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Today we are looking at something that is very important, what we must all sit down to meditate on even as the Holy Spirit produces perfection in us. The work of ministry is not one that is self-assigned. You do not look at yourself one day and make yourself a minister or a servant of Christ. You must be called, you must be raised up by God and you must be commissioned by God. God must be in charge of every part of the process. There must never be a part of it that men took charge. There must be God in every segment of your emergence into ministry. Haven been called by God into the ministry, it must be God that must keep you in the same ministry. One of the things that actually reminds me and gives me confidence in life is that once God has called you, He shows there is an assignment hanging on your life. Until you are done with the assignment, your time is not over yet.
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So, in the midst of crisis and challenges across the World, in the midst of virus and all manners of evil across the nations, your confidence must always rest upon the call of God hanging on your life. Until you finish it, you cannot be finished. And so today we are looking at: Maximizing Pulpit Time and Influence to Birth Christ in Your People. Haven understood and realized that you have actually been called into the ministry by God, haven understood that there is a purpose in God that you must fulfill in your own generation; in your own community or city, it is important you understand that the time that you have in that ministry, the influence that you actually possess or enjoy while fulfilling your ministry is not just for you or for your own or for your fulfillment as it were, it is actually to fulfill a purpose.
It is not to satisfy your ego or make yourself look wonderful or important; it is to accomplish a task so given to you by God. So it is important we all understand today and as the Lord reminds us this moment, that the pulpit time or authority or influence is not something that is meant for the preachers or the persons standing before the people to enjoy for himself or herself but for such person to maximize towards birthing Christ in the lives of the people. I want us to consider a story in the book of 2 Timothy 4:1-5 so that we will realize what is actually happening, not just in our generation but has been happening across generations. You know it has been said everything remains in a state of rest until an external force is applied to it. So, if nothing is done, what we are going to see now is what has been instituted across generations which requires your effort if it must be stopped in your own generation.
Let us find out what we are talking about in the book of 2 Timothy 4 and I will start the reading from verse 1.
“I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ,” And I am sure you know the reason why he is charging him because the ministry he was into was given to him by God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So it says:
“I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
Like I said, what has been on ground will or may replicate itself in your own time, in the midst of your people if nothing is done by you to checkmate it is that there is an inherent tendency in people to turn away from the truth to fables, to stories, to things that has nothing to play in their destiny. You know, imagine a people coming for military training and the only thing they are taught is how to eat, how to drink and how to sleep and how to wake up. How will they cope when there is real battle? Destiny looks like that real battle which must be prepared and equipped for. Until you go through such, when you get into such moments in life; you will find yourself largely unprepared and unable to tackle the issues around you.
Now, unlike what God expected or ordained for the people, that the people be prepared for every challenge, you remember the Scripture where the Bible says “All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16). That is to show you that there is a place of being equipped and prepared for anyone to do a good work in his or her generation. But what happens when the people chose to turn away from the truth, when the people begin to develop itching hears, and instead of embracing the truth that is able to produce correct life in them, they begin to turn aside to fables.
Is it because they require fables in their destiny? No! It is because that is what is convenient for them to listen to. People don’t want to be discomforted; people don’t want to be inconvenienced. And so, if you bring something that is not telling them to enjoy or have fun, or indulge themselves, then they begin to turn aside from you. And so, when that happens, there is a great tendency for you as a teacher of the word of God to jettison the truth of the word of God and to embrace fables so that you can actually trend among the people. And so, the matter now is between you trending and you fulfilling your ministry. Most likely, you might not achieve the two together. You either trend among the people or you fulfill your ministry. And what is your ministry?
The ministry is the assignment that has been committed to you by God. The people did not call you or ordain you or send you. God called you; He has ordained you and He sent you. And so, your loyalty must be to God. If you must trend, trend among the kingdom ambassadors fulfilling ministry on earth. Let it be said that when God concerning Abraham that He had a friend and when God also spoke about Job, talking to Satan “have you considered my servant Job that there is nobody like him.” If you will rather trend, is it not wise to trend among servants of God rather than trend among the people to whom you have been sent to rescue from bondage, from ignorance and you want to be mixed up with them in a mixed-multitude, you don’t want a difference between you and the people that God has sent you to simply because they have developed itching ears, they now love fables and you have now situated your camp to their side.
Now, instead of you engaging them in the precious time that you have with them, with the truth that is able to produce life in them; you begin to talk fables before them. This is what is possible when you do nothing about it. You see, it is a natural direction of the people to turn away from the truth because they have developed itching ears over time, heaping up for themselves teachers who can speak things they want to hear. Now the question is: you who has a call of God on your life, who has a great destiny in God, would you also go away like every other person is going or would you rather maximize the time and the authority that you have on the pulpit to birth Christ in the lives of your people. I want us to quickly go to 2 Timothy 2:15 so that you can see what is expected of you and how you could get there.
“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God (and not to the people), a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing (rightly teaching, rightly preaching) the word of truth.” And the only way you will be able to preach the word of truth is because you are not ashamed. You are not ashamed because you have actually studied to present yourself approve to God. You see, there are many people in ministry today that God has not approved. The approval of God to many is something that took place a long time ago. None of them, those people that we consider to be approve by God, even in our villages and cities really maintain the approval of God. You see, the approval is not once in a lifetime. If Americans could give their presidents approval ratings at intervals, do you think God would approve you once in your lifetime? No!
The approval of God on your life is at intervals. God comes to review your heart, your intentions, your motives and to approve or to disapprove you. And so, if you must become a worker, a minister, a man or woman in ministry approved by God, the Bible says you must study. Study yourself into the approval. You see, one of the reasons why people go into fables is because it is very easy. It requires little or no study. But if you must preach the truth, then you must study the truth. You must engage yourself in the truth and you must exercise yourself in the truth. And so, if you want to be approved, if you do not want to find yourself speaking fables to the people; each time you have the opportunity to stand before them, the Bible says you must study. Study yourself into God’s approval and my prayer is that God will help you in Jesus’ name.
I also want to read a place in 1 Timothy 4:1 so that we will know what is actually producing the itching ears. It is not as if the people just want to have an itching ears, something is actually producing it and we can find it in 1 Timothy 4:1. Bible says “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,” Why do they have itching ears? It is because spirits deceiving spirits, lying spirit have taken hold of their ears, taking hold of their minds. And because their minds have been taking over by deceiving spirits, they now have itching ears. And so, when you speak the truth to them, that truth does not land well or sink well into them. It is obstructed by the deceiving spirit. And Bible says they now follow the teachings of demons, which is to show us where the Bible says they will heap up for themselves teachers who will not teach them the truth but speak fables to them.
So you must understand that you are actually in ministry wrestling against principalities and powers, against the spiritual host of wickedness in heavenly places. This lying spirits are fighting and wrestling against the spirit of truth you are speaking and teaching the people and so, if you must succeed in the long run; you must remain a minister who is approved by God studying, not ashamed to speak, not ashamed to preach and teach the word of the truth. And I also want us to see a place in 1 Timothy 1:3-7. The Bible says:
“As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, 4 nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. 5 Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, 6 from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk,”
That is to show you that it is very easy to go into idle talk on the pulpit. However, if you must birth Christ in your people, you must not give in to idle talk. You must not commit yourself to endless genealogies and fables that have no purpose in producing godliness in the lives of your people. There was a time apostle Paul was talking about a people who have a form of godliness in 2 Timothy 3:5 but lacking the power. You see, when we engage in idle talk with the people while we are on the pulpit, because of the influence that we have under God, there is a great chance that the people will actually become some men with some form of godliness without the power of Christ at work in them.
You see, the scarcity of power in the midst of God’s people was not because God lacks power; but because the men and the women that has the responsibility to build the people up so that they can be able to handle the power of God has been taken through endless journeys in fables and genealogies which does not edify them. And so, they have a form of godliness. They call themselves members of denominations, but they lack the power of Christ in their lives. Now, the question one should now ask is: If I as a minister of the gospel or the preacher of God’s word must not engage in idle talk, I must not engage in fables, what should I preach? I want us to see something in Isaiah 6 so that we will see what the Lord has purposed for everyone in the work of ministry. Isaiah 6:8-9. The Bible says:
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:
“Whom shall I send,
And who will go for Us?”Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
9 And He said, “Go, and tell this people:
‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
Now the question is: What was it that Isaiah preached to the people? Simple! It said in verse 9: “Go and tell this people.” You see, for everyone that has actually responded to the call of God to be in ministry, such persons has also been handed over to, the word that he or she must preach. But what happens is that when we get to the people, because of pressure of rejection or acceptance, many people are actually jettisoning what God has given to them and they are now talking fables in the presence of the people. And so, what happens is that precious time that they have, the authority that they have in front of the people is wasted and then nothing is produced in the people. And so when you find many people across different denominations today, they look so much like their churches but look nothing like Christ Jesus, and yet, it is Christ that must be birthed in the lives of the people.
In Romans 10:14, the Bible says “How then shall they call on Him?” It is not how then shall they call on their general overseer or their senior pastors. The Bible says
“How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Now, it is the word of God that has the capacity to produce the faith of God in the earth of the people. Now, the challenge is people don’t want to listen to the word and so Isaiah said “Lord who has believed our report.” Now, when people are confronted with this in ministry; they actually lack endurance and they abandon what God has given to them to preach and then they begin to preach themselves and when they travelled to Dubai, they begin to talk about when they bought their first car and what have you. What happens is that their time and influence on the pulpit is not maximized and there is nothing about Christ that is reflected in the lives of their people.
In Colossians 1:27-29, what we must do is given to us.
“To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (That shows that the goal is that Christ should be in the earth and in the lives of the people) 28 Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. 29 To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.”
“Him we preach warning every man.” We are not going about preaching or teaching ourselves or teaching our denominations or teaching about our conferences or teaching about our first flight in first class or business class when we were travelling to different countries of the world. What do we do? We preach Christ Jesus and Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Why is it necessary that we present every man perfect in Christ Jesus? In Ephesians 2:10, the Bible says “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
We are God’s workmanship and we have been created in Christ Jesus. So, the goal of God is that we men and women in ministry, we present everyman committed into our care perfect in Christ Jesus. Until Christ is formed in your people, you have not fulfilled your ministry. And so, you should understand that you don’t have all the time, then it is important that you maximize that little time you have and the little authority you have among the people to create the awareness of Christ in the midst of your people and to birth Christ in them. Galatians 4:19 is a verse I want us to read as we conclude. The Bible says: “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you,.” This passage shows us our goal in ministry.
Whether you are a pastor, you are a prophet, an evangelist, a teacher or an apostle, your job is to labor again and again in the midst of your people until Christ is formed in them, until they become like Christ, until they grow into the fullness of the stature of Christ. Now, if that is our responsibility, then there is no time for us to encumber the people with gist and idle talks about our families, about our successes, about the things we have done, about how we are enjoying, about how we travel. There is no time to talk to them about our latest shoes, about our latest wristwatches and our latest clothes. There is no time to show off or showmanship in the flesh. Why? The time is short. There is a need to labor until Christ is formed in your people. I beseech you by the mercies of God not to engage in gist that do not have relevance in peoples destiny.
Don’t let them remember you many years to come and to curse you. It is important you understand that you have a responsibility to teach them the truth. Don’t allow the power of darkness that is manipulating many people, producing itching ears in them to overcome you. Don’t throw in the towel, it may not be easy, they may not actually be encouraging you; but you must understand that you are not telling them what they want to hear; but telling them what they need to hear. You are helping them to find Christ and to love Him at the same time. You are not helping them to become like you, but to become like Christ and to grow to become like Christ.
That is the responsibility given to us by God. The ministry is not one that you have put yourself into. The ministry is what God has put you into in Christ Jesus. God has put you into this ministry through Christ and your own responsibility is that Christ be formed in the lives of your people (congregation). And how can they believe and then call on Him? Now it will not be a shocking news to realize that many people who has been a regular church goers over the last few years have actually not been told Christ. They have only been told about things that has nothing to do with Christ. What will become of you when you stand before Christ on judgment day and He is asking you to depart from Him because you are a worker of iniquity. He does not know you. Why? Because you did not talk about Him. You were too ashamed to talk about Him. You only focused on teaching and gisting with your people on things that have no relevant in Christ Jesus.
You wanted them to be rich, you wanted them to be comfortable, you wanted them to have fun. You wanted them to indulge themselves and so, you did seminars and teachings and trainings to help them have fun. Now, you had no contribution in their spiritual growth and maturity so, how can you be rewarded by Christ? This is a word that the Lord has laid in my Spirit: Maximizing Pulpit Time And Influence To Birth Christ In Your People knowing fully well that your own reward and fulfillment is tied to Christ being formed in the hearts of your people. Until you do that, you have not fulfilled your ministry. And so, take heed to your doctrine, take heed to your teachings.
You would rather teach Him, you would rather preach Him because even though you are preaching, it is not enough. What is enough is who you are teaching and preaching. Are you preaching Christ or you are preaching doctrines of demons? Are you preaching what the demons are teaching you or you are preaching what Christ is teaching you? Remember, Christ in you and in your people is the hope of a glorious future. Stay blessed, stay fulfilling your ministry and stay abiding in the truth.
God bless you.
Article Source: Centre for New Dimension Leadership
