Getting Motivated For Ministry

"Getting Motivated for Ministry" 1 Timothy 1:18,19 2 Timothy 2:3-7

It takes a great deal of effort in this day and age to "get motivated". We all tend to get so busy, become involved in so much, travel in so many directions that our bodies, our minds and our spirits are exhausted.

Many of you may be sitting here right now, saying to yourself, if Joe isn’t very exciting and enthusiastic today, I just know I’m going to fall asleep.

Like the little boy who was playing with a set of blocks, said "I’m building a church and we must be very quiet." His father, eager to encourage this unexpected reverence, asked "why are we to be quiet in church?"

The little boy responded, "because the people are asleep."

I’m going to try to lay it out to you the way God has laid it out to me this morning. Hopefully, we won’t have a situation like the one where the Indian attended services one Sunday A.M.. The sermon, being without real spiritual food had been very loud in spots. The Indian, being a good Christian was not impressed. When asked how he had liked the sermon he said, High Wind, Big Thunder, No Rain!

Getting motivated for Ministry--the very essence of the word motivate means to incite to action--causing motion. As you hearken unto the word of the Lord today, my prayer is that you will be called to action and continue on in your journey of faith.

There is a problem in the Body of Christ today---spiritual malnutrition. How can we be suffering from malnutrition? We live in Tulsa, the bible belt, so many churches, weekly seminars.............

The problem comes when we rely on our nourishment to come from the experiences of others, rather than our own. We’re undernourished and overfed with the things of God. We have listened to all of the right stories and illustrations, gone through our Sunday dose of pastoral counsel and then we gallop off into the week only to run out of steam before we really get started.

Does this sound familiar? Have you ever experienced spiritual exhaustion?

Paul had a theory about those who went through these dry seasons in their walk with God. In 1 Timothy 1:18,19 he says to Timothy,

"This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare.(fight the good fight).....having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck.

You must always remember that you are in the midst of a fight. You’ve got an enemy that longs to take you out of the game and the only way he will win is if you take the fight less seriously than he does. Many Christians are going to fall short on strength and stamina simply because they don’t realize the seriousness of this fight between good and evil.

It’s possible to know God’s Word, cling to God’s promises and still come across times in your life where your ship of faith becomes shipwrecked. The shipwreck occurs when we reject the faith, turn our back upon God and start to rely on our own ability. The bible says trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean NOT to thine own understanding. In ALL your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path.

Paul exhorts Timothy, I charge you, I challenge you to stay in the battle.....remember the prophecies concerning you ........sometimes you have to fall back upon the promises that God gives you through those closest to you but to remain truly strong, you need to experience those promises first hand. In my opinion, prophecy is nice, personally is better.

We have so many promoses to stand on, but rather than standing on the promises, too many people in church are simply sitting on the premises.

Sitting on the premises and I won’t shout

Don’t want to take a chance and let the praises out

My lips are sealed , My eyes are closed not looking all about

Sitting on the premises of church

Sitting on the premises and I won’t clap

you won’t catch me in that ol’ charismatic trap

No, I put my hands together and I lay them on my lap

Sitting on the premises of church

Sitting on the premises we’re almost through

That’s good because there’s so much that I’ve got to do

Besides my foot has gone to sleep inside my shoe

Sitting on the premises of church

Maybe this morning you are sitting here with so many things on your mind, so many struggles, schedules, troubles and difficulties. I want you to "cast all of your burdens upon the Lord" right now. Give them to Him so that you can clear your mind up of all the distractions. It could be that you are one of those whose faith isn’t sailing swiftly anymore, maybe your faith-ship has become dry-docked . There is one that is able to put your boat back into the water, to not only make you sail but enable you to fly.