On a morning when we woke up to yet another tragedy in Dallas, …
On another morning when we were reminded that justice and peace are far from us, …
On yet another day when our hope and confidence in the direction of our country has been shaken to the core, …
Would you take two minutes to have your vision renewed? Watch this video and praise God for what He is doing around the world and then, begin to pray Habakkuk’s prayer from Habakkuk 3:2 for our own nation. Pray that what He is doing around the world He would once again do here.
“O Lord, I have heard the report about You and I fear. O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years, In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy.”
I am continuing to meditate and read about how to better equip the saints of the church. The last few days have been a rich time of revisiting some of my notes from previous times when I have taught on spiritual gifts. And I have had the opportunity to revise and re-edit/update some old notes, supplementing them with new material and new thinking.
Here is both a great quote and a great idea for how you might approach spiritual gift training at your church from Dr. Earl Radmacher.
“Every pastor ought to have a goal of helping each member to identify his gift, and then to find the place where his gift fits into the total work of the church. It is a rare pastor who has preached a series of messages covering each gift.
I ask pastors I meet, ‘Why don’t you take fifteen weeks and preach on one gift of the Spirit each week and then ask for decisions from your people.’ Ask them ‘What are your gifts? How are you using them?’ and really dig in deep because, as I understand it, shaping up the saints in large part means enabling them to find out what their gifts are and where they can use them.”
–Dr. Earl D. Radmacher Quoted in Leslie B. Flynn’s 19 Gifts of the Spirit, (page 15)
The Holy Spirit gifts every member of the body of Christ to help the church become the beautiful Christ-exalting bride that He wants her to be (Cf. 1 Cor. 12-14). So it makes sense that we would want every member of the body to know and use their spiritual gift(s) in ways that will help the church become all that Christ wants her to be.
My own assumption is that there are no little people in the body of Christ. Everyone is a vital link in the whole. And since that is true, everyone deserves respect; everyone has something to contribute; everyone has something to teach me.
With that in mind: Here’s seven tasks(1) to accomplish if you want to mobilize more of your people to utilize their spiritual gifts.
Encourage, teach, and challenge all to become involved in personal growth and service to the body. Create a culture of expectation by celebrating the various gifts of people in the congregation. .
Design a gift-based ministry system. Pick one off the shelf or start from scratch and design your own. There is no magic material. Find what fits the personality of your situation and prayerfully work at it. .
Train ministry placement consultants. Depending on the size of your church you might only need one or two (male and female). Qualifications: Prayer warriors who love ministry themselves and who see the potential in others. .
Teach people about spiritual gifts. Overcome the fear and mystery surrounding the subject by attacking the problem head-on. Lift the veil of ignorance in your church by teaching on the whole context of 1 Corinthians 12-14 and other NT passages related to spiritual gifts. Use the pulpit. Use small groups. Use special classes or seminars. “Teach your way out of every problem.” ..
Guide people to ministry opportunities appropriate to their gifts, passion, and experience. The gift of hospitality does not mean that a person necessarily can be entrusted with organizing every baby shower in your church family. It might mean that they take a new family out to lunch once a month. …
Provide advanced spiritual gift training. Whatever is good in the church you need more of. Deeper understanding of what the Bible teaches on everything, including spiritual gifts, will always (under the guidance of the Holy Spirit) will always produce power for living more passionately for and like Jesus. …
Constantly evaluate how you are doing in mobilizing people into their areas of giftedness and passion. Any ministry that functions on auto-pilot without supervision and new input will eventually grow stale and lose its direction. Evaluation that includes celebration, as well as correction, will help you help others find their place of service for the King.
(1) Adapted from Robert E. Logan and Steven L. Ogne’s, Church Planter’s Toolkit, (1991), session 11.
Found this gem from Brother Andrew today and had to pass it along. Every day of your life is filled with opportunity for dynamic work in the Kingdom of God if we only choose to obey what we know already. I have added a note in brackets and a bold emphasis to the quote.
“As we spend time in Scripture and in prayer, it’s important not to get sidetracked in trying to determine whether we’ve received an official call from God or whether we have a clear indication that we are doing God’s will. It’s too easy to get so caught up in the paralysis of analysis that we fail to act.
Most of us often have the idea that God must a have a special calling on our lives. If we have no such calling from God, then we have not been selected by him for special service, and we can only live out our lives as drones in the kingdom, one monotonous and unimportant day at a time.
We must never make our dreams for success or accomplishment as God’s purpose for us. God’s end, his purpose for us, is the process. Oswald Chambers put it so well when he said, ‘God’s training is for now, not presently [meaning, soon or in the future]. His purpose is for this minute, not for something in the future. What men call training and preparation, God calls the end… If we realize that obedience is the end, then each moment is precious.”
Obedience. Obedience is the key to a life of passion for God. Obedience saturated with the knowledge that He who called us His own is always beside us, will never leave us, and wants to direct us in every moment of the day.
“I am the companion of all those who fear You” vs. 63
“I am Yours” vs. 94
“I am exceedingly afflicted” vs. 107
“I am Your servant” vs. 125
“I am small and despised” vs. 141
If I am a stranger in the earth it is because I am a citizen of heaven.
If I am a companion of those who fear God, I will be despised by those who don’t.
If I belong to YHWH I cannot belong to the world.
If I am exceedingly afflicted it is not outside of God’s sovereign and good hand.
If I am the servant of God it is for His purposes that I breathe.
And If I am small and despised it is a reminder that it is for His glory not mine that He has called me to be a stranger on the earth.
Lord, help me to remember the truth of Your word. Help me to declare with the whole of my being what the Psalmist declares here. Make me Your servant for Your purposes, for Your glory. Amen.
Some of the Dogs from Lutheran Ministries (Comfort Dogs)
It has been a busy week of service to the King and our community here at Trinity Church. The flood on the West side of town (#2 in six months period), has brought the Red Cross to our doors and many of our neighbors as well. Volunteers from Trinity, the Red Cross and a host of other agencies (Lutheran Ministries Comfort Dogs for one) have all been working together to care for people and, in our case, represent Christ. Two funeral’s this weekend, hosting the MARC (Multi Agency Resource Center), caring for broken people, preparing messages, elder board meetings, meetings with staff, counseling, studying for up-coming messages, and lots of prayer. It has been full.
In the midst of it all, I read some great things this week that nurtured my soul. Others that challenged my heart, or broke my heart, inspired my spirit or just seemed like the right word at the right moment. Here’s a few to encourage you in your weekend.
George Orwell’s vision of the future from the novel 1984:
“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face– for ever.”
Contrast that with Jesus’s truth statement about the future of those who call Him their Lord from John 14:2.
“In My Father’s house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you.”
This one broke my heart out the mouth of Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) in the movie Intersteller. (Highly recommended.)
“After you kids came along, your Mom said said something I never quite understood: ‘Now we’re just here to become memories for our children,’ until now.”
John Piper has been an inspiration for me for nearly 35 years. Here’s another great quote from his God-entranced vision of the Christian life.
“If you don’t feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great.”
And this great statement on the importance of the cross in our daily meditation from Erik Raymond including a link back to the entire article. (Worth your time.)
“It should come as no surprise to us who are Christians to find that Satan’s chief temptation of us is to have us forget the cross. Satan is not so concerned with moral living as much as moral living apart from Jesus. Satan is not concerned with emptying churches of people as much as he is emptying the pulpit of the cross of Christ. Satan is not so concerned with busy church calendars as much as he is with busy churches that have assumed or forgotten the cross. Satan is not so concerned with people who pray as much as he is concerned with people who pray broken, grace-grasping, desperate prayers in the shadow of the cross.
We are not ignorant of his schemes (2 Cor. 2.11). If Satan can’t destroy you he is content to simply divert you.”
I am continuing to meditate and read about how to better equip the saints of the church. The last few days have been a rich time of revisiting some of my notes from previous times when I have taught on spiritual gifts. And I have had the opportunity to revise and re-edit/update some old notes, supplementing them with new material and new thinking. 
This post follows up yesterday’s post on 
Train ministry placement consultants. Depending on the size of your church you might only need one or two (male and female). Qualifications: Prayer warriors who love ministry themselves and who see the potential in others.
