Two Speakers, Two Messages, One Unforgettable Service!

ZChurch Message for March 23, 2024 (full service:    • Two Speakers, Two Messages, One Unfor…  ) Are you ready to step into the great commission Jesus gave his disciples? Jesus promised, “You shall receive power and you shall be My witnesses.” Those words have never lost their ability to come to pass. Women’s Outreach Leader Christine Smith helps us embrace Jesus’ words and walk in the authority Christ has given to make disciples of all nations. “Welcome to Your Mission Field” is the title of Christine’s message.

Up next, Elder Bob Peck shares how he discovered his divine purpose by living out the simple yet profound principle summarized in his message title, ‘See a Need, Meet a Need.'” Not everyone has an official full-time ministry role, but we are all called to bear spiritual fruit that remains. Learn how to identify the needs around you and allow God to work through you to make an impact. When you see a need, meet it – that’s where your ministry begins! ____________

CHRISTINE SMITH – WELCOME TO YOUR MISSION FIELD *********************************************

Mark 16:20 (Classic Amplified) And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord kept working with them and confirming the message by the attesting signs and miracles that closely accompanied [it]. Amen (so be it).

Psalm 25:14 (Classic Amplified) The secret [of the sweet, satisfying companionship] of the Lord have they who fear (revere and worship) Him, and He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its [deep, inner] meaning.

Luke 24:32 (Classic Amplified) And they said to one another, Were not our hearts greatly moved and burning within us while He was talking with us on the road and as He opened and explained to us [the sense of] the Scriptures?

Mark 8:38 (Classic Amplified) For whoever [a]is ashamed [here and now] of Me and My words in this adulterous (unfaithful) and [preeminently] sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when He comes in the glory (splendor and majesty) of His Father with the holy angels.

Acts 1:8 (Classic Amplified) But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth.

Mark 4:30-32 (Classic Amplified) 30 And He said, With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use to illustrate and explain it? 31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all seeds upon the earth; 32 Yet after it is sown, it grows up and becomes the greatest of all garden herbs and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air are able to make nests and dwell in its shade.

Colossians 1:15 (AMP) He is the exact living image [the essential manifestation] of the unseen God [the visible representation of the invisible], the firstborn [the preeminent one, the sovereign, and the originator] of all creation.

Colossians 3:12 Clothe yourselves as God’s own hand-picked representatives, therefore, holy and dearly loved, with tenderheartedness, kindness, lowliness of mind, meekness, long-suffering;

Colossians 3:16 (NKJV) Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

ROBERT PECK – SEE A NEED, MEET A NEED **********************************************************

Ministry: See a Need, Meet a Need

A lot of believers go around wondering what their calling is, questioning whether they are called to ministry, and if so, to what ministry. While not everyone is called to an official full-time ministry with a fancy title, every member of the body of Christ is called to bear fruit, bear much fruit, and have fruit that remains. So how do you find your ministry? For Elder Bob Peck, it’s been by seeing a need, then meeting that need.

Minister – Minister, ministry, to serve – serving the Lord in ministry.

diakonos – Thayer Definition:

1) one who executes the commands of another, especially of a master, a servant, attendant, minister

1a) the servant of a king

1b) a deacon, one who, by virtue of the office assigned to him by the church, cares for the poor and has charge of and distributes the money collected for their use

1c) a waiter, one who serves food and drink

Do we have to serve? We don’t have to serve, we get to serve.

Two errors – 

1. Some err in thinking we don’t have to serve and in not wanting to serve.
2. Others err in thinking we have to serve, we must serve, or that Jesus isn’t pleased with us because we’re not serving him well enough. That’s old testament, works based-performance based thinking that we can dispel with right now. We’re not under works but under grace.

The church is the bride of Christ (NT), not the servant of Christ (OT). But what kind of a bride would we be if we did not serve, wait on, or attend to the most worthy husband in the world who has given us more than we can ever repay? How would that look? We would bring shame on ourselves for failing to discern the gift that has been given to us and for failing to respond with appropriate gratitude.

Romans 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

But it’s not just about expressing gratitude, it’s about bearing fruit.

John 15:8  By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

John 15:16  You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. 

Jesus loves his bride so much that he wants her to have increase, promotion, honor, and fruit that remains.

This is like a husband who, even before marriage, plans a future for a wife where she will be honored and exalted with house, home, family, and a heritage. He invites her to join with him in building the future that he has planned for her. He’s not asking her to serve him because he couldn’t afford a house keeper. He’s inviting her to invest in building a life, a house, a business, a family and more together with him.

Things are always richer, more meaningful, and more rewarding when we do the work – not earn them by works, but engage in the works that correspond and are part of the process of the thing being built.

Finding Your Ministry or Place of Service

1. Don’t wait for a grand revelation before your start.
2. On the other hand, don’t just pick your own calling and put yourself into ministry.

Don’t make up your own calling

Sometimes we’re inclined to serve God with our own ideas. That’s like a wife being a “help meet” to her husband by doing for him what she thinks he needs instead of waiting to see what he actually wants.

The job of the bride is to come along side and take hold together with her husband.

Our job is to be where the head of the church is, when he is there, doing together with him what he is doing there.

Don’t wait for a calling.

Many are looking for a ministry calling, thinking they need a specific word, prophesy, or vision. Not everyone is called to one of the named and identified ministries with an official title. Even when God has a primary calling or purpose for us, we might not be ready to hear it or jump into that ministry right away.

I’ve gotten where I am by seeing a need, then meeting that need. From stacking chairs at church, to picking up trash in the parking lot, to helping Zchurch with technology, to now preaching. 

A calling was prophesied over me early in Christian life but I was not ready or capable of carrying it out until after decades of seeing needs, meeting needs, and serving in various capacities. In the converse, I have a primary calling that was only revealed to me after many years of spiritual growth and developing a heart to serve.

Start where you’re at. See a need, meet a need, that’s serving, that’s ministry.

Ministering With Finances

What if, like when I started serving God, you’re too spiritually immature and incapable of serving in any identifiable capacity. Then do what I did – give of your finances.

Matthew 10:41  He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. 

Jesus counts your financial support of his minister the same as doing the ministry yourself.

Philippians 4:16-17  For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities.  17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. 

When we give to Christian ministry, the fruit produced by that ministry is accounted to our account. By this, we can bear much fruit and our fruit remain.