Everyone a Minister
Notes
Transcript
Everyone is a minister
Everyone is a minister
What do I want them to know? They are a minister
Why? It plays a vital role in the church their life
What do I want them to do? Discover their gifts and use their gifts
Why? It builds the church in unity, maturity, and fullness
ME/WE
What is my role in the church?
What does God want me to do?
Has anyone every asked that question?
Is my role to come and gather participate in praising God’s name on Sunday and throughout the week in my car and home?
Yes, but it more than that
2. Is my role to to come and gather and practice what God lays on the preachers heart to preach to the congregation.
Is that the only thing that God wants from you?
Pastor through Holy Spirit preaches to
Love you neighbor so you go and love you neighbor
To forgive or to be humble
TENSION
Our these our only roles, things God calls us to do?
Are these the only things God calls the church to do?
To be about Sunday only, to be about praising and practicing wha the word of God says
Our faith is more individualistic and not corporate
NO
Not only that; There is a danger in having this belief…a danger for you and for me, for the church
John Piper says you can have a church that is phenomenal, off the charts in PRAISE (best worship band ever) and a PREACHER that is clearly gifted by God....to the point it grows the church to a mega church…but it will be a big sick church if the SAINTS in the church do not live into their vital role.
We have seen this over the last decade or two in some megachurches....HUGE CHURCHES, BUT VERY UNHEALTHY…SO SICK THEY DIE AND CLOSE
Something that really stuck me this weak was this and this is going to seem like a rant on the megachurch and me and Robyn were sent from a megachurch which has done a great work : This is sometime to think about it was not until 1970’s that we had megachurches (megachurch is a church of 2000 people) in a, there were a few in the 1800’s, I wonder has we evolved in the church or have wandered?
YOU WILL SEE IT IN SMALL CHURCHES TOO
The Good New is God never instituted the church to only be about the Sunday gathering (bottle necked to one day for one hour to two hours), not only that it was never to revolve around a few gifted people particularly on Sunday around someone who can PREACH and lead us in PRAISE...
What we are going to discover today is that every SAINT has a vital role in the church, not a small role, or passive role and it is a role that is not only for Sunday if for every day of the week.
How much we live into this will determine how healthy we all are.
GOD
What is this role?
Why is vitally?
Before we get there God wants us to know something essential
What’s the essential thing God wants us to know?
But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says,
“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
and he gave gifts to men.”
(In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?
What is God saying? What is the essential thing that God wants us to know? Why is Paul quoting Psalm 68 about a DIVINE WARRIOR KING? What does it mean that Jesus ascended and descended?
Paul is saying what kings do in battle in the physical realm Jesus did in the spiritual realm.
This has us ask a further questions because we don’t fight in battle like kings did back then.
What do kings do in the physical realm in battle?
When they see an enemy coming to defeat them they descend from their throne and defeat the enemy, then they take the spoils/gifts from the battle and pass them to the people and they ascend back to the throne.
Paul says in the same way Jesus descended from heaven to earth, to lower regions of the earth where it is said that Satan, demons, and Artemis (the god that many people in Ephesus worshipped)....the devil is defeated, death is defeated, and not only does he do that He gifts the people…not with the gifts/spoils of Devil or underworld, we don’t want those, but with supernatural gifts....then he ascended back on the throne.
Paul is writing SAINTS I have defeated the darkness and not only that I have GIFTED YOU ALL, you are ALL GIFTED BY GOD…NOT A FEW (not just the pastors or worship leaders) BUT ALL WHO ARE SAINTS ARE GIFTED BY the grace of GOD.
Do you realize this? You are GIFTED BY THE GRACE OF GOD WITH SUPERNATURAL GIFTS
This is essential for us to know this.....God has gifted us all and for us to us these gifts, this is why if only a few of us use our gifts then we will have a sick church because we are all gifted to us our gifts in the church..., because we will only have a few people doing all the work that is needed to use our gifts.
And part of the problem the reason we arrived here is because pastors and I am guilty at times the church about the Sunday gathering for worship
What are we gifted with? What are the supernatural gifts that we are gifted with?
Strength to bend steel, super powers where we can fly or run as faster than a cheetah?
No, we have better super powers
Paul is going us 5 things that we could be gifted with know as the APEST
This list is not exhaustive
- you will see other lists in Romans 12 and 1 Cor 12.
In Eph 4:11 Paul gives the APEST
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,
Apostles: Send out one to start new ministries, new works, and churches....that is one of my gifts and Jeff Trowbridge, he started a new work in Ethopia
Prophets: one who proclaims inspired utterances on behalf of God…God speaks to the prophet with a word they are to speak to another person as
God speaks to Robyn a word she is share with Ben that she believes from the Lord…and the word she gives is as 1 Cor 14:3 is for building him up an encouraging him.
On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.
prophecy in NT is many times different than the OT… They OT prophets prophesied many times, not always, bad things but in the NT it is reversed…it is for encouragement and upbuilding.
Evangelist: we are all evangelist, some have a gift in evangelism you have the ability to share Gospel that leads people to Jesus
Shepherds: You are a people person to the max. You have the gift to pastor, care, and guide a group of people. Small group leaders have this gift.
Teachers: some people are gifted to teach the truth of God to children, to woman, to people.
Some of the others
Some of the other GIFTS you will see listed is the GIFT of SERVING, ENCOURAGEMENT, WISDOM
What Bible scholar say is there is somewhere around 20ish gifts
Why are we gifted? Why is so vitally important?
Are we gifted by God so that people will see how gifted we are and praise our name.
Did you see how WISE BECKY is....
Did you see how great a server Rick is?
NO, God does not gift us to we get praised
why are we gifted? lets read
to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
Equipped to build up the body of Christ, the church
We are equipped to Build to build each other up
The Church is so constituted that every member matters, and matters in a very vital sense. - Martin Llyod Jones
We need each other to be built up…Specifically Paul
For us to be healthy we need to be building each other up.
You are a vital member of the body
NOT ONLY THAT....I love what John Piper says, “God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him.”
When we build others up it builds us up....It feels good and it is meant to feel good
this is not every time…some times it is hard work
We would not want to build if was always no fun!
How are we to build each other up?
In the gym?
Stretch Pete’s legs
until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
We need other to build us up and Paul three ways we are build each other up.
Equipped to Build each other up in unity of the faith
TWO ways
Unity personally and relationally, unity theologically (in our core beliefs)
Some of you are given the gift of SHEPHERDING and COUNSELING....and when you two SAINTS disunified and divided you have been equipped by God to bring the SAINTS into unity.
Some people say if you are looking some to unify someone the way God wants them to unified don’t ask me I tend to bring the hammer and or get impatient with people.
Discernment and wisdom to see when we are out of UNITY with our core tenants of our faith....instead we are majoring on the minors and minoring on the majors....we need to stop and listen.
Equipped to build each other up into maturity in the knowledge of God
Some of you are gifted to teach and preach for us to know more of who God is, so we can grow into maturity.
Equipped to build each other up into the fullness of Jesus (as Paul prays in Eph 3)
Some of us are gifted with prophecy or encouragement. Prophecy God speaks to you to speak to the people of God to build them up in the fullness of God.
1 Thes 5:11
Equipped to encourage
Suicide is on the rise, depression is on the rise, anxiety is on the rise
God has gifted you to build up the church. We need you, we need you....YOUR ENCOURAGMENT IS A GIFT TO THE CHURCH
It is gift you can use by calling someone or texting someone
CHURCH YOU HAVE A VITAL ROLE TO PLAY…YOU ARE GIFTED/EQUIPPED TO BUILD UP YOUR BROTHER OR SISTER IN CHRIST
How long are we do this UNITIL HAVE PERFECT UNITY, KNOWLEDGE, FULLNESS…so until we reach heaven
We are always called to build because we live in a broken world
This week Soren is strong but Trish needs some building up (this is true Trish had a family member killed this week by gunfire), next week Katie is strong and Pete needs building up
The church is not just about Sunday…Never was, never has been…we see in Acts 2 they met daily to PRAISE, PRAY, Hear the PReaching, and BUILT EACH OTHER UP.
Paul then says it case you do use our gifts to build each other up in unity, maturity of knowledge, and fullness.....we build each other up so that we are not children in our faith
Let’s read
so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
We build each other to grow each other up.....that we are firmly rooted, not tossed to and fro...
What God has instituted is the church and the church is equipped to build each one of us into maturity that we are no longer children.
We are not longer tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, we are not carried away into darkness.
That we are able to descern evil from good.
What Paul is saying my faith is only me and God is hogwash AND
If your faith is always you and Jesus you will always be a child in your faith....
I personally would not be a pastor today, stronger in my faith today if it was not for the church.
If it was not for Chris shepherding me as a middle school and high schooler, young Man there was RICK and MOE encouragin me, teaching me, giving me wisdom, Robyn building me up with WISDOM and DISCERNMENT and ENCOURAGEMENT, Prophetic words from my mother in law,....you church have built me up with your hospitality, generosity, wisdom, you teaching......
I would not be where I am today without you!
YOU ARE WOULD NOT BE WHERE YOU ARE TODAY WITHOUT THE CHURCH....The church would not be where it is today without you.
WE
church what God is saying to us is BE APART OF THE CHURCH TO BECOME MATURE, FULL OF GOD, UNITY, TO BE ENOUCARAGE
THEN God says church you are equipped to build, how has God equipped you…we need you....
We need your administration, serving, mercy, compassion, teaching
We are all growing in our gifts
US
What a beautiful thing it is when God takes imperfect people, jars of clay, and uses them to BUILD each other up....When the church says I am equipped by the grace of God with gifts and I am going to build you up.
Small Group Questions
What did God speak/reveal to you today during the worship service?
Why is vital for us to know how we are gifted?
Have each person do the spiritual gift test and then have people share their results.
- Ask others to affirm their results if they have seen them use their gift.
- Ask them to share how they can be using their gift.