Ministers of God

Welcome to NECF. We're thrilled you're here.

Make sure to stay with us till the end, where

we'll share some great resources to deepen your

faith. Now, let's dive into this week's sermon.

And to start the teaching, the topic is actually

ministers of God. Ministers of God. manifesting

the kingdom of God. Ministers of God manifesting

the kingdom of God. Ministers of God manifesting

the kingdom of God. And while Pastor Kostin was

speaking, I think something dropped in my heart

and he re -echoed it. While the teaching is going

on, we're going to see, we're going to, those

of us that are open will hear and receive instructions.

It's going to be very prophetic and there's going

to be direction as we're listening to what God

is going to be communicating to us. I want you

to posture yourself to receive. There's a posturing

that you take to receive. There's a posturing

that you take to receive. And it's very important

that you don't miss out on what God is doing

in this season, in this church. And please let

your phones not rob you of the opportunity that

you have. to learn. Let your phone not rob you

of the opportunity that you have to learn. To

start off, I want to ask a question. I want you

to just, I know many of us can relate. How many

of you walked into a room and you walked into

the room having something in mind to pick? Like

you went to get something from the room and then

it's almost like you walk into the room and then

you... Almost cannot remember what you came in

for. How many of you have had that experience?

A couple. Some of you, you're very... Okay, I

think this one, the next one is very relatable.

Where you picked up your phone, you knew what

you were going to do when you picked up your

phone. Then after 20 minutes, you're watching

videos. You knew. You picked it up, let me reply,

or let me... I think I remember my... mom or

my dad called me and I said okay let me reply

or let me and then all of a sudden 20 minutes

later and sometimes you can't even remember in

fact you have it's after 20 minutes you remember

why you picked your phone in the first place

and what that communicates to us and it's not

just mobile phones or coming to the room and

forgetting what that communicates to us is that

we have a tendency to be distracted right We

have a tendency to be distracted, and it's not

only in the things that we want to do at the

moment. We can also be distracted in the things

that God has called us to do. We can be distracted

in our own lives, where you're just going, you're

forgetting. In fact, it's very practical. You

went to the market. Your goal was to go and buy

water to drink. All of a sudden, you enter the

market, and we see you with ice cream. The question

is, what happened? The goal was to get water

to drink to quench your thirst. And then here

you are with something that will make you go

back to the market again to get another. And

sometimes you even go to the market and all of

a sudden you have wandered around the market

for like 20 minutes and you came out without

the thing you went there for. That's another

category of people. Praise God. So we can. And

what will help us to check is to ask ourselves

one very key question. Why am I here? What? am

i here for i want you to write that down or in

fact make it more practical turn to the next

person and ask them why are you here so what

are you here for some of us are just looking

at ourselves it's a simple just why you know

that can you know when the person when someone

tells me they're going to the market to get water

and they come out without the water i'll ask

them right I've asked them, where is the water?

Right? And you're asking that question so that

the individual can reflect on why it is that

they're here. Because it's going to tell them

how they do the things that they do in church.

You know, if you were here for the service, you

wouldn't be pressing your phone while the service

is going on. Right? And this is for some of us

that are in service and you're not in service.

Some people have the ability to be in two places

at the same time. Some people can be in multiple

places at the same time. I think there's a word

for that, multi -taxing. Right? But know that

if you want to get something done, yeah, multi

-taxing has its place. Some of us are struggling

with multi -taxing. Some of us do it professionally

very well. But you are not going to be as effective

as you will be when you focus on one tax. Some

people have the ability to focus on multi -tax

and they will argue that. If you are going to

the market to buy several things, you have to

have a list. Even on that list, you have what's

the first, what's the second. In fact, when your

money is not enough, you stop after you've gotten

the most important. Praise God. So it means that

for us as believers, we have to focus or pay

attention to what is most important. And sometimes

we can say this is the most important and we're

doing something else. Hence, we have to keep

checking and asking ourselves this key question.

Why am I here? Those of us here in Cyprus, some

of us were here, we had gotten the degrees, so

what next? Know that what you are here for or

when you know what you are here for, it tells

us the next thing to do. You're not confused

where to go from here because you know why you

were here in the first place. You've done it.

It's done and then you move to the next. And

I'm saying all of this for us to come to that

place where, because we're really trusting God

to help us. To not just be all over the place,

but to be specific. And in God's word, we find

that specific thing that we're here for. Amongst

all the different things, getting a degree, which

is very beautiful. Some of us have a lot of it.

Some of us have degrees. But those degrees will

fade away. Those degrees will fade away. And

some of us, it's a job. Things are changing.

There are many things that we're pursuing that

in the next couple of years, they'll be irrelevant.

But there's something that will never fade away.

Scripture says that's the thing that lasts. Praise

God. That's the thing that lasts. And reorienting

ourselves and realigning ourselves is very important.

Reorienting and realigning ourselves is very

important because that's what keeps us on track.

And very interestingly, Apostle Paul, in his

communication, brings that to the church, the

Corinthian church. Even though that particular

letter he was writing to the church in Corinth,

we see that in 2 Corinthians 1 verse 1. Let's

2 Corinthians 1:1

just go there and see who is addressing the letter

to 2 Corinthians. 1 verse 1. It says, Paul, an

2 Corinthians 1:1

apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God and

Timothy, our brother, to the church of God, which

is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in

all Achaia. Praise God. And he goes in verse

2 to say, grace to you and peace from God our

Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's go back

to chapter 6. And then he starts off by saying,

we then as walkers together with him also plead

with you. not to receive the grace of God in

vain. And very quickly, we'll start off by seeing

two things he communicates. He says, as walkers

together with him, as walkers together with God.

And then he says, also plead with you not to

receive the grace of God in vain. What we're

going to be doing in today's service is that

we're going to look at two things. One of it

is identity. and the second of it is responsibility.

The first is identity, and the second is responsibility.

And we're going to see that throughout Scripture,

those two things work hand in hand. Once you

identify with something, someone, you have a

responsibility that follows. First is identity,

second is responsibility. If you are a student,

you have a responsibility. Yes, you're identified

as a student, but second, there's a responsibility.

If you are a believer, that is the start. What

follows is the responsibility. And what Paul

communicates in the first line is responsibility.

Because as walkers, you have a responsibility

to do what? To walk, right? If you call yourself

a walker, you have a responsibility to walk,

right? If you don't walk, what do you now become?

You say that jobless. If you don't walk, they

say you don't chop, right? And then he now goes

further to say, walk as wit, because walk as

wit. God also plead with you not to receive the

grace of God in vain. with you not to receive

the grace of God in vain. The grace of God is

what we're going to explain further. But we know

that if you're confused, or if you just are hearing

that for the first time, or you've heard that

a lot, that you're not sure exactly what it is,

we're going to look at it even further. In the

previous chapter, that is chapters 5. Chapters

Isaiah 5 · chapter mention

5, I want us to go to Chapters 5, 17. It says,

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new

creation. All things have passed away. Behold,

all things have become new. So note that now,

the individual that is in Christ has an identity.

That individual now is identified with Christ,

establishing the identity. Then what we'll see

next in 18 now, it's still further explained.

It said, now all things are of God who has reconciled

us to himself through Jesus Christ. Now we know

that this, the agency or the person by which

this reconciliation happened is through the person

of Christ Jesus and has given us the ministry

of reconciliation. Now we know that the ministry

there is, we know that ministry is work, right?

It's responsibility. Ministry is responsibility.

He says, you are now in Christ Jesus, and then

now you have a responsibility. So it means that

you have to, you know, we can be walking, right?

Walking and then there's no sense of responsibility.

And that is, over time you discover that is useless

work, where you're just doing a lot of things,

but nothing gets, you're not even making any

progress. Praise God. He establishes that. I

want to read 4 to 9. We'll stop at 20. So he

says, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling

the world to himself, not impugning their trespasses,

which is very key, not impugning their trespasses

to them. He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though

God were pleading through us. We implore you

on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. We

implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled

to God. So now we see the identity and we see

the responsibility. Please, let's just walk.

this together. We'll be seeing identity and we'll

be seeing responsibility. And where we get the

topic for this teaching is from verse 4. That

is 2 Corinthians 6 verse 4. 2 Corinthians 6 verse

2 Corinthians 6:4 2 Corinthians 6:4

4. And just take note of the word commend you.

2 Corinthians 6 verse 4. I'll just read. It says,

2 Corinthians 6:4

But in all things we commend ourselves As ministers

of God, with patience and tribulations, I just

want you to pay attention to the first line there.

But in all things, we commend ourselves as ministers

of God. We say this in all things, we commend

ourselves as ministers of God. You know, from

the previous verse, all of it is anchored on...

what he has been saying, several things he has

said. Committing ourselves as ministers of God.

We want to first ask ourselves, who is a minister?

Who is a minister? And the word there for minister

is the Greek word diakonos, which is D -I -A

-K -O -N -O -S. D -I -A -K -O -N -O -S. And the

word implies servant. If you look at some certain

translations, you will see servant, someone who

serves or someone who serves to serve with another.

It implies a servant or someone who serves or

to serve with another. And this word is used

for a deacon. Not a deacon. It's used for a deacon.

It's good. It's used for a deacon. And going

back to the passage where he says, in all things

that we recommend ourselves, meaning that Apostle

Paul is speaking of himself and the people he's

talking to. And it's not just certain groups

of people, right? And even when he started the

first verse in 1, he says, Then as walkers together.

As walkers together. Everyone is included in

this. As walkers together. As walkers together.

So a minister of God is called to the work of

God. And I want us to look at what this work

entails. I want us to examine. I want us to pay

close attention to what this work will be. Because

if you say you're called to a work, you need

to know what the work is to do the work, right?

If you don't know the walk, you can do the walk.

Yes, you can answer walker, but you're not responsible.

Because responsibility is actually doing the

walk, right? Responsibility is actually doing

the walk. So I said that when he says walkers

or ministers, he's not talking about an individual.

Yes, you can be a minister. But note that when

he says ministers, it's plural, right? It's plural,

which goes back to what we have been. Pastor

Victor has been teaching us on the fact that

in our service, we don't serve individually.

Even when you're doing your service, you're serving

someone, right? You're not serving yourself.

Your service is in a body. Praise God. Your service

is in a body. So it means that you can't do service

alone. You cannot do service alone. Even a church

service, you can't do it alone. You need encouragement,

right? When you're talking to someone, someone

is talking back to you and you're getting feedback,

it's encouraging. Praise God. And we say that

we're part of a family. We're part of God's household,

right? We're part of a family. And that is in

the household of God that we minister. It's in

the household of God that we minister. Because

you will have to minister to someone. And you

can only do that effectively in... And please

pay attention. I'm still repeating myself again.

That this ministry or this walk of ministry is

not to a particular group of people. It's not

to, you know, it's not to the pastor. You know,

I think we started. It's not to, it's not everyone

that believes. We said it. The moment you identify

as a believer, you have a responsibility. The

moment you identify as a believer, you have a

responsibility. And it's very interesting that

we should note that as a minister, you don't

have to think about it. You will minister, right?

As a minister identity, you will minister responsibility.

As a minister, you will minister. As a minister...

you will minister. Going back to what Apostle

Paul was saying to them in verse 1. He says,

as workers together with him also plead with

you not to receive the grace of God in vain.

Your identity, there's work, means that there's

a responsibility. What he'll be charging them

to do is to identify with the responsibility

that they have. And certain translations will

use fellow workers, right? God's fellow workers.

The Amplified Classic will say God's fellow workers.

And then the NIV will say co -workers, God's

co -workers. In what work? It says the work of

ministry, right? In the work of ministry. And

observe, I will say it again, I will repeat myself

till you get it. That a believer... is saved,

and then what follows afterwards is that the

believer is strained for the work of ministry.

A believer is saved, then what happens immediately

afterwards is that the believer is strained for

the work of ministry. We have read 2 Corinthians

5 .17 down to 20, and I'll bring our attention

to the 19 and then the 20. It says that God,

that is, God was in Christ reconciling the world

to himself, not imputing their trespasses to

them, and also committed to us the word of reconciliation.

He committed it to us. Remember, he said, I commend

you as ministers of God. Commended it to us.

He said, now then, we are ambassadors for Christ,

ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading

through us. Meaning that the individual now is

a conduit. The individual is a conduit. What

the individual is communicating is what they

have received. We implore you on Christ's behalf.

Meaning that the person that is a minister is

representing, is standing on behalf of Christ.

Be reconciled to God. Praise God. So what we're

going to take time to do next is that we're going

to look at what this grace is, the grace of God.

What is the grace of God? What is the grace of

God? First, let's just, is it something? Is it

someone? Is it something? Is it someone? We're

going to look at a couple of passages to establish

that. The word grace is a Greek word. Charis.

That's C -H -A -R -I -S. C -H -A -R -I -S. It

means what is freely given. It means what is

freely given for the benefit of the recipient.

What is freely given for the benefit of the recipient.

It's a gift. And sometimes you see it as a gift

of God. The grace of God. You see it as, and

it's not something that you work for, right?

It's not something that you work for. Remember,

we said your identity, you didn't come into relationship

with God by us, by what it is that you've done.

We have to very much establish that how you came

into the relationship you have with God is not

by what the things that you've done. It's not

because you did certain things. It's by what

Christ has done. It's by what Christ has done.

So the grace of God is freely given to us at

Christ's resurrection. Know that it is his death,

burial, and resurrection that brings us into

the relationship. Remember what it says, we're

reconciled to God by what Christ has done. We're

reconciled to God. And know that that reconciliation

brings us to that place of where we are serving.

We're serving. We're serving. And for everyone

of us to serve and serve effectively, there's

a need for training. And where training happens

is in meetings like this. Midweek service meetings.

Friday cell meetings. And I want you to ask yourself

why this teaching is going on. Are you part of

the midweek service meetings? Are you part of

the cell meetings? Because those are avenues

where we are trained for the work that we're

called to do. When we say, okay, we're doing

our Bible in one year, we're doing all of those

things, avenues that we have to be trained. For

some of us, we have never. We have never read

our Bibles. In fact, somebody can say something

and tell you it's in there, and you say yes.

Because you are not familiar with it. And you

can't be a minister without knowing what it is

your ministry is. And it's in the Word of God

that we are better. we have better clarity as

to what we are called to do. So we want to now

look at the things that God has done and the

things that he's doing. The things that God has

done, he had done them in Christ Jesus. The victory

that we have, we're not walking for that victory.

It has already been done. And we're going to

see what it is that he is doing because we know

that God is walking in us. He's walking in us.

At the agency by which he does that is the instrument

of his word, by his spirit, by teachings, by

fellowship, we're able to be built. We're able

to be built. I want us to look at 1 Corinthians

15 .10. 1 Corinthians 15 .10. And Apostle Paul

speaking, he says, but for the grace of God,

but by the grace of God, sorry. But by the grace

of God, I am what I am. Apostle Paul is speaking

that what he is, is because of the grace of God.

And we say the grace of God is freely given.

He didn't work for it. He says, and his grace

towards me is not in vain. I'm going to first

remember 6 verse 1, right? He says, the grace

of God, let the grace of God not be in vain,

right? Same thing here, he's saying, and the

grace of God towards him is... Not in vain, meaning

that he has a responsibility. He says, but I

labored more abundantly than they all. Yet not

I, but the grace of God, which was with me. Praise

God. He says, yet not I, but the grace of God.

Meaning that he's doing the things he's doing,

but he knows that it's not that. It is the grace

of God. He's taking his responsibilities seriously.

He's not sleeping. He's taking his responsibilities

seriously and he knows that that is all attributable

because if he isn't identified with Christ, everything

he's doing will just be useless work. In fact,

before he was saved, he was responsible. Praise

God. He was responsible for killing Christians.

He was responsible for... He went all out. And

then now that he's identified with Christ, he

now has a responsibility. And we say that this

responsibility is the responsibility that God

has given unto him for the work of ministry.

Praise God. And he works hard. He works hard.

And you don't want to sleep on the grace of God

that you have received. You want to make the

most of it. Right? If you're not being trained,

you will not be effective. Without training,

you will not be effective. Without training,

you will not be effective. And we are in a world

where people don't want to put in effort. They

just want to do less and see more. You know,

even when you are doing useless work, there's

still results, right? You're just working. And

people can be busy, but still doing nothing.

You're very busy, but you can't... You know,

you need to have... When we started, we said,

you want to have a sense of direction. I'm going

to accomplish this. I put everything in that

direction to get the work done. If I spread myself

wide... There's so much you can do with the amount

of time that you have. We all have that same

amount of time. And we're in a world where people

do this work smart. And we use that work smart.

Some people use the work smart as an excuse for

laziness. Say, I'm working smart. You know, you're

working hard. I'm working smart. And you... And

there's no progress in the smart walk. Because

every hard walk has its result. And we know we

can see that. We can see it in the results it

produces. Praise God. We can see it in the results

that it produces. And it's very important that

we are doing it God's way. We're doing it God's

way. Many of us like doing things in our own

terms. They say, okay, do it like this. You say,

no, no, no, this is easier. I prefer this way.

Preferring your way will produce your results

or produce the result that is not expected. If

we want to do things for God, we walk by His

instruction. You believe and you're saved and

then you're trained for the work of ministry.

Once you're done, it's something else that you're

going to be doing. Not ministry. You can call

it whatever it is. And many people do that in

this day and age where they say, I'm doing ministry.

What are you doing? They can't explain it. And

by the way, just for context sake, standing and

preaching to you, yes, it's part of ministry,

but it's not. You can't do one thing as part

of it and then you say you're doing the whole

thing. Sometimes we want to make our way with

that. The grace of God says, In that particular

passage, in the next passage we're going to be

seeing, we want to see that the grace of God

was very much, which we have seen previously,

was very much made available by what Christ has

done on the cross. Very important. We'll see

that in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 4. 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 1:4 1 Corinthians 1:4

1 verse 4. Apostle Paul speaking and says, I

thank my God, always concerning you, for the

believers, for the grace of God which was given

to you by Christ Jesus. for the grace of God

given to you by Christ Jesus. He very spells

it that it's Christ Jesus that made that grace

available. And we know that the means by which

that was accomplished is by what he had done

for us to be reconciled to God. Amen? What he

has done for us to be reconciled to God. And

in Acts 11, I want us to read Acts 11, verse

Acts 11:21

21 to... Acts 11, 21, 23. Even though I think

when I look at 19. Okay, it says, And the hand

of God was with them, and a great number believed

and turned to the Lord. A great number believed

and turned to the Lord. Then news of these things

came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem.

And they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch.

When he came and had seen the grace of God, he

was glad and encouraged them all that with purpose

of heart they should continue with the Lord.

Praise God. That with purpose of heart they should

continue with the Lord. I want us to see something.

The preaching of the gospel by the believers

that were scattered abroad, we'll see that in,

let's go up to 19. 19. Yeah, it says, now those

who were scattered after the persecution that

arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phenicinia.

Cyprus and Antioch preaching. the word to one,

preaching the word to no one but the Jews only.

Then 20 now is where we see the results. But

some of them were men, some of them were men

from Cyprus and Cyrene who, when they had come

to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists preaching

the Lord Jesus. That's 21. And the hand of God,

was with them and a great number believed and

received and were turned to the Lord. Believed

and were turned to the Lord. They say, and now

this news reached them and then they sent Barnabas

to confirm. And what we see there is the preaching

of the gospel by the believers that were scattered

and the result of them being scattered is persecution.

And I think I was saying this one time in our

cell. I said, if you are being persecuted and

then you run, How you know that you take what

you're doing seriously is that anywhere you find

yourself, you continue what they were persecuting

you for. Praise God. You continue. It's like

the reason why they chased you, in the negative

sense, it is why they chased you from my house.

It's because you now go to the next place and

then you continue the same thing. That one makes

sense. You continue the same thing. But these

people were, because of preaching the gospel,

and then they went to that new location. They

continued. And they continued and they did it

so well that a lot of people, right, it says

there that a great number believed and were turned

to the Lord. And Barabbas came and he saw what

God was doing in the lives of these people. The

way the gospel was preached, what was happening

in their lives, not just the fact that they were

numbered, but the... The training and what has

happened. Because for you to have that amount

of... It's not one person doing the whole work.

Praise God. That's why we are ministers of God.

It's not one person that does it. And if you

sit down and say, No, it's not my responsibility.

You are not being responsible. Praise God. You

are even walking in disobedience. That's what

it is. Because the scripture instructs us to

do so. Right? Not that it encourages, it's encouraging,

right? When you come here and there's a lot of

people, no space, you know, that is encouraging.

And it gladdens our heart that the work of God

is going and we encourage ourselves, right? And

our hearts are encouraged. And how that continues

to happen is that we stay. He says something

very important, that all with the purpose of

heart, that it should continue with the Lord.

Because continuing with the walk of ministry

or continuing with what the Lord has instructed

was what got them there in the first place. And

once you regress, you see something else. Praise

God. Once we regress, we see something else.

And in 2 Corinthians 9 verse 14, 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 9:14 2 Corinthians 9:14

9 verse 14, it says, And by their prayer for

you, we long for you because of the exceeding

grace of God in you. The exceeding grace of God

in you. Note that this grace is in us, and every

believer has it, right? Every believer has salvation,

and it's not just for a certain group of people.

It's not just like Apostle Paul, only it's just

him. You know, when he says, if not for the grace

of God, I am what I am, and it's only him. It's

for every believer. Don't exclude yourself. And

for some of us, we have excluded ourselves. We

just feel like our work is just to come, make

attendance, and then move. And for some individuals,

you have been restraining yourself from the calling

of God upon your life. You have been restraining,

you have been doing all that things to numb what

God has been instructing you to do. Doing a lot

of things to numb what God has been instructing

you to do. Know that you want to reorient yourself.

You want to realign yourself to what God has

called you to do from the very beginning. From

the very beginning. And I want us to see second,

let's see Ephesians. Ephesians 3. Ephesians 3.

Verse 2. Ephesians 3 verse 2. It says, For indeed

Ephesians 3:2

you have heard of the dispensation of the grace

of God which was given to me for you. Let's stop

there. I'll read it from the New Living Translation.

It says, Assuming by this way that you know God

gave me the special ability to extend His grace.

to you Gentiles. I want you to see the special

responsibility, sorry, the special responsibility

to extend his grace. And he also causes the responsibility,

gives it that responsibility to extend his grace

to the Gentiles. And then three in the same,

let's continue on the three. It says, how that

by revelation he made known to me the mystery

as I have. Briefly written already. As I have

briefly written already verse 4. It says, by

which when you read. Remember that he said the

revelation was given to him. And he had written

it down. And now the responsibility of the believer

is to read. You may understand my knowledge in

the mystery. of Christ. Know that the understanding

will only happen when you read. And what kind

of, what is that read? That read is not just,

I think we've said this in the church, by thought,

I think I can remember, Pastor Victor, it is

a diligent reading. It's a careful reading. It

means to read again. It means to read with attention

to details. It's not just a casual reading. It's

And we know that the source of it is the revelation

that was given to him. And we know that this

revelation is made available to him by the grace

of God. Let's continue to 7. Verse 5. apostles

and prophets, that the Gentiles should be fellow

heirs of the same body and partakers of the promise

in Christ through the gospel, the gospel of which

I became a minister according to the gift of

the grace of God given to me by the effective

walking of his power. Praise God. All of this,

he says, I am a minister. according to the gift

of the grace of God given to me by the effective

walking of his power. That's the power of God,

the gift of God. All of that is what brought

him to that place. And the revelation made available

by the Holy Spirit, he gives the revelation and

he wants every other person that is reading,

us included, to come to that place of an understanding.

And what this means is that we... are brought

into it and we are able to have that understanding

by the grace of God. And in 2 Peter, which is

where we'll see that we grow in the grace of

God. The grace of God will mean the knowledge

of God, right? The grace of God will be the knowledge

of God. 2 Peter 3, 18. It says, but grow in the

grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus, of

our Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ. To him be

the glory now and forever. Amen. Meaning that

as a believer, we grow. And how do we grow? By

training. We grow by training. We grow by the

word of God. We grow in evil. And we'll see in

the same, we'll see Ephesians 2 verse 8. Ephesians

Ephesians 2:8 Ephesians 2:8

2 verse 8. We'll see it with respect to it. It

says, For by grace we have been saved through

faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift

of God. You see, by grace we have been saved

through faith. The means by which we are saved

is by faith and believing in what Christ has

done. And then we come to that place where we

are able to be responsible. Very key that we

further re -establish the fact that the grace

of God is... the agency by which an unbeliever

is saved. And the means by which that happens

is by the preaching. It's by a believer preaching,

not an unbeliever preaching to an unbeliever,

right? That's not how it happens. It's by someone

who believes, because when you don't believe

something, you can't convince someone of that

thing with you. And even when you believe, you

have to be trained to do it effectively, right?

Even when you do believe. Without training, you

cannot preach or effectively communicate that

which you have received. Praise God. And then

Timothy 2, verse 11. We'll read down to 14. Timothy

2, verse 11. I'm sorry, Titus. Titus 2, verse

Titus 2:11

11. It says, Teaching us that denying ungodliness

and worldly loss, we should live soberly, righteously

and godly in this present age. 13. Looking for

the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our

great God and Savior Jesus Christ. 14. Who gave

himself for us that he might redeem us. from

every lawless deed and purify for himself his

own special people, zealous for good works. Zealous

for good works. I want us to go back to the 11.

And we see that it's the grace of God that brings

salvation, right? It's the grace of God. It's

Christ, what Christ has done. And how that happens

is when the word of God is preached. When the

word of God is preached, The person believes

and receives it. Now that person is saved. And

once that person is saved, what happens next

is that the person now is trained for the work

of ministry. And this is not excluding anybody.

Everybody is part of that. Once you're trained,

you serve. And if you look at what it says, it

says, teaching us. That same grace, teaching

us. That same grace, teaching us. that denying

ungodliness and bodily loss, we should live soberly,

righteously, and godly in this present age. What

that establishes very clearly is that you can

be saved, but if you are not taught or trained,

you will still be living like as before, but

you are saved. Because you have... situations

like that where you're confused. The person believes,

the person loves the Lord, but the person is,

you're not sure. Praise God. Know that you're

not living out your identity. It's when you're

responsible, you do what is instructed. And when

you don't know, how do you do? You can't do anything

when you don't know what that is. Praise God.

You can't do anything when you don't know. what

it is. That salvation, what should follow afterwards

is, remember what I said, believer is saved and

trained for the work of ministry. Believer is

saved, trained for the work of ministry. And

once that doesn't happen, you have a believer

that is living in ungodliness and the problem

is lack of training. The person is not taught.

And once the person is taught, the person does.

And we see that in Acts of Apostles. They come

into a place, oh, what's going on here? The gospel

is preached and then there's the laying of hands

and then the person is equipped for ministering.

Equipping for ministering. And I'll just read

1 Peter. 1 Peter 4 verse 10. 1 Peter 4 verse

1 Peter 4:10 1 Peter 4:10

10. It says, as each one has received a gift,

minister it to one another. Minister it to one

another. As good stewards of the manifold grace

of God. Says, as each one has received the gift.

Minister. We have received the gift, so we minister.

We have received the gift, so we minister. We

have received the gift, so we minister. And we

minister what? As good stewards. We minister

as faithful stewards of that which we have received.

And a minister, we said earlier, I'll repeat

again. Serves, right? Someone who serves is a

servant. And it's also to serve with another

or to serve one another. A minister is someone

who serves. And I want us to see in the Acts

while we close. In Acts 2, we'll continue from

here in our next meeting. In Acts 2, verse 42,

Acts 2:42

47. I want you to see this very practical. In

Acts 2. It says in Acts 2 .40, it says, And with

many other words he testified and exalted them,

saying, Be saved from this perverse generation.

Then those who gladly received the word were

baptized, and that day about three thousand souls

were added to them. And they continued steadfastly

in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and

in breaking of bread and in prayers. Says, then

fear came upon every soul and many signs and

wonders were done through the apostles. Now all

who believed were together and had all things

in common and sold their possessions and goods

and divided them among all and everyone as anyone

had need. So continuing daily with one. In one

accord in the temple and breaking bread from

house to house, they eat their food with gladness

and simplicity of heart, praising God and having

favor with all men. And the Lord added to the

church daily those who are being saved. Praise

God. And the Lord added to the... And what I

want us to see is the fact that the believers

were saved and what they go to do is we see them

taking up the responsibility and... Meeting the

needs of others and serving others, right? They

were saved and then all of them, it didn't say

some of them. It didn't specify that this person

did it, that person did not do it. All of them

were responsible and were doing the work of ministry.

And we see that these individuals went on to

serve. It's from this group of people that we

see people like Philip, people like Stephen.

The church kept on growing as a result of believers

coming in to save. coming into service, and doing

the work of ministry, and then the church expands

that way. And I'm bringing it down to the church

of NECF. The way we can grow and grow more effectively

is by not just, like you don't just come to church,

but you take the responsibility of ensuring that

you look out for other believers. And you can

go out and preach, but the work is in discipling.

You can get someone saved, but the responsibility

there, you know, when you do that, that's one

phase. The phase that continues is that responsibility

of ensuring that they grow. You teach them to

the point where they can do the same for others.

Praise God. And our responsibility is to preach

so that men will be saved. And the gospel is

the only way. Preaching the gospel is how men

get saved. And if we are not trained to do so,

if we don't, Our tie is doing so. I'll just close

like this. In our cell units, I think on Friday,

I think I was just, we're just going and I said,

we have to, because we already, we know they

say going from house to house. We're already

in a region where houses are around. Nothing

stops us from going and asking, are we okay?

Because there are a lot of people, there are

a lot of people that need to hear the gospel.

In fact, you have friends that you've never spoken

to about. about the gospel. And it's something

that we should prioritize. It's important to

God. It should be important to us. Praise God.

I want us to declare these words as we close.

See, I am a minister. I am a minister. I am serving

in the Church of NACF. And if you're not serving,

you should. I'm serving the Church of NACF. I

am receiving training faithfully. And I am training

others. I diligently seek opportunities to grow

in the knowledge of God. I am not afraid to preach

the gospel that gets an unbeliever saved. I am

patient with the unbeliever and get them saved

and see them grow. I am patient with the unbeliever.

Some of us are very impatient. I am patient with

the unbeliever to get them saved. and see them

grow. I want us to just pray and just say, Father,

I thank you because I am a minister. We're thankful

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you with us next time. God bless.