Ministers of God pt 3

Welcome to NECF Sermons. Each message here is

designed to uplift and strengthen you in your

walk with God. Don't miss out. Stay with us until

the end for a rewarding experience. Let's dive

right in. Amen and amen. So I want to thank the

pastorate for the opportunity and also congratulate

the graduates. for the milestone, and we thank

God for what he's doing. And we're proud of the

graduates. We're proud of them, and we thank

God for the things he's doing, and it's just

getting started. There's more that lies ahead,

and we're not distracted. We'll keep on keeping

on. Praise God. So I think I was very appreciative

to hear a lot of us talk about, I think the graduates,

talk about the times where there were highs and

there were lows. There were highs and there were

lows. One thing that is sure is that for you

to make progress and arrive to the point where

you're done is that you keep on going. I think

in the midweek service, we said, it says never

give up. It says never give up. Never give up.

But as a minister, you will have challenging

times. You'll have difficult times. You'll have

times when things don't seem like they're working.

But one thing we must do is we must stay consistent

and stay faithful. We are not people that start

and stop. We are not people that quit. Because

if our Lord Jesus Christ had given up, we would

not be here today. Praise God. And he is working

in us to do all that he has instructed and called

us to. And we are greatly empowered and helped

by God. So just for a recap, just for those of

us that are probably just joining on a Sunday

today, the topic is ministers of God. The topic

is ministers of God, and we're looking at 2 Corinthians

6. And we say, who's a minister? We say a minister

is a person who serves. Someone is a servant.

We say it's diakonos. Someone who serves and

serves with another. And it's... The word used

for a deacon is the word used for a deacon. And

we established this teaching when we started

off by saying that our identity as ministers

is what will go forward to characterize our responsibility.

The fact that you are identified as a believer,

there's a responsibility that is demanded of

you. We say as ministers, what we do is that

we minister. You are not just here marking time.

You know, there are believers that have this

mindset or mentality that once you're saved,

next thing, heaven. No, you're saved for service.

God has redeemed you to proclaim. We say that

every believer is called to ministry. Every believer

is called to ministry. And the moment that is

etched at the back of your mind, that brings

in a sense of responsibility. And we had established

that. We said, after salvation, what should follow

is training. Those of you that had finished your

nursing, you have been trained in that field

of nursing. You spent four years. Some of you

is dentistry, Sister Christabel. A couple of

you have been trained all through that year to

be able to graduate and say you have this degree.

And the paper itself is not what qualifies you.

The whole... countless times of showing up in

class when you feel like it or when you don't

feel like it. The whole times of where you are

sleeping, but you still have to study. The hours

and hours you spend on toiling to get that done.

And as believers, we do the same. We do the same,

not for a certificate. We thank God for NECF.

We hand you a certificate. But what is more important

to us is the training that you go through that

builds you, that equips you for the work of ministry.

It helps you in the life that you have ahead.

It helps you mostly for the work of ministry

that you were called to. Praise God. And we said

this, that the priority of a believer has to

be the work of ministry. And that ministry is

the ministry of reconciliation. We see that in

the 2 Corinthians 5. It said that ministry is

the ministry of reconciliation. What we are meant

to do as ministers is that we are reconciling

men to God. We are reconciling men to God. God.

And one very key ingredient in this walk of ministry

is the local church. The local church is very

important, and I love the fact that many of you

are testifying of how, not that I say local church,

it's not the global, it's not the church online,

because I think in our sermon we discussed, I

think we had a talk about it, where we were asking

a couple of questions, and we said, what are

the reasons? Or somebody gave a scenario. What

if someone comes and says, I am following my

church back? And not that the... The hardships

that you go through here, you don't call customer

key and say, give me a word of encouragement.

There's something about when someone, there's

a one -on -one interaction. And it's not just

one person. It's like a lot of persons around

that will encourage you. You have a lot and we're

blessed with a lot of pastors that will encourage

us and strengthen us, encourage us with the word

of God, encourage us with the things that will

build us up. Praise God. And you don't want to

be, because some of us are very, you know, we

have this short fuse. It's like when we try something,

it doesn't work, we quit. We try something, it

doesn't work, we quit. We come with fire, we

come with zeal, and then it's just, we're not

consistent. And you don't make any progress,

you don't start, stop, start, stop, start, stop,

take two steps forward. 10 steps backward, and

then you feel that that is how your walk is going

to get, that's how you're going to get, you're

going to get it done. You have to, at some point

in time, realize that there's a reorientation

that has to happen here. There's a realignment

that has to happen here for you to make solid

progress and come to that point where you can

actually see that you are like a possible, you

see you have fought the fight. You have gotten

to the finish line. And on Wednesday, we say

that for you to carry out this responsibility,

you have to be single -minded. You have to have

that one thing that your eyes are locked in on.

Not many things. One thing that your eyes are

locked in on. For those of you, for the period

where you were, your eyes were locked in on the

diploma. That day when you graduate. Some of

you had even pictured yourself on that day. Picture

yourself having to throw your caps in the air.

Some of you had pictured, and those are the things

that kept you going on. Praise God. And our drive

is anchored on the price on what God has done,

what motivates us. I think we saw from the life

of David. David said, one thing have I desired.

Psalm 27, verse 4. One thing have I desired.

Psalms 27:4

And we say that he started off that verse with

saying that the Lord is my light and salvation.

Meaning that he... He has a relationship that

can make him say that the Lord is my light and

salvation. And he says one thing, not many things,

one thing have I desired. Praise God. And then

we look at the life of, we looked at the situation

in Luke 10. That's what I want us to very much

touch on for the time that we have. We looked

at that. I will just brush that and then we go

into. And Pastor Victor had touched. just when

he was looking at the life of Apostle Paul, just

to emphasize the importance of how our role and

our responsibility as ministers is anchored on...

Because someone will have an opportunity to experience

God because we stood in our place of responsibility.

Our not standing in our place of responsibility

will make individuals... miss an opportunity

to encounter God. Because we have that encounter.

And there are people that will need to have that

similar encounter that we've had that brought

us to the place where we're standing. Praise

God. And in Luke 10, 42, it says, But one thing

is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part,

which will not be taken away from her. One thing

is needed, and Mary has chosen that, and we'll

be thinking to ourselves, what is that one thing?

Let's go back to 39. 39 says, And she had a sister

called Mary, that's Martha had a sister called

Mary, who sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word.

Who sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. It's

very important that you know that that one thing

that will not be taken away from her is that

The Word of God, the training, the learning.

And in 41, it says, after Martha had complained

and Jesus answered and said, Martha, Martha,

you are worried and troubled about many things.

And this is an encouragement to those that have

graduated. You know, you had had times where

you had worried, troubled, and then you had finished.

The worrying will continue if you don't... Focus

on one thing which is important and put your

energy. The recipe for frustration is trying

to do a lot of things at the same time. And for

her, it's a good thing. Preparing service is

very beautiful, but training is more important.

And in the Church of NEC, I'm repeating myself

because a couple of us went around and made a

week's service, and it's very important that

this drops. That your service to God is important.

But what is much more important is your training

that makes you effective in your service. What

is much more important is your training. And

to those of us that will skip on an opportunity

to be trained and will jump on an opportunity

to serve, what you are doing to yourself, you

might not see now, but you will see yourself

in the future having spent so much time in service,

but not having. progressed or grown to a place

of maturity. I was speaking to someone. I said,

I love the fact that you've taken a step to serve.

But what is much more important to us is that

you take the time to be in services. Midweek

service is important. Cell meetings are important

where we can interact much more. We give you

books to read. We say be part and parcel of the

things that the church is doing. That is being

part of a local church. Where you can be checked

on, you can be accountable. That's the point.

You can be accountable. It's very hard. You can't

even be accountable when you're online. You can't

be accountable when there's distance. The local

church is called local for a reason. It means

that it's within reach. It's where you show up.

And it's not where you choose to show up. It's

where you know it's important that you show up.

Praise God. So what is of most importance, which

we must value what is most important, which is

learning and growing. Which is learning and growing.

We need to evaluate ourselves. We need to take

time, evaluate ourselves. Sit down and think

about where you are now and where you used to

be before. Praise God. Having that time of reflecting

and... Telling yourself or sitting down and saying,

what am I doing now? Where was I before? Where

am I now? And where am I headed? Because where

you are now is just one phase. Because we're

all going somewhere, right? We're all going somewhere.

Some of you came here. Some of you are about

to leave in. And it's very important that we

look at, we think deeply about that. I said,

what makes our service effective? It's the training

that we received. And if we see through Scripture,

training was very important. And we said the

disciples themselves were trained. That's why

people could look at them and say, these men

have been with someone, and these men have been

with Jesus. So our training is as important,

more important than our service. And let me just

jump my notes to where I will... Let's read Ephesians

5, 15 to 17. Ephesians 5, 15 to 17. So it says,

let's read it from the NLT. I'll read. It says,

so be careful how you live. Don't live like fools,

but like those who are wise. Make the most of

every opportunity in these evil days. Don't act

thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants

you to do. But understand what the Lord wants

you to do. Remember I told you about wanting.

Once you understand that wanting, there's no

confusion. There's clarity. You move with precision

because you know what that wanting is. And I'll

read it from the J .B. Phillips. It says, Live

life then with a due sense of responsibility,

not as men who do not know the meaning and purpose

of life, but as those who do. I'll read that

part again. Not as men who do not know the meaning

and purpose of life, but as those who do. 16

says, Make the best use of your time, despite...

all the difficulties of this day. Don't be vague,

but firmly grasp what you know to be the will

of God. Firmly grasp what you know to be the

will of God. Know that it says that we should

make the best use of your time. And I believe

that many of us are doing that. Many of us have

done that to be able to come to this point where

we are saying, okay, this is... the phase where

we're in, we're looking forward to another thing.

It takes focus. It takes discipline. It takes

persistence. It takes consistency at doing certain

things that you probably don't like, you probably

don't enjoy, but you know that it's important

for you to get you to that point where you can

be able to say that you're living with a due

sense of responsibility. You're living life with

a due sense of responsibility. You're careful

how you live your life. You don't act. like someone

who is thoughtless, but you are thoughtful and

you are holding on to what the will of God is

for your life. And you're going to experience

challenges. And in the second Corinthians, let's

just go to the second Corinthians 6, 6 verse

4, 4, 5, 6 verse 4, 5. It says, but in all things,

we commend ourselves as ministers of God. In

all things, we commend ourselves. As ministers

of God. In patience. In tribulations. In needs.

In distresses. In strifes. In imprisonment. In

tumults. In labors. In sleeplessness. In fastings.

All of these things are things we can relate

with. Even without service. There are things

that we can relate with. Because you'll have

times when you don't sleep. Apostle Paul is telling

you these are the things that he went through

as a minister. Times where he was facing trouble.

The list goes on and on. Times where he was shipwrecked.

Disaster. Times where he was flogged. Times where

he was in prison. Times where he was mobbed.

Times where he was slaving. Times where he didn't

have... food to eat. Times where he couldn't

catch sleep. The list goes on and on, but it

didn't stop him from carrying out his responsibility.

That did not stop him. And that shouldn't stop

us as well. Praise God. That did not stop many

of us. We had times of difficulties, but it didn't

stop us from moving ahead. Because the prize

or the thing that the one who has called us is

the one who is empowering us. And we must trust

that he is there. even when it doesn't feel like

it, even when it doesn't seem like it, even when

we feel like stopping along the way or we feel

like saying, what is all this for? We always

should remember, we always should hold on to

the fact that God is faithful. The one who has

called us is faithful. The difficult times will

not stop all of a sudden. Hard times will not

stop all of a sudden. But it should not distract

us from our work as ministers. We should not

say, because things are hard, we're pursuing

something and we're neglecting what is most important.

Praise God. Because if it's important to you,

it will show. It's like I was talking to someone

and I said, if it's important to you, the way

you guard it, you can miss a midweek service

and it's important to you, you go back because

there's a recording. And then you go and read

and take notes. That shows that even though you

miss, if you had a way, you would have been there.

If you had an opportunity to be there, you wouldn't

miss it for the world because you value that

thing. And we're told to value relationships.

We're told to value our local church. We're told

to value the people that God has blessed you

with. Don't despise them because those are the

persons that will help you. You know, he was...

He was pointing to us that it was people that

helped him to let him down off the bus. In fact,

the part I wanted us to go through and see in

Acts 9 is verse 10. Acts 9 verse 10 is Ananias.

Acts 9:10

You see, now there was a certain disciple at

Damascus called Ananias. To him the Lord said

in a vision, Ananias, and he said, Here I am,

Lord. He says, Here I am, Lord. And I want you

to know that Ananias is a disciple. Ananias is

like you and I. And God calls you to a responsibility.

Your response should be, Here I am. Praise God.

11, it says, So the Lord said to him, Arise and

go to the street. Someone is praying or someone

is just in need of help. Someone is somewhere.

in need of help, and you are that person that

needs to come through for them. And there's a

call out to you to help or to reach out to someone.

Then Ananias answered, Lord, I've heard from

many about this man, how many harm he has done

to your saints in Jerusalem. 14. And he has authority

from the chief priests to bind all who call on

your name. 15. But the Lord said to him, Go,

for he is a chosen vessel of mine, to bear my

name before Gentiles, kings, and the children

of Israel. For I will show him how many things

he must suffer for my name's sake. I want you

to see something that Ananias had heard news,

has heard information. And it's not like him

going to see this man is putting his life at

risk. It's putting his life in danger because

what he says here is that, see, I've heard that

this man is given authority to bind. If you are

aware of chapter 7, someone was killed, not just

bind. Stephen, this man had a responsibility

to take out Christians, and now you have an instruction

to do the unthinkable. And you want to thank

God for people like Ananias who will see or hear,

but still follow through with what God is instructing

them to do, which is minister. Praise God. And

Apostle Paul... even recounts this. He recounts

this, saying that, and he knows the things he

was going to suffer. He was shown the things

he was going to suffer. And Ananias fell through

with it. Thank God for people, ministers that

followed through with the instructions given,

and then the results that happened afterwards.

Because as Pastor Victor was saying, there's

a lot we would have missed out on. or someone

else would have been instructed to carry out

the same assignment. And at every stage, as at

the point of when he was saved, there was an

ananias. As at the point when he needed to be

integrated to a local church, there was Barnabas.

At every stage of his life, at the point when

he needed men, I think in the miracle service

we talked about Timothy, Eutychus, a couple of

other men that were around to... To serve, to

minister unto him in his time of need. Praise

God. We have all of these men. God has placed

us in so... The local church is so collective,

so inclusive, that you shouldn't be in the church

and still be isolated. You shouldn't be in the

church and still feel like you're a loner or

you're alone. God has blessed you with a family.

Make the most of the family. You can't be stranded

and still act like you have a lot. You know,

when you have a lot in your account and you're

still acting broke. You have a resource, human

resource, a lot of resource that you have here

and you don't want to... You want to make the

most of the resource that God has blessed us

with. And Ananias did that regardless of what

he has heard. And we want to discipline ourselves

to be able to hear God. And follow through with

the instructions given. Because you are going

to bring someone into something that they can't

experience without you being there. Or without

you leading them through. Because you are there.

I will just take us to first, we will close with

this. To 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2. 9. It says, But

you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,

a holy nation, his own special people, that you

may proclaim the praises of him who has called

you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

It said, You may proclaim the praises of him

who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous

light. In Matthew 16, 18. It says the church,

ecclesia, we're called out. And we are called

out of darkness to marvelous light. And we have

a responsibility, which is to proclaim. Which

is to proclaim. Which is to tell. For this translation,

we say show. To show forth. To manifest. To demonstrate.

These are the different words that are used.

And we are God's special people. We are not ordinary

people. Jesus Christ in Matthew 5 verse 14 refers

Matthew 5:14

to us as the light. We are called into his light

and we show forth his light to the world. And

we shouldn't get tired of doing our responsibility,

which is displaying, which is speaking to people

and calling them out as well. As we're called,

we're calling them out of darkness into his marvelous

light. And that call is very key. in how we go

about our daily living. We shouldn't forget who

we are. We shouldn't forget what he has done

for us. And we should also look out for an opportunity

for him to do the same to others. As a minister,

everywhere you find yourself, you're looking

for an opportunity that people will taste of

God, that people will experience God. In our

affirmations, I think our brother was talking

about how Joshua, I think even though there are

two Joshuas, I think he's Joshua, you're Joshua.

We're talking about how the affirmations are

powerful. When we say, We're winning billions

of souls. We're taking over territories and nations.

What we mean in a sense is that we're proclaiming

and bringing people into the light they were

in. That's how we take over. You know, some people

when they say take over, they mean something

else. But when we say take over, as a believer,

when you say take over, you're meaning that the

gospel will reach millions and billions of souls

and people will be snatched from darkness into

this marvelous light that we're part of. Praise

God. Light is distinct. When there's light in

a place, it's evident. There's a way light operates

that is unique from darkness. There are things

that light does that is unique from darkness.

Praise God. And we are that light. We are the

light of the world, as he says, we are a city

set on a hill. Let's not hide. Let's come out

from where we are hiding. and show forth that

light. The ministry is collective and it's every

believer's responsibility. We have a structure

of leadership that ensures that everybody is

doing their function, right? And this is where

we get developed. The local church is where people

are developed, people are built, people are discipled,

and all of this, as ministers, we're doing, making

process because there's faithfulness in the service.

We talked about accountability, we talked about

effectiveness. We talked about submission, where

you have to submit to the authority of the church

to grow. We're not raising people that are rebels.

We're raising people that are faithful. I think,

remember, I think in the midweek service, we

were talking about how Eutychus was faithful,

Timothy, faithful servant. All of these individuals

were faithful. And it's very important that we're

active in the church of God. We take that responsibility

to grow. It's very essential for us. To know

that in the church of God, there's going to be

instruction. There's going to be correction.

There's going to be accountability. All of these

things is all part of the training process. And

the goal for us is not to get people saved and

bring them to church. The goal for us is to get

them saved and train them to do likewise. Praise

God. Because now, all these graduates now, some

of you will be staying, some of you will be leaving.

Right? Some of you will stay, some of you will

live in. So the goal is for you to be trained

because you're called when you're saved, you're

called, then you are equipped, and then you are

sent out. We saw that in the time of the apostles,

persecution is what spreads them. And I said

this in the last teaching, that when they went

to those places, they were not looking for shelter

to be safe. They went and continued the work

that they are called, they were called to do.

So an encouragement to each and every one of

us. No matter where you find yourself, what should

be that one thing that you should never doubt

or motivation for is what you are called to.

Because the moment you lose that, you lose everything.

As I said, careers, degrees can fade away. You

can end, you can, whatever it is you've studied

can be outdated or something. Things like AI

now will just take, will be taking things where

they can't. But one thing that makes you relevant,

one thing that will last is what God has done

in us and is doing in us and is doing through

us. Praise God. I want us to rise to our feet

and declare these words. I'm a minister of God

winning billions of souls. I am faithfully serving

in the local church. For us that are here, the

local church is NECF, right? I am accountable

to leadership. I am accountable to leadership

in the local church. I am not afraid to preach

the gospel that gets unbelievers saved. I am

patient with that unbeliever until I get them

saved and see them grow. I want you to just pray.

We appreciate you being here today. We hope you

carry this word with you throughout your week.

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you care about. Until next time, stay blessed.