Sustaining Christian Ministry-4

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

Attention:

‘The Constitution of the United States of America’ is a document that records the unprecedented experimental design for a new country, that was born from the collective wisdom of the founding fathers. One of their main concerns in the design, was to PREVENT the tyrannical abuse of power that was commonly experienced thru centralizing sovereign power in a single person of influence—a fallible human king. So the Constitution establishes three branches of government & their powers: Legislative(Congress--House of Representatives & Senate), Executive(office of the President,) & Judicial(Federal court system). It also wisely sets forth a system of checks & balances that is designed to prevent any one of those separate powers from becoming dominant.

When Americans, as a people, see fit to add certain ‘amendments’(27 thus far) to our Federal Constitution, it should always be an attempt to further clarify & update law, & always in the spirit of the original writer’s intent.

And so, IF we ‘haphazardly’ amend the Constitution, then we may as well not have a Constitution at all! Because to so, would be to make it & our country, declare & stand for something that it was never intended to declare or stand for. Thru indiscriminate corrective emendations, the Constitution’s original intent would be effectively changed, albeit ever so slightly. And should such ‘so-called improvements’ be based merely on ‘preference of opinion’, rather than the betterment of the country overall, THEN the very nature of our nation’s founding would become baseless.

IF however, overall governance in our country takes the American Constitution seriously, then there will be very few amendments made to it. But even more telling, is when those amendments are put in place, there will be substantial effort put forth to ensure, not ONLY that ‘many voices’ are considered, but that those ‘many voices’ are held accountable for the country’s betterment.

*There is a need to faithfully SUSTAIN our American Constitution, so that it stands the test of time. Our American Constitution needs to be faithfully SUSTAINed so that it does not get watered down by limitations of opinion that are anything other than prudent or forward thinking.

*Likewise, Christian ministry, must be faithfully SUSTAINED, within the context of the Gospel, for the betterment of all mankind. It must continue to offer everyone THE proper way—God’s way— of navigating the pitfalls of this life!

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 without God’s direction.

They never discover God’s desire for themselves.

These easily fall victim to the devil’s lies: — ‘I’m not good enough’, ‘I’m not smart enough’, ‘I’m not young enough’, ‘I’m not old enough’, or ‘I’m not blessed enough’, & ‘God can’t use me!’

Don’t let the devil & the world talk you into becoming a victim!

*IF ALL of God’s people caved in to seeing themselves as ‘victims’ instead of victors, THEN God’s Good News would never be shared! And it’s life-transforming message would die with the ‘victimized’ generation!

God does not want His people to ignore the fact, that He ably equips, & wants to enable, EVERY SINGLE ONE of His children, in order to further His Kingdom work on earth & on into eternity.

But God’s equipping must be individually & personally, accepted, invited, & applied!

The apostle Peter was concerned with sustaining Christian ministry.

So:

Christian ministry must be sustained indefinitely.

But:

?What sustains Christian ministry?

Or:

?How is Christian ministry sustained?

We’re attempting to answer those questions by looking at:

4 concerns, by which Christian ministry is sustained.

So far we have found that:

Christian ministry is sustained thru...

1. PERSONAL CONCERNs(:12-15)

•We looked at the personal “I”s of our verses(:12-15).

•And the TIME constraints Peter faced(:13-15).

2. NEGLIGENCE CONCERNs(:12a)

3. ESTABLISHED CONCERNs(:12b-13)

Today we’ll end this series with the reality that:

4—Christian ministry is also sustained thru...

SECURED(Ensured) CONCERNs(:15)

Explanation:(:15)Availability

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

:15—“Moreover...”

“Moreover”—That is, on top of all that has been previously stated, regarding the reason & motivation(:12) for Peter’s actively “reminding”(:12) or keeping the Church(es) aware of their equipping & responsibilities....

“I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things...”

Peter has accepted the God-ordained duty of “being careful to ensure”(spoudazw) a specific something takes place. Peter must “Endeavor”, “Make every effort,” & “Be diligent” to attend to whatever it is that God has raised him up to do. Peter is not going to waste his time with secondary matters that would take away from his major concern.

*“I Will Be Careful To Ensure/I Will Endeavor/I Will Make Every Effort/I Will Be Diligent”(See :10)—spoudazw—Future Active Indicative 1st Sing.—1) To hasten, make haste; 2) To exert one's self, endeavor, give diligence. Strong—To use speed, i.e. To make effort, be prompt or earnest. Used 11X.?From—spoudh—“Speed”, i.e. by implication--Dispatch, eagerness, earnestness.