"God Blesses the Well Planned Ministry" By Shane C. Montgomery

Scripture Reading: Romans 15:14-33

  We are drawing to a close in our study of this great epistle to the Romans, and the apostle ends it just as he began it, with a word from Paul about himself, and about the church in Rome. What we will be looking at today is a picture of what the Roman church looked like, a mature, disciple making church, but more importantly, we will see what Paul's ministry looked like, a well planned ministry, and we will see just all the planning that went into Paul's ministry. We will see from our text today that just as Paul had to plan out and follow this plan in order to have a effective ministry, so we must do today in our ministry here at Covenant Reformed Church.

There are Two Themes in the closing section of Chapter 15 -- one is the church at Rome, and the other is the ministry of Paul. If you would, follow with me in your Bibles, for this is a very long section of text, and it would be easy to let our minds wonder off. Paul begins in (Verse 14):

I. Step One In Paul's Well Planned Ministry.....Vs. 14-22

“And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. 15 Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God, 16 That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. 17 I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God. 18 For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed, 19 Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. 20 Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation: 21 But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand. 22 For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you.”

In this chapter of Romans, Paul gives us a little further insight into this church, and tells us certain things that were true of it. Here, in Verse 14, there are three things that he says about this church, three great qualities that they possessed.

"The First National Church and Trust"

  I wonder if we in the modern day church is truly doing the right thing with our ministry.  Somewhere along the way our plans might have gotten a bit off track.  Remember when the local church was a place to come together as the Body of Christ to worship God and a place where saints came to learn and be edified, to grow in grace. The church is a place where God is glorified and souls are saved but also it is a place where saints are encouraged and made into disciples, at least that was the whole idea behind the local church and for many churches this is still the plan, but to those folks outside of the church, those not yet regenerated or those who will never be regenerated and will continue to live in sin, a slave if you will, well these folks are more and more mistaken as to what a local church is.

  To receive a phone call requiring about worship times is a very rare thing indeed, most of the time the phone rings it is, I would say at least 50% of the time, someone trying to sell you something, be it a new set of pew Bibles or the next great and awesome Sunday School course or the ever increasing bombardment of DVD sets to make your small group sessions more relevant!

  I could go on and on and mention all the VBS supplies but I do want to move onto the other 50% of phone calls, and this remaining half, the majority of phone calls are people outside of the church, those who do not attend any church anywhere at anytime, who call and ask for money and you would be surprised if you knew most do not ask very nicely, they more or less demand you deliver money to them where ever they may be, when you try to explain to them that they have the wrong idea of what a church does they often get very irate and begin to tell you what a church "is suppose to be like" and what a church "is suppose to do" and I must admit, even in all my training, study and prayer and time in the ministry, I must be missing something,  when did things change?  When did the church shift over to simply a charity that will give to anyone who asks? Or I should say, feel entitled to the little bit you have.

   The last few calls I received were people demanding money, one gentleman thought I should pay his electric bill for him and when I told him I could not do that he began to curse me, and the last call was from a young couple who were stranded at a friends house, they went there to party and now they do not have the gas to get back home on and that since I am a Christian I should drive them out some money, I think they wanted $57 to buy gas with.  No, I do not know who these people are, just ordinary people who believe the local church exist to bail out people when they get low in funds.  I want to say that I, at one time, did earnestly try to help everyone that showed up at my door or who called on the phone, my family often went without due to bailing people out, but I quickly began to realize that even though you give these people the last dollar you have, they still will not visit the church, in fact, you will never see them again, they have the money and they are off, on their way, onto the next adventure.   After helping so many people who needed way more than money, in fact, of course, money was the least of their problems, but you cannot tell them that, they get irate when you try to share the Gospel with them, more often you will hear "just give me the money already, I don't care about Jesus!"   So, needless to say, I stopped giving money to people who are outside of the church.   It is just not worth it, I was not helping them anyway, only enabling them to be even more self-centered and more immature.

   I can't help but wonder what we did wrong as a church, well, I know what I did wrong, I thought if I helped others they would listen to the Gospel or at the least visit the church, or "a church" out of thankfulness and then maybe, just maybe, be regenerated and live lives devoted to Christ.  But that is where I goofed up, but no more, yet they still call, still insist the church is a bank, ready to give and give and give, regardless of the size of the church.   This misconception of what the church is all about is getting worse every year and I do not know the way out of this mess, other than if we spend more time preaching Christ and Him crucified and less time being seeker sensitive, then maybe we will get this silly notion out of those peoples heads that the church is a place full of money who is there to bail folks out and give them their best life now.

   Most local churches are truly trying to make disciples, they are busy about the things of the Lord, wanting earnestly to be faithful in their New Testament Church calling, but there are so many, mostly large churches who are making things hard for the smaller churches, by putting up billboards and TV commercials, etc. telling the unchurched they are should visit their church for fun and games and food and music, whatever, everything but making disciples that is.  

  Until we get serious about worship then these problems will continue.  Until we get back to glorifying God and stop glorifying the Sinner, no one outside of the church will ever know or understand just what a local church is all about.

Be Holy!

"The Amazing Gospel Tract"

  So many professing Christians have an aversion to handing out evangelistic Christian literature... those small leaflets known as Gospel Tracts.  And yet those small silent witnesses are such a powerful tool for letting lost sinners know about the God of the Bible and His magnificent salvation plan.  Tracts are perhaps the most amazing little tools ever designed for sharing information about the most important issue of life.  A tract can be passed around, shared, read and re-read.  It can be used to provide a person with follow-up contact information.  It doesn't raise its voice, lose its temper, or argue with you.  And it can even go to places that you may not be able to go.  While it can be mocked and ridiculed, it can't be arrested, beaten or killed.  And it can present a message more clearly and concisely than your average believer.  It doesn't stutter or forget what to say.  It is the Amazing Gospel Tract.

"For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money. After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." [Matthew 25:14-20]

Taken From www.comingintheclouds.org

"Questions Most Pastors Don't Want You To Ask Them"

Questions most pastors don't want you to ask them:

What is Arminianism and why is it unbiblical? Where in the Bible did Jesus tell people they got saved by reading a pamphlet called "four spiritual laws" or saying a "sinner's prayer" or walking forward at a Crusade or Altar Call? Why do pastors tell people to close their eyes and bow their heads when sinners are being told to seek the Lord? Did Jesus tell his followers to make sure they didn't embarrass people who needed salvation? Why do people meet on Sundays in large special purpose buildings when the early church met in homes on a much smaller scale and in a much more interactive and intimate setting? If the Apostle Paul was self-employed (as a tent maker) and tried so hard to avoid being a financial burden to the churches he was involved in, why do most pastors today get a salary and expect one?  And if it is because being a pastor is their full time job, then why don't they delegate some of their responsibilities to others?