Sustaining Christian Ministry-1

SUSTAINING CHRISTIAN MINISTRY-I—2Peter 1:12-15

So far in our analysis of 2Peter, we’ve discovered some provisions for God’s people that are ACQUIRED Thru FAITH(1:1-4)...

Those being:

1. TRUSTWORTHY APOSTLES(:1a)

2. CHRISTIAN FAMILY(:1b)

3. The SINGULAR, PERFECT SAVIOR(:1c)

4. MULTIPLIED GRACE & PEACE(:2a)

5. KNOWLEDGE Of GOD(:2b, :3b)

6. EVERYTHING NEEDFUL For FULFILLING LIFE(:3a)

7. The CALL Of GOD’s GLORY & VIRTUE(:3c)

8. GOD’s FLAWLESS PROMISES(:4a)

9. The DIVINE MINDSET(:4b)

—AND we’ve also found the importance of FURTHERING Your FAITH(1:5-11), & that it involves...

1. DUE DILIGENCE DONE(:5-7)

2. FRUITFULNESS(:8)

3. AWARENESS/ATTENTIVENESS(:9)

4. ASSURANCE/SURE-FOOTEDNESS(:10-11)

TODAY we’ll begin looking at the significance of:

SUSTAINING CHRISTIAN MINISTRY-I—2Peter 1:12-15

Attention:

Momma’s recipe box:

My mother was a housewife, a stay-at-home-mom. She was a good cook.

She didn’t necessarily like or enjoy the rigors of regular meal-preparation, but she provided many a tasty & nourishing meal for our family.

She had a little file box full of recipes. After she died, I inherited that recipe box.

But I soon found out that Momma used most of the original recipes she had acquired, only as a template! She tweaked/changed recipes she had found over the years, but didn’t write down most of the changes she made! So most of her recipes that I loved, are unable to be resurrected, because she added things to &/or removed things from the original version of the recipe.

Sadly, many of my Momma’s recipes are lost to history!

Those ‘lost recipes’ present a warning to us, on a far more encompassing & comprehensive level....

The Good News of Jesus Christ, absolutely MUST be faithfully sustained!

Need:

Some people, who are numbered among the saved, never grasp & are never empowered by the life-changing fullness that comes with their being born-again.

They wander thru life with no direction, just as if they had never submitted themselves to Jesus at all.

They may claim membership in churches, but never discover God’s desire for themselves.

They cannot see themselves as ministers of anything revolving around God’s will.

They cannot see themselves as being in God’s active service. They suppose that it is too far-fetched an idea, to consider that God can directly & indirectly use them to honor His name.

Instead of submitting themselves to God completely, they use their human inabilities as an excuse. They may appear humble, but in so doing, they deny the fact that God continuously overwhelms human weakness with His perfect ability, for those who trust Him fully!

Such people have fallen victim to the devil’s mantra—‘You’re not good enough’ or ‘God can’t use me!’

Such spiritually poverty-stricken people, willingly overlook the fact that God equips, & wants to equip, EVERY SINGLE ONE of His children in particular ways, in order to further His Kingdom work on earth.

*A Christian with a ‘defeatist attitude’ like that, is the death-knell of the Church, & God’s will, both locally & globally!

*IF that defeatist attitude were maintained by ALL of God’s people, THEN Good News would never be shared! And it’s life-transforming message would die with our generation. And the Church would eventually become nonexistent!

The apostle Peter concerned himself with sustaining Christian ministry.

So:

Christian ministry must be sustained indefinitely.

But:

?What sustains Christian ministry?

Or:

?How is Christian ministry sustained?

Today we’re going to attempt to answer those questions by looking at:

4 concerns, by which Christian ministry is sustained.

1—Christian ministry is sustained thru...

PERSONAL CONCERNs(:12-15)

Explanation:(:12-15)

:12—“For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know & are established in the present truth.”

:13—“Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you,”

:14—“knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me.”

:15—“Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease.”

A.—Notice the “I”s in each verse(:12-15).

:12—“I will not be negligent...”

:13—“I think it is right...”

:14—“shortly I must put off my tent...”

:15—“I will be careful to...”

•Verses :12-15 relate the personal concerns of Peter specifically. And the power revealed in these verses, revolves around & touches on the particular ministry to which Peter has been called.

•The power revealed in the verses, concerns the particular BENEFIT that Peter adds to Christian ministry.

?What benefit(s) do YOU add to Christian ministry?

•Peter was an apostle(a sent one) & bondservant thru & of the Lord Jesus Christ(1:1). So everything Peter did, flowed from & involved revealing God’s truth, tying together or ‘dovetailing’ God’s truth, & properly interpreting & applying it, for Christians, & so for the Church as well.

Some QUESTIONS:

?If you are one who knows Jesus, what are the ‘Personal Concerns’ that God has placed in YOUR heart?