Men in Ministry, Trust in the Lord

A few weeks ago we enjoyed a wonderful sermon that tested each one of us. The sermon, tested us, made us a little uncomfortable in our seats and gave each of us a path to follow and a choice to make.

The sermon was titled: Trust can only be trust in the dark.  What does this mean?

Our Senior Pastor was in India with 51 of our church community. They were working with orphans and churches in and around Rajahmundry, India. His wife Pastor Christina was in the pulpit on this Sunday. She does not often take the pulpit there was an expectation in the air for a Holy Spirit filled direct message. That is exactly what we received a direct convicting and encouraging message on Trust.

Men in Ministry, faith creates trust. Without faith,  we cannot trust. I have two lovely grandchildren. They are sisters; Aspen and Colbie. Aspen is 2 years old Colbie is 3 months old. When Aspen stands on the side of the pool and her mother says jump, she hesitates then jumps. Aspen has faith in her mother, from that faith she trusts that jumping into the unknown will be ok.

Mary had blind trust to listen and believe the Angel Gabriel, who appeared to her, told her she would have a child conceived through the Holy Spirit. The complications this caused a young, possibly as young as 14, Jewish girl, who was engaged to be married were considerable. Joseph was her fiance' a fine upstanding man in the community. Mary could have been turned out by Joseph she could have been stoned as an adulteress she could have been sent out of the Temple many things for her to consider. Mary first asks how can this be? I am a virgin. The angel tells her the Holy Spirit will come on her, and the Most High will overshadow her. Mary’s answer: Luke 1:38 “I am the Lord’s servant, May it be as you have said.” Wow!

When Jesus called the Apostles, we are told they immediately left everything and followed Jesus. They trusted Jesus, someone they may have faintly heard about but certainly knew little of Him.

The example Pastor gave, in front of the congregation, was to blind fold an intern then tell her to listen to the her voice and do what she says. The intern went down steps, turned left walked a few steps, turned right walk a few steps, she followed the voice commands perfectly. Trust is following the commands of the Holy Spirit. Trust is following the voice of your Pastor or your ministry leader. The Pastor then turned her head so the intern could not clearly hear her voice. Some of the people in the front row could hear the Pastor’s voice and told the intern what they thought she said. The intern still did not move she did not hear the Pastor’s voice. She did what she was told.

Trust is found in obedience. The intern obeyed and only responded to the Pastor’s voice. We hear from God are given a direction then we do not hear His voice for awhile. Do we then have a tendency to listen to other voices. Did God truly tell you not to eat that fruit or go that way. You have not heard for a while maybe the other voices are correct. Not so: wait on the Lord.

Trust begins when we are in the dark, when we cannot see or do not know what to do. Trust requires that we will leave something behind. Mary gave up everything to follow the Lord’s Will for her, the Apostles gave up their livelihood along with family, friends and everything they knew. The intern sacrificed her natural senses and instincts to trust in the Pastor's.  God will ask us to do what we can do, not what we cannot do. We may not know we can do it. We may doubt that we can do it. God knows what we can do.

Trust is a sacrifice. Every sacrifice has a cost. 2 Samuel 24: 24 But the king replied to Araunah. “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”

Take the faith step, trust in God, trust in those that are in authority over you. All authority comes from God.

A final example in which I had the blessing to participate. We are on a mission trip to Nicaragua. We were supporting our Pastor and the missionaries to put on a Pastor’s conference. Each Pastor who attended the conference would receive gifts from us. Included in the gifts was $50.00 cash for each Pastor. The missionary stepped out of the hall he turned toward 5 of us, who were in proximity. He said: "go and get the envelopes for the Pastors." Twenty feet from us there were 100 envelopes in a stack on a table. All five of us turned and went to get the envelopes. When we got to the table, we laughed, realizing it did not take 5 people to carry the envelopes. More important, we realized we had learned to trust the leaders.

Faith begets trust trust begets obedience obedience then makes us all the followers that Jesus intended.

Glad Tidings Men in Ministry

When there is Church, You Go to Church

Men in Ministry, the church is not the building it is the local body of Christ, us!

Men in Ministry, is there a way to run the race to win, without using all the tools that Jesus gives us?  The Holy Spirit, good teaching and preaching, prayer and Bible Study are the key tools that Jesus left for the Christian. The path we are to live is narrow and difficult. The world has so much to offer us in carnal pleasure or simple distractions.

Fellowship

Is it weird to get up on Sunday morning and go to church rather than doing so many other things? Is it even weirder to plan your life around the church services? Going to church on Wednesday, we call it the Oasis, is always hard for friends and co-workers to understand.

Be and Example
 for the Youth

What is the priority? Is your prayer time, are the church services scheduled in to your calendar so that you are aware of the commitment.  What is the first priority? Is it a business meeting or dinner,  is it a sporting event, is it a party or is it obeying God?

There are many excuses to skip church. Seldom are we in such a situation that God would agree is more important than being in a scheduled church service. To be like Christ strive toward the desire of the Lord, which is for us t

Hear Great Preaching/Teaching

o be one like He and the Father are one. John 17 is the public prayer that Jesus prayed for all believers. Jesus says, “I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.”  So Jesus as He prepares to go to the brutal death on the cross prays for all believers. Jesus goes on to be very specific. Here, he describes a unified congregation as the desire of His heart. “ I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me so that they may be one as we are one.”

How can we possibly be one as Jesus and the Father are one, without being together under one earthly God delegated leader, the Pastor? Jesus prays at the very end of His time on earth for us to be one. He knows all things and He knows that we cannot win the race without being unified, seeking, worshiping and encouraging each other in Christ.

Worship Together

The power of Pentecost is in obedience to the direction of the Lord which disciples practiced by being together in prayer and fasting. Jesus in acts told the disciples to wait, do not leave Jerusalem. “When the day of Pentecost came they were all together in one place.” Acts 2:1: The disciples became unified in that room, in Jerusalem. We know 120 people were together when the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of tongues of fire. He did this to give the disciples the power that Jesus spoke of before He ascended to the right hand of God. The power that Jesus said would be used to do greater things the He did. How many were in the room on the first day, was 300 or 500? On the 10th day the unified 120, the faithful we prayed together under the leadership of the Apostles received the power of the Holy Spirit and changed the world.

Men in Ministry, Schedule all the church services on your calendar to be sure schedule conflicts are avoided

Jesus went to the Temple; the place of meeting it was Jesus’ regular practice to be in these places on the Sabbath. (Reference Luke 4:16) Men in Ministry, we need to be in our local church, when there is church. Be there unified with all of our brothers and sisters, worshiping God, to studying His Word, encouraging each other and being obedient to God’s commands and do what pleases Him.

We are the church!

Men in Ministry Seek First the Kingdom of God

In ministry groups, in conversation with Men in Ministry and in observation men and women, for that matter, struggle to pray each morning.  This is referring to meaningful prayer time. This does not refer to the morning microwave, fast food or drive through prayer.  The first place we need to turn for direction is the Bible. Mathew 6:33: “33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

You mean I can spend every morning
with the King of Kings!

The Bible clearly commands us in a number of ways to have a real prayer time with God first of every day. Seek first the Kingdom. It is a command. There are no reservations at the front end or anywhere in the scripture verse. Seek first the Kingdom. The first part of every day, the first part of every meal, the first part of every meeting, the first part of every thing we do. Get the power from God. Prayer is powerful!

First is an interesting word with deep meaning. Deep meaning especially as it is expressed in the Matthew 6:33. The definition describes when first is.  Look at the definition: being before all others with respect to time, order, rank, importance, etc.  The penetrating of the Holy Spirit is right in that definition.

Matthew 6:33 phrased a little differently might read: Seek God first in time of the day, first on my to-do list and first before I think of anything.  We can debate; on second thought there really is not a credible debate. First is only one thing, first!

Let us look somewhere else in the Bible. Every day we should strive to become  more like Jesus. In 1 Peter 1:14-16 there are a few more commands. “So you must live as God’s obedient children. (Skip forward in the reading) For the scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

One more look if we are to be holy because Jesus is holy, it makes sense that he gave us the example of living a holy life. In Mark 1:35 Jesus is the example: very early in the morning while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed.”

Back to seek first the Kingdom of God the back end of the scripture describes the reward: “and all these things will be given to you as well.” Men in Ministry I want that promise in my life!

Then Matthew goes on to tell us not to worry. I think we worry because we are not giving Jesus the first of the day and all time. That is for another article or hub.

God commands us to seek Him first. He then tells us if we do he will meet all our needs.

We are commanded to spend the very first part of the day in a meaningful time with God. Seek first the Kingdom, be holy because He holy and Jesus’ example going off I solitude early in the morning while it was still dark.

Quality prayer time includes thanksgiving, praise, worship, Bible Study and petition. Psalm 100:4:  “enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.”  In Matthew 6 Jesus gives us the framework for prayer when He gives the Lord’s Prayer.

Start today, "and all these things will be given to you" all your needs will be met. It is a promise from God.

Glad Tidings Men in Ministry

Choosing the Ministry Servant Leader Team

Working with Men in Ministry will be challenging and rewarding.  Leadership in this context is similar to leadership in the business world. A major difference is the men in ministry are from different economic, national origin and educational backgrounds, and they are volunteers. The most dedicated participants are the most desirable because of their heart for the ministry. All the men will personally believe that Prayer is Powerful.

In the ministry like the business world the leader, will want to be able to knit the group together by recruiting the members most likely to be dedicated and most likely to contribute to the ministry’s successful outcomes.  Train each person to perform in his role, in the ministry. Motivate each leader to participate and do what is required away from admiring eyes and recognition. Sounds a lot like business leadership where successful leaders hire well, train effectively and motivate in the group and individually.

The most important element, which is not listed in the business books but is necessary in ministry, is people who are an example of Christian Living. Each man is a Servant Leader. Men striving to serve as Jesus would serve. This is not easy we fail, but the honest striving to achieve this goal is the key indicator.

Normally the participants in the ministry cannot be chosen they volunteer. The leaders can be chosen. These men should be hand picked, prayed in and confirmed by your Pastor or Church Leadership. Look for men who are family oriented, they have volunteered for other ministries or jobs in the church they are active in a large group activities, church dinners, greeters, picnics and outings.

Develop a relationship with each leader through conversations with them over a coke or coffee to understand their interests. Do they have a passionate desire to make a difference?

Finally, when building Men in Ministry be sure and select leaders in the ministry that are respected in the church for how they act and what they “humbly” do. Leaders will need skill in communicating and organizing. The leaders will have a passion to win men to Christ, One Man at a Time.

Select 2 or 4 leaders plus yourself.  This creates odd number for decisions and enough people to spread the work and the responsibility. Keep in mind your leaders more than likely have a family and full time employment outside of the ministry, which will take most of their time. The family always comes before the ministry.

So spread the work around and do not keep giving the same tasks to the same people. In addition, each leader should be able to fill any role when it comes to an activity or project.

The key to a successful ministry to men is the leadership. The leadership team that is selected and approved to work to build and lead the ministry.

Glad Tidings Men in Ministry

Men in Ministry, How to Win a City for Jesus

The work to reach an entire city for Jesus will produce great results. The unifying nature of the pursuit the real prayer, fasting and Bible Study will change men’s lives. The Men in Ministry will be overcome by the Power of Prayer, which will result in a powerful move of God.

Below is a tactical outline for taking a city for Jesus Christ.

• Establish God’s Perimeter
• Profile the faithful Men in Ministry
• Men dependent on the leadership of the Holy Spirit and prayer not their own abilities
• Called to the city not just to a congregation
• Gifted along the lines of Ephesians 4 (the whole chapter)
• Eph: 4:22-24 “to be made new in the attitude of your minds and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
• Men committed to daily prayer, daily study of the Bible and fasting as the Holy Spirit leads.
• Secure the Perimeter
• Satan with his weapons infiltrates the church. We must secure it by identifying and using God’s counter weapons.
• Pray for the leadership of the church
• Pray for the Men in Ministry
• Sin – God’s Grace
• Anxiety- God’s Mighty Hand (Power)
• Strongholds – renewal of our minds through the Word of God
• Disunity, apathy, gossip
• Spiritual and Social Mapping of the City
• Take down, through prayer, any demonic strongholds
• Pray for the neighborhoods every day.
• Expand the Perimeter
• Establish the core group then gradually bring Spirit led men, with hearts for God, into the core group.
• Infiltrate Satan’s Perimeter
• Prayer Groups
• 1 Timothy 2:12 “I urge, then, first of all that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”
• Ephesians 6:18 18 “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”
• Ephesians 6:12 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
  
• List the neighborhoods and streets
• Pray for each neighborhood and each street. The core group will grow so that daily prayer for each home will be the norm.
• Pray for the leaders of the city to come to Christ
• Establish permanent prayer groups
• Increase the quality of the small groups
• Bible study
• The prior weeks sermon deep dives
• Prayer commitments
• Prayer lists
• Continue to expand the core of Disciples
• Reach into the city with Business Men’s Prayer Groups
• Outreach into the city with Teen Challenge

Glad Tidings Men in Ministry

Men in Ministry Be Spirit Led!

Let us begin by blowing up any false teaching that God stopped speaking to His people somewhere in Acts 28 or before. Not true! God speaks to His people. The question: Are God’s People seeking His voice, listening to Him and obeying.

Men in Ministry You are Never Alone

The Holy Spirit is anxious to give Men in Ministry guidance, warnings, encouragement and correction. The Holy Spirit is anxiously waiting to talk to us. How do I know the Holy Spirit is anxious to speak to us? The Bible tells me so! 

The Holy Spirit is a person. He is the third person in the trinity. The Holy Spirit is God. You are never alone!

Romans 8:14: “For those that are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.”

Galatians 5:18 “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”

Ephesians 5:18 “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,

1 Corinthians 6:19 “ Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;

Ephesians 3:16 “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Holy Spirit in your inner being,”

Have the Victory in Your Life Everyday

The Holy Spirit does speak to us in many ways. Are we listening and obeying? The preparation to receive the voice of the Holy Spirit is Prayer and Bible Study.

1 Peter 1:23 ‘For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.”

John 14:26 “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, who the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

Just as sheep need to learn to understand and listen to the voice of the shepherd so to we must to learn to be led by the Holy Spirit. We have an inner witness, which we must faithfully nurture. The nurturing of the Holy Spirit is through prayer, Bible Study and obeying the Holy Spirit. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.

The apostle Paul urges, Galatians 5:25 “ Sine we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” We receive the Holy Spirit we also must walk in the Spirit. When putting on the Armor of God, our feet are fitted with the readiness that comes from the Gospel of Peace. The only way for that to happen is for us to know the Gospel of Peace.

You are never alone!

Glad Tidings Men in Ministry

Men in Ministry, Keep Your Eyes on Jesus

Open the meeting with prayer for the men, Teen Challenge, the families of all the men and the leading of the Holy Spirit in this morning's study.

Bible Study based on Matthew 14:22-33

Break the group into 5 small groups if there are more than 25 guys add a sixth group and they can do the group 5 lesson.

Give each group the verses they are to study and then explain to the entire group, with the leading of the Holy Spirit. The Leader YOU choose a leader, note taker and spokes person for each group.

Assign the verses, tell them to read the verses before and after for context, then spend 20 minutes discussing the verses and applying them to their lives.

Format:

1.     What is going on in the verses

2.     Center theme of the verses

3.     Message to us from the verses

The Discussion notes are for the leader to guide the discussion of each set of verses.

At the end discuss the complete set of scripture: Ending Discussion of Matthew 14:22-33.

Jesus walks on water:

Matthew 14:22-33

Group 1 VS 22-24

22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

Discussion: Look at the verses before 22 Jesus had just fed 5,000 and could have taken the crown. The crown without the cross has no value.

Whenever Jesus sends the Apostles out in a boat, there is going to be a test.  It may be that the fisherman return to normal where they try to do everything on their own without God’s leading.

When God gives us direction, and we follow that direction we must still ask for His leadership in every move that we make. Prayer is powerful!

Group 2 VS 25

25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

Discussion: The disciples saw Jesus and they were still terrified why is this, how soon we forget what Jesus has done for us. In this example,  He just fed 5,000 so how hard is it to walk on water. Jesus was walking above the waves above the trouble, above the trials He is getting ready to ask Peter to walk with Him

The Apostles are in a terrible storm, and they are afraid of Jesus. Why do we wait so long to call on the Lord?

Group 3 VS 27-28

27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

Leader: The phrase "it is I" is the same as "I am" the powerful words Jesus used in the Garden that knocked the soldiers and Judas to the ground. (John 18:5-6)

“Lord if it is you” Peter is our example Lord I know it is you directing me but....Lord I know you provide but…Lord I know you direct me to tithe but…Lord I trust you but…Peter is asking for proof, He saw Jesus He still wanted proof, this is us.

Group 4  VS 29-30

29 “Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Discussion When Peter had his eyes on Jesus, when Jesus was the center of his attention not even defying the laws of physics matter, Peter lived his life on water he knew he could not walk on water, but with Jesus all things are possible.  Then Peter went back to normal he said I cannot walk on water he began to sink.

What is this in our lives, when we do not trust Jesus and take His promises as true.

Group 5 VS 31-32

31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Discussion:  Peter called on the Lord put Him back in the center of His life and IMMEDIATELY Jesus reached out and caught him.  We doubt all the time. Most notable we take Jesus out of the center then doubt creeps in, in all situations. Once again Jesus proves He is the Son of God

Ending Discussion of Matthew 14:22-33.

The Apostles take their eyes off of Jesus maybe they were discussing how the heck they just fed 5,000, more than likely they were focused on the storm rather than on Jesus. Then Jesus walked above the storm and cam to their rescue.

We need to keep Jesus at the center of our lives. It is easy to focus on the situation or the trial. Jesus is above any situation and trial we need to focus on Him. We need to be faithful to obey His commands and do what pleases Him and He will stamp out the situation.

The message of the Power Of Prayer from RA Torrey: the power of prayer is that it keeps Jesus in the center of our lives.

What is your prayer commitment are you spending time with the King that He wants to spend with you.

Glad Tidings Men in Ministry