The Ministry

Acts chapter 20 verse 22 the moment you've been waiting for and now behold Paul said I go Bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befall me there say that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city saying the bonds and afflictions abide me but none of these things move me neither count I my like dear unto myself that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God Paul spoke about his course and the ministry I want to speak to you tonight on those two words the ministry God bless you please be seated the favorite words in Pentecost you may be seated in the month of September taught a lot about families and October our missions conference and transitioning to the Ministries and we're to take the gospel to everyone everywhere to the ends of the Earth culturally and geographically so I prayed about this last Wednesday of October felt directed of the Lord to talk about the ministry what is what is the ministry I read a story about a pastor of a rural church is invited to dinner on Sunday afternoon at the house of some members in the church the member was a farmer they enjoyed a wonderful Country Dinner of fried chicken and all the Fixins then after dinner they were sitting in the rocking chairs on the porch just chatting fellowshipping and the pastor looked out across the lawn and on a fence post he saw a rooster perched on that fence post and that rooster looked really like he was the man you know so the Pastor said to the farmer he said you know that's a mighty proud rooster you have there then the farmer said back to his Pastor he should be proud his son just entered the ministry and in case it hasn't dawned on you yet pastor had the rooster's son for dinner he can eat a young rooster I uh I'm a preacher but I'm not a preacher's kid and I didn't really recognize my call to preach till I was 18 or 19 years old and 18 I would say it was a little iffy 19 probably I I knew more for sure but this may surprise you but after my first semester of Bible College I almost changed my major to music most of you don't know this but I took eight years of classical piano and played my trumpet through Junior High Senior High Bible College and never been a great pianist but or singer but I love music and grew up singing a lot but I was just trying to figure it out but I made this observation that usually the people who preach are preachers and so when preachers preach about the ministry and about the call of God they usually preach it in the context of the faithful Ministry Apostles prophets evangelists pastors and teachers it's been my practice in the last couple of decades since becoming Pastor that when I preach about the call of God that I try to to cast a wider net to not Define it too much to let God Define what Ministry means to the person that God is calling sometimes the Lord will give you a specific message that is to call to missions or Ministry and I feel quite certain that this past Wednesday night and this past Sunday at missions conference many of us felt A Renewed call to the ministry that God has charged us with First Corinthians 1 and 2 tells us that we all have a similar calling unto the Church of God which is at Corinth to them that are Sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be Saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ Our Lord both theirs their lord and our Lord uh brother jtp said it is nice if a preacher is also a Christian I've learned that that's a good thing you know if if a preacher is also a saint they go together pretty well not always true but I think it kind of should be true I think you might agree with that Romans 1 and 7 Paul said the same thing we're called to be Saints so I was thinking about the call of God the ministry and the way we Define Ministry and see Ministry I think you have a broader understanding of ministry as the local church body because for 27 years he preached that everybody has a place of ministry in the body of Christ and I do believe in the Bible Ephesians 4 that they're governing ministries of Apostles prophets evangelists pastors and teachers but the ministry is broader than that so I started thinking about what the ministry is in the United China Pentecostal church so I'm a credentialed minister with the upci the largest one is Pentecostal organization and there are as of our last report eleven thousand two hundred sixty seven credentialed ministers in the United Pentecostal Church in the United States and Canada we say North America but Mexico would also be considered North America but by our definition as an organization the United States and Canada we say North America and I double checked today I text Brother Bernard's secretary Rhonda Morley we have approximately 800 000 constituents in our churches in the United States and Canada over 5 million people around the world 800 000 upci constituents in North America that's based on our best statistics of gathering information and extrapolating that based on the number of churches and Reporting well that's accurate that means that just 1.4 percent of our constituents are credentialed ministers we say licensed local General and ordination is the credential so we say credentialed so 1.4 of 800 000 people who say their United Pentecostal have a card in their wallet or somewhere that says that they're a licensed minister of the United Pentecostal Church International I know that's really simple math but that means 98.6 of upci constituents are not credential ministers so there's a great need for God to call people into the ministry of Apostles prophets evangelists pastors and teachers but statistically most of our Saints like my mom and dad were they're not going to be called to preach in the formal sense you may not be a credentialed upci minister but I believe that you have a Ministry that God has called every one of us not just to be Saints but he's placed Us in the body of Christ and gifted us to make a difference it would be tragic and it would be a catastrophe if the only anointed people of those 800 000 people were the 1.4 percent that had a card somewhere you know in their pocket or wherever it is and if those were the anointed ones that's never been the biblical Paradigm that's not our Paradigm as a United Pentecostal Church it's certainly not our Paradigm as a local church so I just want to remind you that God filled you with the Holy Ghost he empowered you for Ministry and that if the church does God's work in the earth it will not be because 1.4 percent of people are anointed or gifted or preached this is our work to do together amen it's the ministry that God has called us to amen the entire body of Christ is called a place for you saved to serve we say it often but not just as a way to get somebody to open a door or run a soundboard or sing or teach or work in the nursery but for your sake because God placed you in the body and every member of the body of Christ has a function and is needed and the body is interdependent amen no one in the body of Christ can disown anyone else in the body of Christ no one in the body can say that you don't need every other member of the body the entire body of Christ is vital to building up the body of Christ and to doing the work of the ministry for me say this before it wasn't part of my notes but someone said the modern day church is like a giant spectator sport like a football game there's 70 000 people desperately in need of exercise watching 22 men who are desperately in need of rest that's what many churches have become Spectators sport score carbs armchair quarterbacks I've learned that the greatest critics are the people who do the least the people that are deep in the work of God are too busy working to criticize and that sometimes critics are afraid to do anything because they might face the same criticism that they give to everybody else amen well that was all for free it's important to understand your calling and to fulfill the ministry that the Lord has given to you uh I've talked about my dad through the years dad and mom but I was blessed really with an amazing father and it's more a miracle the older I get and realized where he came from what a miracle it was that he was such a good man and a good dad my dad was an anointed song leader we didn't have praise teams or praise leaders he was a he was a song leader we sung out of the book and he had he used a lot of variety of songs and I've seen my dad get so anointed leading song service he was used of God in a pretty powerful way but my dad was not a preacher I remember my dad sharing with me as I grew up a little older in my later teenage years he said you know they're like I I wonder if I was called to preach and I miss my calling and I thought many times about some of those conversations it was not just one time it wasn't like something my dad said all the time but because I I've looked back and tried to understand what God did in my amazing Dad's life but to think that that my dad who was such a good man would feel that he had missed something God had for him when in everything I can see he did exactly what God wanted him to do and so I've kind of analyzed that thought about it and you know maybe when my dad was young in the church and God was anointing him probably a well-meaning person came up and said why brother George you're so anointed and maybe they called him to preach maybe that feeling of anointing that he had inside of him he didn't know how to to exactly express it and and when it came out and leading worship and exhorting people maybe he thought well this must be the anointing and what I've observed and I spoke about this earlier than casting a wide net and not not defining from the pulpit what God is saying let God Define that to the person but I really believe my dad in not judging anybody's calling and especially my dad but I watched his life and and when he got older when people would say well brother Johns are you a preacher he would say no I just raise him you know three out of four of his kids you know been in Ministry so you know I just raised preachers but I I thought about and I'm repeating myself that was sad to me to think that my dad would be so affected so respected so anointed gifted and then feel this sense of of missing the will of God in his life now I'm saying that to help you know take some pressure off you and to give understanding to the will of God because preachers preach about the call of God and the ministry again we can Define it in its more narrow sense of the governing ministries of the church and there are people everybody that has the Holy Ghost Believers are going to lay hands on the sick and they shall recover so that's everybody so when you feel that anointing maybe God is calling you to preach in the classical sense but maybe not maybe God is just saying you're in my body you're filled with my spirit and I'm anointing you because I want to use you in the body of Christ amen now for me defining the call of God was a process and I've taught lessons about it to young people I've taught on it here a little bit because I wanted us all to have an understanding about the call of God I don't want you to misinterpret what you feel when you feel anointing that when God anoints you that's a good thing and you shouldn't feel condemned because you feel anointed for Ministry and you feel fulfilled doing what God's called you to do and you don't really want to go behind a Pulpit or a microphone or behind a Bible and for what it's worth neither did I and I was scared to death to think that God wanted me to be a preacher my first few times proved that I should not be a preacher pretty humiliating I will never forget brother T.L craft one of the most outgoing people a man of Faith he said the first time he ever preached he got up he didn't know he was what he was going to preach and back then you probably weren't supposed to think about it or too much you're just supposed to get up and Let Her Fly you know and he thought about he said oh taste and see that the Lord is good and he said it's just like a wino who gets one drink and wants a whole lot more I believe that's what he said and then he just fainted right on the platform just like that that was his first sermon despise not the day of small things so part of and part of my message tonight is to help us be content in our calling outside of Atlanta West I typically know how God uses me in leadership and committees and boards and kind of strategic some special meetings leadership and a lot of teaching more than being that main night speaker I've done that and if I'm asked to I'll do my very best but when I first went to work in the UT division you know you're expected to preach a lot of youth camps and special meetings and it was a stretch for me I never preached and those kind of events before and I had to really go to work and learn and thank God I worked for brother Jerry Jones one of the greatest preachers in the United Pentecostal church and I tried to go to school on him and get better but I have a calling and a gifting and a nature and I've tried to learn to be comfortable in my own shoes to bring my own shoes and not try to fill someone else's shoes so I want to try to take a little pressure off of you to be something that God has not called you to be but also the right kind of pressure to be everything God has called you to be because there are ditches on either side of the road amen God that Paul said has set the members in the body as it pleased him amen so when we feel the anointing of God we should not automatically assume that we're feeling a call to preach if you are that's good and again I'm not minimizing that now I told you I'm not a preacher's kid but I was raised in a good church and I never really felt a particular pressure to become a preacher my pastor's son was a very good friend of mine and I think he did feel that kind of preacher I worked in a bible college for 10 years and in three years at Gateway later but less Hands-On and I've observed preachers kids that felt pressured to preach and sometimes well-meaning people will say things to preachers kids but my wife and I tried to take that pressure off our boys you cannot change who you are but I didn't want our boys to be called because her dad was a preacher or because someone that was well-meaning called them to preach who wanted it to be the Lord and I'm thankful I'm not trying to brag or complain but I'm thankful that all of our boys have a unique calling on their life and they're pursuing that calling but I think they would say that they never felt pressure from my wife or me to push them to be something that God was not calling them to be and sometimes you can feel like a particular slot is already filled in your family and we sure don't need two or three preachers in the same family and so that spot's filled I have to do something else there's a lot of room for us to do what God has called us to do and not do something out of pressure whether it is externally imposed or internally imposed we want to do the will of God now Romans 12 in First Corinthians 12 give us some of the Ministries in the church Ephesians 4 gives us the faithful Ministry but Romans 12 and I just want to read through them I don't have time to teach and it's not my purpose tonight but that the ministry of prophesying Prophecy and serving it could be the role of a leader in the church who helps a pastor there's a Ministry of teaching Romans 12 7 of exhorting or encouraging Romans 12 8 of giving that is to be done with Simplicity in Romans 12 8. there's the the gifting or Ministry of administration called ruling in the King James that is to be reformed with diligence that's verse 8. there's a gift of Mercy that is to be demonstrated or used with cheerfulness sometimes when a person is passionate and merciful they can be overcome with like the heaviness of mercy and Paul writes under the anointing of the spirit that you show Mercy with cheerfulness and then First Corinthians 12 28 as the gift of helps which is very Broad and in a in a local church the people that kind of are those utility players if it was a sports team that they're good in more than one position and I've tried to say to young men and women who wanted to make a difference in the church to be really versatile don't just be good at one thing try to be able to be versatile or you can help your church in multiple ways and you can serve wherever it is needed as well as your sweet spot or where you're specifically gifted so there are people who have told me I feel like my Ministry is the gift of helps and my goal is to just strengthen and help up our church however I can wherever I'm needed that is a powerful needed gift in the church now we teach in our church that you have a Ministry shape your spiritual gifts your heart for Ministry your abilities your personality and your experiences but we believe that God gets involved in all of that and he directs your steps so that you can fulfill your calling I want to explain briefly Paul's calling because that's the context of Acts 20 24. now I can't take a deep dive in this either but he said that he was called to be an apostle he was excuse me a servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle and separated under the gospel he says three things that he was called to do an apostle is one who is sent he is separated to be a preacher from the gospel he said in Galatians that he was separated from his mother's womb he was an apostle in that unique calling to go where Christ was not named where there was no church no witness no gospel and he went that was his calling his most specific calling to go to where there was nothing and lay a foundation and Lead something behind Galatians 2 7 says that he was called specifically to the Gentiles or the uncircumcision in First Corinthians 9 he said that the Seal of his apostleship was those Corinthian people that he'd established in the Lord in the 18 months he spent there acts 13 1 say that Paul and Barnabas and others were prophets and teachers Paul was a very special man but like Paul had an anointing we also have anointings and giftings in our lives which leads me to Acts chapter 20. now this is an amazing chapter like all the chapters of the Bible but Paul is at melitus and he sends back to Ephesus and he asked for all the leaders to come and meet with him so this is what you call the Ephesian Retreat I call the Ephesian Retreat it's all the ministers and Paul begins to talk to them about his ministry among them that he was with them in All Seasons that he endured tears and temptations and the Ambush intended ambush of the Jews he didn't hold back anything that was profitable for them he preached repentance toward God in faith in Jesus Christ but then he told them in verse 22 I'm now going Bound in the spirit to Jerusalem and I don't know what's going to be for me there the only thing he said I know is that it's been prophesied agabus prophesied that the man who's girdle or Cody bound would be bound in Jerusalem Paul said the Lord's already told me that bonds and afflictions abide me and then he gives his verse 24 that I'll come back to you but he said but none of these things move me everything that could happen to me doesn't change my mind about my Ministry and I don't count my life as anything that I am to preserve it is not dear unto myself that I can do two things I want to finish my course and the ministry that the Lord Jesus Christ has given me to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ he goes on to tell them that after this meeting that they would never see him again and he said I want you to come to record today that I am free from the blood of all men I have not shown to declare unto you all the gospel or the counsel of God he warned them about false teachers and he told them that they needed to take heed to themselves and then to their gospel that they were to be overseers to the church that the Lord had purchased with his own blood at the end of his discourse his teaching the Bible says that they all went out and they knelt down and he prayed for all of them they were weeping and hugging him and they were Sorrowing most of all for the words that he said that they would see his face no more and Paul got on a ship and sailed away and the Ephesian leaders went back the context of this Ephesian Retreat these words to these leaders of the church in Ephesus probably not all pastors or Apostles or prophets but spiritual leaders there that he gives us this verse I want to read it again Acts 20 24. but none of these things move me either count on my life dear unto myself so that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of Christ none of these things move me I've already mentioned this but it's the things that would befall him in Jerusalem Paul had prophecies over his life but he didn't know the details of how that would play out I'm not sure he knew then that he would be cast on a certain Island they would be in a shipwreck that be 14 days when they would not see sun or moon or stars that Paul's life would be filled with all kinds of trouble and there would be the thorn in his flesh Paul spoke about bonds and imprisonments and and then in first second Corinthians Second Corinthians 11. he gives a little catalog of the things that happened to him in his ministry labors Stripes you know beatings prisons fear of death beat five times by the Jews three times beaten with rods once stoned to death I believe or to the point of death and raised back up stoned it lystra three times he was in a shipwreck we only know the details of one of those shipwrecks a day and a night he spent floating out in the ocean was out in Acts 27 or another time that's what Paul did for the Gospel of Jesus Christ he said many Journeys not by plane by the way Perils of waters and robbers and his own countrymen Heathen perils in the city perils in the wilderness perils in the sea Peril is a false Brethren weariness painfulness watchings often hunger thirst fasting cold nakedness he lists 13 kinds of hardship that he would go through but in all of that he said none of these things move me and I don't count my life dear to myself self-preservation is not even on my list Paul said but that's not just about apostleship that's about discipleship and Jesus said that if we don't even deny our own lies that we cannot be his disciple in verse 24 I want you to see this verse but I want to point out one phrase in the Middle where Paul says so that I might finish my course with joy would you just say my course now this is an interesting phrase that Paul saw life like a race and he defined it as a race course he likes Sports illustrations he said they that run in a race run all but one receives the prize he tells us that he doesn't run randomly doesn't just you know he's not out for a little jog he is in a race and it is a pre-determined course that he is running near the end of his life he told Timothy II Timothy 4 and 7. I fought a good fight I have finished my course he says that in Acts 2024 he tells Timothy that and and I see this in the course of Paul's life we're all running the race we're all going to go to heaven but Daryl Johns has a course laid out by Jesus Christ that I am to run it's not your course there may be similarities there's certainly commonalities with all of us in obedience to Jesus Christ but it is like Simon Peter asking Jesus what would happen to John and Jesus saying what is it to you if I should allow John to live until I come again you just follow me Simon that I believe that you have a course that God has laid out for you and part of my message tonight is as this ministry and this course that we all have a Divine obligation to stay on track to not to deviate I don't believe that you can prescribe your own course in life and just do whatever you want to do and ask God to bless it I believe we should seek God and we should try to do the best with our life vocationally relationally spiritually in Ministry Paul said I have a course it is it is my course and I want to finish my course with joy that's important to this life does your course talking about the race course that God has laid out for you not just wide way that you have a lot of leeway but a pretty specific defined course that you have to run it's not a Sprint it's a marathon but does it have obstacles challenges is it restrictive it sounds like a course designed by Jesus Christ and if we're not careful all of us every one of us whether we're a preacher or not can get immersed with all the cares of life and the commitments of life and get off course we can run outside the boundary lines that God has ordained for us Paul said I have a course it's my course and he would write to the Galatians to be not weary in well-doing you have to keep on keeping on First Corinthians 9 26 on the screens I therefore so run not as uncertainly that's a really interesting word but it just means I do the opposite I run with purpose I run with intention I have a course so fight I not as one that beat at the year I'm not just Shadow Boxing I'm trying to make every punch in the fight of Life count I want to land every punch with purpose and then he tells how but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest that by any means when I have preached to others I myself should be a Castaway Paul said that I might finish my course with joy if Philippians 3 when he spoke about knowing Jesus and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings he spoke again about this race and he said this is one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus it means that he is straining in this race of life it is my course and then in Acts 2024 you can see it on the screen and I just want you to see these three words and the ministry it's my course and I believe you could say my Ministry but it's the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus and he defines it to testify the gospel of the grace of God I didn't come tonight with a fill in the blank for you to write in that blank but your ministry is but I think people who lead the most fulfilling and fruitful lives know what that is they've learned through experience where they fit in the body of Christ and where they're the most productive and where they're the most fulfilled because when you're fruitful and fulfilling what God has designed you to do then there's the joy he's going to finish his course with joy and the ministry that was given to him by the Lord Jesus Christ have you ever done something and it just wore you out exhausted you have you ever done anything that was harder work but you were kind of amped up and excited and energized by that yeah that's what you're supposed to be doing when it I know Ministry is depleting and you know I can talk about that but when you are doing what God has designed you to do typically you're going to be fruitful I hate to use the word successful but you're also going to have the joy that comes from being in your place in the body of Christ and the worst torture is to think that you should be somewhere else doing something else and not at peace with who you are and with what God has called you to do my course and the ministry that's been given me by the Lord Jesus Christ now generically the word ministry you know is just to serve that's what the ministry is whether you're an apostle or a prophet or whatever you're placed in the body is it's a place to serve and I believe that if you have a position and I've held a few positions in my life that you should serve the position and not make the position serve you and if you're impressed when you get a position you'll be depressed when you lose it and if a position defines you they all come and go but you should be defined as a servant of Jesus Christ you should be defined by a servant Ministry is serving Jesus taught this to the disciples right before his death when they were all clamoring for a position right hand left hand who should be the greatest they missed the point and he was the greatest and he was among them as one who served in John 13 He took a towel and washed their feet that's how he demonstrated his authority came from God went to God took a towel washed their feet told them that they should do the same to one another amen this ministry thing that God has called us to see at the end of life the goal is to have Jesus say to you well done good and faithful servant that's been Faithful over a few things what I love about that is the five Talent man heard that and the two Talent man heard that they were given different gifts but it was still considered a few things in God's eyes and it wasn't what they were given and I know to whom much is given much is required but it is what they did with what they had they just went out but their course and the ministry and made the best they could and were productive and they heard well done if you're not on course and not productive in Ministry you can get back on track if you've been sidelined by a spiritual injury I pray the Lord would make you whole again so you can serve not perfect not have everything figured out in life if you've been heard in Ministry and I pray that God will help you forgive say you can get up and serve again because if you serve in Ministry there will be times you feel forgotten unappreciated there will be times you'll be in the line of fire sometimes people will treat you like they feel toward God Jesus said they've not rejected you they've rejected me I don't have time to tell a story about that if you've been disqualified by serving in a certain area of ministry why don't you let God do for you like he did in Jeremiah 18. with the clay that was marred in the hand of the Potter find another place of meaningful Ministry where you can serve you see your ministry is not optional it is a spiritual obligation it's the ministry that I've received of the Lord Jesus Christ amen the ministry is a calling from God as I thought through this message I wanted to help you be at peace with God's calling in your life but I'm not trying to give you a pass to not fulfill God's calling in your life every one of us not just the Apostle Paul every one of us have a course Mike would you just say my course would you please say the ministry my course and the ministry but as I thought about this I thought about the hundreds and I and I'm saying hundreds on purpose the hundreds of people in our church who have found the ministry that God has for them and week in and week out you serve where you were gifted and sometimes you just serve where you're needed not because you have some special gift to vacuum a floor or clean a bathroom or change a diaper but because it's needed and yes you can do that and yes we all do but I thank God for the people in this church that are living a life of ministry and you make a huge difference in this church you're making the a difference over a period of time in the lives of thousands of people and I choose the word thousands with thought on purpose and not only that but you are making an incredible difference for eternity your turn you're changing how eternity is going to look for people who are either going to heaven or going to hell and by what you do someone is being redirected from Darkness to light from Hell To Heaven from hopelessness to Hope amen I want to show you the verse one more time if you'd please stand but none of these things move me neither count I my life dear unto myself a life of ministry is not a life of self-preservation a couple weeks ago I talked about balancing life and Ministry and their ditches on either side of the road I've observed people who neglected their family for Ministry and I've seen people who neglected Ministry thinking they would save their family but Jesus said you'll only find your life when you lose it and where your treasure is there will your heart be also and how do we expect our family to love God in the church when we've not invested much treasure there they need to see us involved in Ministry and we need to do it not because they so they can see us but because we were called and gifted to it amen I don't count my life dear to myself the verse again so that I might finish my course with joy Paul said I'm pressing toward the mark for the prize of the High Calling of God the upward calling of God crossing the finish line Crown of Life Paul said only one receives the prize that's a corruptable crown a wreath there were different kinds eucalyptus or pine or whatever they use in the Isthmus games in Corinth we're looking for an Incorruptible crown and Paul said there's a Crown of Life that the Lord has for me and not for me only but for all of them that love is appearing there's a crown for everyone who finishes the fair course that's what brings joy and the ministry