How To Have A Victorious Ministry Series

Series: The Cure [#26]

HOW TO HAVE A VICTORIOUS MINISTRY

Romans 15:14-33

Introduction:

This has been an exhausting couple of days. The Supreme Court has decided that they are “god” and have re-defined marriage. On a day that should have been pure joy- The enemy tried to steal that joy from us. On Friday, our youth went to the Monahans Sandhills State Park and online that received over 3,000 views. On Friday, The Supreme Court of the United States voted 5 to 4 in favor of legalizing same sex marriage in all 50 States.

As I spent time on Facebook looking at all of the comments concerning Tharon, I couldn’t help but notice the rainbow background on so many people’s Facebook profile picture. For the most part, these were all people who were in favor of the decision. What really bothered me the most was the amount of Christians that I know who were pleased with the ruling; and then to make it worse berated other Christians who disagreed with that ruling. Christians, such as myself, were called hateful and judgmental. They wrote things like the Bible says not to judge, and the Bible says we are to love, and even that David and Jonathan, Naomi and Ruth, and Jesus and John were gay. Wow. Have people completely lost their minds?

So Christians, what do we do? Do we give up? Do we give in? Do we run in fear? No, we keep ministering. Don’t act like this is the first time in history when a Nation full of people disagreed with Christians. Our text is perfect for today. It is interesting to me that although we are out of the doctrinal portions of Romans and are in the P.S. from Paul to the Romans; that it still fits perfectly.

Paul is talking about his ministry and he gives us the 2 main aspects of that ministry. Verses 14-22 talk about his ministry to the unbelievers and verses 23-33 talk about his ministry to the believers. Before you begin to eliminate yourself from this sermon, understand that if you are a Christian, then you are a minister. You don’t have to be a pastor to be a minister.

Romans 15:14 (NIV)

“I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.”

I was going to title this sermon, “Surviving In The Ministry”; but it hit me, “That’s the problem: Jesus didn’t give His life for me to just survive; He gave His life for me to have victory”. So this sermon is titled, “How To Have A Victorious Ministry”.

Romans 15:15 (NIV)

“I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me.”

You have a victorious ministry by…

1. Realizing your ministry is built on grace.

I did not choose God. God chose me.

John 15:16 (NIV)

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit- fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.”

You aren’t ministering because you are so awesome, you are ministering because of God’s grace. God chose you; God has a plan for you; and God gave you the ministry that you are in because He made you for it.

Romans 15:16 (NIV)

“To be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.”

You have a victorious ministry by…

2. Building your ministry on the Word of God.

Everything you do and don’t do should be based upon the Word of God. That is why I refuse to perform any same-sex marriage ceremony. Not because I’m hateful. Not because I’m homophobic. Not because I’m judging them. It’s because God’s Word says that marriage is between one man and one woman.

Romans 15:17-18 (NIV)

“Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done.”

You have a victorious ministry by…

3. Doing it for the glory of God.

Your ministry is not about you, or your pride, or your reputation. Your ministry is about giving glory to God. On the Church’s Facebook page, I shared the CNN.com article about Tharon and I left a comment that said, “Bel Aire is excited to see Tharon not just swimming well; but touching others as he gives God the credit for his success.” Swimming is one of Tharon’s ministries and Tharon needs to give God all of the glory.