![]() So in the winter of 1947–48, I began to spend some extra time in prayer. It felt sort of like washing your feet with your socks on! It just didn’t feel right! I had every reason in the world to be content there. There were more people in attendance than they’d ever had in the history of the church. People were getting saved, filled with the Spirit, and healed. We had the best income we’d had in 10 years of marriage. My family was more comfortable and better cared for than we had ever been before. That last church offered the best parsonage. The last church I pastored was the best church that I’d pastored (I’d pastored five churches in just under 12 years). I started pastoring at 18 and pastored at different churches for nearly 12 years. Finally, when no other door was open to me, I said, “Well, okay, I’ll be the pastor.” They wanted me to pastor, but I said, “No, I’m not a pastor.” But I kept preaching there, traveling out there to hold Sunday services. So we fixed it up, and I preached there on Sundays. There was an empty building that was offered to us free of charge. Because there was no church in that community, the people wanted to start a church. Soon, in 1936, another minister and I held a revival meeting out in the country, and a number of people got saved. Wherever the door opened, I was there to fill it. But if it isn’t, you can still help get people saved by being a minister of reconciliation. When a person first gets saved, he may have such a desire to see other people saved that he starts to think, Maybe God called me to be an evangelist. So let’s all obey God and answer the call! And a person can be called to stand in more than one office.Īccording to Acts 13:1, Acts 14:14, and other scriptures in the New Testament, we know that Barnabas and Paul were both “prophets” and “teachers.” In other words, they were gifted by the Holy Ghost to stand in both offices.Ī person might not be faithful to the call of God on his or her life, but the call is still there, anyway. Anyone who is called to full-time pulpit ministry is called in one of these areas. Thank God for these five ministry gifts! These are special ministry gifts that God set in the Church. Ephesians 4:11 tells us what those are: apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher. Now, there are certain pulpit ministries that God calls people to. Second Corinthians 5:18 says, “And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.” According to this verse, we have all been called to be in ministry-the ministry of reconciliation! We’re all supposed to tell the story of how Jesus reconciled us to God. We’re all supposed to tell the Good News of the Gospel. To “preach” means to proclaim or to tell. And in one sense of the word, we’re all called to preach. ![]() But everyone can be involved in the ministry of helps, which is a necessary and important part of the Body of Christ. You may or may not be called to the fivefold ministry. The “gifts” in this passage refer to the fivefold ministry gifts: apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher. In Ephesians chapter 4, we read about some of the “gifts” that God has given.Ĩ Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.ġ1 And he gave some, apostles and some, prophets and some, evangelists and some, pastors and teachers ġ2 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. If you want to walk out God’s plan for your life, it’s time to stir up that gift within you! Paul told Timothy to “stir up” the gift that was within him, saying, “Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands” (2 Tim. ![]() And if God gave you a gift-if He gifted you along a certain line-that gift is still there! ![]() If God has called you, that calling is still there, whether or not you have obeyed. Romans 11:29 says, “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” “Without repentance” means that God won’t change His mind about what He has called you to do.
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