THE MINISTRY GIFTS SUMMARIZED HIS GLORY REIGNS B. Childress Aug 23, 2007 All ministry gifts are set in the universal church, "Till we come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleigh of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." Ephesians 4:13-16
There is a divine call to the ministry. You must determine whether or not it is on your life. Do not try to go into the ministry without a calling from God to do so: 1) You will have the conviction in your own spirit. God deals with man's spirit. Learn to listen to your spirit. Learn to listen down on the inside of you and you will know many things you do not otherwise know. If you are just messing around in the world (half dedicated), half-in and half-out because you are living too much in the carnal realm, carnality will dominate you, and you won't be conscious of your spirit. If you are fully dedicated and consecrated to God to do anything He wants you to do, you will become conscious of that something inside of you: there will be a divine compulsion on the inside. 2) You will have the witness in your own heart. 3) You will have the spiritual equipment - gifts of the Spirit - that go along with the office or offices to which you are called. The method by which men are called are unimportant, but obedience to the call is of great importance. 1) If methods were important, the Bible would emphasize them; it does not. 2) The Bible does have much to say about obedience. 3) Sometimes God moves in extraordinary ways, but this is not the rule:
just comes upon him or her to stand in office.
Knowing that you "know" you are divinely called settles the matter once and for all. There should be no confusion on the subject. WHEN GOD CALLS HE EQUIPS
BE FAITHFUL TO THE CALL Some people in the ministry were either never called, or they are hopelessly unfaithful. Whether we are individual members of Christ, or we are called to be a ministry gift, He did not give some to be failures and some to succeed. You must apply yourself to the calling of God upon your life. Ministries don't just happen - you have to work at a ministry in order that it succeed. 1) Study - Preparation time is never lost time, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15 2) Dedicate yourself to God - Consecrate yourself to God. Know that when you are beginning ministry, you will not start out at the top. You will start out on the bottom rung of the ladder and climb up. There may be sacrifices, but if you know the call is there stay with it no matter the cost and remain faithful; submit to the will of God. 3) Be a person of integrity - People who have the call of God on their lives and who are also people of integrity, honesty and sincerity, will stay hooked up with God. 4) Develop, Mature, and Grow:
equipped spiritually; they must mature naturally and spiritually.
named one of the five prophets and/or teacher in Acts 13, later became an apostle. He started out as a preacher (Galatians 1:11,15,16,23); Philip started out in the ministry of helps (Acts 6:1-6). He was faithful in that office and was later moved to the office of evangelist (Acts 8:5-7, 21:8). If God called you to pastor, you may start with a small flock, as an assistant or associate pastor, youth pastor, etc. This, as opposed to pastoring a church of 2,000. No matter what, do not despise the day of small things (Zechariah 4: 10). 5) Take time to wait and see what God wants you to do - Let God make you the minister He wants you to be:
ministry.
God use your personality to inject it - then it becomes your message.
a prophet. Even if your call were a prophet, you could not enter that office right away. You would not be capable. His word says not to put a novice in the office of deacon (1 Timothy 3:6). God will not put an immature Christian or immature preacher into the office of the prophet. 6) Get some spiritual growth and development under your belt before you try to ascertain and "advertise" what office you are in. 7) Take time to wait on God. Take time to fast, pray, and be still before the Lord to find His perfect will for your life and ministry. NOTE: If you are not in the perfect will of God, you are in a place where Satan can attack you. It also makes it difficult to claim the highest that belongs to you. 8) Stay open to God. If you settle down into another call or another area of ministry and don't keep the communication lines open between you and Heaven, God will let you go on and suffer the consequences of being out of his will. 9) Do not intrude into the wrong office. It appears the thing that hinders people in the ministry more than anything else is trying to stand in the wrong office. The tragedy is that people live and die there and never know it.
Testament days. When he was about 80, he wrote, "I know many things, deeper things of God, than I am able to teach. If I do teach these things, I lose the ability to win souls." He knew things which he could share with other individuals, but to teach them was not his calling - it would have been the responsibility of the teacher to do that. His calling was the evangelistic office.
someone besides the High Priest intruded into the Holy of Holies, he fell dead instantly. He had intruded into the wrong office; the calling of God is holy; the ministry of God is holy. 10) Develop character. More is required of people who are separated unto an office; set the right example; provide things honest in the sight of all men; and fill your place with dignity. If you are called of God to stand in an office, that office demands respect. If you have respect for your office, you will be able to teach people to have respect for that particular office. VARIETY AND BALANCE The fascinating thing about the ministry gifts of Christ is their variety: 1) Apostles - the apostle's office seems to embrace almost every type of ministry. 2) Prophets - the prophet's ministry is inspirational. He speaks by direct, divine inspiration and revelation. 3) Evangelists - the evangelist has a direct endowment from the Lord to preach to Word for the salvation of souls. 4) Pastors - Pastors are the shephards of God's sheep. 5) Teachers - Those who fill the office of teacher teach the Word, not by natural ability, but by the divine ability of the Holy Spirit. A person can stand in more than one office, we separate ministry offices to define them. These ministry gifts have been given to the Church to bring a balance in the Church. The matter of balance of ministry gifts in the Body of Christ is vitally important to be effective. One ministry gift office alone cannot hope to effectively be able to minister to all the needs of the entire Body of Christ. The Body of Christ needs to realize that Christ gave a diversity of ministry gifts to the Church for a reason. All of them are essential in order for the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ to come unto full stature in Christ. It is God's divine plan that each ministry gift provide a check and balance to correct and complement the other: 1) The prophet is to inspire the teacher. 2) The teacher is to steady the prophet. 3) The evangelist is to continually remind us of the lost and dying world and its need for the gospel. 4) The pastor is to demonstrate to us that souls still need much nurturing and care after they have been won to the Lord. 5) And the apostle, above all, is to inspire and lead the way for gaining ground by establishing new works for the Lord. The ultimate goal of all ministry is to unite - not divide! Sources: The Ministry Gifts, Kenneth E. Hagin, Copyright 1998 by RHEMA Bible Church. The Gifts of the Spirit, Derek Prince, Copyright 2007 by Derek Prince Ministries, International. The Gifts and Ministries of the Holy Spirit, Lester Sumrall, Copyright 1982 by Lester Sumrall Evangelical Association (LeSEA). |
LIFE IN JESUS-MINISTRIES |