CHURCH
... her primary purpose!
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Who can tell me the purpose of the church, and the ministry?
I have to ask this because recently I have become aware that in many denominations we have turned our churches away from "teaching and raising up the saints for ministry" and into more or less a "service center", or a "ministry of helps".
Our mission trips and our retreats have become "work farms" where we take our youth and go out and build, and clean up, and work in the community. While this is a worthy task, it is not at all the primary purpose of our churches! Have we so quickly forgotten the command of Jesus?
In Ephesians 4:11 Paul tells us of the 5-fold ministry offices and why they were put into place. He says they are "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." He goes on to tell us in verse 14 that we are to be "no more children" tossed to and fro by various teachings and doctrines, but we are to "grow up" into Him in all things!
He teaches here that the Body of Christ (the Church) is to become fitly joined together, working well together. He says we are to abandon the ways of the Gentiles (the non-Christians) and are to walk with a renewed spirit in the faith of God.
We often think that because Jesus fed the hungry, and healed the sick, that this was why He was sent. The fact is that healing the sick or feeding the hungry is a temporary fix, at best! Jesus used these to meet the needs of the people so that He could "get their attention"! If you heal a man, or feed him, or pay off his bills, YOU HAVE GOT HIS ATTENTION!
Somewhere in the process, we have become so focused on the feeding and the healing and the caring for others that we forgot the whole purpose of those was to "get their attention" so that we can "teach them"! In every event where you see Jesus healing the sick, He was also preaching and teaching to them! And I assure you "THAT" was His primary goal! For if you teach them and you get them saved, "they" can carry on the healing and the feeding and the caring for others ... so that they too can preach the word!
So, in your church plannings, and in your missions, don't get so focused on helping others that you forget your "primary purpose". We, the "Church", are here to prepare the saints for the work of the ministry! We are here to "preach the gospel ... to the World"!
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CampfireTALK is our weekly e-newsletter, speaking life into your heart, with stories, a word from our affiliate ministries, and a devotion from pastor Rich. It's a source for you to feed your spirit, to challenge your faith and to build you up!
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 WORD CHURCH is a church, a ministry, and a fellowship, even an outreach, where like in the days of the Apostles and Acts, the people joined together! Our vision and our goal, is to bring churches together in the unity of the faith, to help them to begin to bring together the gifts and talents of each separate church, and to share those gifts and talents with each other, that we may be better and more effective in teaching and training the Body of Christ, for the word of the ministry, to tell the World about Jesus! .... Learn More |
THAT YOUR JOY MAY BE FULL
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 Ever have a vision, a dream maybe that you have been busy working on and in implementing, and you've been waiting on some news about it that pivots the outcome? When that news came, and it was not at all the news you expected, did it derail you and your faith? Was your hope what the Bible calls, "deferred"? Were your dreams crushed? Well, last week we addressed the need to be "strong in the Lord" when even the closest one's to you, do you wrong, and leave your hopes and your heart hanging in tatters, wondering! This week we are going to tell you how your "joy in the Lord" will prove to definitely be the "power of His might" ... for you!
The Bible tells us that the "joy of the Lord" is our strength! In fact, in Ephesians we are told to be "strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might". We are encouraged to "put on the whole armor of God", and to be ready! This requires that we embrace and take upon ourselves the "joy" that comes from fellowship, prayer, and feeding on the Word of God.
You see, your spirit man feeds on the Word of God. It needs that in the same way that you need food, for your body. And when you don't get it, your strength is low. You do not function at your best, just like when you fail to get the proper amount of rest, and the proper diet of food for your body.
Joy, though, is like the slowing stream to a garden. It feeds the life into that garden that sustains it and makes it flourish! Ever notice when you water your yard, regularly, for a few hours every day, that after a couple of days straight, your grass and the trees all start to look so green and plush? That is because they are nourished and strengthened by the abundance of that life-giving fresh water that you have been "regularly" giving them!
In the same manner, when you spirit man takes up the "joy of the Lord", you FEED your spirit man strength and vitality! He feels vibrant and victorious ... powerful, for the tasks as hand!
Remember the man we talked about last week, who was literally devastated by the bad news he had received? Well, the details to that story are that he decided of his own training in the Word that he should "choose" to take upon himself the joy of the Lord, even if he didn't at all feel like it! He did this! And it began to strengthen him, and encourage him, and by the time God was through with him AND his situation, everything had turned completely around, and he was exonerated by the Spirit of God! He was empowered and placed into the situation that he had felt all along was God's Mighty Hand putting him there! And when he felt like he'd missed that opportunity, because he chose to embrace the "joy" that God's Word brings, and he chose to trust God, while walking in HIS joy, he was able to overcome!
This man began to pray in the Holy Ghost, and he walked in "joy", regardless of what he'd been told and discouraged by. The end results are ... 'but GOD'! Yes, God had the "but, ..." and He interrupted what the devil meant to happen and totally re-directed the path of that situation!
So, when you are challenged, by sickness, financial problems, or by situations in your life, "reach for the joy"! Grab a hold of something that, when embraced, brings the life-giving strength that you need, to your spirit man! As my wife always shouts in prayer, "JOY! JOY!" You NEED to shout this, folks! It - is - a - POWER - force in your life! Walk in that "joy", and you - will - win!
Make me proud!
-pastor rich-
Get ON-TRACK with HIS Plan ...
1. Be holy - the Bible calls us a "Holy Temple", where the Spirit of GOD lives. the Spirit of GOD lives in your heart! And to keep it holy, we must confess our sin when we sin (1 John 1:9). "
If we confess our sins, HE is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleans us from all unrighteousness." In order to remain holy and clean, before GOD, we must avoid sin, and when we do sin, we must confess those sins before GOD, so that we can be made clean again.2. Study the Word - Jesus said in John 8:31-32, "If you continue in My word, then are you truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." Folks, rare is the time you will ever see someone skip eating for the day, let alone days upon end. But we do that all the time spiritually. The Word of GOD is food for our spiritual bodies! We need that spiritual food, for spiritual energy, and for the faith that we need ... to live the life that GOD has called us to live, here in the Earth. When we study and meditate the Word of God, our spirit man grows strong, in much the same way as a battery is charged! (Romans 10:17) But when we do NOT study the Word, our spiritual battery begins to run down, and the natural man begins to surface. We act more like our "old self" than like the renewed man that GOD created us to be. In other words, the "flesh" wins out. 3. Pray in the Holy Spirit - Paul teaches us that we are to pray in the Holy Spirit. "But you, beloved, build yourselves up [founded] on your most holy faith [make progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher], praying in the spirit." [Jude 1:20 - AMP] Our supernatural energy, our faith, is charged and built up when we spend time in the presence of GOD, and when we "pray in the Holy Spirit". We are told in Ephesians 6 to "be strong in the Lord, and in the power of HIS might", putting on the whole armor of GOD. We cannot be strong if we do not spend time in GOD's presence, and in supernatural prayer! ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS:
"This is YOUR day ... YOU control it, how it goes, how you deal with the obstacles that come, and how you finish it! Master it! And don't let the day, or the little bumps that come with it determine how "YOUR DAY" is going to be. This is "YOUR" day!" Master it! Conquer it! MAKE IT ... what your Father wants it to be!-pastor rich- |
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