Desire and Decision

Both are important, but some decisions should not be made without desire preceding the decision.

The three most important happenings in a person’s life that require desire and then a decision are as follows: salvation, a calling, and marriage! I will try and elaborate on these from my understanding.

Salvation is an example. I believe that the majority of people do have a desire to be saved when they pray for their salvation, but I also believe there are some that just say the words without any desire or understanding.

Salvation is not an event to be taken lightly; salvation is a matter of our eternity. I know not everyone has the same earth moving experience I had when I was saved. Some ask for salvation out of fear of Hell, some out of guilt, some out of understanding, or a combination of some or all of these

I have witnessed evangelicals, preachers, teachers, and saved Christians talk about God, tell people about Jesus, and then pray a prayer of salvation asking folks to pray that prayer with them. I have also witnessed no change in those that prayed that prayer, even over years.

I’ve seen folks visit a Church and pray a prayer of salvation out loud along with the Preacher and then never attend any Church again or associate with Christians again. I have also seen those that would attend church and sit in a pew for whatever reason but never read the Bible, have no understanding of God’s Word and have zero personal relationship with Christ Jesus.

Because of my personal salvation experience, I can only believe they were not genuine in their prayer and were not truly saved that day.

I believe there must be a desire to be saved before you can be saved. Now, that desire might show up in the very moment they repent and ask Christ Jesus to save them, but I do think that there must be a desire to be saved before a person will be saved. (Just my opinion)

In the previous section, I covered the topic of Salvation. Now allow me to cover a call. 

Now a calling can be a calling to salvation, Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hears my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

Or a calling to Preach or a calling to Teach (keeping in mind all saved Christians are called to serve).

In this section, I will cover the callings of Preaching and Teaching.

What I write in this section would be very controversial with some but I base my writings on my understanding of the Word and not on the wishes of men!

If a man is called to preach he in turn will have a desire to preach God’s Word, He will see messages through the Holy Spirit in his reading and study of the Word and have an overwhelming desire to share that message with others. I believe there is a lot of overlap with Preaching and Teaching, but a call to Preach has some differences than a call to Teach.

I’m going to detour at this point to share what I view as false understanding! You cannot make a decision to Preach without a calling to Preach and be in the will of God. Now this is my opinion but I do believe I can back my statement up with the Word.

Warning! In the past 50 years there has been a growth of large denominational associations. Although I think they were originally formed with good intentions (the road to Hell is paved with good intentions), they sure haven’t ended up on the good side of God’s Word! Today’s associations have become apostate. They commonly defy the word of God and have put forth rules and regulations that are diametrically opposed to God and His teachings! (Yep, I said it) 

Many large denominational associations make it mandatory to have a degree from a seminary school before a man can preach in one of their association’s churches.
This is in itself contrary to God’s Word. As a matter of fact, it has produced avenues of false prophets and pharisees. (I call them Pharisee schools) Why? Let me first say this, I know there are men called to Preach that go to seminary to obtain a degree with the thought it would help them in their calling and that’s fine, but the calling MUST precede the degree! PERIOD!

This direction of associations that a man must have a degree before they can Preach has in fact defied the examples in the scripture. A young man called to preach according to the methodology laid out in the Bible should in fact go through an apprenticeship!

That is the example of training according to the Scripture! Here are some examples of how these associations have strayed from God's will. My sister was attending an associational church and, for a reason unknown to me, the pastor had left and the association brought in an associational preacher (speaker).

This person from the association was brought in to increase the finances of the church (you can not serve God and mammon) and fill in until someone else was assigned to be the resident speaker. (I refuse to call these persons Preachers, for obvious reasons).

This temporary speaker walked in making changes and one of those changes was to allow an active homosexual couple to greet people at the door. The actions of a Godly man?  No! Not in the least! This is the type of occurrence that happens when mankind sticks his will into God’s business!

Here is how this works… man has a good intention, then he implements his good intention, then other men get involved and come to understand that there is financial gain in the intention, not so much in bottom line numbers but in positions for themselves and others. (Man has a deep desire to be somebody, or at least to have others think they are somebody. Remember the scripture pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall).

Through the pursuit of financial gain they figure a way to make this intention self-feeding. You see, someone way back when thought it would be a good idea for churches to join together to promote the spreading of the Gospel, then someone else had an idea that if there was a fee paid to support the efforts of ministries and the mission field all the funding would be given to a central entity.

Well the entity develops a reputation and becomes popular and men, seeing that the entity has favor among the people, decide that they wish their names to be associated with the entity so they make up positions within the entity so they may have a title that ties them with it thus bringing them some sort of notoriety (fame). In gaining the notoriety they begin to think more of themselves than they ought and demand wages, and then higher wages. Soon the donated money isn’t enough to satisfy the payment of their egos.

So they come up with a plan to self-fund through rule-making (can’t preach without a degree in a church that is a member of the association) so they start seminary schools that will teach (indoctrinate) people loyal to the association.

Through lies and deception they convince many that this is the way it should be, and somehow make it sound like some sort of service to God, but is it not a service to God! A young man called to preach should follow the model set forth by Paul and Timothy! Let me repeat that—A young man called to preach should follow the model set forth by Paul and Timothy!

The example I have laid out I refer to as the self-feeding watermelon. Someone wants, they make a way to have what they want, and then make a way to produce others that will support what they want, and indoctrinate them to do the same, creating a never-ending cycle of sinful activity! (Yep, that’s what I said! Sinful!) If a man is called to Preach then apprenticeship is the scriptural method designed by God! I’m going to end this topic here before I get angry thinking about it.

If a man is truly called to preach then his efforts will be fruitful! I was a member of a Church several years ago that had a man in the pulpit that is truly a called man of God.

I watched as that Church had many men called to preach, not called by the church and by an association but called by God because the Preacher was just in his service to God and the fruit therein were men that were in turn called to preach and teach! I am one of those fruits! See the difference?

Marriage is another life decision that should not be made without desire. I’m not talking about physical desire although that often plays a part in the initial attraction. I’m talking about a desire to spend the rest of your life with someone.

Just as salvation, the decision to marry should not be taken lightly or looked upon as something temporary, just as salvation is not temporary. (I won’t go into my opinion of how little integrity a person has if they will not honor their commitment)

I can’t speak for anyone else but I can tell you how I met my wife. As most of you don’t know, I was previously married but that was a marriage of convenience and not of the heart. It didn’t last long! One day I was standing on the balcony of my apartment with a friend of mine, when I saw a beautiful girl walking with her boyfriend along the sidewalk of the communal swimming pool.

I looked over at my friend and told him “you see her? I’m going to marry that gal!” My friend laughed and said “yea, right” well a few days later I officially met my wife, she was sitting at the pool that evening so I decided to go down and talk to her.

To make a long story short, we hit it off and soon enough we were dating. A while after that, I proposed and she accepted. That was 38 years ago and we are still going strong! Enough of the story-telling.

Desire is very important in making a marriage decision! When I first saw Linda there was physical desire but there was something else too. (After 38 years I realize that something else was God telling me “this is the woman I have chosen for you” and I feel that he told her “this is the man I have chosen for you.”)

First there was desire of the eyes and after talking with her there was desire of the heart, resulting in a decision to marry. I’ve heard it said that marriage isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Well, that’s true. It is in fact, when done properly, far, far more! Oh every couple has their ups and downs.

I can only speak for us but when those downs came I mean the big ones we ran to God and God stepped in and made the necessary corrections! 38 years, how? Well, we must understand the purpose, and the duty of our position in the marriage.

What I am about to write is probably one of, if not the most difficult messages/lessons that can or ever will be given to a congregation or class! There are specific purposes for a man and a woman in a marriage. Men are to be providers and protectors.

We are to place our wives on a pedestal, Holy and blameless. Here is where things get tough, God said the man is the head of the wife and Christ is the head of the Church. The scripture tells wives to obey their husbands and to adapt/conform to their husbands.

That’s where women will shut their ears or even get angry that it was spoken, but that is what God’s Word says and that is how He, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, wants it to be, PERIOD! No, I’m not down on women, not at all. What a wonderful gift women are.

But to be in God’s favor we must be obedient and that includes the gals. I hate that today’s society teaches the opposite of God’s will when it comes to marriage. To understand, we must go back to the creation of man and the creation of woman.

Why did God create a woman? God saw there was no suitable companion for man so God made Eve to fulfill the needs of Adam. There is no great mystery in this. Adam had needs and desires and God made women to fill those needs and desires. Simple, right? Come on now, let’s not complicate things. I’ve heard every argument a woman can make as to why they will not tend to the physical and supportive needs of their husbands (all of them wrong!).

In closing, to be successful in the eyes of God and in our just service to Him, we—male and female—must know our place in God’s kingdom and that absolutely includes the purpose of our creation.

The point I am making is, we either do and act according to God’s word and direction, or we make excuses to serve ourselves. We cannot serve two masters.

Kenneth Kellar
A Man Called by God to Teach and Disciple