Is your ministry balanced? There are some areas that God has given His children that help us achieve balanced Christian service.

Ministry in the Balance: What it Means for Me

1 Thessalonians 5:25-28

(Children's Sheet for Sermon Interaction is at bottom. Notes are throughout sermon)

1 Thessalonians has been a great epistle to study and preach through. I trust that we have gleaned some important truths for our spiritual edification. I certainly have.

This morning, we have arrived to the final verses of 1 Thessalonians. Please turn to 1 Thessalonians 5:25-28. As we turn there, I want to remind all of us of an important fact:

True ministry for God comes from God.

What I mean is that ministry comes from the Holy Spirit. The implications of this are that if we are not Christians, then we may be doing a lot of religious looking things. They may be the kinds of things that look like Christian things, but they are not true ministry that we are doing as vessels of God's Spirit. Of course God can glorify Himself through the actions of all men if He wants to, but service to Him, and from Him, must come from the Holy Spirit. Also, the Spirit does not work aside from the tools that the Spirit implements for Himself;

We (the body of Christ) are His tools.

There is something else;

All ministry comes from the Holy Spirit in respect to the Word.

The word of God is what God uses for the mandate, and the direction of proper ministry practice. If you are not obedient to God's words, then you are not being obedient to the Spirit. If you are not being led by God's word, then you are not being led by the Spirit. This means that for us to be effective tools, we must be using a specific tool that God has given us by His Spirit.

That tool is the Bible (Scripture).

The Bible, as God's word, is definable. It is not nebulous, esoteric, or mystical. It is the canon preserved, protected, passed around, preached from, and categorized by, the original church roots (as I touched upon last week in the Reformation Day sermon). The more specific revelation for the body of Christ comes in the New Covenant Scriptures. This leads me to touch upon one more very important observation as we get into this sermon this morning;

All ministry that you and I do, as the body of Christ, comes from the Holy Spirit in respect to the word in that gloriously phenomenal outworking of,

The great law of love that God puts in us.

It is to love God, and to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. You can not possibly have Holy Spirit empowered, and led, ministry if you do not have the Spirit's love for Himself (God) and His love for His children. To be an effective, pleasing, balanced tool, this principle moves onward, upward, and outward, to mean that we must manifest the various ways to express love out to the brothers and sisters of the family of God according to God's word. This law of love is balanced. God wants us to have balanced ministries. We want what God wants us to have. Keeping this in mind, we read the final comments of Paul to the Thessalonian Christians. Please read it with me,

"25 brothers, pray for us. 26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. 27 I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. [v. 27: ESV] 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you." 1 Thessalonians 5:25-28

Please prepare your heart to learn, along with me, from the preaching of God's word, in this sermon titled,

Ministry in the Balance: What it Means for Me
[pray]

Balanced Christian ministry is vitally important, and it is vitally important for us as children of God. This morning, as we finish up with this great epistle to the Thessalonians, we can glean 4 important principles that the Spirit gives us for attaining balanced Christian ministry. The four principles have been recognized by Christians among missionary training schools, and by discipleship organizations, churches, and individuals, for years. They are succinctly stated as,

1) Prayer

2) Fellowship in the body in committed functioning church familiness

3) Studying, sharing, and learning from God's word in His biblical revelation to the body.

4) The importance of the grace of Christ that sustains our own lives, and for sharing with others in our witness and evangelism.

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We want to glean from God's word concerning ministry in the balance, and what it means for each of us, so let's look at the first one, which is prayer. As Paul makes his final urgings and comments to the Thessalonian church, he says,

"25 brothers, pray for us." 1 Thessalonians 5:25

When I read this, I think of what Paul urged a little earlier; he said that we should be praying without ceasing, and giving thanks continuously in it. When it comes to ministry in the balance, prayer is one of the easiest things that you can do that we are all supposed to do. Make a note of what I am about to say:

Every Christian is gifted to pray.

Every Christian has the gift of prayer ministry.

Every Christian is in the ministry of prayer.

This tells us something about ourselves, doesn't it? The really beautiful thing about prayer is not so much that it is a ministry that is so easy to do, but that you and I are so privileged to do it. God has blessed us with the ability to be welcomed to talk with Him. It is amazing to truly understand, and experience the fact that you can approach the Creator of the universe, and actually ask Him for things, and He actually listens to you in a personal audience in conversation, and He really wants you to do this on a continuous basis. I mean, we consider the profound fact that David reveals,

"He is mindful that we are but dust." Psalm 103:14

and we recognize that God is infinite in scope, then we understand that the privilege to pray to Him, and the fact that He actually cares enough to listen to us, and He urges us to do this, is amazing! Your privilege is powerful, and as a ministry tool, it is critical. John says about the ministry privilege in 1 John 3,

"22 and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight."

We receive from God when we ask, and John's later words in 5:14, clarify what he says here. In 5:14, John says; This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us in the sense of giving to us according to the prayer. John also says here that we receive because we keep his commandments.

Is John talking about you here?

Is John saying that you receive because you keep his commandments?

John goes on, and he clarifies,

"23 This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. 24 The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us." 1 John 3:22-24

@1 We know that Christ Jesus abides in us, by the ______________ whom He has given us. (1 John 3:22-24)

So, John explains what it means to keep the commandments of God, and he is talking to you and me. You believe in Christ, and you love the brothers and sisters of the family of God. These are the love things that are pleasing in God's sight. So, let's consider what John says. Your ministry is empowered by the person of the Spirit Whom God has given to you. The commandments we keep as God's children which flow out of us as ministry, are to love God, (which is demonstrated in believing in Christ), and to love one another, (which is demonstrated in serving others). Unlike the world which does not have the Spirit, (where the lost pray and think they are getting answers from the God of the universe, but really are not), when you pray, and when you get what you ask from Him Whom you love by the Spirit, the answer really does come from Him who loves you. But, John does not mean that you have to do everything everywhere perfectly. What John means is that we do the things that are the affinity of all Christians everywhere. We do them by the Spirit, and the word, through love. Non-Christians do not love the body of Christ. They can not do so. But you and I do. They do not believe in the Son. We do. So, when we ask, we receive when we ask according to God's will, yet we receive because we are the only kinds of people in the world who actually keep Christ's commandments. We may be but dust, but God has redeemed this dust, and has built it into a temple, and breathes life into it by His Spirit!

Now, when it comes to pleasing, balanced, ministry, there is no gimmick for you to employ to have an effective prayer life.

What you and I need to do is just simply do the privilege that we have, and pray.

This is very important, because this is the great key to effectual prayer ministry. The great key is to just do it. I can not tell you how many books I have seen on prayer. You go to the Christian bookstore, and there is a whole section on prayer. There are big thick Bible study courses on prayer. There are websites devoted to how to pray. But, the key to prayer, or I should say, the key to effective prayer is to simply do it. The deep teaching that goes with that simple key is also simple. Let me give you the deep teaching in an outline form:

A) Pray as a saved person (which simply means you have the Spirit of God in you as His temple);

B) Pray in faith, (which means you believe God hears you, cares to hear you, and cares to answer you with a yes, no, alternate, or wait, answer)

and

C) pray based upon the word of God.

That is all the deep teaching on prayer you need. Now the way to balance it out, is to just do it. Paul recognizes how powerful this ministry operation is, so he says plainly,

"25 brothers, pray for us."

At this point, at the end of Paul's letter, Paul is not concerned with giving a theological foundation. He just says to do it, and so he expects it. The Thessalonians need to do it. Actually, right here, there is a lot of theology. The theological load that the Spirit is showing us is that God thinks that you and I need to be commanded, urged, reminded, and prodded, to pray. Why? Because God knows that we need to be urged to do what the body of Christ evidently will not continue to do without the prodding. This is the Spirit working through His word to bring us into the balance. When you actually do it, then He is using you too. Paul realizes that in being used to bring people into God's adoption, through God's regeneration, into members of the family, Paul now has fellow members who minister in prayer to him and the other apostles. Paul was the minister bringing the gospel to where there was no body of Christ. Now that they have become the body, they have also become ministers, and so now Paul can urge them to minister back to him by praying for the apostles. This is the wonderful beauty of ministry in the balance, and what it means for everyone; you, me, and the whole body. So, prayer for the body is the immediate balancing concern. When you hear of brothers or sisters who are beaten down in their Christian walk in some way; maybe it is in their ministry, where they are standing for Christ and they are getting rejected and worn down because of their Christian activity, then you are hearing news that is meant for you to pray about. You are a minister, and you have been called to action. You should do it as a matter of supernatural reflex. There is a natural reflex too. It is also easy, but it is sin, and instead of running to God for help, it is running at the mouth in gossip to others. Gossip tears down. Gossip is anti-ministry; or I should say it is the ministry of the devil. Prayer is between you and God. Even if others pray with you, the ministry is meant to produce goodness, healing, and building up, and so this is why we not only can go to God with these things, we must go to God with these things in intentional ministry. This means, pray for your brothers and sisters who are demonstrating gross carnality in some area of their lives. Maybe you know of a Christian who was walking with the Lord in growth in godliness, and then you find out that they have succumbed to lust and committed fornication, or in respect to marriage, they committed adultery. There might be someone you know, or groups of people you know, who may be believing a false doctrine. Pray that God will deliver them from it. By the way, this particular prayer request dominates my conversation time with God. We should pray that Christians who believe and live error, will die to their wrong understanding and live to the truth aside from prejudice, bad scripture interpretation, and personal standard bearing. It is the ministry of intercessory prayer, and it is your ministry in the balance. Pray that God will deliver folks you know from their sin, and pray that they will be restored. Pray for other problems, like someone who professes Christ who is addicted to alcohol, or some other drug, or Christians who you find out are having marriage problems. Immediately pray for those people. Don't think twice about it. Pray that God will do many things. Pray that God will convict them, and God will deliver them, God will heal and restore them; and pray that God will use them to minister, and use their experience as part of their training in grace and growth to reach out to others. It is pure ministry for you to pray this way. Let me tell you what I pray for Christians by the Spirit, and I know for a fact, I am ministering in the balance when I do. I pray,

"Lord, please grow them spiritually in all ways, in real growth, according to obedience to the Bible."

Every word of that prayer is intentional. If you don't know how, or what to pray for a Christian brother or sister, then you can pray that prayer, expecting God to answer, and it is Biblical. When you hear of a brother or sister who is sick, then your easy ministry is to pray for their healing. Pray for their spiritual stamina to increase through the trial they are going through. Pray that God will be glorified in their healing, (if God chooses to answer that way), and that God will be glorified in their sickness (in the meantime, and onward, if the sickness continues). These are all ways that God wants you to minister to the body in prayer.

And then there is prayer for the unsaved. Paul who is one of the greatest experts on predestination that God has given to minister New Covenant truth under Christ, says to these same Thessalonians,

"1... pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you," 2 Thessalonians 3:1

The way the word "happened" to be "honored among" the Thessalonians is that people got saved. Paul is urging to pray for the salvation of people through the preaching of the Gospel by the apostles. History demonstrates that the answer was a huge "yes." This kind of prayer that Paul is urging, is a Holy Spirit led prayer. Like the Thessalonians needed to pray this kind of prayer at Paul's request, you and I need to be praying this kind of prayer too. It is just one aspect of the fullness of ministry. We see the same thing where Paul instructs Timothy to pray for all people, which includes the kinds of people who are kings and all who are in authority, because God's desire is not only for lowly people to be saved, but also for government leaders to be saved,

"1 ... I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all people; 2 for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved [meaning all kinds of people, because all who God desires to be saved will be saved, and when leaders are saved, it helps the persecuted lead a tranquil and quiet life] and to come to the knowledge of the truth." 1 Timothy 2:1-4

@2 God wants me to pray for _______ people. (1 Timothy 2:1)

The balanced ministry prays and petitions God for the salvation of the person that everyone else may think is unsavable because they are looking at the person with natural eyes instead of spiritual eyes. This is what pagan Governors, and Caesars, and Pharisees, and Saducees, and all these kinds of people seemed like--unsavable. But Paul had once been an evil, argumentative, self righteous, Christian killing, Pharisee himself. When we walk by faith and not by sight--when we walk in the Spirit by the sight of His Scripture, we will pray for government leaders of pagan, demonic, and even apostate nations, (like those kinds of wicked leaders of Paul's day), to be saved. And then we think of Paul standing before the wicked king Agrippa. Paul expressed his personal wish to God that all who heard the gospel that day would be like Paul--Christians. Paul's "wish to God" is a kind of prayer request;

"28 Agrippa replied to Paul, 'In a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian.' 29 And Paul said, 'I would wish to God, that whether in a short or long time, not only you, but also all who hear me this day, might become such as I am, except for these chains.'" Acts 26:28-29

Is this your "wish to God" too?

You say,

"My wishes to God for people to be saved never saved anyone?"

Actually, no mere human saves anyone; even in evangelizing, you can not save anyone. In evangelism, you are only a tool to be used--right? God is the one who saves people through your evangelism; but the fact that God saves His elect, does not mean we stop evangelizing. In the same way, God says to pray for the lost to be saved, and so we do it anyway. When you pray for someone's salvation, you are being a tool in God's hand. It does not matter if the elect are God's choice. What matters is that we are vessels of the Spirit that God uses to pray for the salvation of lost people in the way God designed it all to operate, whether we understand it or not. God does not demand that you understand how He sovereignly determines and controls His creation. He demands that you pray. This is why Paul's prayer concerning Israelites is short, crisp, and right to the point. Paul does not debate with himself. Paul does not debate with God. Paul does not debate with you, or anyone else, about it. Paul prays what he knows to pray,

"1... my prayer to God for them is for their salvation." Romans 10:1

@3 Paul's _____________ for certain lost people is for their salvation. (1 Timothy 2:3)

Don't you agree that Paul is an expert in this matter?

The point is that there are Scriptures that indicate that you can pray for the salvation of people, and so you should pray for the salvation for people, in concurrence with God's will by the Holy Spirit within you; so then, if this is the case, let's do it as part of our balanced ministries. The great Reformed Baptist preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon stated the balance this way,

"If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms around their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for."--C.H. Spurgeon

Spurgeon, who was a five point Calvinist, meant that God has ordained our witness, proclamation, and prayers in respect to true ministry to God and to others. The only other option is unprayer; and an unprayer is not a prayer at all. So, the point is to pray for the unsaved. Also, pray for people to go out to reach the unsaved. Jesus was balanced in this more than anyone can comprehend what divine balance fully means. We read in Matthew 9, that Jesus was going from city to city and village to village, teaching the lost sheep of the house of Israel in their synagogues. He was proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and affliction. One day, he saw the crowds, and he had the compassion that only the Messiah can have. It was pure, sinless, godly compassion. He saw that they were distressed, and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. It was at this point that Jesus said something very profound to His students. He said,

"The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." Matthew 9:37-38

Are you praying for laborers to go out into the harvest in our day? Are you praying for open doors for ministry? Paul urges us to be about the pure task;

"2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; 3 praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, ... 4 that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak." Colossians 4:2-4

It is not just open doors that God wants us to pray for. Pray for the clearness in the way that the good news is spoken. It is the prayer for the whole ministry endeavor, and the ministers, and those being ministered to. So, the first important principle for attaining balanced Christian ministry is to pray. Pray for everything. Pray all the time--don't stop praying.

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The second important principle that the Spirit wants you and I to glean for attaining balanced Christian ministry is: fellowship in the body in functioning church familiness. Paul says,

"26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss." 1 Thessalonians 5:26

When Paul says greet all the brothers, he uses the Greek word adelphos, which means both brothers and sisters. Paul is saying to greet all the siblings; and what Paul means is, greet your fellow brothers and sisters of the family of God. The family life connection of the body, is so very important for balanced ministry, because God has designed the family of God to be functional according to the biblical pattern. In other words, God's will is that you be connected purposely, mentally, and emotionally, with the other members of the body of Christ in a specific local fellowship group. It is only when we are committed to one another, in true Holy Spirit body life of a local church, that we will function properly in ministering all the aspects of love to one another that God expects.

To greet someone with a holy kiss was the common friendly welcoming practice among people of Asia and the Roman empire of Paul's day. Today, the practice continues in many countries where people greet each other with a friendly kiss on the cheek. This teaching applies to you and me too. According to God's word, and not personal prejudice, there is a set apart kiss, and it is godly to greet both males and females with it. The big principle that I want to point out in this, is that Paul is going beyond the cultural norm for friendly welcoming greetings by making this a command to do this as an expression of Christian love for the family of God. It is with this command that I am bringing us to focus upon the principle of balanced Christian ministry of welcoming-friendly-love for the family as it should be manifested in all ways. I'm talking about the continuous greeting that never stops. Follow what I am saying. It is the spiritual kiss of true koinonia, where you are in committed fellowship with a group of folks fulfilling God's movement in the world through a church you are committed to. The various aspects of love that God wants us to minister to one another, are so varied that it is difficult to get past scratching the surface here; but let's talk about the act itself that Paul urges. Greeting one another with the caring, personal, friendliness of family love means that you and I need to be friendly and not ignore, or avoid, our brothers and sisters. It means, you care. It means you don't hold grudges. It means, be forgiving. If you harbor ill feelings then you can't move freely into the welcome by the Spirit, and so what happens is you are frozen in your personal attitude problems, and you can't move on to functional body life that God wants. Love; be forgiving; and move on in the Spirit. Moving onward in the Spirit is to live out the caring friendliness of family love by not forsaking a specific fellowship group by being humble and obedient to stay assembling together, supporting the whole group like God wants you to, and by helping the needy members of a specific body with financial difficulties. When you hear of someone in your church fellowship who is having difficulties financially because of real emergencies, offer to help them out. There is no friendlier kiss to greet someone who is in need with, than the kiss of financial help. God wants us to live out the caring friendliness of family love by doing things like helping out the mothers who have just had babies. Offering to lend a hand is a friendly kiss. We can practice our friendly family love by lending an attentive ear to hear out what others want to say. There are so many Christians who just want to be able to communicate to the other Christians in the group on a real, pure, godly level. You don't have to say much in response; you don't need to share your opinion--just be there greeting with the comforting kiss of being a listener. You can do this ministry by visiting the members of your family of God when they are sick. Just being there is good. Praying for them while there with them because you took the time to be there in their sickness is better. You can do this ministry by having the other members of the body of Christ over to your home for food, fellowship, and shared friendship around conversation, Bible study, prayer, song, and even fun and games that are wholesome and godly. All of these things are the friendly kiss of family love. There are so many ways to do this, but the point is that the family-life connection is so very important for balanced ministry, because God has designed the family of God to be functional according to His biblical pattern, and God has designed the local church group as the main arena that he wants to see this dynamic fulfilled. If you are not practicing this, then you are lacking in the balance, which means that you are diminishing God's expressed will in His word for His people.

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The third important principle that God wants you to glean for attaining balanced Christian ministry is to dutifully, and continuously, study, share, and learn from God's word. Paul says,

"27 I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. [v. 27: ESV]" 1 Thessalonians 5:27

The phrase that Paul uses here is a very strong one. He is purposefully putting the trusted leadership, who receive this letter, under a kind of pledge before Christ.

Why would Paul do such a thing which, according to natural eyes, seems so drastic?

The answer is that when Paul wrote this letter to the Thessalonians, he realized that He, (as the apostle to the Gentiles), was writing the commands of God. The contents of this letter is Holy Scripture. For the Thessalonians, it had immediate importance as God's teaching from his apostle to deal with issues according to the Spirit of God. This means that it is more than a mere letter. It is the word of God. It is the Spirit talking to you. Paul said in 2:3,

"13... we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God," 1 Thessalonians 2:13

He said in 4:2,

"2 For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 4:2

@4 The Bible is the word of ___________. (1 Thessalonians 2:3)

The point for us to glean today, is that this letter was determined by God, in His providence, to be His word; but even more than His word to the Thessalonians. God meant it to be the Spirit's lasting conversation with the body. It is to be accepted by you and me and all Christians, (not as the word of men), but for what it really is, the word of God with the commandments given to the church by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

In the Thessalonian culture, the Old Testament Scriptures were kept and read in the synagogues. There, they would be publicly read on each Sabbath day, and expounded upon with sermons. This epistle, which is God's word, was to be read aloud by ordained Pastors in the church assembly that true Christians did not forsake, and of course, this practice continued with this epistle, and others, being copied, and distributed to the assemblies, and finally compiled together in the canon of books that we readily call the Holy Bible. We must not make the mistake that many people make today and try to diminish the importance of God's word in respect to dutifully, and continuously, proclaiming, studying, sharing, and learning from it. Paul says emphatically,

"16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. ... 13 Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and teaching. " 2 Timothy 3:16-17, 4:13

@5 God wants me to pay attention to the public reading of Scripture, to _______________ and teaching. (1 Thessalonians 2:3)

Without God's word, we are left with the words of men. When people get away from sticking to God's revealed word to us from the Bible, they will begin to say anything they want and claim it is God's word. We find this happening all the time. The problem is that I could do this if I wanted to do so; and so could you. Every cult leader does this kind of thing, where they make up something and say that the Spirit spoke to them. But think about how serious it is to speak things, and act as though we are representing the thoughts of God. It is extremely serious. There was a man named Eliphaz. He and his two friends preached to Job. Eliphaz really thought he was serving God. He really thought he knew what God's words were, and so he preached what he thought was the word of the Lord. God said to Eliphaz the Temanite

"7 ... "My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right ..." Job 42:7

They were going around giving spiritual advice based upon what they thought was God's word, but it really wasn't. If they would have stuck to God's revealed will in the Scriptures, then all would have been great. This is why I unashamedly press Christians all the time to stick to the Bible for revelation. The Bible is the sure word of God. Learn it, love it, and live it--and read it aloud to all the brothers and sisters. Be careful of so-called prophetic words of knowledge. Be careful of visions and dreams. Be cautious of saying, "God told me." Be careful even saying that the Spirit led you to believe something; or that the Spirit led you to go somewhere, or do something. I say, "be careful," because once you have entered into that arena of proclamation, where you may have put yourself in a position before your holy God where you are speaking of Him, and yet the fact of the matter is that He really has not, then you have forced your Holy Lord to think of you like He thought of Eliphaz and his friends, "you have not spoken of Me what is right." You thought you were a prophet receiving a personal prophecy to you, but if you are wrong, then you are a false prophet who will be judged more strictly for your mystical assertion that you claim is a leading of the Spirit. You will be judged by the real Spirit who really spoke according to His real word of James 3:1. What we are talking about is balance, and you will always find balance within the binding of your well read Bible. To be balanced in your Christian walk and ministry you must dutifully and continuously study, and learn from, God's real word that you know to be true, and right, and good, which is the Scriptures of the faith once for all handed down to the set apart ones, Jude 1:3.

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The last important principle that God wants us to glean for attaining balanced Christian ministry is recognizing the importance of the grace of Christ that sustains our own lives, and for sharing with others in our witness and evangelism. Paul says,

"28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you." 1 Thessalonians 5:28

This closing comment is the consistent blessing pattern that is in virtually all New Testament Letters. This blessing is a kind of prayer pronouncement and it is also a reminder. It reminds us that God's grace is bestowed upon all His children, which is the body of Christ, which are the elect, which is the church. In our personal ministries, where we manifest the love of Christ, grace is the cornerstone foundation of our good news. For the body, God's grace is always with us, where He saved us, by grace through faith, in the finished grace work of His Son. By grace we are saved, and it is not of ourselves, but is a gift of God. It is in God's grace that we are kept secure in our salvation for eternity. It is in God's grace that we have the kingly inheritance because we are in the First Born Heir, and the First Born Heir is in us as our hope of glory. The grace that is in us is meant to extend to the other members of our Christian family. When others fail us, we are expected to have grace. When others fail to follow God, we are expected to manifest grace to them by following the Biblical pattern of how to deal with them. It is grace to confront a brother with his sin, and then take action. When others have needs, we need to extend the grace of our Lord Jesus to them by lending a helping hand. We are to season our speech with love, by speaking grace words to one another. When it comes to extending the grace of the Lord outward from the body, we do so by taking the grace of Christ with us into the world by demonstrating who we are as Christians. You are a miracle work of Christ by His grace. You and I are the ones who are God's leg work people. We are the ones who form the mouth of the body of Christ by sharing the gospel of grace in Christ Jesus to the lost and dying world. There is completeness and balance in ministry when you focus upon the grace gospel of Christ that is with you in your own life, and take it with you to others in both your witness and evangelism. When you are at work, try to find ways to let people know that you are saved. Think of opportunities to express the grace of Christ. Tell people your testimony. Refuse to participate in sinful activities. When you do that, you are expressing that you are part of the grace of God in setting you apart, and bringing you under the rule of your Lord, Who is Jesus Christ. Ask people if they are interested in spiritual things. This is always a good way to open up a conversation for the good news. Whether they say, yes or no, you can say that you are interested in spiritual things--that, in fact, they are the most important things--and then explain why. Explain the gospel of the grace of Christ, Who came into the world to save sinners, of which we are all made equally in the likeness of sinful flesh. Explain that the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all who receive the sacrifice of Christ Jesus for sins. The grace of the Lord is with you and it is being shared with others. All these things: 1) Prayer 2) Fellowship in the body of Christ in functioning church familiness 3) Studying, learning, and living, God's revealed word as the Scriptures, and 4) Focusing upon the grace of Christ, are all things that are necessary for ministry in the balance. So, when it comes to the question;

What does it all mean for me?

The answer is that it means that we check ourselves in these areas and see if we have been imbalanced in our Christian walk, and in the fullness of our ministry. Pray about these things in respect to your own life. Ask God to reveal to you where you are imbalanced. If God reveals to you an area of imbalance, then make an adjustment according to the word of God through the Holy Spirit's enablement. Do all to the glory of God. And finally as we finish this great epistle this morning, and as we continue throughout the rest of this day, and the coming week, I leave you with this blessing; The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

@1 We know that Christ Jesus abides in us, by the ______________ whom He has given us. (1 John 3:22-24)
@2 God wants me to pray for _______ people. (1 Timothy 2:1)
@3 Paul's _____________ for certain lost people is for their salvation. (1 Timothy 2:3)
@4 The Bible is the word of ___________. (1 Thessalonians 2:3)
@5 God wants me to pay attention to the public reading of Scripture, to _______________ and teaching. (1 Thessalonians 2:3)