God has given each of you a special gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Do you have the gift of speaking? Who ever speaks then speak as though God himself were speaking through you the utterances of God. Do you have the gift of helping others? Whoever serves do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. So that in everything you do it will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.
1 Peter 4:10-11
The concept of ministry in the New Testament is not for an anointing upon human ability nearly as much as it is an anointing from God to come and minister directly from God to people. If you receive a gift, you should use it as a good steward of the manifold grace of God. You are God's delivery boy. It is not what you are in yourself, but what you are able to draw from God and minister to the people that matters. What really counts in all ministry is that people receive of God through you, not how impressed they are with your personality, your talent, or your efforts. It is how much of God comes through.
If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God.
1 Peter 4:11
God wants a revelation of Himself to come through you. He is not bringing a revelation of you; He is bringing a revelation of Himself through you. You house the Lord, and you bring Him to people. God is making you His mouthpiece, the vessel through which He is brought to the world.
How did they minister in New Testament times?
The apostle Paul said,
And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. (What God had to say, this Paul proclaimed.) For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus XChrist, and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
1 Corinthians 2:1-5
We see a lot of unanointed activity in churches today. Unanointed discussions, people jabbering and expressing their viewpoints back and forth. The so called 'Emergent church' would not fit in Paul's time. If they did not feel that they were being led of the Lord or anointed of God, they would not say anything. Paul said, "I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling."
It is not the enticing words of man's wisdom, nor how clever a man can preach that makes him effective. A sermon is just a sermon until God puts a Word in that man to speak. We need men really speaking as the oracles of God.
Lonnie Frisbee had it. Brant Baker had it. They knew they had to use the Word of God in their ministering to others. They spoke for God. They spoke the Word of the Lord. Paul put it into action when he returned from Philippi to the little church in Thessalonica which is in the province of Macedonia.
1 You know, brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not without results. 2 We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition. (they were thrown in jail and there was an earthquake)
3 For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. 4 On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. 5 You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness.
6 We were not looking for praise from any human being, not from you or anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our prerogatives. 7 Instead, we were like young children among you.
Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, 8 so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. 9 Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.
10 You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. 11 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 12 encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.
13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.
1 Thessalonians 2:1-13
That was the key: they spoke a Word from God, and that was the way it was received. There was a riot in Thessalonica, and Paul and Silas remained only three weeks; then they were thrust out of town. This is related in Acts 17: 1-12.
1 When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said. 4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women.
5 But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd.[a] 6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.” 8 When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. 9 Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.
In Berea
10 As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 12 Many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.
They had been in Thessalonica three Sabbaths when a riot broke out, and paul and Silas were hustled out of town. Yet it did not end everything, because in those three Sabbaths, people heard them and said, "This is not the word of man; this is the Word of God." The church was started by a three week apostolic visit, which is a short time in which to build a church.
6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it,
1 Thessalonians 1:6-8
The Word of the Lord sounded forth from those people. This is the New Testament picture of what should be taking place in people's lives: a Word should be spoken to them from God. Why is it important?
You will find the answer in a familiar Scripture; but be sure to get the right meaning of it. So faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word of Christ. Romans 10:17. Does it say, "by an exposition" or "by a quotation of the Scripture"? No, it says "by the Word of Christ.
Many sermons are preached in which Scriptures are quoted; yet they do not generate much faith in people's hearts. What really counts is a person who is filled with God's Word and anointed by that Word; then when he speaks forth, the Spirit of God makes a living Word of God real to the people. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by that Word of God: "by the Word of Christ."
This was the way that they preached in New Testament times. There is no question about it. The apostle Paul would go and so speak a Word from God that churches were born; and then they would begin to speak Words from the Lord.
Acts 4 relates that Peter and John were arrested after healing the lame man at the temple gate. They had returned and were praying, when they were threatened and told that they could no longer preach in the name of Jesus.
29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
They wanted to speak the Word of the Lord with all confidence. Their whole objective was to speak the Word of God. They did not desire an anointing upon human wisdom, but an anointing from God to speak His Word. That is what we should do too. If someone gets up and preaches a marvelous sermon and the people say, "My isn't he a wonderful preacher?" he has failed miserably. But if they listen and then say, "That was a Word from God," he has succeeded. That is the goal. Do not try to impress anyone with yourself; try to speak a Word from God.
16 Let the message (Word) of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
Colossians 3:16
To be an oracle of God, to have God speak through you is your goal. To have God speak through you is the greatest privilege in the world. To speak for God is your service. To have God flow through you is your service.
"Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God."
Matthew 4:4
"Feed My Sheep."
John 21:17
You become what you eat. God is trying to have His life flow through you. He is the vine you are the branches. You bear the fruit because you are abiding in Him. Receive God's Word. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly...speak the Word of the Lord!
Proverbs 25:11
Like apples of gold in settings of silver Is a word spoken in right circumstances.
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