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2.            Prepare for your ministry

Ephesians 4:12 “…equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry…”

Equipping prepares us to do the work of the ministry. Equipping makes us ready for the specific task that we have been assigned. Equipping fills our arsenal with what is necessary to get the job done. Equipping includes training, study, prayer, anointed impartations, character formation, and experience.

If we fail to prepare for the ministry we have been called to, then in time of adversity and challenge, we could be found lacking and never fulfill our ministry. God isn’t simply interested in our starting an assignment; He is interested in our finishing the assignment and accomplishing the thing we were sent to do.

God is a God that aims to get results. When He sends rain from heaven, He expects the rain to water the seed in the earth and for that seed to grow and for that growth to produce fruit. In Isaiah 55:10-11 God refers to the rain and compares it to His intentions for His word, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” God doesn’t start a thing without expectation of accomplishment. God does not call you without the expectation of you completing your ministry. God will equip you, resource you, shape you, anoint you, instruct you, transform you – so that you will produce results for His glory and bring Him great pleasure.

Character Formation

There are times when the preparation season could be a time of waiting. In waiting on the Lord, you can receive much from the Spirit of God. In addition to your training and equipping, this is a time to consecrate yourself and allow God to work on the inside of you. This is where your character is formed. This is the time, if you yield to it, that you begin to take on the attributes of God, attributes that will help you to accomplish your purpose in the way that brings glory to the Lord. In His presence, we are transformed into the image of Christ, and our character causes us to become a useful vessel that the Lord can anoint for His glory to be seen.

Increasing Faith

Waiting also is a test of our dependency upon the Lord, a time to strengthen our faith. The opposite of faith is self-sufficiency, something that we as human beings tend to lean towards in our flesh. Self-sufficiency is seen when we think we can help God get the job done by going forward in our own strength, using our own ability, and accessing our own resources. However, we need to remember Jesus said that without Him we can do nothing.[1] We limit ourselves when we move ahead of God, and could even possibly fail to fulfill the ministry that God has assigned to us.

Removing Impurities

The preparation season is also a time when the Father might want to address issues in a person’s heart or soul that need His redemption and restoration. Many times we don’t know what is within us until we go through a trial and something is brought to the surface. When God brings something out in the open, His purpose is for that pain or wrongful desire to be recognized and dealt with. If there is a hidden issue on the inside of us, the enemy will try to use it to control us and then to defeat us. Trials are for our good; they are a fire that burns out the dross in our lives so that when we later are challenged, we will not trip and stumble. Trials remove and restore us from wrong desires, so that in time of temptation we are not pulled away from our position, but we stand strong and fulfill our ministry.

It has been said that preparation time is never wasted time. When we are in a preparation season, it is not time to be lackadaisical, but a time to receive all that we need for what we will soon be facing. The truth is, it isn’t just the young who go through a boot camp of preparation; there will be seasons of preparation throughout our lifetime that proceed a new assignment or greater level of anointing. Some seasons of preparation seem longer than others, but the price we pay is not greater than the reward we will receive when we fulfill our ministry.

Take the time God requires of you to prepare yourself. Take full advantage of the seasons of preparation to get all you need to enter into your next assignment. Don’t despise or belittle the seasons of preparation or the seasons of rest, for they are for your benefit, and not only for your benefit, but for the benefit of God to receive the full fruit of your labor of love. Receive all that God has for you. Do not dare to enter into the next season unprepared. For in that season, you will face adversaries, and you need to be ready. You will face obstacles that you need to overcome – so be ready. Be ready, so that when it is required of you to win, you will have what is needed to take your victory and triumph in His name.

[1] John 15:5

II Timothy 4:5  “…fulfill your ministry.”In II Timothy 4:5 the Apostle Paul is encouraging Pastor Timothy to fulfill his ministry. Paul wants Timothy to fulfill, to complete, his ministry- not someone else’s ministry, but the specific and unique ministry that God had called Timothy to. God has given to each of us a particular calling for what He wants us to do in serving Him and His purpose.There are many of us who want to fulfill our ministry and are on our way to doing that. There are some who want to fulfill their ministry, but they don’t know how to get started. There are some who feel like they’ve gotten stuck in a rut and can’t get seem to move forward in their ministry. Others feel like they’ve gotten off track somewhere and don’t know how to get back to their calling. Still others feel like they have completely derailed themselves from God’s plan for their life. In this article, we’re going to take a look at what the Bible has to say about finishing the course that God has set before us.1.    Know your ministryEphesians 1:18 “…that you may know what is the hope of His calling…”Before we can run our race, we have to know which race is ours to run.  If I’ve been signed up to run a relay race, but I run a long distance race instead, I’ve lost my race. Even if I outran everyone in the long distance race, it doesn’t matter because that wasn’t the race I was entered into. Similarly, I can’t live my life just doing good things for God, I need to find out what He specifically wants me to do and then do that. At the end of my life, I will stand before God to give Him an account as to how I lived my life. He isn’t going to ask me if I did good things; He is going to ask me if I did what He asked me to do.For example, if God called me to start a church in a village in India, but instead I started an evangelistic ministry of traveling the world, what do you think I’m going to have to answer to God for? I can tell Him about all the good things that I accomplished through my traveling ministry, but I still will have to answer to Him for the people I was called to in that village in India. I will be responsible for the particular race I was called to run. I will be responsible for the people I was called to reach. My obedience is much more important than any of my sacrificial good works, and my obedience is what I will give an account for.Before you can fulfill your ministry, you have to know what it is. For Jonah it was evangelism in Ninevah, for Moses it was to lead the Jews out of Egypt, for Jesus is was to go to the cross as our ransom, for Paul it was to cross borders to take the Gospel to the Gentiles. What is your ministry? If you don’t know, then ask God. Ask God how He wants you to serve Him in ministry. You might be called to be in church leadership or you might be called to a be in a supportive role, but whatever it is, do it.When you know your calling and you let God set you in the place that He has called you to, there is nothing and no one that can remove you from that position. When it is God that establishes you, you can be confident that He will also sustain and keep you. When difficult times come, and they will come, you will be able to remain firm and finish your assignment. Keep your eyes on the prize and complete the race that is set before you.Acts 20:24 “But none of these things move me; not do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”God wants you to be confident in His choice of you. In John 15:16 the Lord says that He is the One who does the choosing; we don’t choose ourselves for ministry. You may not understand why God would choose you for the work He has shown you to do, but if He has chosen you then you can rest in His choice, for it is not simply you, but God, who is at work in you. And God is greater than you, and God’s grace is more than enough to work through you and to handle the task at hand. So just be glad that God’s hand is on you and be willing to obey. Be willing to open your heart to receive all that God intends for you and your ministry. It’s not up to you and your ability, but it is up to God and His ability. So be happy about it, because God will be lifted up for His decision to use you. No, He doesn’t make mistakes, and He doesn’t change His mind. He is never caught off guard, and He doesn’t take something back once it goes from His hand. God has got you. He will see you through.  

There are two awesome churches in Ohio that Jerry and I were asked to minister in during our time in Ohio in November. One is Ridgeville Community Church with Pastors Mike and Bunny Rhodehamel. The other is Faith Family Church with Pastors Shane and Amie Rhodehamel. Both pastors are connected with the Significant Church network and doing great things for God!http://www.onefaithfamily.orghttp://www.significantchurch.com

Jerry and I have recently turned Life Church Charlotte over to DaVon Alexander with Derek Turner and the Branch Church. www.branchchurch.org. We are working on a new website called GrowChurches.com. This website will contain free resources for pastors, leaders and church planters! If you would like to connect with us you can go to http://www.facebook.com/growchurchescom and join the group. When you do, we can let you know when GrowChurches.com is available. We appreciate your prayers!

When someone is crying out, they are desperately searching for help in times of distress or great need. From deep within their soul, with great humility, they put out a cry for someone to assist them with a circumstance of urgent necessity. Nothing else matters; they shout out with abandonment, “Come help us!”We find such a cry in Acts 16:6-10.  Paul was called to be an apostle, which means a sent one. Paul didn’t just go to wherever he wanted to go; he went where God sent him. Such was the case in chapter 16. Paul was prepared to go into Asia, but the Holy Spirit did not allow it. Paul tried to go into Bithynia, but the Holy Spirit did not permit it. The Lord gave Paul a vision, a vision of a man in Macedonia. In the vision, the man was pleading with Paul, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” The man was pleading; he was crying out and begging Paul, to come to Macedonia to spread the message of salvation and plant churches. After the vision, Paul immediately sought to go to Macedonia because he knew that the Lord was sending him to answer the cry of the Macedonians. Paul’s life was spent going from place to place, loving the people wherever he went, raising up leaders to turn churches over to, and effectively continuing his teaching through letters. Paul was always moving forward to reach more people and answer more cries.There were others who were sent by God to answer the desperate cries of His children. Moses was sent as an answer to the cries of the Israelites in bondage (Exodus 2:23). Saul was sent to answer the cries of the people oppressed by the Philistines (I Samuel 9:16). Esther was an answer to Mordecai’s cry (Esther 4:1).  Jesus answered the cry, “Unclean, unclean” when He healed the lepers (Leviticus 13:45). Jesus healed a blind man after he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David (the Messiah), have mercy (deep compassion) on me!” (Mark 10:47). Jesus delivered a boy from demonic oppression when his father cried out to Jesus in a large crowd of people, “Teacher! I implore You! Look on my son! He is my only child!’ (Luke 9:38). They were called because someone was crying out.Jerry and I believe that God is sending us out to help start churches. We will be searching out pastors, teams, and resources to help answer the cries of people who need churches. We will be working together with church planting organizations such as Significant Church (www.significantchurch.com) the ARC (www.relatedchurches.com). In addition, we are not just moving, we are being sent by God to Carrollton, Kentucky, working together with Pat Butcher, to help plant 40 churches in rural areas, one in each county of the state. Also, for several years we have sensed a calling to share resources with pastors and church leaders. We will be doing that through a new website being developed at GrowChurches.com. Because someone is crying out for help, we are being sent by the Holy Spirit in response to their need (Acts 13:2-4).Who are you being sent to? Who is crying out to God to help? Whatever your calling, it is to answer a cry. It could be a neighbor contemplating suicide, a child being abused, a person struggling to get a job.  It could be that God is calling you to plant a church, go to the mission field, or find your place in church leadership. The call will not go away as long as there are voices of people crying out, cries that are reaching the ears of a loving God who sent His Son to die for them.God is their answer. God has great power and will meet every need. We are the vessels or instruments that He needs to work through.  Do you hear God speaking to you, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” I hope you will say, “Here am I! Send me.” (Isaiah 6:8) If God is stirring your heart, let us pray with you. We’ll do all we can to help you answer a cry. Jerry and I are a husband and wife ministry team. Email us at jerry@growchurches.com or melanie@growchurches.com.Additional Scriptures: II Samuel 22:7 and Psalm 18:6, “In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry entered His ears.”  In Psalm 34:15 he says, “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry,” meaning that He not only hears their cries, but He answers. Psalm 57:2 says, “I will cry out to God Most High, to God who performs all things for me.” The cry was given to the highest authority in heaven and earth, the Most High. The cry was given with the expectation of an answer. Psalm 61:1-2 describes an overwhelmed heart crying out. Psalm 84:2 describes crying from the entire being, heart and flesh. Psalm 199:145 says I cry out with my whole heart – nothing held back, complete abandonment and surrender to God. Isaiah 58 is a chapter on fasting, a complete surrender to the Lord. I love His answer, “You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’” In Lamentations 2:19 the cry is described as pouring out your heart like water. In Romans 8:15 it describes the cry of an abandoned young child, looking to an adoptive parent for help to survive, crying out “abba” or “da-da”. The cry that means the most to me is found in Matthew 27:46 when Jesus cried out to His Father in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?” God answered His cry and raised His Son, our Brother, our Savior, back to life. God sends help… because someone has cried out.