"How to start a ministry"
1. Last Thursday morning I got someone’s attention as I pulled into the church parking lot.
2. Someone driving by in a van stomped on his brakes and made a sudden turn to follow me.
3. The driver got out, walked to the back of his van, and opened the hatch.
4. I walked over and asked if he needed help.
5. He said he was a missionary who was looking for money to do mission work in Latin America.
6. Would we like to donate to his cause?
WE SPOKE FOR A FEW MINUTES AND HE THEN THE TWO OF US ENTERED INTO THE BUILDING.
A. I listened to him describe His ministry and then we studied the Bible together.
B. He went home thinking about some passages in a new way.
2. The man who stopped last weeks has plans for a ministry.
3. When we hear the word ministry we might automatically associate it with preachers/missionaries.
4. Tonight I want to propose that “ministry” goes a lot further than we normally think.
5. A few moments ago Acts 6:1-4 was read.
6. Let’s take one more look at verse 4 – READ.
7. The end of the fourth verse says “ministry of the word.”
A. Why is this particular expression used?
B. Why didn’t the apostles say “we must continue in the ministry?”
C. Why say “ministry of the word?”
8. This is a thought provoking question and the answer to it is in the text.
9. Let’s go back to verse 1 – READ.
A. In the first verse the ASV and the KJV say “ministration.”
B. This is the same word translated ministry in Acts 6:4.
10. When we know this and we put these two verses together, we may draw some conclusions.
11. First, the apostles had a ministry; they had a ministry of the word (teaching the Bible)—verse 4.
12. The people who fed the windows (verse 1) also had a ministry.
13. The ministry in Acts 6:1 was far different from teaching the scriptures, but it was a ministry.
SINCE WE KNOW THE WORD MINISTRY IS USED
TWICE IN ACTS 6 AND IT IS USED IN TWO VERY DIFFERENT WAYS, WE MIGHT
BEGIN TO WONDER ABOUT THE OTHER PARTS OF THE BIBLE.
A. That is, are there ministries besides feeding hungry stomachs and teaching the Bible?
B. The answer to this question is yes.
C. Most of us remember the story about Mary and Martha.
D. These two women have been a topic of discussion for many Ladies’ Days.
2. Many know that Martha was troubled by much “serving” (Lk. 10:40).
3. What we may not know is that the word serving in Lk. 10:40 is identical to Acts 6:1, 4.
A. The serving Martha did describes only one meal.
B. Nevertheless, the use of this word tells us something.
C. As a Christian we can have a food ministry.
D. If we take food to the hungry, that is a ministry.
E. If we keep and tend to out of town guests, this is a ministry of hospitality.
F. Ministries come in all shapes and sizes.
4. As we think about this word we find that it is possible to have a good ministry.
5. The word we are looking at is also found in the beginning of Acts.
6. In Acts 1:17 it is applied to Judas.
A. Here it is said the apostles had a ministry.
B. Judas was a part of the ministry created by the Lord.
C. In verse 25 of Acts 1 the scripture says he “fell away.”
7. Paul once spoke of people who had made shipwreck of the faith (1 Tim. 1:19).
8. People can start a ministry and have a good work but not stay with it.
9. If we are a Christian, we need to look at our skills and life to see how we can minister.
10. Once we find a way to minister, we want to avoid being like Judas.
11. Our ministry needs to continue as long as we are physically and mentally able to do it.
12. If one form of ministry becomes blocked for us, we can look for another.
13. We might have one type of ministry when we are young and another when we are advanced in age.
14. We may start with one ministry when we are single and change when we get married.
15. People without children may have a ministry that is modified after children come along.
IN THINKING ABOUT THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF MINISTRIES WE FIND ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THIS WORD IN THE BOOK OF ACTS.
A. This is found in Acts 11:29.
B. This chapter says there were still Christians in the area of Judaea.
C. These brethren had fallen upon difficult times.
D. They needed help.
2. In Acts 6 we read about a ministry of getting food to people who needed it.
3. Acts 11:29 is similar but not exactly the same – READ.
4. The word “relief” is the same word we find in Acts 6:1, 4, Lk. 10:40, etc.
5. Acts 11:29 tells us we can have a ministry of financial aid.
A. When we send support to a missionary, this is one form of ministry.
B. When we do benevolence or support a man to education himself to preach, this is a ministry.
C. Through our money we can have a ministry.
D. In this country almost every Christian can minister with money.
E. We can have a ministry if we support a good work with $5 a month or $100 per year.
F. Most have some extra income that can be devoted to works in the kingdom.
6. As we gather here tonight there are missionaries begging for funds.
7. There are brethren involved in projects designed to spread the gospel by mass communication.
8.
We can help support these people.
Many can give above and beyond what they normally contribute each
Sunday.
9. Acts 11:29 reminds us that we can have a ministry of giving.
BASED UPON WHAT HAS BEEN SAID IT SEEMS LIKE THE BIBLE TEACHES THAT THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT TYPES OF MINISTRIES.
A. This is exactly right.
B. In fact, there is a passage that says this very thing.
C. Paul makes this specific point in 1 Cor. 12:5.
D. When he wrote to the Corinthians he used the same word found in Acts 6:4.
E. Here is what he said to the Christians at Corinthian – READ. 1 Cor. 12:5.
2. There are “diversities of ministrations.”
3. God has several different ministries.
4. This is good news for those who are Christians.
5. Maybe we don’t feel comfortable teaching. We may be a poor teacher and we know that.
6. Perhaps we do not have the ability to cook for the sick or others.
7. Somewhere there is something we can do.
8. In Jn. 15 Jesus told His people to bear fruit.
9. This is one more way of saying, “find a way to minister.”
10. God is serious about this matter because the word we are studying is in 1 Cor. 16:15.
11. Here the Bible speaks of those “addicted to the ministry of the saints” (KJV).
12. God says to us, “Find a place where you can work/do well, minister, and stay busy with it.”
13. God believes in ministries.
14. The word we are looking at also occurs in Heb. 1:14.
15. Here the Bible says angels are “ministers” for those who will be saved.
16. Even angels have been given a ministry.
THE PASSAGES I HAVE USED REALLY DEAL WITH MINISTRY ON AN INDIVIDUAL LEVEL. THE SUBJECT OF MINISTRY ALSO APPLIES TO CONGREGATIONS.
A. The term we are looking at is used in Rev. 2:19
B. The Lord wrote to the church at Thyatira.
C. He said “I know thy ministry” (the KJV says “service”).
2. On a congregation level God expects us to have ministries.
3. Some have taken the fact that Christians are to have ministries and drawn improper conclusions.
4. People have come up with weight watcher ministries, sports ministries, and Nintendo ministries.
5. God did not intend for the church to every become something like an amusement park.
6. The church is to honor and glorify him.
7. Not every act in the world qualifies as an acceptable ministry for God’s service.
A. The church is to be involved in activities which lead the lost to salvation.
B. This can be partly accomplished through benevolence and acts of kindness.
C. We can also do this by contributing funds to Biblical causes.
8. Rom. 5:18 speaks of the “ministry of reconciliation.”
9. This is a key verse.
10. Ministries which God sanctions somehow relate to reconciling man to God.
11. The purpose of our ministries is to bring unsaved people to a point where they obey the gospel.
12. Weight watching ministry emphasizes just what it says: trim inches off the waistline.
13. Nintendo ministries (and one is in the area) emphasizes fun and includes some Bible teaching.
14. The Bible shows that just because someone has a ministry, it is not acceptable.
15. There is no doubt about this because of 2 Cor. 3.
A. In 2 Cor. 3 we have another instance of the word “ministry” being used.
B. This term is found in verses 7, 8, and 9.
C. Here the word is used to describe the Old Testament.
D. Paul says the Old Testament is a “ministry” of “condemnation.”
E. The Old Testament is now a ministry of death.
F. The Old Testament system is a ministry but if it is followed it will lead people to destruction.
16. We need ministries but they need to be ministries that are consistent with God’s will.
17. Most who are here tonight are Christians.
18. We need to look for a way we can minister.
19. When we find that we need to give ourselves wholly to it.
20. The process begins by our becoming a Christian.