Ministry Like Family: Sacrifice, Support, and Steering

Jesus didn't love us from a safe distance. He entered our mess. He took on flesh. He dwelt among sinners. He touched lepers. He wept with grieving people. He carried across and gave of his own self to the fullest extent. So when you think about those around you that need ministry, would you minister only in ways that cost you nothing? Or are you willing not only to follow the model of moms or Paul, but to follow the model of the Lord who sacrificed in order to reach people? [00:45:11] (34 seconds)  #SacrificialLove

We can feed them. We can comfort them. We can close them. We can visit them. We can even maybe heal them in some way. Like, we can do lots of things. We can stand, sacrifice, support, but we also need to steer, To steer them to the one who never leaves or changes, to the one who has answers, to the one who is the answer. And God can use any and all of us to do this. He says, like a father, but the call is to all of us. [00:53:03] (26 seconds)  #SteerToJesus

From the very beginning of the Bible, God has been creating a people that he desired to belong to him as a family. Israel is called God's children. Jesus teaches his disciples to pray in the Lord's prayer that you've either heard, you might know. He begins it with our father. The church is described as the household of God. Believers are brothers and sisters, not by shared bloodlines, but because of the blood of Christ. The imagery of family and even family itself are reflections of things that God instituted, and that's on purpose. [00:34:44] (36 seconds)  #HouseholdOfGod

Like a mom, we are called to sacrifice for those God is calling us to minister to, to open our homes when we'd rather hole up, to step out of our comfort zones and answer the phone when we're tired, to give of ourselves and our stuff when we had other plans, To sacrifice like a mom who pivoted so that another life became more important than even her own. That's what sacrificing like a mom looks like in ministry. [00:46:22] (28 seconds)  #SacrificeLikeAMom

Be it after an event that took everyone by surprise or planning a funeral or talking about how to care for aging parents, do you know who's almost always sitting in that room? No matter how far life had taken them apart, it'll be brothers and sisters sitting together. No matter what had happened between them, sitting there, figuring it out, standing beside one another. That's the kind of ministry that Paul brought to the Thessalonians. [00:49:27] (26 seconds)  #BrotherlyPresence

Even meeting them in their grief, but then he invited them to follow him, to walk in the ways of the Lord, to surrender to his kingship. When you imagine ministry to whomever God has put in your life, who is put in your path, don't forget the why we're doing it. It's to steer them to the one who can fulfill their greatest need, greater than the immediate ministry opportunity that you're stepping into. [00:54:51] (28 seconds)  #LeadToChrist

That means when someone is sick or hurting or in need in our midst, a brother or sister, we help them. That means that we do what Christ modeled for us. Paul would overtly say to another church in Galatians six, to bear one another's burdens. Look at this, when we bear one another's burdens, we fulfill the law of Christ. Question, who has God put in your life for you to come alongside like a sibling? [00:50:40] (29 seconds)  #BearOneAnothersBurdens

We have a role to play in a ministry to fulfill. We've got a job to do, a people that God will put around us to support like brothers and sisters. That's certainly true in the church, but it might be true even beyond it. That means when new families come up here and dedicate their children to the Lord, we stand with them to help them as they walk through the difficult days of having a young child or a new child to their home. [00:50:11] (28 seconds)  #StandWithFamilies