Do you have a life of ministry?

Good morning and welcome to August and the transition back to school. As an educator it is bittersweet. I love summer

I love my family

I love the time spent with them during the summer

I also love my kiddos which I will get to meet shortly

I love my athletes that I have been with these past couple of weeks preparing for the season

I am truly looking at this year as nothing more than ministry and bringing God glory

Last year I was so restless and lacked contentment and for the better part of the year it impacted everything and every relationship

This year I want to truly put into action in my life

Colossians 3:17

“And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”

I will enjoy everyday....even the horrible ones

I will laugh often and loudly

I will cry often as needed

I will prioritize making positive, impactful relationships over curriculum and tasks

I will make God first and foremost and do all things in His name and to bring Him glory and give thanks to Him for everything…good…bad…and ugly!

I challenge you to do the same wherever you are and whatever you do......imagine the impact of us truly doing that

Let’s Pray

START RECORDING

We have arrived at week 5 of Is Your Life Balanced? I know God has been moving in your life and I pray that you have not been a hearer only but a doer as He has brought things to you these past 5 weeks

I pray that you have responded to God’s leading, loving conviction, edification, and whatever God has brought to you

I pray you have responded to Him with

repentance

surrender

love

and joy

God has really been showing me areas I need to continue to give to Him and work on being more like Him

God is so good!!!! AMEN?????

This morning’s message is Do You Live A Life Of Ministry?

If you are a Christian you have been called and commanded by Jesus to ministry.

You have been given at least 1, some more, spiritual gifts....the things that turn your cranks!!!!

You were given those gifts not for you but for ministry

For the benefit and edification....the building up of others

We will dive into spiritual gifts in our IT series this fall

Your ministry ordered by Jesus is to go and make disciples

IT

Salvation.....go preach the Gospel

and discipleship

As always don’t take my word for it take God’s

Matthew 28:18–20

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“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

That is your ministry.....that is all Christians every where’s ministry

In Jesus all power is given to you if you are a true Christian.....Through His power you go....preach the Gospel…evangelize…invite people to church....meet physical needs…pray with and for people

Spread the Gospel

When one repents leading to salvation because of the Gospel you baptize.....then disciple

Do life together

teaching them all Jesus teaches you!

IT

Salvation

Discipleship

IT really is that simple but doing that

carrying it out is hard

The world hates Jesus so when you truly live a life of ministry through the power of Jesus they will hate you as well!

Every turn you will find opposition.....now in our phsyicalness....our flesh....our humanness people will look like the opposition but if you view people as the opposition it will make it much harder

Our opposition is not people......it feels like people but it is not people

it is the evil behind the person

God’s heart is that none should perish but all come to repentance so as a Christian that must also be your heart so opposing and fighting and attacking people is not the answer but the evil behind them

Myself and the elders we realize that as we prepare for IT both personally and corporately opposition will increase

Anytime people go all in

give all that they have and all that they are to Jesus and live for IT then opposition follows and increases

That is why we are here

That is why we are in the midst of Is Your Life Balanced? That is why we will spend several weeks next in a series on Spiritual Warfare all leading up to and preparing us for IT

We will be attacked

We will have spiritual warfare

we will have real opposition

but what you and I must realize is God does the fighting, He is the warrior, we stand....stand on God but we must be aware of what is happening so that we are not blindsided or deceived

You can also know that as you live a life of ministry you will face severe opposition

That is part of the cost Jesus calls you to count before accepting Him

Jesus gives each of us a ministry.....an IT…something leading to salvation and discipleship

So what does that look like

We will dive into it much deeper in IT but God showed me IT starts with us in our hearts sand lives

Romans 12:1-2 is our text for today so go ahead and start turning there. I highly encourage you to read the entire chapter this week during your secret place and see what God has for you there. I intended on doing the whole chapter this morning but by the time God got done with verses 1 and 2 I had a full message!

Romans 12:1–2

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“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

This gives you a look at what God expects in terms of ministry....again we have looked at scripture and there is no debate as to whether or not you have a ministry......salvation and ministry IT

I want to pull 3 main points out of these scriptures in terms of ministry this morning

1. Overall attitude and perspective toward ministry

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First I want you to see why and how you offer yourself as a living sacrifice.....the mercies of God

You have work to do.....ministry

You must be willing to do that work

but make no mistake about it you cannot do it on your own

You cannot truly die to yourself

you cannot truly sacrifice yourself

it can only be done by God

Why mercies of God?

think about it

think about how bad things get when you are in control

when you call the shots

I find myself in horrible situations and circumstances and relationships when I try to lead myself

In addition to horrible things happening

my attitude is terrible

my outlook is selfish and self-centered

I am prideful

I am quick to defend myself and family and friends

I am quick to defend my lifestyle

I am quick to defend my sin

When I am not offering myself as a living sacrifice my overall attitude and perspectives are sinful and selfish and evil

Notice.....your living sacrifice is by God’s power and mercy and it is holy and acceptable.....your reasonable service in response to Jesus and the cross

So if dying to self is holy and acceptable and your reasonable service then living for you

you doing you

is unholy and unaccepable and unreasonable service unto God

You decide which it will be!!!!!

2. Living Sacrifice

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Dying to yourself is a requirement of being a disciple of Jesus

Luke 9:23–25

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“And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?”

You must understand the violence

the pain

the torture

the fear associated with the cross

The Romans were masters of torturing someone and keeping them alive

The cross was by design something that inflicted unbearable pain and yet slowly killed you....in fact many people on the cross had to have their legs broken so they could no longer push themselves up because the cross was so effective at killing one very slowly

That is what happened on the cross by the way......you were nailed in the wrists straight out to your side and your feet were crossed and nailed to the cross then hung straight up and down

Gravity pulls your body down toward the earth but to breathe your lungs need room to expand so you had to pull yourself up....push against the nails in your wrists and feet to elevate yourself enough to get a breath.....vapers that is what makes them so deadly.....they harden your lungs and when you lungs can’t expand you die....just saying

People knew because they had seen the cross in action....they were very fearful of dying on a cross

That is the exact manner of death Jesus would endure and He calls us to that same manner of death to ourselves

it will hurt

it will be exhausting

It will take everything that you have

You will lose friends and maybe even family members

you will for sure lose hobbies

habits

events

now friends and family and hobbies and habits and events in and of themselves are not bad the problem is when they are sinful

Dying to yourself means sometimes you have to say

I love you and am very grateful for your offer and invitation but I must decline as that doesn’t bring God glory and it is not holy and acceptable in His sight so I cannot be a part of it

Take up your cross daily....living sacrifice

John 3:27–30

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“John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Do you see it?

Do you get it?

You and I are the bridegrooms friend

Jesus is the bridegroom

You must get out of the way and truly rejoice at His voice

Humble yourself

it has nothing to do with you

It is all about Jesus!!!!!!

Your opinions don’t matter

your beliefs dont matter

your past doesnt matter

your present doesnt matter

all that matters is that you have made Jesus Lord and Savior in your life....not just in words but in your heart leading to change and actions

You must decrease so He can increase

You and I get this on a physical level

For example, see if you can relate,

I have the privilege of coaching with many great men and look forward to that continuing this year

Many times I have more experience than many of them.

The world says I should be over them but many times I move out of the way so they can shine and lead

One particular coach is younger than I am, also a Nevada graduate but new in terms of coaching here in our district

He is a two time state champion....wrestled in college and has coached both in Texas and Missouri

He is great for the program and I wanted to be his assistant despite being older and more experienced in terms of years coached and especially years coached in Nevada

I say all of that not for my glory or even for his but to show you an example of what it is to die to ourselves

we do this all the time.......with our kids.....our family…in our workplace…with friends....here at church

but when it comes to Jesus we fight it so hard....we fight to give Jesus our lives....living sacrifices

This living sacrifice moves beyond attitude and perspective into fruits

Romans 6:13

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Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.”

God expects you as His Child......a true born again believer

A Christian

a living sacrifice

He expects you to change....through the Holy Spirit and the power of the Word of God

Die to your old ways

“Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin”

Die to sin

have nothing to do with sin

you were doomed to eternal death.....hell and an eternity separated from God because of your sin

it was killing you spiritually and for many of us physically

stop yielding to it

stop giving it control

Stop living in it

repent

turn from it and to God

Yield to God who sent Jesus to live a perfect life…fully human and fully God so He could die the perfect sacrifice for your sin and my sin

Yield to God not sin!!!!!

This is a living sacrifice

death to self

death to sin

death to fleshly…lustful…evil desires

turn from those and to God!!!!!

To be a living sacrifice you must

3. Reject the world

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Be not conformed to this world

Truly

do people look at you and see Jesus or the world

so many of us live as slaves to this world

slaves to sin

slaves to debt

slaves to sex.....inside and outside of marriage

slaves to alcohol

slaves to drugs

slaves to pride

slaves to porn

slaves to selfishness

slaves to money

slaves to work

slaves to hobbies

slaves of everything except God

That is the wide road my friends and it leads to eternal destruction

Jesus didnt just die for forgiveness

that was part of it but it goes beyond forgiveness

Galatians 1:4

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“Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:”

Jesus gave Himself for your sin

Jesus gave Himself for my sin

Forgiveness but that is not all

So that He might deliver you from this present evil world

He died for you so that when you die to your and surrender to His Lordship He can deliver you from this present evil world

Praise the Lord!!!!!! I want delivered from this cesspool of a world and I praise God I AM Delivered from this cesspool of a world through Jesus!!!!!!

Verse 2 in Romans 12 tells us how

by being transformed by the renewing of your mind

How are you transformed by the renewing of your mind

God’s Word!!!!

As you study

as you pray about, over and actually pray God’s Word

as you allow the Holy Spirit to apply God’s Word to your life

you transform

God’s Word is powerful

so powerful your thinking changes

so powerful your mind is renewed.....not just in an intellectual sense

Ephesians 4:23

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“And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;”

The spirit of your mind is who you are.....your core....

who you are begins to change

who you are begins to transform

you are being made like Jesus

you are becoming holy as God is holy

As you die to your and decrease then Jesus increases and things begin to change and happen!!!!!

Colossians 3:10

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“And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:”

Think of this putting on like a shirt or jacket.....when you put on a shirt everyone can see that shirt

As you put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created you Jesus....people see it

Not only does the inside change but the outside changes

People see you and they don’t see the old you the see the new you

I dont care if you are still drugging hard and chasing that addiction.......repent…turn away from it and to God and you will be changed

I dont care if you have been save d 50 years.....repent turn from you.....die to self and you will be changed

and in both cases everyone will see a different you…praise the Lord!!!!!!!!

You must decrease so Jesus can increase....that is being a living sacrifice and that is

living a life of ministry

where are you?

STOP RECORDING

Invitation

STOP STREAMING