“HOW TO VIEW THE MINISTRY”
8-29-2010 New Liberty Christian Church, Veedersburg, IN with Pastor Rich McQuinn
TEXT: JOHN 1:40-46
INTRODUCTION: His name was Kenny Benskin. I was really stuck in the mud when I first met him at 10:00 p.m. I was 19, the minister of a lovely small church in Southern Illinois. I was barely old enough to brush my teeth let alone be preaching two sermons on Sunday and a Sunday School class besides. My first year in Lincoln Christian College in Lincoln, Illinois taught me to study and look out for the unexpected guidance of the Holy Spirit.
I did not have enough money to pay for books, rent, food and a car. I had no money for my first cars license plates. In a month I could afford it. So my dear friend Larry Busby lent me his front license plate to put on the back of my car. I know, I know!
They were first building the Interstate around Springfield, Illinois. It was pouring down rain. I was traveling illegally coming back from my church, 100 miles from college on a Sunday night. I made a wrong turn and what looked like a new paved road turned out to be graded mud. I sunk up to my wheels. I was in my suit, good shoes, school tomorrow and I was in a fix. One car stopped in the rain, the driver got out and yelled at me to come sit in his car. All kinds of ideas swarmed in my head then. Was God sending me a message or was satan trying to get me in a peck of trouble?
As it turned out Kenny Benskin said to me “I think God led me here to help you and for you to help me”. As it was he helped me get out of that mud with a chain and his powerful car. We sat in the car for over 3 hours. He asked me what I did and I told him up front that I was a minister of a small congregation and going to a Christian College in Lincoln.
I took him through the book of John and the book of Acts. At the end, I asked him if he wanted Jesus as his personal Saviour? He said YES! Besides my family, that was my first person to witness to and help lead to Christ. I asked him for his confession of belief in Christ. He showed up at my church on the next Sunday morning and during the invitation hymn he walked forward before the congregation and told his story. I was able to baptize him later on that day. That’s one experience I will never forget!
I felt the call of the Lord for the Ministry when I was 15. It was as clear as day. God was calling me to preach HIS word and to win the lost to Him.
We only have one nose, one mouth, one tongue, etc. There are lots of things we have two of, but we only have one Soul. That is all that is given to us. The most important item we have in the world is a soul. Therefore winning souls must be a grand and glorious adventure in life. It really is!
Matthew 16:26 What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
How do you view the ministry? How do you view your minister/pastor? Do you know what the vocation needs in a man? Almost 50 years I have been serving the church. I have yet to be given a clear clean cut definition of what the job of the minister really is. I know what it takes to do the job, but most average congregation do not know.
I believe in the ministry of Jesus Christ. The ministry of evangelism, the ministry of saving souls, and the ministry to comfort when death or despair happens. The ministry of tears, joy, hugs, encouragement, teaching, preparing lessons, the ministry of grooming a church board to maturity, the ministry of sacrifice, the ministry of giving, the ministry of planning and following through, the ministry of budgets, the ministry of a building program, the ministry of funerals, weddings, baptisms, special prayer sessions and on and on.
Oh, I know what you may think at times. You may think that all it takes is to prepare a nice talk, and not to upset anyone. Have the talk last 15 minutes with some jokes and feel-good sayings. You know that the preacher only works 2 hours on Sunday mornings and that he waves at you at the grocery store. He works two hours a week for the church.
You have no idea about the 3 am death calls, emergency calls in the middle of the night, or the countless hours of well digging for the next week’s sermon. Every minute you spend in the pulpit you need to spend one hour in research and reading. You can not short cut that responsibility. You have no idea of the broken home counseling, or the divorced, the hurt, the poor or the living in a glass house. It takes a special person to constantly be in the public’s eye all the time 24x7x365. There is very little private time.
He was 16 years of age. His dad was a very angry person. He took his anger out on his wife and children. Finally it blew up and the mother told her husband that she and the two children were moving out for their own safety. I received the call at eleven in the evening that I could be needed during the night. What I did not know at the time was that the husband locked all the doors, cut to pieces all of the wife’s clothes, took a hammer to the washer and dryer and held the family captive. What was going to happen to this family? The daughter and the son crawled out a window. The Swat team was called and surrounded the home. The husband surrendered to the law officers.
There was another phone call asking us if these three could stay with us for a couple of days. Ofcourse. We prayed, read the Bible together and gave as much guidance to them as possible.
Another phone call at 2:00 am. The mother and children were back in their home and the son no longer felt loved or wanted and threatened to kill himself. He had a knife and climbed up the roof via of the television antenna. The mother asked me what she should do. I went to meet them. I climbed up on the roof and sat on the roof until 7 that morning talking to this young man and what Jesus could do for him. Next Sunday during the closing part of our service, out came the mother and two children. They wanted to accept Jesus as their Lord. They wanted to complete their obedience to God’s will through baptism by immersion. That had a happy ending with three more added to the Kingdom!
Some of you would rather your son or daughter or grandkids do anything else except do anything in the church or church work. You would site money. You can’t make money in the ministry unless you are crooked. We do not go into the ministry for the money. Wrong motivation. If you did, then you would be a crook!
Peter tells us that every one of us is in the ministry of Jesus the Christ.
A growing church in Houston, TX brings in over 500 new converts a year. Their program is prayer, teaching, partnership with experience folks and sending the new convert out to witness to his friends. They strive to have the new members get more new members in only 11 days.
When was the last time you won someone to the Lord? When was the last time you watched the Holy Spirit work in the life of a new Christian. It thrills me to watch new folks grow and grow and grow in Christ and want more.
Look with me a few minutes to this simple sermon on winning souls for Christ.
I. JESUS THOUGHT IT WAS IMPORTANT TO WIN THE LOST
He only had a public ministry for 3 years, but what an influence He had on others.
From the carpenter shop to the cross Jesus was a people person. You always found him talking to people and caring for their problems. Jesus’ greatest listeners were not from the large crowds He was preaching to, but to the individuals. From calling His first Disciple until the thief on the cross, He was continually teaching, preaching, for the souls of men. He knew the value of a soul.
His greatest audience was with a crowd of one. You remember Nicodemus, the woman at the well, the issue of blood woman, Lazarus, Peter, and on and on. Jesus never sought the crowds. You always saw that the crowds sought after Jesus.
You and I meet every day simple people just like us. Every one of them has a soul that satan wants go gather up for himself. As Jesus witnessed in His day with His people then we can witness to the folks in our day. It is vitally important!
If Jesus thought that winning a soul was the most important work in the world then why doesn’t the church of Jesus Christ think that it is still important?
II. THE DISCIPLES THOUGHT IT WAS EQUALLY IMPORTANT
What do you know about Andrew? Not a great deal right? You know that he had a brother named Peter. The Bible says that Andrew brought Jesus to the Lord.
You know more about Peter than you do Andrew, right?
You may not be the most talented person in the world, but you can lead someone to Christ who has those talents. Somebody won Billy Graham didn’t they? God used a simple preacher to win thousands of others. You can do that. You can win one for Jesus. Pray about it. Do not be scared about it. Let the Holy Spirit give you the encouragement it takes.
I was holding a revival in Tennessee. We had a tent meeting for 7 days and nights. The preacher and I called in the afternoons and after each service. We had over 25 people come to Christ in the first four nights. On the last night the tent was filled to the brim. I picked up my Bible after the song service and walked to the pulpit to preach. I opened the Bible, read the scripture and began to pray for the message. When I was through and I opened my eyes, there was a man standing in front of me. He shouted for all to hear that he had had enough. Oh great, this is all I need right now, especially on the last night. Ok, I said, what have you had enough of? He shouted out—“Your preaching”. I know there are folks who have been in my congregations or even my wife could have said the same thing but they were all too polite. The audience laughed a bit until he finished his sentence.
“I am tired of your preaching, I am ready to accept Jesus right now, right away”.
Now folks, I could have said, “Sir, please let me finish this great sermon I have prepared and then I will get back with you”. No way! I knew then this was going to have a very happy ending even if I didn’t get to finish the sermon. I took his confession of faith and belief and I simply just asked the audience----“Are there any more that would want to accept Jesus tonight-----and not hear my sermon?” Over 20 people then got up out of their chairs and came to the front to accept Jesus the Lamb of God. What a great night! What a great revival. Oh by the way. The gentleman that stopped me dead in my sermon went on to bring ten others to Jesus. Soul winning! It is very important.
III. IT IS THE HIGHEST PAID WORK IN THE WORLD
Today’s ministers have 4, 6, 7, 8 years of higher education. Some have none but have the education of their life time in raising families and their normal job.
Ministry folks are close to the bottom of the list in regards to pay checks, but in reality the highest paid people in the world in regards to soul Winning.
I know you are all busy. You are too busy if you do not have time to give one hour a week to talk to people about their souls. Am I scaring you? Just trying to give you some encouragement. I know you would like for me to say to you to mind your own business, but that will not get them to heaven. You, the best friend, may just be the perfect person to lead them to Christ, to save their soul and get them to heaven.
Harold Eisenhower in Arcadia, IN helped me move into the parsonage when I first started as their minister. He was a non believer but had a great heart to help others. He was just passing by the church when the moving van pulled up. He got out of his car and right away knew that the church was getting a new minister. He offered to help unload the van. He became my friend instantly. We spent much time laughing, crying, working together, praying and studying. On February 7, he gave his life to Christ. He led his family to the Lord. He led his sister to the Lord. He led many others to the Lord. He became a deacon then he became a top Sunday school superintendent. Our Sunday School grew 10 times the size because of his love for the Master. In a short period of time we had over 200 people to come to the Lord. Harold’s daughter is Tina Eisenhower. After I moved on to my next ministry she finished high school and went to Bible College. She dedicated herself to full time ministry in missions. She chose Haiti. At age 24 she left her home and went to Haiti and opened up an orphanage. She has helped win hundreds of people to the Lord. The Lord had a hand in this don’t you think? Soul Winning!
All you have to do is allow God to work with you and through you. May I encourage every one of you to ask God to give you the courage to talk to just one person on His behalf? You will be surprised at what can be done when you are willing.
AMEN and AMEN
