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This website has been developed to help you understand the Word of God, the Holy Bible. We believe that the Word of God holds the keys to a peaceful, fruitful, joyful life. Jesus said that the "truth shall make you free." As you walk with Jesus and learn what the Word of God teaches you will find a new found freedom in your life.

Some of the teachings on this website may be unlike any you have ever heard. Let me encourage you to keep an open mind and also to search out what is being taught here to see if it lines up with the Bible or not. If you have problems with any of the lessons and don't agree. Send me scriptures and we can discuss your differences. Many of the lessons contained in this website will step on the toes of traditional Christianity. Jesus said that the "tradition of man makes the commandment of God of no effect." It is time to get rid of tradition and believe what the Word of God really says!

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Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you. 1 Timothy 4:16

 

What is "A Ministry"?

I recently head the terms, “volunteer ministry”and “part time ministry”. As I read through the Bible and study it, I can’t find those terms anywhere between its covers.

What exactly is ministry? The Apostles, after the church began to grow, were involved in serving the thousands of people that had just come to know the Lord. They finally found themselves too busy to devote their time to prayer and the Word so they appointed other men to serve the people.

Acts 6:2-4
2 Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. 3 Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business;
4 but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

Matthew 20:26b-28
“,,,but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; 27And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: 28Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

It looks like, according to the Bible, being a minister means to be a servant. Unfortunately we see some of the big tv preachers and others like that that think it is the other way around, that they should be ministered to by the people.  I recently watched an old documentary about a man named, Marjoe Gortner. Some of you my age will know who he was, younger people may not. Gortner was a cute, charming young boy who enjoyed mimicking his parents when he was very young. His mother and father coached him and forced him to memorize sermons and at the age of four, his parents were billing him as the “world’s youngest ordained minister.”

At the time of this documentary, Gortner is grown and even though he is still traveling the country as an evangelist, he has grown tired of the ministry and may even be somewhat remorseful for conning people. He freely admits that this is all about money and always had been. He also said that he never believed in God. Gortner’s parents made millions of dollars off of the little boy’s preaching talent, according to Gortner. In the documentary, Gortner preaches “the Word”, he speaks in tongues and the people in the churches where he preaches, sing, dance, pray and seem to moved in the spirit. Gortner stopped traveling as an evangelist and began to work as an actor and even tried a stint as a rock star. Up until 2010, he hosted a yearly golf tournament.

Again, I ask, what is ministry? Is it a platform for a person to make a living and even possibly get rich? Is it all about the offering? Or is it about serving the people whether you make a paycheck from it or not?

I think the Bible is very clear that a minister should make his living from the ministry if he can.

1 Timothy 5:18
For the scripture says, You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the grain. And, The laborer is worthy of his reward.

Making a living from the ministry is not always possible. If it weren’t for people that volunteered for the ministry, many churches and ministries could not continue to operate. The Bible tells us that, even after his conversion, Paul worked, at least for a short time, making tents. Most Bible scholars believe it was to supplement his income from the ministry but the Bible is not perfectly clear on the matter.

Acts 18:3
And because he was of the same craft, he stayed with them, and worked: for by their occupation they were tentmakers.

I have noticed that when the terms “volunteer ministry” and “part-time ministry” are used, the people in those ministries don’t feel like their calling is as important as those that are in “full-time” ministry. The Bible NEVER makes any distinction between “full-time”, paid ministry and “volunteer” or “part-time” ministry. First you must remember that it is God that calls us to the ministry. It occurs before we are even born as we see in what God told Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 1:5
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Your ministry is important to the body of Christ. We are all called to a certain place in the body and if part of the body is suffering, all of the body is suffering. (1 Cor. 12:26)

As a pastor, I depended on those people that helped me in the ministry of the church. I barely made a living and there were weeks where I didn’t make any salary but all these other people did their ministry only for the Lord. There was no financial recompense to them.

If God has called you into the ministry, you need to realize that what He has called you to is important. You are important! Your church needs you, your pastor needs you! God needs you for that ministry or He would not have called you to it. Let me encourage you to be faithful to that ministry. Act like it is the most important ministry in the body of Christ! Be faithful to your calling and ministry. Be on time!  Show up when you are supposed to be there. What would happen if you went to church and as everyone gathers for the service anticipating the sermon, and the pastor never showed up? What if he just didn’t feel like going to church or he didn’t feel well or he decided he wanted to do something else that day? Maybe felt more like going golfing than going to church to preach. Do you feel like he is different because he gets a salary for the ministry? Your ministry is JUST as important. How many times have you not done your ministry because you just didn’t feel like going to church, you didn’t feel well or you wanted to do something else? Currently I lead a praise and worship team and I play the guitar for a ministry in our church. I also lead a Life Group or what most churches call Sunday School. I do not receive any financial remunerations, it is strictly a “volunteer ministry”. In fact, our church has over ninety Life Groups and each has a leader, some have co-leaders so that adds up to a lot of people who are volunteering their time for the ministry. In the praise and worship team I lead, it is only me on the acoustic guitar, we have a man who plays bass guitar and we have a man that plays drums. What would happen if I just didn’t show up one night for services? It is hard to lead praise and worship with just a bass guitar and drums. Every night I play, I am in pain. In fact, I live with constant, chronic pain do to an injury I received long ago but I still make the effort to go to our services every time we have them. There have been dozens of times I didn’t feel like going but I made a commitment to that ministry and I have an obligation, not only to the people in that ministry, the leaders of that ministry and to my church but mostly to God, who called me to the ministry in the first place.

Let me encourage you, if you are in “volunteer ministry” or “part-time” ministry, to give it all you have! Realize that it is God who has placed you there in the first place. Because of that, commit yourself to that ministry and make up your mind that you are going to be there every time that ministry is called for, that you will be on time and that you will give that ministry everything you have, doing it “as unto the Lord.” As you do that, God will bless you and your ministry and those that are being ministered to by you!

Once, after I had graduated from seminary, I was in the car with my family and we had been around some people who put on, what seemed like to me, a façade. I graduated with them and it seemed like every time we were around them, they put on like they were super spiritual. As we drove off that day, I had been really praying about and contemplating on what God might have in store for me since I was out of school and that part of my life was over. As we drove down the street, I prayed silently, to the Lord, “Father, if I have to be like that (put on a different face when around others), then I don’t want it. I don’t want to be in the ministry.” I’ve always been me. I’ve always been an open person and honest about my whole life. As soon as I prayed to the Lord, He spoke back to me with one of the most intimate things He has ever told me, “But I need you! You are the only person that can reach the people I’ve called you to reach.”  I began to weep. How profound, that God “needs” us! God needs you! You are the only person who can reach who God has called you to reach!

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