THE IMPORTANCE OF MINISTRY
Text- Philippians 2:2
Today I'm going to conclude the series of messages that I began a few weeks ago on the topic, "Casting The Vision." I said last week that when I think of the word "Casting" I think of how a fisherman will sometimes cast hundreds of times when he is fishing.
Some of you might be wondering why it is that I am constantly talking about the vision for our church.
One reason is because most all of us have a tendency to forget after just a short period of time.
In the book of Nehemiah we are told that when Israel was released from Babylonian captivity and returned to their own land that they began rebuilding the city of Jerusalem and also the wall around the city.
The Bible says that it took them exactly 52 days to rebuild the wall, but in the middle of the 52 days they became very discouraged and wanted to give up. So on day 26, Nehemiah stood before the people and reminded them about the purpose they were there and renewed the vision which enabled the people to continue their work and eventually complete it. That is why about every 26 days or once a month we need to be reminded of what we are trying to accomplish so we don’t lose site of our vision.
About 350 years ago, a shipload of people landed on the Eastern coast of America. They traveled from Europe to the New World. The first year after arriving they established a small town. The second year they elected a town government. The third year the town government planned to build a road five miles west into the wilderness. However, in the fourth year, the people fired the town government because they thought it was a waste of public funds to build a road 5 miles Westward into the wilderness. “After all,” they said, “Who would go there anyway?”
Here these people who had the vision to see 3000 miles across an ocean and overcome great hardships to establish a new life for themselves in a new country, in just a few years we not able to see even five miles outside their own town!
Another reason why I continually talk about our vision is because we have found that people are usually down on what they are not up on.
Philippians 2:2 ...make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. (NIV)
This verse shows us that the secret to being a joyful and effective church is to have unity in four areas. It first involves our mind. This means that our focus must be on the same things. It also involves our love for God and each other. Third it involves our "spirit" which literally means "soul." And lastly, in order to be a joyful and effective church we must be intent on one purpose.
This overall strategy of our church is very simple. It involves four things. It is simply to bring people in, train them up, build them up and then send them out to reach more people. One of the ways we accomplish this strategy is through our C.L.A.S.S. processes.
The first aspect of our strategy is to BRING THEM IN. This involves a commitment to MEMBERSHIP which you begin learning in our 101 C.L.A.S.S.
The second aspect of our strategy is to TRAIN THEM UP. This involves a commitment to MATURITY which you begin learning in our 201 C.L.A.S.S.
The third aspect of our strategy is to BUILD THEM UP. This involves a commitment to MINISTRY which you begin learning in our 301 C.L.A.S.S.
The fourth aspect of our strategy is to SEND THEM OUT. This involves a commitment to MISSIONS which you begin learning about in our 401 C.L.A.S.S.
This morning I’d like to focus on the third aspect of our strategy which is ministry. What is ministry? Ministry is using whatever God has given to you to serve Him and the needs of others. Why is it important that you be involved in ministry? It is because ministry is one of God's purposes for each one of our lives.
This morning I’d like us to look at ten reasons why it is vitally important for all of us to become involved in ministry. Why should I make ministry a priority in my life?