Changes through Ministry II

ByPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 4 minutes
Welcome, dear friends!Mercy and peace of God, Father and our Lord, Jesus Christ be with you!Yesterday we began to discuss the meaning of ministry and what influence it has on your life. As we clarified, that ministry is a practical way to show God’s love to the people around me. We can serve people with everything the Lord has blessed us with, e.g. finances, time, prayers, experience of life, etc. However, it’s important to remember that all these things must be based on love. Giving is the main quality of such love. The Bible says “God is love”. 
« He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love ». (1st John 4:8).
 If God is love it’s vitally important to know and understand how Love behaves. 
« For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life ». (John 3:16).
 This verse from Scripture says God gave His one and only Son for the salvation of the whole mankind not as an act of feat but because He loves people.«For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son …» – God proved His love to us through His giving. 
« But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ». (Romans 5:8).
 We were dead in our sins, and desperately needed freedom from the slavery of sin and the power of satan. Regardless of our sinful status God came to help us and serve us. He sent His one and only Son to die for our freedom’s sake. Giving (His life) is the exact prove of love. That’s why God calls us to follow Him as His children. Taking into consideration that God is love in what area should we as His children follow Him first? Surely love is the first thing! 
« Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children. Walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance ». (Ephesians 5:1-2).
 By living in love we offer ourselves as a sacrifice to God for the benefit of the other people around us. 
« By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and closes his heart of compassion against him, how does the love of God remain in him? My little children, let’s not love in word only, neither with the tongue only, but in deed and truth ». (1st John 3:16-18).
 Love always gives! We share our property or skills to meet the needs of people God sends on our way. It’s also possible to help other people, even sacrifice yourself, meet all people needs but have no love for them. This is what Paul’s letter to Corinthians tells us: 
« If I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don’t have love, I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t have love, I am nothing. If I dole out all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but don’t have love, it profits me nothing ». (1st Corinthians 13:1-3).
 If our deeds are driven by different motives instead of love, it’s not a ministry in Biblical sense. The bible says, there is no profit for a man whose deeds are done without love. Such ministries or sacrifices do not please our God. So ministry presumes we use every blessing God has given to us to meet the needs of people around us, by expressing the love the Holy Spirit has poured into our hearts. 
« and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us ». (Romans 5:5).
 Thus, true ministry starts with discovery of the gifts and assets I possess. After a person has determined what he has, he or she should look around in order to find the people with whom he can share his gifts and assets with. Living this way our life will be filled with joy and satisfaction because of the privilege we have to serve or help somebody else.Let God pour His love and mercy on you to serve other people!See you tomorrow.Rufus Ajiboye, pastor

Similar Posts

  • Confess your sins and repent of them as soon as the Holy Spirit convicts you

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 3 minutes
    «For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light» (Mark, 4:22).Here we see a very important truth spoken by Jesus. According to this Scripture everything hidden will be revealed. If we accept this truth then we will want to live righteously before God and men. Our every wrongdoing and ungodly deed sooner or later will be brought out in the light, and all our secret works sooner or later will come into the open; all our unconfessed, unrecognized and secret sins sooner or later will become obvious for everybody.

  • How can we earn promotion?

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 3 minutes
    Every one of us desires to see God in our lives – strong and mighty God. It is important for us how God sees us and what He sees in us and in our hearts. I was born to meet needs of other people.God is always good! He does not change. Your problems or illnesses cannot alter the mercy of God towards you. God is always good, and that is God that we serve. Do not let devil deceive you. Know that God is always good! He wants to promote us, but He is looking for a particular individual. He is searching for a person who deserves to be promoted.

  • Submission to God

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 5 minutes
    Submission to God doesn´t mean doing everything that comes to your mind. Contrariwise, it makes us responsible for getting to know what God bears in His heart regarding His will to our life. For this reason you have to submit yourself in whole to the Lord in order to have fellowship with Him as a source of inspiration, freshness and guidance. Everybody who experienced His power in his life and became a tool of His mercy constantly submitted himself to the Lord.

  • The importance of unity

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 3 minutes
    This Scripture tells us that the people had one goal, they had one language, and they put forth a unified effort, and it says about them that “now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them”. God said that because of their unity they would be successful in everything that they do. In the Bible God often speaks to His people about unity. Unity is a very important key that allows us as God’s people or the Church to fulfill the will of God and our calling in this earth.

  • The Word of God – the source of divine information and truth

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 4 minutes
    The lack of vision, knowledge or useful information can become the source of destruction and tragedy. There is a saying that not knowing the law does not relief from the responsibility; not knowing God’s laws or moral blindness multiplies human sufferings on earth.Every person must gain knowledge and understanding of God’s provision; we must know what God has done for us in Christ so that we can lessen human suffering. The lack of such knowledge can cause great pain. It is like a person starving because he does not know about state aid. The lack of knowledge of one’s rights and privileges can cause unnecessary problems.

  • The parable about the good Samaritan

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 5 minutes
    «Behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.”