd have known joy and peace and great relationships but people always take the gift of the call that's on them and go use it for themselves thinking they know better and they don't and they've forgotten that God knows the best his way is perfect for you and I in 2018 if you want to go places if you want a sense a completeness of fullness a sense of accomplishment and change you'll need Holy Spirit most of us know who God Bible has a lot to say about God Bible is got a lot to say about Jesus but very little is known about Holy Spirit other than we just think it's God's presence show which is accurate but yet Holy Spirit is a person and anytime you study the Bible you'll find that thought the Father the Son and Holy Spirit all are unique a person yet it's one God so that that's not my message the into that but to talk about Holy Spirit and the fact that you can begin to hear him sense him you can begin to know his presence in your life in a very fulfilling in a very beautiful way if you're hearing you're really insecure and you know it and you know but you get jealous so easy you feel so insecure around anybody successful or good-looking or confident and used right away you don't feel like you fit you know the Holy Spirit's job is to do a work on the inside of you when you study the New Testament you'll find that hold there's two things Holy Spirit does he works within you Healing you making you complete when you get save and give your life to Christ he literally comes in and does a complete workup on you the old you is dead the new you rises up filled with power and confidence and grace and love and joy and that old you that's jealous in a second if anybody gets near your spouse or you feel so insecure if anyone does more than you the Holy Spirit's job is to a work on the inside of you and here's where Galatians 5 comes in how that the fruit of the Spirit is love you begin to develop an inside of love you begin to feel loved you begin to want to love it's joy is a fruit of the Spirit it is a work of holy spirit in your spirit and all of a sudden a sense of joy the world does not know what joy is they only know what laughter is and laughter yet being happy comes from happenings they're always trying to make things happen but people who have joy have an inner fountain a flow of holy spirit and joy permeates their lives there's a patience upon them when you look at the fruit of the Spirit that's the work of holy spirit within your spirit and if you don't have that you will be an unhappy lonely even if you've got friends you'll feel income you'll feel like these things aren't going the way you what you'll always feel wrong on the inside if Holy Spirit if you don't allow him and work with him to do his work and to cause you to be who you are you know so many people trying to side where to go on that one so many people think everything's a disease in our planet today you know if you have an addiction it's a disease and we use words that remove your ability to change if it's a disease nothing you can do about it but actually it comes down to your beliefs every addiction comes down to beliefs every gender sexual issue comes down to the beliefs of your heart it's not a born that way it's not a disease it's not a when you it's God's Word that is accurate what we believe what Holy Spirit is doing on the inside of us making us feel loved happy fulfilled joyful patient kind long-suffering gentle letting us know who we are our identity Holy Spirit begins to bring a very clear strength as he begins to help us build our identity on the inside so you're secure in who you are secure in your sexuality secure in your gender secure and knowing him all of these things that the world thinks they know so much about the word says Holy Spirit's job is to do that work on the inside of us and so we that we must treasure Holy Spirit we must recognize that he is here if you've given your life to Jesus he's on the inside of you and his ability to flow in you to bring healing and health and and to flow through you in career in in family you know there's no way you're gonna have the kind of New Testament marriage that the Bible shows if you don't rely on Holy Spirit to help you love that person why because you married an imperfect person yeah you married an imperfect person and they're gonna be hard to love at certain times really hard to love at certain times and unless you just kind of hang in there if you really want to still feel that love and grow and change you'll need Holy Spirit holy spirit brings the changes that we want inside Holy Spirit gives us the ability to flow in his power on the outside when you study the Bible both the old and the new about Holy Spirit he brings gifts into our lives and he actually empowers us in unique ways for example you know you take a look at people like Samson who the Bible says that the Holy Spirit would come upon him and he would rise up and take out an entire army he had a unique strength there's Elijah who God would show him things all of these Old Testaments are a Holy Spirit working with people in the New Testament every one of us now has Holy Spirit residing within us you ever sung that old song created me a clean heart O God and don't remove your spear a free hug oh but don't remove your spirit from me cast me not away from your presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me it's like we cry as we sang it that was a verse that David wrote when he saw King Saul who disobeyed God and the Holy Spirit left him and an evil spirit harassed him until he was killed on the battlefield David saw this he went don't ever take your Holy Spirit for me in the Old Testament yes Holy Spirit was not in their spirit he would come upon them he would talk about filling them but it was more of a filling them in the areas of the mind the areas of their physical body they couldn't be born again until Jesus died but now that Jesus has died we don't ever have to sing and worry that I'm gonna make a mistake he's gonna take his spirit away from me no he is within me his Spirit is within my human spirit but we live so low below what God has for you and I and and my message for you the very first message of this year is that whatever changes you want whatever dreams you want to wake up whatever things you need in your marriage your career whatever areas you want to see changed stop relying on your own energy you know in Romans chapter 8 it says to be carnally minded is death and to be spiritually minded is life what does it mean to be carnally minded well right well you think well it's sex sin alcohol drugs murder like a scar no man no no the word there very clearly means to be focused on sense knowledge or your normal abilities your normal reasoning is the carnal way there's two kinds of knowledge one is a sense knowledge and the other is a revelation knowledge and believers who follow Christ have been promised that we can do great things that this is the victory that overcomes the world even our faith Holy Spirit's job is to lead you into all truth just like Sampson needing incredible strength to rip those gates if you know the story off the city that an army couldn't move just like Elijah needing to know which way the enemy was attacking him every believer today has a relationship with Holy Spirit and it's not just to have a few goosebumps in church it is actually to know how to lead your marriage to have a love beyond your normal love to love your spouse to have an ability to strategize business principles things like that for your life that'll take you to places you never dreamed possible to go God needs his people to be salt and light he needs us to be in the market place in politics to be in business where it's not that we are Integris and we are serving him and we don't need to be get up there and be preaching at people we literally just need to let God flow through us so that they see our love they see our kindness they see the fruit of the Spirit in our lives and they see the power of God in our finances careers health etc that if we need a miracle the presence of God heals if we need something to take place in our business that in our prayer times something opens up that people go oh my ha ha how'd you make that happen well you are so lucky in fact you're always lucky now it's called bless the world sees lucky the believer sees blessed the favor of God on your life its Holy Spirit's job to move and to manifest the Apostle Paul says in the epistles he says I didn't come to you with great words of oratory preaching I didn't come to you able to preach and chienne inspire I came to you in weakness and in trembling and in the demonstration of the Spirit and of miracles did you know but every one of us have the ability to demonstrate the move of Holy Spirit in our lives it will show up at a time when others are crumbling and you're at peace it will show up when a situation arises and you walk through and a miracle takes place business-wise financially health-wise protection you name it Holy Spirit's job is to work with you in every area of your life but the human race as a whole the Christian world as a whole has moved back to sense knowledge you see your five senses are where you get your brain all the stuff that goes to your brain come from your five senses all of our Sciences come from your five senses that's what we would call sense knowledge and sense knowledge cannot find out certain things like the meaning of life sense knowledge will never know is love real because there's no real five senses ways to to study it and to do a test tube on it and to figure out so besides sense knowledge there's a second kind of knowledge on this planet that most people are very unaware of is called revelation knowledge revelation knowledge is where you don't look to your five senses you're hearing you know your you touch smell seeing its etc you don't look to those for the information but there's a higher level a sixth sense a sense knowledge that you have been designed you are not just a physical being you are not just a mental being you are spirit-being most people have learned to exert their physical body you can workout you can get in shape many have learned to work out their mind they can develop incredibly complex things you can get a person graduating from university today with degrees and things that we couldn't even begin but they have no spirit knowledge and we make the mistake of thinking that if somebody is brilliant in sense knowledge that they are then very brilliant in spirit knowledge but they are brain dead in spirit knowledge it's a completely different area we must grow in sense knowledge but the mind has been designed to follow spirit not the spirit follow the mind so as a believer this year I want to challenge you that you have far underestimated Holy Spirit's desire and ability to work in your life you we have thought so underestimated how he will take relationships and careers and and you helping others you were designed to minister to others you were designed to step into people's crises and help we live in a world today that we are very aware of all the needs that are out there and we stay away from them years ago neighbors were very important most of the communities were designed where you'd have little short white picket fences on the front yard you'd have a front veranda so when you came to your neighborhood after work he'd grab some iced tea you sit on the front and a rocking chair on a chain swing and everybody come home and hey Bob how's it going it's going good Leon how do work it's going great hi hey how's your aunt Sue and we knew all about each other and we were talking we were neighbors and we'd lean on the fences today the way society is you got a six foot board fence you can't see through when you drive up to your house you push the garage door and hope your neighbors not out as you quickly zip your car in and close the door the door comes down and I don't even talk to him I don't have to see him I can go grab my favorite TV or my favorite game to play and just myself time to myself and this world has moved away from relationships away from our ability to minister to one another and to help one another and there's something within every one of us that is designed to reach out and to be kind and to be a blessing to help someone when they're hurting and if you don't live a life that is about others you will be very narcissistic and narcissistic people are very depressed they get very depressed quickly if you don't have something outside of you to focus on Holy Spirit is within you and in a one kind word and just helping somebody you can change their life forever just a you know just doing acts of kindness reaching out to someone and and stepping into whether it's stopping to change a tire and that guy looks at you and it goes dude you're wearing a suit I know let me help you here and you're getting wet in the rain as you change the tire you say it's okay dude I I wanted to help you and he goes man can I get your number I wanted to grab you for a coffee so you give him your number and you've just established a relationship you know that man will never forget he'll be talking about that for years ahead and all it costs you is a dry clean on your suit but almost nobody will do that where can you this year begin to step out of yourself centered look after yourself make excuses for every reason why you don't have to step out of and where can you begin to minister to others you don't need to solve deep doctrinal problems you don't need to tell them why bad things have happened to them no one has figured that out when you get to heaven we'll talk to God about it the world is bad there's a devil here there's all sorts of stuff and everyone's gonna die and it but we've got to just reach out and just love people and care and you know what every miracle is actually an act of kindness I have found that you know you actually heard many of the stories I've shared of God healing a person or protecting a person or myself when someone's attacked me and and the death threats and I've always found that where miracles begin is stepping out of my comfort zone and just being kind to someone else you're saying hey how you doing today and grabbing a cup of coffee and sitting down and in that discussion of you just desiring to show kindness to help that person out it can move from there to miraculous things healing can flow out of that you know them given your lives to Christ could be a fruit of this that you might take a month but every time we do acts of kindness you're gonna find Holy Spirit will be all over you or you'll never feel him you know why cuz you don't do anything you only hide you don't sense holy spirit well I was doing a pastor's a thing one time and and I was just sharing on the miraculous and how Holy Spirit is here for every person and that you can see miracles daily and one person said to me this you know I don't understand how you can see so many miracles and I've hardly seen any at all as I don't know but I said let me ask you a question do you go to where the needs are do you walk into hospitals do you stop when you see something going wrong in someone needing help or someone bent over a table crying in an airport you know that's none of my business or could you walk over with a tissue and say hey hear anything just to be do you get involved do you step into other people's crises because if you don't there's no sense for Holy Spirit to get all over you to minister kindness and love it's when you step out of yourself and you begin to get involved in people in you know I'm telling I got enough of my own messes I know but did you notice that it's when you get off of your own and start to help someone else if we all have to wait till we're completely mess free before we help somebody else there'll be nobody helping nobody on the planet the most beautiful thing is a person with their own problems the most beautiful thing is a person with their own problems their own needs their own heartaches their own hurts that lifts themselves up out of the stuff they're going through and reaches out to help another person that's Christ that's Holy Spirit in our lives and if you want to begin to live out the miraculous you must begin to allow Holy Spirit to guide you lead you begin to ask holy spirit speak to me today guide me when you read the word or a teaching book or you listen to a message that you've got on a CD or you say Holy Spirit teach me today and learn to be sensitive to what he's trying to show you where he's trying to lead you a businessman told me this story he was on his way this is years ago before cellphones he was on his way to a very big contract that had to be signed in the and the guy that he was meeting with the CEO of his other company was a real stickler for for being on time and for everything being accurate and right and as he's driving down this through the city out to this meeting he looked over and saw a guy in a parking lot and he says he looked at him and he knew right away deep inside go help him it was just this pull it was just this drawing go help this man didn't know a thing about this guy just so I'm standing in a parking lot because I can't I've got I can only have five minutes if I'm late for this if I'm gonna lose this whole huge contract but he knew he could sense God wanted him to help this person even if it hurt him so he turned around he was driven by drove into the parking lot drove over and started talking to this man and this man it was in the middle of huge crises and huge problems and just as life was being destroyed and so he he shared his faith with them and took him out for lunch and and to let him for the Lord and and got him on the right path and when he got back to the office his assistants says well you you got a phone call from so-and-so and he goes yeah I'm sure I did they wanted to let you know that they had to miss the meeting and that because of that they were gonna give this this and this into the deal and so God had literally in neut knowing that that he got a super blessing from that his story is this when he tells it he said it was about a month or two later he's driving on the on the outskirts of his city and he sees this piece of property wasn't even for sale he just cents to go buy that piece of pretty so he began to do a search found out who owned it went and saw this person he'd like to buy this piece of property and got it from not very you know not very much money and it was shortly but a few months after that that all these revelations of city development came up and he made an incredible amount of money he said the Lord spoke to him is there his words very clearly and said you took time from my kids and I'm gonna take time for you you see when you put yourself first then your ability your strength your business acumen is all you've got but if within you you feel a call from God as a believer that I am here to bring kindness and love and joy and if I can Jesus into someone's life and you change the very way you live you give God an opportunity to work through you I've never heard a story of Holy Spirit showing up on a street corner and winning someone to Christ I've never heard a story of Holy Spirit showing up in a hospital room and healing somebody but I've heard thousands of stories of Holy Spirit prompting a believer to share Christ see Holy Spirit doesn't do the work he's the helper for you jesus said in John chapter 14 that it's good that I go because Holy Spirit's gonna come he's gonna be a helper a comforter we've got a helper that helps us but are we even reaching out enough caring enough for God to begin to use us you are gonna find that as you reach out and care about people and step into people's worlds and believe that that the power of God will be there if you do need to pray quietly for healing or for this man's marriage to be restored or over this person who's going through something for God's peace or it could just be being kind there's a number of people in our church here if she's here now simply because I was going through a safeway one time and I saw this lady and everybody was giving her problem I don't know why there's something wrong at the tiller why the line was so slow and and and I was in a rush to but people were just like a couple people were saying some pretty man you know they just trying to get through the cat I remember when I walked up there just being very kind and saying hey we all have days like this ignore those people you're doing fine that's all I said and the months ahead as I popped by the odd time this person was so open to me and a long story short she's in our church and a ton of her friends lives given to Christ all because I did one act of kindness I can't share any great miracle I can't share any great insight it was just me being kind and Holy Spirit works through us he flows through us you know when I would come home my mom would make bread and mom would make like 36 loaves of bread on the weekend we'd eat it all up before Saturday the next week and but when she was baking bread the smell would drive you nuts and as a twelve-year-old boy who could eat any full-grown man under the table when you walk home and you smell fresh bread wafting out that house you are craving you do and please some can have some bread right now mom that is the way the world is for the genuine love of God and that genuine love is in you maybe for 2018 instead of a list of the things you want you desire there's nothing wrong with that maybe your first focus should be God what would you like me to do for you today and His Spirit draws you to somebody he knows is ready for you his spirit uses you to speak to that person or pray with them acts of kindness is where miracles start that's not hard to do and in those acts of kindness you will find your destiny and your purpose you are not called to your career is that a new thought for somebody you the career is how you finance your call now in your career your call will be to reach people to represent Christ you know you might have a job at not even what you enjoy doing but it makes phenomenal money and your good good get those eight nine hours a day done bring those finances in and go out and minister and love people and do what you feel called to do too many people think that their calling is their career but that's not what the Bible says we're called to be like Christ we're called to listen to Holy Spirit we're called to be in the family and our job is to go search for the one that is lost rather than just partying with the 99 that are found God wants to use you my challenge to you is this month we're gonna be teaching about how to minister to people how and it starts with this recognizing Holy Spirit is who empowers you to flow it's what people will sense is what people will know don't get too big on yourself as they think you're incredible you're one of the nights that Jesus in you that is so incredible wonderful and if you can share that with them they'll want him if it's just all about you and it's your little ego then it's not gonna work out 2018 let's pray let's fellowship with Holy Spirit let's get to know his voice let's know that we are empowered and and anointed to reach out and to touch others lives and maybe then you're kind of empty Christian life which is all you pray about is your finances your career maybe as you begin to reach out to people you'll find that seek first the kingdom of God Matthew 6:33 and all the things you need will be added to you seek first what's important to God seek first the eternal important things and all of the other things he promises will be looked after if you put the things of God first the people that need you to share to pray to just love to just be kind it'll change your life your kids will change families that are focused on themselves raise brats couples who all they want is their children to be happy I hear that all the time we know but what do you want for your kids I just want them to be happy that's not my answer at all I want my kids to have purpose I want them to know Jesus I want them to know his call on their life because then they've got joy and joy will never leave them and happiness is an easy I product but to pursue happiness is to pursue something that is too self-centered let's reach out can I challenge you at least this very first message to care about others to reach out to others to do something you've never done before and go talk to that person just walk across the room just stop your car just sit down and and offer them a tissue just buy them a cup of coffee just get this thing started and let God lead the rest of the way into the miracles that your life will begin to produce amen father I thank you today for your presence I thank you that our lives are more than just a career a house a car and holidays but those become very beautiful when we put you first father for those that are here today that maybe don't know you or maybe they need to come back to you I pray you touch them right now Deborah had vowed for just a moment if you're here and you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior if you're here and maybe you did at one time but through hurts or failures or people you kind of just walked off and today it's time to get Christ centered then I'm going to lead you in a powerful prayer right now all of us are gonna pray it together but if you'd like to be included and say Leon today I need to get right with God would you just open your eyes and wave at me until I see your hand and put it right back down so yes pastor include me thank you thank you thank you others just give me a wave thank you thank you Christ Jesus give me I'm in the center section thank you over here give me a quick wave say pastor include me today I want to get right with God I want to give my life to him for those right now watching on by television or watching in one of our Springs campuses we've got a leader at the front right now campuses just raised a hand tool and did you need to do something you need to act don't be shy don't be embarrassed this is a life-changing decision that only God can do and I'm not ashamed just raise a hand towards that Lea let him see that hand I'm about to pray I'm gonna ask everybody here thank you for other hands that are going up across the congregation and I'm gonna ask everyone to pray with me with these wonderful folks making this decision the prayer goes like this just say dear God thank you for sending Jesus who died in my place please come into my heart forgive me for everything I've done wrong from today and on I'm following you Jesus as my Lord and Savior in Jesus name Amen welcome to the family of God you

Channel: Leon Fontaine Official

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Length: 38min 33sec (2313 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 12 2018