The Ministry Gifts - The Calling of God

Strive to show yourself worthy of God, a workman who need not be ashamed of himself, rightly dividing the word of truth.

2 Timothy 2:15

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Ministry Gifts - The Calling of God on Your Life

Notes from David of Bible College

When God calls someone to ministry, He equips them for the job.

A. Gifts for ministry are people - people who are called by God into full-time ministry.

1. Philip was called by God to be an evangelist.

2. Peter was called by God to be an apostle.

3. Paul was called by God to be first a prophet and teacher, and then, later in his life, he was called an apostle.

4. Other New Testament people were called by God to exercise different ministerial gifts.

B. These people (ministry gifts) God calls, he gives them equipment called spiritual gifts.

1. These ministries are not based on natural human gifts, but on spiritual gifts - supernatural gifts. If a person does not realize that these gifts are supernatural, then the results in church and ministry will be solely in the natural realm, which is not healthy for a church or ministry.

2. When a person is born again, God already has in mind what He has called that person to do. With a new spiritual birth (Born Again), a person is endowed with certain spiritual talents that equip him to occupy the function God has assigned him in the body of Christ.

3. Being filled with the Holy Spirit strengthens the gifts God has given a person.

4. God equips people with spiritual gifts to carry out the function to which God has called them.

a. People who are not called to the ministry may have spiritual gifts occasionally operating through them. But ministers will be specially equipped to minister regularly with the gifts necessary to be able to stand in the office to which they are called.

b. Spiritual gifts operating through the minister will carry a greater anointing.

Example: Tongues and interpretation or prophecy operating through the ministerial level carry a greater anointing than when they operate through people who have no ministerial calling in their lives.

5. Education is good - but we need more than education. We need a ministry equipped with supernatural gifts.

C. Ministry gifts consist not only of a name, but also of the power of God.

1. It's easy to call yourself something, to have a title, but that doesn't make you that title. You can sit in a garage and call yourself a car, but that doesn't make you a car. 2. You can call yourself a pastor, but that doesn't make you a pastor. You can call yourself an apostle, but that doesn't make you an apostle. The proof of the ministry to which you are called will be evident in your life. You will have divine authorization or endowment to hold the office to which you are called.

D. All ministry work is placed under the lordship of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is the head of his body, the Church. The head and the body are one; therefore, Jesus directs all the operations of his body from the right hand of God the Father in heaven.

Mark 16:20

20 As for them, they went out and preached everywhere. The Lord worked with them and confirmed the word by the signs that accompanied it].

Notice in this verse that it was the Lord Jesus who worked with these first disciples.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the Church.

a. Jesus is the one who gave gifts to people.

b. Jesus is the one who calls people to ministry.

c. Jesus is the one who equips people to fulfill his mission.

d. If Jesus has called you, HE will do it.

Faithfulness - Be faithful to what God has called you to do.

Apply yourself to God's call on your life. Ministries don't happen by chance, any more than marriages happen by chance. You'll have to work at your marriage, you'll have to work at the ministry God has called you to do.

A. Study time. Preparation time is never time wasted on your ministry. You'll need to study the Bible.

2 TIMOTHY 2:15

15 Strive to show yourself worthy of God, a workman who does not need to be ashamed of himself, rightly dividing the word of truth.

B. Dedicate yourself to the work to which God has called you. God's ministry over your life goes hand in hand with your dedication to the call.

C. Consecrate yourself. Ministry comes with the consecration of your life. Give yourself completely to God's purpose and plan for your ministry.

D . Submit to God's will. With ministry comes submission to God's perfect will for your life.

Comments: When you start in ministry, you don't start at the top. Even if you climb a ladder, you don't start at the top. You start at the bottom and work your way up. That's what you'll have to do in your ministry. And sometimes the first years of ministry are a great sacrifice for you. But if you know that God's call is there, you'll stay on the path God has laid out for you, whatever the cost.

You'll have to say to yourself: “I'm staying in this ministry because God has called me to it”. God will help you through all the storms you encounter in life. Stay connected to God at all times and you will succeed in ministry. God will put you over the top, just stay with Him and His plan for your life.

E. Be a person of integrity and develop character.

1. Psalm 15:4 gives one of the characteristics of a spiritual pilgrim: “...One who swears for his woe, and does not change.”

2. People who have God's ministry in their lives are also people of integrity, honesty and sincerity. They always do the right thing in life. Develop, mature and grow with the ministry God has for you. Ministries develop. Take time to develop the gift of ministry in your life. It takes time for people to become spiritually and naturally equipped and mature to do what God has planned for them.

3. Usually, people start in a different area of ministry than God has called them to.

a. Saul (Paul) is referred to as one of the five prophets and/or teachers in Acts 13 . Later in his life, the New Testament calls him an apostle. But he didn't start out as an apostle. He began by being a preacher (Gal. 1:11,15,16,23).

b. Philip began with the ministry of help (Acts 6:1-6). He was faithful in this ministry. Later he was transferred to the office of evangelist (Acts 8:5-7; 21:8).

c. If God has called you to pastor, you won't start pastoring a church of 1,000 people. You won't know how to go about it. You can start with a small church, or as an assistant or associate pastor, youth pastor or other type of ministry at first.

d. God may have called you to be an evangelist. You may eventually preach to 1,000 people. But you won't start by preaching to 1,000 people. Maybe you'll start by preaching to five people.

e. Ministry can start small. With God's anointing, plan and purpose for your life and ministry, it will grow. Don't make small the day of small beginnings. (Zech. 4:10).

4. Take time to wait, pray and see what God wants you to do. Let God make you the minister He wants you to be. You can't choose a ministry. God is the only one who puts people in ministry.

b. Don't try to be like someone else. Be yourself. Take the truth of God's Word revealed to you and let God use your own personality. Be yourself, and the message will become your message.

c. If God has a ministry for you and places you in that role, it will develop as you are faithful. It will develop as you are faithful. You must first determine whether or not God's call is there. Then be faithful to work for God wherever you are (preaching and teaching God's Word is always the right thing to do).

5. Take time to wait on God. Take time to fast and pray. Take time to find his perfect will for your life and ministry.

6. God's ministry is holy. Respect God's ministry. Stay in the ministry God has for you. In the Old Testament, if anyone other than the high priest entered the Holy of Holies of God's Temple, he fell dead instantly. That person had entered the wrong office. Always respect all the ministries God has on earth.

7. Develop character.

1. More is demanded of people who devote themselves to a function.

2. Always set a good example for others.

3. Do honest things in the eyes of all men.

4. Fulfill your ministerial function with respect and dignity.

If you are called by God to hold an office, that office demands respect. If you have respect for the office you hold, you will teach people to have respect for that office.

Variety and balance of ministerial gifts

A. One of the most fascinating things about Christ's ministerial gifts is their variety.

1. Apostles. The office of apostle seems to encompass almost every type of ministry.

2. Prophets. The prophet's ministry is one of inspiration. He speaks by direct, divine inspiration and revelation.

3. Evangelists. The evangelist receives a direct endowment from the Lord to preach the Word for the salvation of souls.

4. Pastors. Pastors are shepherds of God's sheep. They love their sheep.

5. Teachers. Those who fulfill the function of teacher teach the Word, not by natural abilities, but by the divine abilities of the Holy Spirit.

B. These ministerial gifts have been given to the Church so that it may be balanced.

1. We see an example of ministerial gifts working together in the church at Antioch (Acts 13:1).

2. The question of the balance of ministerial gifts in the body of Christ is vitally important to be effective.

3. A single ministry cannot hope to effectively meet all the needs of the whole body of Christ. We need all the ministerial gifts working together to provide the Body of Christ with a variety of gifts in order to have a healthy church.

4. Some extreme people think that a minister doesn't have a valid ministry if he doesn't minister primarily through manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit, rather than through teaching or preaching the Word. This is not true; you need both to have a healthy church.

C. The Body of Christ must realize that Christ gave the Church a diversity of ministerial gifts for a reason. All are essential for the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ to reach full stature in Christ.

1. Teachers may sometimes think evangelists are too wild, flamboyant and sensational.

2. Evangelists may think teachers are too dry and boring.

3. Evangelists and teachers often agree that prophets can sometimes be intense and extreme.

4. All of these attitudes are wrong.

5. There can be extremes in all uses of ministerial gifts. We must not repress God's gift, for we risk quenching God's Spirit.

D. It is God's divine plan that each gift of ministry complements the other.

1. The prophet must inspire the teacher.

2. The teacher must stabilize the prophet.

3. The evangelist must continually remind us that the world is lost and dying and needs the Gospel.

4. The pastor must show us that souls still need to be fed and cared for after being won to the Lord.

5. And the apostle, above all, must inspire and show the way to gain ground by establishing new works for the Lord.

E . The ultimate goal of all ministry is to unite - not divide.

Ephesians 4:13 says: “Until we have all come to the unity of the faith”, not: “Until we are all divided into distinct groups doing distinct things”.

F. A person may hold more than one office; we separate ministerial offices in order to define them.

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