Addicted to the Ministry 1 Corinthians 16:15 Devo

Introduction: What is your addiction??

When we think of addiction we always think of bad things.

But there are good addictions as well.

How about being addicted to the Bible for example.

Addicted to Jesus and His Church.

What about addicted to evangelism!!!

Many of you who have had a Bible study with someone and seen them obey the Gospel and live faithful Christians lives can be very addicting.

And it is a good addiction one I hope we all get addicted too.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 16!!! What could be a better addiction!!!

First, we will see It’s Time to Wake Up (1 Corinthians 16:13A).

Second, we will see It’s Time to Be a Man (1 Corinthians 16:13B-14).

Finally, we will see It’s Time to Go to Work (1 Corinthians 16:15-16).

Thesis: As Christians we need to wake up spiritually and be the spiritual leaders we ought to be, by being addicted to the ministry.

I. It’s Time to Wake Up (1 Corinthians 16:13A).

a. Watch Ye.

i. The Book of 1stCorinthians is Paul answering a bunch of questions by solving problems in the Church Gods way.

ii. Ch 1-4 Problems of division,

iii. Ch 5 Sexual immorality,

iv. Ch 6 They suing each other and fornicating,

v. Ch 7 marriage problems,

vi. Ch 8-10 Eating meats offered to idols,

vii. Ch 11 Head coverings, and Lords supper,

viii. Ch 12-14 Miraculous gifts,

ix. Ch 13 Love Chapter,

x. Ch 15 resurrection,

xi. 16 Collection of the saints and now wake up!!

xii. Paul ends a lot of his letters with these exhortations of summarizing his letters up.

b. Now Paul says watch, be on the look out!!!

i. This is to be spiritually awake.

ii. To wake up.

iii. Paul ends nearly every epistle with we need to be watchful.

iv. 1 Cor 15:33-34- Awake to righteousness.

1. If we are hanging out with people who are bringing us down spiritually, people that are causing us to stumble as the Church at Corinth had people causing them to stumble with things of the resurrection, Paul tells them to wake up.

2. Stay away from people, places, things which will cause you to stumble.

3. We need to stay awake now because we are not promised tomorrow.

v. We must always stay alert-

1. 1 Corinthians 10:12- Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

vi. We need to always evaluate ourselves in the mirror, its easy to point out other people’s flaws, but we need to check ourselves.

c. Stand Fast in the Faith

i. 1 Cor 15:1-2; Vs 58

ii. They were to be unmovable, they had false teachers among them pulling people away with false ideas of the resurrection.

iii. But to standfast we must always abound in the work of the Lord.

iv. Don’t worry what the nay sayers say but focus on what the Bible says.

v. Get into the Book until the Book gets into you, so satan cant take you away. Be rooted and grounded by having you're Christian Armor on.

vi. We are at War, and will be at war till the day we die, it’s a spiritual warfare and we need the Word of God to help us remain standing once the dust has settled.

II. It’s Time to Be a Man (1 Corinthians 16:13B-14).

a. Be a Man.

i. Be brave, be manly.

ii. 1 Cor 13:11

1. Its time to be a man. Put away childish things.

2. Those who want to be Husbands one day and have a family need to step it up and be a man.

3. This is to be a Spiritual leader of the household.

b. Be Strong.

i. This is not talking about physical strength, but Spiritual.

ii. Some of the biggest guys I know are spiritually weak.

iii. Think about David taking on Goliath.

iv. Caleb saying we are able to take the giants.

v. Joshua saying be strong and courageous.

vi. God wants us to be Spiritually strong.

c. Vs. 14 Let all your things be done in Love.

i. Paul talks about Love in the love chapter 1 Cor 13.

ii. He said even thou he had faith to move mountains without love he is nothing.

iii. A real man is loving, kind, concerned.

III. It’s Time to Go to Work (1 Corinthians 16:15-16).

a. I beseech you to be addicted to the Ministry of the saints.

i. Most of the time people think of addiction as a bad thing.

ii. If you are addicted to something bad, then how about you change that addiction to something good.

iii. We should all be addicted to the ministry.

iv. Corinth was city in Achaia. Paul had baptized this household in 1 Cor 1:16.

b. Vs. 16 Submit yourselves to such, help, and labor.

i. Ephesians 5:21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

ii. 1 Peter 5:5 younger submit yourselves unto the elder.

iii. Hebrew 13:17 Submit your selves to those who watch out for you souls.

iv. We as Christians need to help one another, especially when it comes to Evangelism.

v. We are farmers, 1 Cor 3:6-9.

vi. This is Gods vineyard, and we are all labors for Him.

vii. Those who do not labor and are unfruitful shall be pruned from the vine. John 15

Conclusion: We see Paul has told us that we need to be spiritually awake because like in Corinth there are many false teachers among us today.

We need to make sure we are spiritually awake because we don’t know when Jesus’ will return.

But in order to do that we must be steadfast in our faith by being grounded in the Word of God so the storms of life and satan cannot take us away very easily.

Those that are men of the house need to act like spiritual leaders and lead you're family like Joshua 24:15.

Make the choice of putting God first in your lives, seeking the Kingdom of God first.

We also need to get addicted to the ministry.

Jesus came for the purpose to seek and save the lost.

Our purpose till we die should be to seek and save the lost.

Many of you are Gospel preachers, weather you're one or not I hope we all get addicted to laboring for the Kingdom of God.

First, we saw It’s Time to Wake Up.

Second, we saw It’s Time to Be a Man.

Finally, we saw It’s Time to Go to Work.

Are you addicted to the Ministry???