Tag Archives: Minister

Fast Food Christianity

Posted on by under Bible, Christian, Christianity, Disciple, Discipleship, Excellence, Faithful, faithfulness, Hard Work, LifeGiving, Mandate, Mature, Maturing, Message, Mission, Movement, Revolution, Righteousness, School Of The Spirit, Teamwork, Training, Transformation

There is great value in investing time and money to travel to conferences where anointed ministers can impart some spiritual gift to us through their teaching and or hands on ministry.

I know from personal experience how impactful, and transformational those events, and the God encounters I have experienced in them have been in my life. God has even used me in miraculous ministry when I have preached and ministered in large and small public meetings.

So, if you can get to a conference or special service where there is an authentic, anointed minister who moves in kingdom power and authority then by all means go, get all that God has for you, and then take what you receive and go to work on deepening your relationship with God.

Even Paul said he wanted to impart some spiritual gift to the saints residing in Rome. He then went on to warn them about immaturity and irresponsibility with the gift of salvation God gave them, and the spiritual gift he would deposit in them.

Certain behaviors attract God’s wrath!

Paul also wrote this to the saints in Ephesus.

“11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: 14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” [Ephesians 4 KJV]

Take a look at what the gifts of Christ do and what the response of the saints must be!

While there is great value in attending conferences and anointed services there is a much greater value in investing time and money in paying whatever price is required to travel into the written Word of God, and allow the Holy Spirit to impart revelation and spiritual gifts directly to us.

Now:

Are you immature in spiritual matters?

Do you have a specific mature person who is discipling you to the fullness of the stature of Jesus Christ?

If not, you need to ask God to send you to that person, or send that person to you, and then employ them to help you grow up.

We live in an ever changing, speeding up, fast paced fast food Christian conference culture, and I am concerned the Body of Christ, and the world at large, is suffering because of it.

Along with that much “church” growth is in the seeker sensitive genre of Christianity where very few if any are maturing and one reason is the “teaching” lasts maybe 20 minutes, and is primarily superficial story telling. And when they do have Bible study they stay away from “the controversial aspects” of Christianity.

What? Jesus the Christ is still the most controversial Person to have ever lived and churches are “staying away from” controversial core teachings about the Christ.

Everyone has a path and a process that is inherit in their divine purpose. Shortcuts are not advantageous to our ultimate purpose. Ministry is work and we must work to be prepared for ministry as ministers of the gospel of the kingdom of God. Every believer is supposed to be a minister regardless of vocation.

It has been said that it takes God at least 20 years to develop a mature minister, and that is when they are under the tutelage of a mature person who disciples them to Christ. Even Jesus was not released to minister until He was 30 years old.

He had 3.5 years of nearly 24 hours a day to invest in His disciples. That may not equate to 20 years in a contemporary discipleship relationship but we are talking about Jesus. He said, “It is to your advantage that I go away.” The purpose was the arrival of the Holy Spirit. So, the Holy Spirit is our Advantage.

Are you taking full advantage of the Advantage?

Receive and steward God’s passion, power, presence, priority, process, promises, protection, provision, pruning, purging, purity and purpose!

Dr. Kevin M. Drury, DMin
A radical spiritual revolutionary
Revolution Movement Co-Founder
http://www.revolutionmovement.org
kdrury@revolutionmovement.org

#RM #RevolutionMovement #DisciplinedDiscipleship

Moochers Who Mooch

Posted on by under Bible, Christian, Excellence, Hard Work, LifeGiving, Righteousness, School Of The Spirit, Teamwork, Training

There are a lot of moochers who mooch off ministers and their ministries!

Mooch

To obtain something without paying for it.

Moocher

A person who lives off others without giving anything in return.

These moochers literally suck the life out of the very person who is serving them life giving spiritual food!

Paul the apostle, who supported his ministry by making tents so that he would not financially burden the churches he founded and ministered in, taught the importance of not mooching off ministers and their ministries. In other words, Paul chose not to practice what he preached!

He said, “Do not muzzle an ox while he is threshing.”¹ This was a direct quote from Deuteronomy 25:4. Immediately following that Old Testament quote Paul clarified what Moses meant when he said not to muzzle an ox. “9 God is not concerned about oxen, is He? 10 Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops. 11 If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?”

Paul is clearly revealing that what God said through Moses in the Old Testament was an analogy for Christian ministers and their ministry. In other words, the ‘ox’ represents those called to carry the burden of feeding the people of God spiritual food. God’s burden bearers should never be muzzled while they are working. To muzzle means so much more than to silence. It means to silence through starvation. What Paul is saying is that it is not God’s will for those feeding us not to be fed by us through their material support.

Paul also said this about being a burden bearer. “17 The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. 18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing,” and “The laborer is worthy of his wages.”² Again, Paul equates feeding and financially supporting the person laboring at preaching and teaching God’s Word to God’s people.

Look at what Paul says about bearing burdens in the context of his personal ministry. “Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.”³ This statement followed an extensive listing of his spiritual resume of suffering extreme opposition to his ministry.

There is extreme pressure on everyone whether they are in market place ministry or preaching and teaching ministry. But the added pressure that is placed upon those who accept the call of God to feed the people of God life giving food is extremely difficult to bear, especially if those carrying the weight of that responsibility have to scrounge for food and finances to pay their personal bills.

I discovered the following verses many years ago and was, and continue to be convicted by them. They are found in 3 John 1 – “5 Beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren, and especially when they are strangers; 6 and they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. 7 For they went out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. 8 Therefore we ought to support such men, so that we may be fellow workers with the truth.”

John is writing to express his pleasure in the saints who worshiped in Gaius’s home. These saints had the reputation of radical generosity toward those ‘strangers’ who came in the Name [of Jesus] bringing life giving words on behalf of the Name. He is speaking of Christian ministers who itinerated among the various local churches in the various regions that had been evangelized.

And he says, “You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God.” In essence John is saying the way we treat God’s messengers should be no different than the way we would treat Jesus if He was personally teaching us. They came in His Name, as His representatives, and God’s people should honor God by honoring them. That is a lofty responsibility! At least that is how I view that statement.

John continues by saying these burden bearers of the Good News do not look to the unsaved population [Gentiles] for their support. They are depending totally on the radical generosity of the present recipients of God’s goodness to send them to their next assignment fully fed and funded so they will be strong and able to fully deliver fresh food to the people they are ministering to when they leave.

John concludes by stating that when God’s people fund God’s ministry through His burden bearers those who generously financially support them are fellow workers, or co-laboers, in the truth with them. This is a vitally important truth. The funders get the same credit in heaven as the feeders! If they do not muzzle them by withholding food and finances.

With the explosion of social media and other ways to communicate God’s truth [His Word], there are a lot of people feeding from the food of God’s ministers without paying for that food. They read posts, blogs, watch or listen to live streamed messages, archived teachings on YouTube, Facebook and other places where kingdom food is prepared and presented. And they never financially support those who work hard at preaching and teaching. This is the reason we at Bethel Church in Brunswick, GA never invite a minister to our ‘house’ and charge them for coming by deducting lodging, meals and travel expenses from the love offerings received. In fact, we have always given the Sunday tithes to our guests too. When you sow into the lives of the guest ministers who minster to us, every penny goes directly to them. We take, “send them on their way in a manner worthy of God seriously.

Bethel Church, Brunswick, GA is no moocher!

Maybe you are one of those people who mooch off God and His ministers. If you are not then you are to be celebrated.

Are you a moocher who is muzzling the very ‘ox’ that is feeding you? From heaven’s perspective you would do well if you unmuzzled the minister and ministry that is feeding you spiritual food.

Keep His Faith! Keep His Passion! Keep HIS Purposes!

Dr. Kevin M. Drury

A Hisstorymaker

¹ 1 Corinthians 9:9

² 1 Timothy 5

³ 2 Corinthians 11:28