THE PERFECT MINISTRY

PENTECOST AND THE GREAT COMMISSION

40 days was the Lord Jesus Christ – Yahshua appearing to the disciples, preparing them, and giving them Commandments by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:2-3). Without a doubt this period of time which almost always passes unseen, thinking that Jesus raised and shortly after ascended to the Throne of Glory, were 40 days. The number 40 in The Bible teaches us that we need a period of time of preparation before we can carry out a ministry, or other beginnings or changes in life. By the way, if a ministry is of God, He will feed it and will make it fulfil. Moses was 40 years in the desert being prepared by God before sending him to set His people free. Then he spent 40 days fasting on Mount Sinai. Israel was 40 years going in circles in the desert before they entered the Promised Land, a journey that could have taken little time. The Lord Jesus was 40 days in the desert being tempted by the devil, before starting His Ministry. The letters of the disciples who saw the Lord are part of the New Testament. We can learn much from the Lord Himself and from His disciples, and from the prophets and patriarchs, about the ministry. By the way, to minister is to serve. If you already have a ministry, is it a perfect ministry? Keep reading…

PENTECOST – THE BEGINNING OF THE MINISTRIES OF THE CHURCH

10 days after the ascension, or what is the same, 50 days (from the Greek pente, five, and konta, tenths) after His resurrection, the Lord fulfilled His promise of sending the Holy Spirit in Pentecost (Acts 2). Pentecost is the beginning of the ministries of the Church, to say it in some way. It is linked to the second of the three holy feasts of the year, this being the feast of the harvest. The harvest of the Gospel are in this case the souls won for the Kingdom of God, the first fruits.

Although a ministry is usually associated to a function or mission of each church, the fact is that all Christians are ministers of the Lord, and serve in one or several ministries. The apostle Peter teaches: “A nation of royal kingdom for God, His Father” 1 Peter 2:9 – Revelation 1:6. That is the ministry of those who proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.

The gifts are the base of the ministries to which the Holy Spirit links us to. Not like many may think by their gifts from birth, in that which they are efficient or good at, and they stand out in life because it is given to them. In fact many are called to ministries they would have never thought about. The apostle Paul is a good example: from a persecutor of the Church to apostle of the gentiles. “For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” 1 Corinthians 15:9. With these bitter words the apostle Paul would describe his life before he came to know the Lord. But also his natural gifts were well used by God in the life of Paul.

Therefore, it does not mean that the Lord does not use our natural talents; what I mean is that it is Him who decides, not us, and grants the gift, together with the calling to one or another ministry, or several.

The list of the gifts of the Holy Spirit at 1 Corinthians 12, were seen in action before, during and after the event of Pentecost. But the greatest of all the gifts is love (1 Corinthians 13), about which Paul teaches, as well as John, and Peter, following the Commandment of the Lord Jesus, and that love, also called charity, is not natural, but it is a gift of God, that which requests that we love our enemies, those who curse us, speak evil of you, hate you and persecute you. Jesus gave the great example in His Passion.

MINISTRIES AND THE CALLING OF THE APOSTLES

The key word of this title, is “calling”, because if the believer has not received the calling from God to a mission, the ministry cannot be fulfilled. Here I am talking about mission and ministry, and we must add, commission, taking from “Great Commission.” Generally, ministry is understood as work inside the local church, and mission as work outside the church, whether supported by this one o by a global network, which at the same time may be approved by a network of churches. The Commission is, however for all those who preach the Gospel, whether locally of globally.

But, we must go deeper in the preparation we receive, as well as all the apostles received, the same as the prophets, and the Jesus Himself, as I mentioned in the introduction, because they had to go under a period of adaptation, tests, a desert, to be tempted in doubt, in their faith, in situation to which they were not used to, taken out of their “comfort zone.” The Christian who works hi mission and ministry, must accustom to live out of his comfort zone, until this become his way of life, until it becomes his comfort zone.

Abraham leaving his land, facing the sacrifice of Isaac, his promised son given in his old age. Jacob facing his father in law, 20 years serving him, and before the refuge in Egypt due to famine. Joseph in Egypt, sold by his brothers, imprisoned under false accusation, then governing Egypt, forgiving his brothers. Moses, 40 years in the desert, and another 40 years guiding Israel to the Promised Land. Samuel, the prophet, before a people separated from God. David persecuted by Saul, but faithful to God.

Our Lord Jesus, leaving the Throne of the Glory, to come to this world in the times of Rome, be hated by all, maltreated, crucified, but raised, followed by the Church that is born again, and returning to the Glory.

Of a special remark are the ministries are the ministries that had a call like the authors of the New Testament, who also underwent their tests. Matthew, leaving a life of abundance to follow the Lord and write the Gospel that has his name. Mark, called John Mark, writes the Gospel that has his name, his mother, one of the Marys must have been of a comfortable life because she had a house where the Christians gathered. Travelled to evangelize Cyprus, with Barnabas. Could be the amanuensis of Peter the apostle, according to a tradition of the II century. Luke, the beloved doctor, friend of Paul, who goes with him, writes the Gospel that has his name, and Acts of the Apostles. John, the beloved disciple, the one who was exiled to the island prison of Greece, Patmos, who took care of Mary, the mother of the Lord, and writes the Gospel that carries his name, the three letters and the Revelation.

Peter had a calling to the Jews, being a humble fisherman, a believer who denied the Lord three times, and who cried for that, was called three times by Jesus to feed his Church: John 21:15-19. Peter is one of the columns of the first Church, and died martyr of Christ.

Paul, a Pharisee of great education in the Law of Moses and with great zeal for the traditions of the Jewish religion, who was serving the Temple and the priests, is called directly by the Lord Jesus to serve in a totally opposite field; he would be called the apostle to the gentiles. He was a strong persecutor of the rising Church, to become a martyr of Christ. Acts 9.

These and other examples that we find in the lives of the apostles authors of the 27 books of the New Testament, frequently make us consider about how the Lord chooses, prepares and sends His disciple to ministries and mission that we could not even have considered. But God looks at the heart, and the deep of the soul and of the spirit, and we cannot see where He sees. That is the reason why many of us find ourselves serving in ministries we would have not thought.

The calling to a ministry or mission is a fire that God puts in our heart and it is ignited in, and it understands with the spirit, not rationally at the beginning.

THE MINISTRY OF ALL BELIEVERS

Every ministry of the Church which truly is, is of the Holy Spirit. And every believer in Christ is a minister of God. Therefore every believer must obey the Holy Spirit.

And in the same way as the apostles, disciples, prophets, and the Lord Jesus Himself underwent through the tests, the deserts, and the preparation for their respective ministries, we also must go under those tests, as training. Life itself is already a training for the soul and the spirit, a training in which the mind fights to oppose to the “foolishness” of the Gospel. 1 Corinthians 2:14.

The Ministry of every believer in Christ includes the Great Commission and the good works. Matthew 28:16-20 and 1 Peter 2:12.

You can read other studies related to the perfect ministry at:

https://www.yahshua.net/missions.htm

https://www.yahshua.net/virtue.htm

https://www.yahshua.net/the-perfect-church/

https://www.yahshua.net/the-perfect-family/

CONCLUSION

The perfect ministry is that, in which any of us, believers, disciples of Jesus Christ, born again by faith, due to His grace, are serving God and His Church, following a personal calling of the Holy Spirit. If it has begun from our own initiative and not of God’s, we will find that we are serving ourselves. The result cannot be measured by our measuring rod, but through faith.

Many prophets of the Old Testament did not see the prophecies they received in their lives, but they have fulfilled, or are to be fulfilled. Many apostles, authors of the New Testament, have not seen the fruit of their Gospels and epistles, but have changed millions of lives in two thousand years of history A.D.

The perfect ministry, or the mission, are, therefore, between you and God, if indeed you know Jesus Christ and give account to Him in the Spirit. I close with some words of the apostle Peter in his first letter, chapter 4:10: “As each one has received a gift, minister I to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all thing God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever”. Amen.