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Ministry

The Purpose Of The Ministry

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God’s purpose is to build up the body of Christ. It is not your agenda, your ideals or your doctrines. It is to build up the body of Christ by saving the saving of souls and renewing of weary hearts.

Ephesians 4:11-16

11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

13 Till we all 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 fulness of Christ:

14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

16 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.

V11 – God has a team assigned to the saints to Maturity

  • Apostles and prophets through their writings and words
  • Evangelists teach us the value of soul winning
  • Pastors and teachers keep believers strong in faith
  • They are called to “perfect” or “mature” the saints

V12 – Who is to do the work of the ministry? The saints!

Saints are to do the work of the ministry:

  • saints are those who have been born again
  • All believers are called to do the work of the ministry

We tend to reverse the divine plan by:

  • making pastors do the work of the ministry
  • people show up to listen and critique sermons
  • congregations seek to perfect the pastors to minister
  • we are becoming paid spectators

By doing this:

  • the church becomes as slow as s snail
  • Members miss the blessing of the ministry
  • When the body is not busy it creates busybodies

We must return to being the WHO behind the ministry

V12 – What is the work of the ministry? Anything that builds up the body of Christ!

The ministry is anything that builds up the body

  • to edify is to build up
  • What are you doing to edify? Fellowship? Support? Compassion? Praying?

The ministry is caring for the afflicted

  • Comforting the sick and sorrowful

1 Thessalonians 5:11-14

11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

12 And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;

13 And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves.

14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.

  • Visiting and care for the fatherless and widows

James 1:27

27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

  • Being a caregiver for the physical needs of believers

Romans 12:13

13 Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.

  • Helping the poor

Romans 15:25-26

25 But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints.

26 For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.

  • Helping those overtaken by a fault

Galatians 6:1

6 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

  • Encouraging one another

Hebrews 10:25

25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

V13-16 – What happens when we do all the work of the ministry?

  • The church is unified
  • Believers become Christlike
  • Christians become solid in faith
  • The church is protected from false teaching
  • Love flows through all preaching and teaching
  • The church grows and is known for fellowship and love

– And out of this people can be saved, delivered and set free!

Heart of Grace Voted Best Local Website By LaFollette Press! Thanks Everyone!

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We wanted to thank everyone who took the time to submit an entry into the LaFollette Press for the Readers’s Choice award for best local website. We hope this will serve as another opportunity to reach out to their reader base as a chance to lead people to Jesus Christ! Help us spread the word by spreading the news! Check out the ad that will run on October 30th below!

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Are You Overextended? Five Powerful Thoughts To Simplify Your Situation

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over-extended

I love illustrations because sometimes it helps to explain feelings that do not always have good adjectives to represent them. Is your life defined by all you get done at work? Are you not getting enough done at home? Do people pressure you into doing more because they have unreasonable expectations or want someone to do it for them? Have you or do you deal with people that always seem to put more on you than what is reasonable? Do some situations that people put you in make you want to scream?!?

I guess what I am really asking is, do you feel overextended? Overextend in its meaning towards people means that you impose on (someone) an excessive burden of work or commitments. In reference to objects or ideals it means to make too long. If you really took a minute to look inside of your personal life you will find that in a lot (or maybe even) of the things you do is WAY more than one can accomplish in one day. We only get 24 hours in a day and at least 6 are for rest, all the while we have to work, run errands, do hobbies, put out drama fires, handle emergencies, etc. When the list piles up in your mind it almost makes every day like it’s the worst day to come.

To be honest I have been overextended in many things during the past 8 years. Let’s just hash some personal examples: working 40-50 hours a week, working out 5 times a week, commuting to work two hours for five days a week, preaching full-time, teaching music, attending music practice, working in outside ministry…wait a second…I have not even mentioned anything to do with family, friends, or my brothers & sisters in Christ!  Can you see where it would be easy to lose yourself in being overextended? This was also leaving a huge gap in my intimate adoration and worship to God. I’m happy to say that God has been working on me for the good and I’m reaching out to those who feel the same way to share with you how God has been teaching me to flip the script on busy living and to learn and take a deep breath (and that it’s okay).

Here are five thoughts God has inspired me to share with you:

1) If we have something that MUST be done, God will help you see it through

1 Corinthians 10:13 “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

James 1:12 “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.”

Deadlines do not just disappear when we want them to. Having to deal with difficult situations do not just leave from our to-do list. To deal with these realities we must pray that God strengthen us for the hour that we will need it (and ultimately is harder than we can handle on our own). Seek God for continual peace through your difficult time and by His spirit you will never feel alone. If you allow God the chance to be there for you the joy you will feel when you come out of it will be as if you were royalty; undeserving of the happiness yet through God’s love its promised to you. That makes me smile.

2) To reduce over-extension we must learn to pray before we simply commit to more

One of the best methods to keep a person from being over-extended is to stop it before it ever occurs via prevention. How do we reduce the chances? Prayer is a very good starting place.

Proverbs 8:17  “I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.”

Deuteronomy 4:29-31 “But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.”

This passage not only references starting your day out with seeking God but for those who will allow God the chance to lead them even before a commitment. And once you have been showed by God what can be reduced then simply walk through the door and not worry over it any longer. The lighter we walk the more we embrace the burdens’ that God makes to be lighter!

3) People will only know your limits when you communicate them

Colossians 4:6 “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”

Romans 15: 1 “We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.”

“seasoned with salt” is a nice way to refer to the fact that we must communicate and handle situations with God’s widsom. By the wisdom of God we learn to know our boundaries and can be shown how to communicate the fact that we simply do not have the time or the strength to add more unto what is going on in the present. Until people hear from you and can understand that you are going through things then there is no one else at fault for this but you. Once you have spoken your boundaries it is then you give people the opportunity to help you bear the load and not continue to put more demands upon you. In fact if we live according to the word at that point those that are strong should change from their demands and begin to help you with your needs.

4) Don’t worry about what people think about you. You can only do so much with your commitments.

Psalm 118:5-6 “I called upon the Lord in distress: the Lord answered me, and set me in a large place. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?”

Philippians 2:3-4 “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”

The kind of peace that helps you to stop thinking or worrying over the opinions of others only comes by the peace of God. Seek for it that your load may be lighter and that your desire become more aligned with pleasing God with how you live and the good you do with what you’ve got.

5) If you center your life to righteousness you can drop all the things that are “busy attacks” on your focus

Proverbs 23:4 “Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist”

Psalm 37:5 “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1-22 “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;”

If the first priority in your life is God then I can assure you that the things you desire will begin to be aligned to his will. And as this happens you can see the things that come as opportunities as opposed to the things to shun that would just keep you busy all the time. God wants your life to be fruitful without your entire life being centered on making it happen by yourself. You even read in Luke 10:38-42 about Martha who was told by Christ that you are “anxious and trouble about many things but one is necessary”. What was that necessary? It was what Jesus called the “good portion”. There is a way of right-living before God that will reduce all the over-extending and allow you the opportunities to slow down and enjoy the moments that are right in front of you!

So just remember that at the end of the day there needs to be a season for all things, however you must yield to the seasons and not push beyond your means and max limits. Learning to allow God to give you strength when you need it and guidance when you have it creates a more balanced lifestyle. This balance can help you to be a better help to others and will help you realize what you can do with the time that would have been otherwise squandered by the enemy.

I No Longer Am Saul Through Jesus I Am Paul

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Acts 9:1-9

[1] And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
[2] And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.
[3] And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
[4] And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
[5] And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
[6] And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
[7] And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.
[8] And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.
[9] And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.

We open up with the last moments that we know of as Saul of Tarsus. Saul was a Pharisee that intensely pursued the destruction of the church. In his last moments we find him in business as usual on his way with letters of arrest for people that were followers of Jesus Christ, also known that time as “the way”.

We can definitely conclude that God loves all mankind, even those that were bad. God finally saw the moment to give Saul the chance of a lifetime. His life was finally ready to be converted. There is a difference between having a religious change of mind and having a real conversion. Just because you have a praying mother does not mean that you have been converted. And just because you have come to an altar before and had a preacher lead you in prayer does not necessarily mean you have been converted. For when you are converted you accept by faith Christ is Lord in your heart and then it becomes a personal experience and relationship for yourself! You begin to follow Gods will and not your own.

Paul’s opening words from his encounter with Jesus was a question that will be your evidence of the transformation that took place: Jesus, what will thou have me to do? Or more plainspoken: God, what can I do for you? And if God would have left Paul there, it would have been justified to sit in the state of blindness. However, God’s love was proven as He spoke to Ananias and led him to lay hands upon Paul to receive healing and the Holy Spirit.

 

Acts 9:10-19

[10] And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.
[11] And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,
[12] And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.
[13] Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:
[14] And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.
[15] But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
[16] For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.
[17] And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
[18] And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.
[19] And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus.

Here we find that the annihilation of his prior sins would then receive God’s love through the Holy Ghost and his eyes (as well as the unseen purpose of his life) are then opened. The letters he once walked with to destroy the church are now converted to living by the letter of love and life everlasting. They were the pages of the lamb’s book of life. Now we find that the word starts to go forth unto the Gentiles.

Acts 9:20-23

[20] And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.
[21] But all that heard him were amazed, and said; Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests?
[22] But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ.
[23] And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him:

And as he takes his first newborn steps we find where we are today. Empowered, yet with enemies in pursuit to continue the vengeful actions that were was left behind by Saul.

Mark 8:22-26

[22] And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him.
[23] And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.
[24] And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.
[25] After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.
[26] And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.

Sometimes we have to be led out of what is hurting us before our vision can be healed by Jesus. He touched him once and he could see a little, but after the second time he caused him to look up. By this point it was fully restored and made whole!

If you ever know or learn anything for the rest of your life then you need to know when you have that conversion with Jesus! If you have not yet, there is hope for you to step out and receive the greatest thing that will ever happen to you!

Those Who Love God First Stay Together

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I could not count the amount of messages that I have either posted on the site or preached in person that has been in reference to unity or coming together. God has been laying upon my heart over the past few months to stay on this topic, and I cannot help but wonder why (but of course it’s for a good reason).

When you begin to consider the building up of your church or ministry, you have to really consider how solid your foundation is and what exactly it is based on. In continual seeking of God you will find how much that you are a part of that wonderful family. On the same token, church and ministry need to be built on the same premise. As you work with people, remember that they are people that you must love as Christ has loved you.

With that said, strive to keep love in your hearts and as the center for your personal willpower to keep helping others and showing charity. Remember that though you may not be direct family but in God’s family that we are all one! The more that we remember this simple thought, the more we can learn to come together more often with success!

It makes me think of the phrase that repeats from that old hymn, “Makes me love everybody and that’s good enough for me”. God bless each and every one of you.