This morning I had the honor of preaching at my church, New Covenant. It is always a humbling thing to preach and teach the bible; there is a great weight to it for me. I am very thankful for the opportunity to teach and thankful for the elders who allow me the chance to learn through serving.

Below, I have included the audio from this morning as well as some notes that go along with the sermon.

 (click on box to play audio)

Ministering In the Moment

- DEEP THEN WIDE -

For years my understanding of the church was the bigger, the better. I thought if a church was successful it needed to have a lot of members, programs, awesome looking worship, conferences, etc. It hasn't been until recently that I have started to understand the importance of a church, in particular, the people of the church, growing deep in their faith before the church is to ever grow wide. I believe we must grow in our understanding of the bible, prayer, faith, etc in order to equip us to go out and proclaim the gospel of Jesus.

Once we have started to spread the gospel to those around us, then they start to come into church and grow deep in their faith and then go out and spread the gospel of Jesus. The cycle continues and the next thing you know the church is now wide and full of believers deep in their faith.

- MINISTERING IN THE MOMENT -

We were born when, where, and to who we were born to for a reason (Acts 17:26). The neighborhood you live in, you live for a reason. The team your kids play on, they play on for a reason. The job you work, you work for a reason. We don't want to look past this reality. Everyday we are given an opportunity to minister to those around us. This is one of many reason's why we must grow deep in our faith. We need to equip ourselves with the knowledge needed to preach the gospel were we do life.

- CULTURE OF CONFESSION -

In order for us to be able to grow in our faith and honestly proclaim the gospel to those around us, we need to be able to confess our sins to God and to each other (James 5:13-16). If we can't be honest with ourselves and confess our sins to one another, then we will NEVER be able to truly be honest with those around us. We need each other so we can be accountable for our actions. Sometimes that means we will need to be disciplined (Hebrews 12:5-11). 

Being disciplined allows us to come clean and then walk in our real selves. If we have sins that we are not willing to let go off, then we are not only deceiving those around us, but ourselves. The people that we come in contact with everyday, whether they are family, friends, or strangers will never completely know us until we can shed our secret sins and live our lives as we truly are.

- BARNABAS / PAUL / TIMOTHY -

My youth pastor once told me that I needed to always, "Learn from a Barnabas, be a Paul, and train a Timothy."

Learn from a Barnabas:

Barnabas was a mentor to Paul. He befriended Paul after his conversion and helped in convincing those around them that Paul was truly saved and no longer wanted to kill Christians. Barnabas was on Paul's first missionary journey and was a great encourager to him. We should strive to always have someone in our lives that can encourage us and help us grow in our faith. This person might be older or might have come to faith well before you did and they can simply help us along the way.

Be a Paul:

Paul was a spiritual giant. He is credited with writing roughly 75% of the new testament. Before he was converted to Christianity, he killed Christians. He was there holding the garments of the men who were stoning Stephen, the first martyr for Jesus (Acts 7:58). But after his conversion, he was on fire for the gospel. He went on missionary journeys preaching the gospel and establishing churches. Like us, he was human, but he devoted his life to living out the great commission (Matthew 28:16-20).

Train a Timothy:

Timothy was saved after Paul's first missionary journey and would later join him on his next two journeys. Since Timothy was young and inexperienced Paul became like a father figure to him and encouraged him in his faith and ministry. Paul was essentially Timothy's "Barnabas."

We should look for those people in our lives that can be a Barnabas and Timothy to us. We learn from one and teach the other. This will then force us into confessing our sins to each person as we do life with them. We can learn from their mistakes, and likewise help them to not make the same mistakes we might have made. We learn how to be encouraged and how to be encouraging. Together we then strive to live out the great commission.

Greg.