What are we doing with what we’ve been given for the Kingdom? Let’s take some time to reflect on that together. Tune in this Sunday to explore this deeper with Kent.

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Interview with Staff

• What jobs have you held outside of ministry if any?
• What is the thing you hope for the people who serve in your ministry?
• What is one helpful thing you wish people knew about what goes on behind the scenes in ministry?
• Why do you do this? What in the world are you thinking – you could make more money in the business world, you could get insurance paid for you, you could be building up retirement. So, why do ministry?
• What was it that put the “why” in you?

OPENING ILLUSTRATION:

Give it up for our team!  Thank you guys for all you do for our church!

You know, Ministry is a weird job.  

I’ve had calls at 2 in the morning from a kid whose mom just got thrown through a window and he needed me to talk him down from killing his stepdad.  I’ve woken up to a call to come over to someone’s house and counsel them in the most dire of situations.

I have sat by the bed of the dying and cared for them and met with countless couples who are considering throwing in the towel on their marriage.  On top of that we have daily concern for the spiritual life of those God has stewarded us with, even when they don’t always personally care or think about it themselves.

My job specifically I have to be able to lead with the business acumen of a CEO, be available for one-on-one counseling, be able to study like a scholar or professor, be able to get up and speak like a motivational speaker, be a manager and lead meetings, be humble, have a character that matters, be spiritually full to give to others who are spiritually hungry, be able to read a spreadsheet and talk to people who have never seen a spreadsheet. As a pastor, there are very few people you can actually be yourself with – most people feel like they can bear that burden, but the moment they find out their pastor struggles, they walk away.  It’s extremely lonely.

Why do we do it?  Why would anyone choose ministry?

ILLUSTRATION:

Literally a few years back, before coming to Harmony, my brother called me and told me he was bummed because his Christmas bonus was going to be less that year.  When he told me what the bonus would be, it hit me that his bonus was more than my entire salary for the year. 

Oof, that’s tough… So, why would we do this?  Why choose it?

I chose this because I want to take as many people as I possibly can with me.

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I want to see as many people as I can, find Jesus, and become His disciples. 

Reminds me of the parable of the talents, you know the parable right?

A landowner gives a few of his servants bags of gold, one gets 5, one gets 3, and one gets one bag of gold.  When the master comes back he finds out the guys that got 5 & 3 bags had invested it and doubled their money, but the other guy took his one bag and buried it.  The master berates him for just burying his gold instead of putting it to work for him.  

Look, at the end of your life when you stand before Jesus, he’s not going to ask you what cars you owned, or how big your house was.  He’s not going to ask how many subscribers you had to your YouTube channel or TickTock or how many days of vacation you didn’t use.  He’s going to ask you one question, 

“What did you do with what you had for the Kingdom”

You don’t need to do what I do or Amber does.  What you need to do is look at what you’ve been given and use it for the Kingdom.  

CLOSING ILLUSTRATION:

My favorite musician of all time was Rich Mullins – he was a Christian artist in the 90s who died tragically.  Rich had a passion for Native Americans and decided at some point to step away from his music career to be a missionary in New Mexico to the Navajo Indians. Rich tried it but was really struggling, it wasn’t going like he thought it would.  He called his uncle and was talking to him and his uncle said, “Rich, you’re not a very good missionary, but you are really good at making money.  Why aren’t you making money and giving it to those who are good at being missionaries”  The reason I like Rich Mullins is not because he was a great musician, although he has some rich lyrics.  The reason I like him is because he decided he would be only be paid the average working man’s salary and gave the rest of his money away.  Rich realized his job was to take as many with him as he could – not to hoard it all. 

What are you good at you could use for the Kingdom?  Are you good with kids?  We need people in our kids ministry and student ministry.  Are you someone people want to be around?  Invite them to church with you.  Are you good at making money?  Redirect that to the Kingdom.

You know, one of the biggest problems I think in Christianity is we professionalized it.  

Ephesians 4:11-13

¹¹ So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ¹² to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Look, Jesus didn’t give me or our staff to do the ministry by ourselves

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He gave us -> to equip you -> to do the works of service

Today, I want to call you to something practical – we have this board out in the lobby that shows the holes in ministry that need to be filled.  We want you to pray and then go and fill those spots, to find your why, and to give it all for the Kingdom.

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