“A Model for Ministry” – FBC Morning Light (10/18/2024)

Well, good Friday morning to you. I hope your week has gone well and you're looking forward to the weekend.

Let me encourage you, this coming weekend, on Sunday and then the

Monday and Tuesday following, we're having a special Bible conference at our church, we call it the

Eternal Issues Bible Conference, and the theme is heaven.

The guy that's coming to speak, Brad Zockel, I've known from years gone by, does a whole series of messages on the subject of heaven.

He calls it the Heaven Tour. I really want to encourage you to come if you're in the Sauk Valley area and attend these services.

I think it'd be a great encouragement to you and a great blessing to hear about the glories of heaven.

So he's speaking in the adult Sunday school hour at 930 and then in the morning service at 1030, evening service at 6 o 'clock on Sunday, and then

Monday and Tuesday evenings at 7 o 'clock. So, the Heaven Tour. I hope you can make it.

Well today, in our Bible reading plan, again, just like I mentioned yesterday, we're all over the place in the Gospels.

We start in Matthew, then go to Mark, then to Luke, then back to Matthew, then Mark and Luke, and then back to Matthew, and then

Mark and Luke. And again, what we're doing is reading chronologically through the

Gospels, so we're getting a little bit of a harmonizing of the

Gospels, if you will. But I just want to zero in on a few verses in Mark chapter 1, and in those few verses, today's church leader, the pastor, pastors, have great insight in what ought to be their priorities.

Let's set the stage. In chapter 1, verses 32 through 34,

Jesus has been dealing with all kinds of people. A whole multitude of people come to him.

There were people who were sick, there were people who were demon -possessed, he healed those who were sick, he cast the demons out, and it says in verse 33, the whole city was gathered together at the door.

It's a hyperbolic way of saying a great multitude of people found out about Jesus, they were coming to Jesus, they wanted to hear him, they wanted him to act in their behalf, and it says in verse 34, he healed many who were sick with various diseases, he cast out many demons, and he did not allow the demons to speak because they knew him, and boy, he goes late into the evening dealing with his multitude of people.

Now, from the contemporary American businessman's thinking, this is incredible.

This is exactly what you want. You haven't even had to do hardly any marketing, and you've got all these people, you've got this great crowd, boy, just keep doing what you're doing and the crowd's gonna swell, and we'll have more and more people, and it'll be more and more successful, and more and more effective, and yeah.

And it seems that, not to be hypercritical, but it seems that a lot of contemporary churches have sort of gone to this kind of way of thinking.

What can we do, what can I as the pastor, the lead elder, do to generate a crowd, to spark a multitude to come and become a part of this thing?

And yet, what did Jesus do? Well, it says, verse 35, in the morning, having risen a great while before daylight, he went out and departed to a solitary place, and there he prayed.

He's clearly making a priority of prayer. And Simon, Peter, comes to him, and those who are with Peter, they were looking for him, they didn't know where he went, they're looking for him, and they finally found him, and it says in verse 37, everyone is looking for you.

And the implication is, come on, we've got this crowd, this is great, this is stupendous.

But Jesus says, let's go into the next towns that I may preach there also, because for this purpose

I have come forth. So what you see emphasized in Jesus' ministry is not generating a huge crowd, but two priorities, prayer and the ministry of the

Word, the preaching of the Word. Now, there's nothing wrong with having a crowd, there's nothing wrong with a multitude of people coming, but what is our focus, what is our priority as pastors and church leaders, what is it that we want more than anything?

Well, in Acts chapter 6, it seems that the Apostles got the message that the priorities of ministry need to be prayer and the ministry of the

Word. You remember the account, Acts chapter 6, there was a great crowd, a lot of people, and in that great crowd of people, there were widows who needed to be cared for, and it seems that some were being neglected, and there started to get a little bit of dissension in the crowd, with one party thinking that their widows were being neglected to the benefit of the other party, and they came to the

Apostles and wanted them to deal with it, and what was their response?

It was their response, verse 3 of chapter 6 of Acts, "'Brethren,' they say, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the

Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.'" We're not gonna deal with this. Get some godly men who can oversee this and just take care of that particular problem.

What are we going to do? We will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the

Word. Why would they make that such a priority? Prayer and the preaching and the ministry of the

Word? Because that's what Jesus did. Jesus made that a priority, and I contend that that still needs to be the priority for those of us who are in pastoral leadership to this day.

Our priority needs to be prayer and the ministry of the Word. Oh, how easily even good things can crowd out the important things.

But I take the challenge, and I trust that those who are in the pew, and that's probably the majority of those who are listening to this broadcast today,

I hope you appreciate and encourage that your pastor makes those two priorities top priorities in the ministry.

I encourage you to do that. Our Father and our God, I pray that in making the ministry of the

Word and prayer the priorities of the ministry, that you would bless that. Bless those in church leadership who make those priorities, and bless those who benefit from it, that they will not push for their pastor to get sidetracked into other things that are less important.

We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Alright, well again, I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and if you can join us for the

Heaven Tour, I encourage you to come on this Lord's Day and hear about the glories and splendors of that which awaits us who know