Developing a personal ministry to men
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
As we begin our preparation in establishing the true church there are elements that Christ puts in place for us generally to use in developing personal ministry. As I have told you before I am concentrating on what Christ first did for a ministry to men. There are several different scriptures that we need to deal with as we discuss these thoughts. I would like to start with1 Thessalonians 2: 1-13 as it reads"you know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure. We had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition. For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be in trusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed... God is our witness. We were not looking for praise from men, nor from you or anyone else.
As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, but we were gentle among you, like a mother carrying for her little children. We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had be, so dear to us. Surely you remember, brothers, all were toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a bird to any one while we preached the gospel of God to you. You are witnesses and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives were the of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. And we all so thank God continually because, when you receive it the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe. For you, brothers, became imitators of God's churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: you suffered from your own country men the same things those churches suffered from the Jew's, who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to all men in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved."
There is a general manual for ministry to be found within this passage of Scripture. If you like you can also read other passages that support our conversation like that of Romans 1:8 and 1 Corinthians 1:2. These manuals that I referred to may take quite a while to develop. Before we can actually preach the gospel to someone it may require getting to know the person themselves first. It is funny how often we tend to trust total strangers on television to tell us the truth about the gospel of Christ when we have never actually seen Christ in action in their daily lives. What is needed in most cases for people to understand the gospel is to see real Christians at work each and every day as they deal with various day by day problems. In Paul's case as he wrote to these people he could deal with them as someone they knew well enough to trust. Each of us have been tricked from time to time by words of flattery or by convincing us to feel comfortable even when we did not have all of the facts. The heart is not just made of emotion, but also intellect. God knows that we always have to deal with a mask of greed and personal profit when we deal with the world around us. With our personal ministry the need to to know the person well who speaks to us of God's love is important. In the next blog we will be dealing with the discussion about what God's agenda may be in our lives. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
As we begin our preparation in establishing the true church there are elements that Christ puts in place for us generally to use in developing personal ministry. As I have told you before I am concentrating on what Christ first did for a ministry to men. There are several different scriptures that we need to deal with as we discuss these thoughts. I would like to start with1 Thessalonians 2: 1-13 as it reads"you know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure. We had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition. For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be in trusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed... God is our witness. We were not looking for praise from men, nor from you or anyone else.
As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, but we were gentle among you, like a mother carrying for her little children. We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had be, so dear to us. Surely you remember, brothers, all were toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a bird to any one while we preached the gospel of God to you. You are witnesses and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives were the of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. And we all so thank God continually because, when you receive it the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe. For you, brothers, became imitators of God's churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: you suffered from your own country men the same things those churches suffered from the Jew's, who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to all men in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved."
There is a general manual for ministry to be found within this passage of Scripture. If you like you can also read other passages that support our conversation like that of Romans 1:8 and 1 Corinthians 1:2. These manuals that I referred to may take quite a while to develop. Before we can actually preach the gospel to someone it may require getting to know the person themselves first. It is funny how often we tend to trust total strangers on television to tell us the truth about the gospel of Christ when we have never actually seen Christ in action in their daily lives. What is needed in most cases for people to understand the gospel is to see real Christians at work each and every day as they deal with various day by day problems. In Paul's case as he wrote to these people he could deal with them as someone they knew well enough to trust. Each of us have been tricked from time to time by words of flattery or by convincing us to feel comfortable even when we did not have all of the facts. The heart is not just made of emotion, but also intellect. God knows that we always have to deal with a mask of greed and personal profit when we deal with the world around us. With our personal ministry the need to to know the person well who speaks to us of God's love is important. In the next blog we will be dealing with the discussion about what God's agenda may be in our lives. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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