There is a ministery in resistance
FITZGEREL@aol.com (FITZGEREL@aol.com)
Wed, 14 Oct 1998 19:28:17 EDT
There is a ministry in resistance!
From 1929 to 1968 is only 39 short years.
Too short to gather the fruits of your labor.
Too short to comfort your parents when your own brother drowns.
Too short to comfort your father when your mother dies.
Too Short to see your children finish school.
Too short to ever enjoy grandchildren.
Too short to experience retirement.
Thirty-nine years is just too short.
From 1929 to 1968 is only 39 short years.
Too long to be crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of
discrimination.
Too long to stand in the quicksand of racial injustices.
Too long to receive threatening phone calls, often at the rate of forty
per day.
Too long to live under the sweltering heat of continuous pressure.
Too long, thirty-nine years is just too long.
From 1929 to 1968 is only 39 short years, yet it's long enough.
Long enough to journey all the way to India to learn under a great
teacher how to walk through angry crowds and keep cool.
Long enough to be chased by police dogs and lashed by the rushing waters
from the hoses of firemen because you are dramatizing the fact that
freedom has a way of eluding men.
Long enough to spend many days in jail while protesting the plight of
others.
Long enough to know it's better to go to war for justice than to live in
peace quietly with injustices.
Long enough to have a bomb thrown in your home.
Long enough to have to teach angry men to pray for their bombers.
Long enough to accept invitations from the nation's leaders to speak to
them.
Long enough to win hundreds of awards.
Long enough to enter college at fifteen.
Long enough to finish and earn several degrees.
Long enough to earn a Nobel Peace Prize.
Long enough to give the prize money of $54,000.00 to the cause of
justice.
Long enough to visit the mountain top. It's certainly long enough to
have a dream.
From 1929 to 1968 is only 39 short years but it's long enough. It's
long enough for any man to knowingly flirt with death each day of his
life, because to spare himself of the heartaches and sorrow meant two
steps backward for his brother tomorrow.
There is a ministry is resistance! The purposes of life and
ministry
will never be reached as long as one is content to "drift" with the flow
of the flesh. Men sink to their lowest ebbs when they are not caught up
in some type of resistance. Life will forever be strengthened and even
energized by resistance. Resistance to temptation, resistance to
failure, resistance to defeat is the key to entering into the portals of
victory. To go with the flow is seemingly a luxury, however that luxury
will lead one ultimately toward a paralysis of the soul. When the soul
finds itself immovable, there will be no response to faith, hope, nor to
challenge. No man ever really drifts into permanent wealth, he has to
strive for it.
The same manner holds true for ministry. One will not drift
into a
prayer life, one will not drift into a mastery of the Word of God, one
will not drift into a disciplined fasting regimen, and one will never
drift into revival. All of the things that the cutting edge of
apostolic ministry embody, will never "just happen." They will have to
be contended for. Such is clearly validated in 2 Corinthians 11.
What was it that made the Puritans so pointed and pungent in
their
ministries? It was the struggle they found themselves locked into.
When one reads their writings (Jonathan Edward's, Cotton Mather,
Alexander Whyte, Thomas Manton, John Owens, etc.), one realizes that one
of the motivating forces in their lives was their hunger for holiness
and godly discipline. Leonard Ravenhill said of the Puritans, "They did
not have more time on their hands but they had eternity in their
hearts. They had an eternity consciousness."
In the days of the Puritans, they were not blessed with nice
facilities. Most of the pews had no backs on them, they had no music,
little heating, and little lighting. Despite this, two thousand people
would come each week to hear John Owen preach when he was thirty years
old. Here was a man who spent six days at the brink of eternity and on
the Lord's Day would resurface and burn with intensity to reach men.
This type of ministry will require resistance. I know myself well
enough to know that frankly I am pretty lazy in comparison to the
efforts of the Puritans. I live in an age that almost worships
comfort. Struggle against it, fight against it, never let it stifle
one's desire for the Kingdom of God. Never settle for a ministry of
status quo. Never be content with average and mediocrity! God is
looking for men!
There has to be a personal obsession with holiness,
righteousness, and purity. One must be possessed with a hunger to stretch,
reach, and give of all of one's efforts toward revival. God always responds
to a
willing, disciplined seeker. There is no way to preach cream on Sunday
if I live on skim milk all week. There is a ministry that comes from
resistance.
The muscles are made strong by the resistance that they have to
overcome. The world needs men. They need two-mile men in a one-mile
world. The church needs two-mile men in one-mile churches. They need
men who are willing to resist and buck against status quo. They need
men who are willing to forgive when rather they should be apologized
to. They need men who are willing to encourage when rather they are the
one who needs encouragement. They need men who will love when rather
they should be the one receiving the benefits of love.
It is a fact that deep down inside that we all love struggle.
Chances are that we are constantly wanting the underdog to bring down the
champion. The man whose ministry is resistance-oriented will not allow
cold churches to stifle his hopes and his dreams for the Kingdom of
God. Look at the times of greatest spiritual growth in your own life
and it probably will be discovered that it was a time that you faced the
greatest heat of the struggle and fought your hardest. There is a
ministry in resistance!
The vast ambitions of young preachers will never be kept burning
in an empty soul. The perpetuation of the Kingdom of God will not come to
pass as long as one is comfortable with his own relationship with God.
Remember there will always be a certain poverty that comes with
satisfaction. Therefore, that places a high premium on prayer, fasting,
study of the Book, and constantly seeking out to encourage others in the
fray. The largest ambitions of ministry diminish the energies of the
soul because they are pulled into the flame. Every addition to
spiritual ambition widens the exposure of the soul. It also sharpens
our perception of the spiritually infirm that are around us and causes
us to attempt to help them.
In seeking to fight against the resistance, the mastery of the
Word of God is important. Systematic study of the Book comes from discipline
but it is the process by which the Book comes alive to the churches that
we serve. Consider the following questions concerning preaching:
Does my preaching please God?
Does my preaching give full representation of the Scriptures?
Did I preach in the flesh or in the Spirit?
Does my preaching give full consideration to the preaching of
biblical themes (sin, salvation, the Church, eternal punishment,
eternal reward, etc.)
Was I open to the moving of the Spirit while I was preaching?
Does my preaching reflect passion, unction, earnestness and
sacrifice?
Does my preaching exalt Jesus Christ?
Does my preaching reflect proper preparation (study, prayer,
fasting)? Did I give my best in preparation?
For preaching to really be powerful the following elements must
be present:
There must be a commitment to the Word of God.
There has to be the power of a holiness filled life.
There has to be evidence of the anointing. (Volume is not
always anointing. [An old preacher told me that one time.])
There has to be an element of faith involved in the delivery of
the Word.
There are other elements that can be added, however these are
the basic elements of having a ministry that builds people.
In the writings of the Puritans, one finds that they were
"specialists in sin." They would analyze it and expose it for what
it was. They were laughed at, but that is the way that one nurtures
attitudes of holiness. Having an understanding of sin causes one to
fully grasp what holiness is all about. Look at it, understand the
Biblical
description of it, analyze it, and the more that one does (from the Biblical
standpoint), the more one shall hate sin and will do everything within
his power to get rid of it. Realize the nature of sin and it's
consequences. Realize the importance of the soul and it's destiny.
Realize that one must hate sin and destroy it all costs. Realize that
one must have a clean and pure heart. With that in mind, I am going
back to a list that I placed in this letter over two years ago.
Consider them thoughtfully and carefully:
John and Charles Wesley's List:
What known sins have you committed since our last meeting?
What temptations have you met?
How were you delivered?
What have you thought, said, or done of which you doubt would be
sin or not?
Have you nothing you desire to keep secret?
Chuck Swindoll's more contemporary list:
Have you been with a woman anywhere this past week that might be
seen as compromising?
Have any of your financial dealings lacked integrity?
Have you exposed yourself to any sexually explicit material?
Have you spent adequate time in Bible Study and prayer?
Have you give priority time to your family?
Have you fulfilled the mandates of your calling?
Have you just lied to me?
(This is used at his pastoral leadership conferences.)
Remember that neither you nor I am immune from failure, but the
chances of failure become more remote when your relationship with God
reaches a fevered pitch. Let the calling of God consume you. Let the
anointing of the Spirit fuel your passion. Let the anointing of the Lord
settle
every issue in your ministry. You are so valuable in this hour.
Your
ministry is valuable in this hour. Your voice is valuable in this
hour. Seek excellence in all that you do!!!
From 1929 to 1968 is only 39 short years but it's long enough.
It's long enough for any man to knowingly flirt with death each day
of his
life, because to spare himself of the heartaches and sorrow meant two
steps backward for his brother tomorrow.
I do not know how long that you have been in the area of
ministry that you are in right now, but what I do know is that God
responds
to faithfulness and to spiritual hunger. Thirty-nine years was long
enough
for Martin Luther King to contribute some great things to history.
If you have been in your church for one year, for two years, for five
years, or for fifty-five years, it's long enough.
Its long enough for you, with the help of God, to become a great man
of
God.
It's long enough for you, with the help of God, to began to master
the
Book.
It's long enough for you, with the help of God, put broken marriages
back together.
It's long enough for you, with the help of God, to have church
growth.
It's long enough, with God's help, to finish the building program.
It's long enough, with God's help, to knock on thousands of doors.
It's long enough, with God's help, to finish strong.
Sometimes the things that we see as a strong resistance to our
efforts in ministry, is nothing more than God giving us an open door
to
become greater and more noble tools in his hands.
Keep going, keep struggling, keep pushing, and never give up!!!
Brethren, I am praying for you! Keep preaching this great truth!
Love and prayers,
Bryan A Adkins