This morning, we’re continuing our ministry training series called “Equipped.”
Last week, we were reminded that ministry is just another word for serving. To minister is simply to serve, which we are all called, empowered, and equipped to do.
The two types of ministry that we find throughout the Bible is ministry to the Lord and ministry to people. We tend to focus on the latter. However, ministry to people should simply be a continuation of our ministry to the Lord.
Most people want to know God’s will for their lives.
They want to understand His purpose for them.
They don’t want to miss out on His will and waste their lives away.
What most of us are looking for from God is for the skies to open, beams of light to shine down, and a big, booming voice telling us to do A and then B and then C. We want it to be clear and simple. We want to A, B, C and then call it a good life and head home to Heaven.
Where’s the fun in that, though?
Where’s the adventure?
Where’s the pursuit and the adrenaline rush of seeking and finding?
That would be like buying a puzzle that’s already fully assembled.
That would be like buying a first place trophy for yourself.
That would be like an Easter egg hunt where every kid is handed a full basket upon arrival.
There’s no fun in that at all!
We were created in the image of God and part of that reality is our desire to be sought after, to be pursued, for others to want to be present with us and to get to know us.
If all that God cared about is for us to be obedient robots who do nothing but His perfect will, He would have created us that way. He would have never given us free will. The two trees that Adam was commanded not to eat from would have never been put within his reach, brought to his attention, or the choice given to him to do what he should not do.
This choice wasn’t a cruel thing that God did to Adam and Eve, it was an act and an expression of love. Love requires a choice. Love requires risk. Love requires sacrifice. Love requires trust. Love requires faith.
Jesus asked Peter three times the same question that Jesus is asking you and I this morning, “Do you love me?”
Yes, we are going to be learning about the gifts of the Spirit and how to operate within those gifts. Before we get to the how, we need to lay the firm foundation of the why. We don’t want to end up as one of the many who miss the entire point of the gifts of the Spirit! We don’t want to be ones who practice the latter while neglecting the former; ministering to people without ministering to the Lord.
Jesus warned:
Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
Ministry is all about relationship and if we neglect or forsake our relationship with God, we miss the entire motive and intent of why we minister to people and do good works.
After teaching about the gifts of the Spirit and encouraging the church to eagerly desire them, Paul wrote to God’s people in Corinth and said:
1 Corinthians 13:1-3
1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
We are to eagerly desire the gifts of the Spirit. However, our desire for the gift giver should be far greater than the gifts that He gives!
All of the gifts of the Spirit will one day cease. On the day that we receive our glorified, eternal bodies, our spiritual gifts will be unnecessary. If we form our identity on our gifts and our purpose on using them, then we miss out on why we are adopted by our Heavenly Father as children of God.
What endures and remains beyond the gifts of the Spirit and into eternity are faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these things is? LOVE!
Jesus already taught each of us the A, B, and C of fulfilling His will and it’s only one thing. He taught us how to fulfill all of the law and the prophets; the entire Old Covenant and New Covenant alike.
It is to love.
Matthew 22:37-40
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all of your strength.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Ministry to the Lord is loving Jesus.
It is first and foremost and of upmost importance.
It will remain when the gifts cease.
From the love that we receive from God as we minister to Him, we are then able to love others.
Ministry to people is secondary and is a continuation of loving the Lord.
Ministry to people without the love of God and without the intent to draw people to Him and to reveal who He is to them is missing the point!
Ministry is also intended to have a component and aspect of hidden things for us to seek after and for God to reveal. If we knew exactly who we are to minister to and what to do in every situation, ministry would be boring. We could distribute a ministry handbook full of perfectly written equations to follow that would require no relationship with God at all.
That’s not God’s will, desire, intent, or purpose for ministry! Ministry is a pursuit that requires relationship and it is an act of faith that requires trust.
God isn’t hiding things from us, He’s hiding them for us!
Ministry is a life-long scavenger hunt discovering His goodness all around us!
Ministry is a life-long treasure hunt following one clue leading to another to keep in step with the Spirit encountering Him at every stop! Ministry is always new, always different, and always a thrilling adventure!
There is always an aspect of fear and uncertainty because there is always an aspect of dependence wholly and completely on God. It’s us acting by faith and hoping that we are hearing Him correctly.
Again, ministry is all about relationship with God and obedient cooperation by faith with Him. He is the one doing the work in us and through us. It’s all about Him!
Even Jesus, the perfect and sinless God in our flesh said:
John 5:19;30
19 Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
How did He do this so well?
Luke 5:16
Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
Jesus did not meet every need that every person surrounding Him had, He only did what He saw His Heavenly Father doing. It was a life lived by faith and love that expressed itself through obedience.
Jesus said:
John 14:15-21
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever – 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
Ministry is about knowing and about relationship. The Holy Spirit. The world doesn’t accept Him because they don’t see Him or know Him, BUT YOU DO! He lives with us and in us!
If we could only realize this truth that Jesus spoke, our lives would never be the same! Ministry would not be taught and encouraged and forced, it would be a supernatural, natural outpouring of our lives every day!
That same Spirit present at creation, that same Spirit that breathed the breath of life into the mud to bring a lump of mud alive (WAY better than Frosty the Snowman!), that same Spirit that rose Jesus from the grave, lives in us! He is with us and for us and is our constant connection to the Father and Jesus, the Son!
When we don’t know what to say, He’ll give us the words to speak:
Mark 13:11
Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.
When we don’t know how to pray, He’ll pray for us:
Romans 8:26-27
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
When we don’t know what to do, He’ll show us the way:
Isaiah 30:21
Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
If you have received Jesus’ salvation by faith, then you are saved. You are a sheep in the Good Shepherd’s flock and you hear His voice!
Jesus said:
John 10:2-5
2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”
We can’t minister if we can’t recognize God’s voice.
If we don’t recognize that voice telling us, “This is the way, walk in it.” then we’re still lost.
We can’t speak the life-giving, empowered, anointed words of God if we don’t speak them out as they are spoken to us.
We can’t pray the perfect, intercessory prayers if we’re not willing to let the Holy Spirit use our tongues to speak out wordless groans that might embarrass us as we leave them out of our mouths.
God won’t force anything to happen, either! It is a chosen cooperation because it is love and love requires a choice! Because it is a choice to live by faith, then it can be richly rewarded, too!
We aren’t supposed to listen to every voice in our heads or in our ears or in our hearts. All of us have lots of voices in our heads telling us who we are, how we ought to think, and how we ought to behave. Not all of those voices are ones that we should be obeying!
1 John 4:1
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God
You can read through the rest of that chapter to learn a bit more about how to test the spirits, but it essentially all comes down again to what Jesus taught; love! Do they acknowledge Jesus as God’s son and only Savior? What fruits will be produced by doing what you hear? Will they be the fruits of the Spirit or the fruits of the flesh? Will they manifest God’s love?
Oh, what ungodly spirits say will absolutely make sense to us and even sound wise, but what fruit will they produce?
James 3:13-17
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
We hear the voice of God, but we haven’t necessarily learned how to discern it. Most of us just think that it is our own thoughts or imaginations, but it is actually the Holy Spirit’s voice within us.
Remember when Samuel first heard God’s voice? He thought that it was Eli. As he responded to God’s voice, it was confirmed that it was the Lord and not Eli. He learned how to hear and discern God’s voice and grew and developed into a great prophet for God.
We, too, can learn and grow and mature and develop our ability to discern God’s voice as well. In fact, it is critically important for us to do this so that we know how to minister.
God’s written word, the Greek word Logos, is so incredibly valuable and important. We must become familiar with it, memorize it, study it, and live it out. However, it is no replacement for God’s spoken word, the Greek word Rhema.
It’s possible to know the written word of God inside out and backwards and have it thoroughly studied and still not know God. Jesus said to the Jewish leaders:
John 5:37-40
37 the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, 38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. 39 You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
When the written word of God wrapped itself in human flesh and stood in front of them, they did not know the Word nor recognize it. The living Word of God didn’t act in ways that they expected or speak using words that they anticipated.
We don’t want to become like them and make the Logos our God; knowing it, but not knowing it’s author.
The Logos, the written word of God, is a great way to get to know about God and to recognize His voice because He won’t contradict what He has already spoken nor His nature nor His character. We test the Rhema, what we think God is speaking to us, always against the rock-solid foundation of the Logos, what is written.
In Psalm 95 and Hebrews 3 &4, we are warned not to ignore God’s voice.
Hebrews 3:7-14
7 So, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
during the time of testing in the wilderness,
9 where your ancestors tested and tried me,
though for forty years they saw what I did.
10 That is why I was angry with that generation;
I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray,
and they have not known my ways.’
11 So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’
12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.
Let’s not turn away from the living God! Instead, let’s turn our hearts toward Him every day that is called, “Today!” Let’s pursue Him and His voice and respond to it!
No, you won’t hear it perfectly.
No, you won’t speak it out perfectly.
No, you won’t respond to it perfectly.
Consider our own earthly relationships. We don’t always hear what people tell us exactly right. We don’t always do exactly what they were asking us to or how they asked us to do it. We get tripped up on our words when we are sharing what others told us. There are misunderstandings and times when we simply completely miss it.
That’s OK and it is no different with God!
However, if we don’t start, we’ll never learn and never grow and are guaranteed to miss out! God’s grace and mercy and love and compassion are big enough to handle our mistakes.
This week’s lab can be so much fun!
This week, God is leading us on a scavenger hunt.
Actually, I’ll say that today and the rest of our lives, God is leading us on a scavenger hunt!
How do we participate in this hunt?
Pray often.
Ask God for simple, clear clues.
For example, before you go into a store, ask God to show you someone that is in the store or to describe them.
Pray for clear, undeniable attributes.
Make note of what you think you heard or saw along with the date.
Remember, what you always assumed was just your own imagination or thoughts might actually be God speaking to you through them!
Then, expectantly keep your eyes open for what you think you heard.
Check off your list when you find what God had given you clues about along with a date.
You are God’s sheep and you hear His voice!
Remember this as well. God is eternal and exists outside of space and time. Lots of times, I have written down a word that I heard or a dream/daydream that I had and didn’t realize that it was prophetic about something that was going to happen much further in the future.
Then, as it was happening in real life, I thought to myself, “Wait, I remember this!” Then, I look back to my log and find where God had shown exactly what happened long beforehand.
It’s so much fun!
Next week, we’ll learn how to take the next step of faith and how to respond to these clues that God gives us.