Weekly Tip #9
The Most Important Thing To Never Change About Your Ministry
The next several weeks we want to consider the message as found in the book of Galatians. Galatians was written by the apostle Paul around 49 AD and may have been a circulated letter to different places where Paul was able to see many turn to Christ after he preached the gospel. Paul wrote the letter to the Galatians partially to make sure that the gospel message stood true without being altered. But first, what was the gospel message? Paul tell us clearly in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…”
The apostle Paul stood by this message everywhere he preached for over 30 years during all of his missionary journeys, imprisonment and martyrdom. Paul never wavered as he finished the course that God had called him to. But Paul had a stern warning in one of his early letters to the believers he had left behind. Here’s what he said in Galatians 1:3-7
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. 6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
Notice in this passage how strongly Paul felt. If you change the gospel message it could quickly start a negative chain reaction that would not only impact your ministry but also your doctrine. As we preach the gospel message as modeled by Paul, something supernatural will happen. He explains this well in Romans 1:16,
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”
Preach the gospel message as clearly, simply and often as you can. We share the gospel but it’s up to the Holy Spirit to convict and change people’s lives.
Get Pumped To Share Your Faith
This week as we start looking towards Easter and the possibility of one more big evangelistic event in your ministry, gather everyone in your weekly meetings/Bible studies and have them view one of these insightful video’s from Crupressgreen. Here they are:
http://overflowtoday.com/OverflowToday/?p=1225 Was Jesus just a great teacher?
http://overflowtoday.com/OverflowToday/?p=988 Would someone die for a lie?
http://overflowtoday.com/OverflowToday/?p=831 So all religions lead to the same place?
Find a lot more excellent video clips here: http://overflowtoday.com/OverflowToday/?page_id=98
The most important thing to never change about your ministry – the gospel message.
Talk to you next week,
Ben
Cru Ministry, Orlando