June 6, 2024 • 17 mins
Grace and peace. God bless you. It has been such a long time since I've had the opportunity to speak to you all and just share what is on the heart, on the Lord's heart for His people. I am done with grad school, praise the Lord, so I can now turn my attention to the ministering of the Word. Amen. I'm so grateful.
On my heart tonight, as I was pondering and meditating in the Holy Scriptures, I want to share with you something I read out of Acts chapter 6, verses 1 through 7. I'm not going to read it in its entirety, but that's where I'm coming from. It talks about the early church when there was dissension among the widows. As the church grew and disciples multiplied, there arose contention between the Greek and Hebrew widows, who felt neglected.
The apostles recognized that they could not neglect the Word of God to serve tables. They decided to appoint seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, to oversee this business. This decision pleased the multitude, and they chose Stephen and others, whom the apostles laid hands on and prayed for.
This story highlights the importance of church leaders remaining focused on studying and ministering the Word, and being in prayer. When leaders are in a position to hear God and make good decisions, they can raise up and release the next set of leaders effectively. The appointed leaders must possess honesty, be filled with the Holy Spirit, and operate in wisdom.
Think about the decisions you've made in your personal life, business, or ministry. Have you appointed people who lack honesty, wisdom, or the Holy Spirit? The fallout from such decisions can lead to wounded people and division. It's crucial to pay attention to who is being appointed and why, ensuring they meet the qualifications of honesty, filled with the Holy Spirit, and wisdom.
When these attributes are present, it brings security, comfort, and confidence to the people, knowing they can trust those appointed leaders. Misalignment in these areas can lead to issues and challenges, but when we operate in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, we align with God's vision.
In summary, as your ministry grows, appointing the right people is essential to avoid neglect and ensure the work of God is done effectively. I pray this exhortation has been a blessing and has prompted you to reflect on your appointments and service. God bless.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Grace and peace. God bless you. It has been such a long time since I've had
the opportunity to speak to you all and just share what is on the heart,
on the Lord's heart for His people.
I am done with grad school, praise the Lord, so I can now turn my attention
to the ministering of the Word. Amen. I'm so grateful. Wonderful.
(00:20):
On my heart tonight, as I was pondering and meditating in the Holy Scriptures,
I want to share with you something I read out of Acts chapter 6, verses 1 through 7.
I'm not going to read it in its entirety, but that's where I'm coming from.
But it's talking about the time during the early church when there was a dissension among the widows.
(00:40):
The Bible says, in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplied.
I want you to pay attention to that. The number of the the disciples was multiplied.
So as the church is growing, as disciples are being added and God is raising
them up, in the midst of that became some contention and some confusion.
(01:02):
And the reason why is because the Greek widows felt there was contention between
the Greek widows and the Hebrew widows, and they felt like they were being neglected.
And so the reason why they felt that they were being neglected is because,
as I mentioned earlier, the disciples were being multiplied, right?
(01:23):
So God is adding to the church and people need, they're needing to be taught,
they're needing to be trained, they're needing prayer and all of these great
spiritual things that we offer in the body of Christ.
And the work was so great that caring for the mothers, caring for the elders,
caring for the widows sort of took a back burner.
(01:43):
It wasn't intentional, you know, but just because of the busyness of the work, you get it.
So the Bible says the 12 called the multitude of the disciples and said, listen.
We can't leave the word of God and serve tables.
In other words, the work we've raised you, right?
We've taken the time to study, to receive impartation, to receive a revelation
(02:06):
from what God is expecting from each of us and all of us.
And so now the body of Christ is growing.
The needs are great. And so we can't, right, stop what we're doing and go knock
on doors and cut grass or take care of, you know, we've got to stay focused.
But you all that we have made impartation, that we have trained,
(02:29):
you are in position to go and do that work so we can stay focused.
And so, wherefore, let's look out among us, right?
Seven men, and at the time, they only needed seven.
That's not to say you can't have more than seven or less than seven. Don't get stuck there.
But they said, let's look out seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom.
(02:53):
That's what I want to focus on right now. Now, honest report,
full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we can appoint over this business.
So, and then he said, and then they go on and said, but we will give ourselves
continually to prayer and to the ministering of the word, right?
And then guess how the people responded?
(03:14):
The Bible says, and the saying pleased the whole multitude.
And they chose Stephen and list all the deacons and the believers and those,
and the apostles laid hands and prayed and set them apart for the work, right?
So what I want to talk about for just a few moments is how important it is for
the work of the apostles or whoever the leaders are of the house,
(03:37):
how important it is, according to what I've read in Acts 6, 1 through 7,
for them to remain focused on studying the word and ministering the word,
right? And being in prayer. Why?
Because Because when time comes for the release to raise up the next set of
leaders or to release leaders to do another work within the ministry or maybe
(04:01):
in the community or what have you,
they're in a position to hear God, to make good decisions.
Think about this in your own personal life. If you're so busy and you've got
a lot of things going on, you're distracted, you're not taking care of yourself,
you're not taking care of your spiritual self the way you should,
and then you have to make a decision.
Decision, nine times out of 10, that decision is going to be born out of a need,
(04:23):
not so much born out of the Spirit of God.
It's going to be born out of an emotional response to your flesh,
not so much a response that has been graced by the Spirit of God and the Spirit of wisdom.
So I think sometimes in church leadership and in church ministry,
and I've done it too, I'm guilty as well, we've appointed people in positions
or we've appointed people to do things and we didn't seek the Holy Spirit for
(04:48):
who had the heart to do the work.
First of all, he said, we need men of honest support.
What happens when we assign people who are dishonest?
What happens when we assign people who don't walk in wisdom?
Wisdom think about the decisions think about the impact these people have if
(05:10):
they're operating within the work of the ministry and they have a carnal heart
or they're operating out of you know.
Dishonesty or they're operating out of the spirit of foolishness because if
you don't have wisdom come on you can't act in wisdom if you don't have wisdom
so think about that think about sometimes Sometimes the fruit we see,
(05:32):
and I say we corporately,
think about the fruit we see that has manifested as a result of some decisions
we've made, whether it's in your business or in your ministry or in your personal life.
Think about some of the decisions you've made. Think about some of the people
that you've asked to help you who did not operate in a spirit of wisdom,
who did not operate in a spirit of honesty.
(05:53):
And think about the fallout, the mess you had to clean up, the people who got
wounded, the people who ended up being hurt, the people who,
in some cases, unfortunately, walked away.
There's so much church right now because they have been touched by people who
have operated in spirits of dishonesty and people who refuse to operate in spirit
(06:15):
of wisdom and who did not have the Holy Spirit, who were not led by the Holy Spirit.
So it is so important, whether you serve in church leadership or senior leadership
or from the pew or what have you,
it's so important to pay attention to who's being appointed and why they're
(06:36):
being appointed and what qualifies them to be appointed.
And then what is the expectation from the appointment?
It's not to have the title or to have the certificate or the license or whatever.
But there has to be fruit and evidence of the work that testifies that the persons
appointed are operating in an honest spirit,
(06:59):
full of the Holy Ghost and full of wisdom.
This is what God is looking for when we are releasing leaders into the body
of Christ, when we're raising leaders, when we're appointing leaders.
He's looking for honesty.
Now, there are many other attributes that we can and that we have looked for.
Oh, they got to have charisma.
They have to be a big tie that they've got to be consistent,
(07:21):
have consistent attendance.
But here, the only three qualifications, and I don't say only like that's all
you need, but these three, honesty, filled with the Holy Ghost, and wisdom.
Honesty, filled with the Holy Ghost, and wisdom. When you have these three character or attributes,
(07:44):
you can be a viable candidate for being used by God and used by those in leadership to serve the people.
The Bible says the say and pleased the whole multitude.
In other words, when you have folks that you have released and you have assigned
and you have appointed or you have delegated who have the wisdom of God,
(08:06):
they've got the Holy Spirit in operation and they have an honest spirit.
Amen. It brings a sense of security and comfort and confidence to the people
because they know that there's someone I can call that I can trust.
There's someone that I can ask for prayer that I can trust.
(08:28):
There's someone that I can seek out for counsel or for assistance in whatever
matter, and I can trust them.
They're going to be honest with me. They're going to tell me the truth.
They're going to be filled with the Holy Spirit. So whatever they tell me,
it's going to align with the scripture and it's going to, listen,
and it's not going to divide, right?
They're going to be in alignment with the Holy Spirit. They're going to be in
(08:50):
alignment with the teachings that's released in the house.
And they're also going to be aligned with the vision of the house. That's so important.
You got to be aligned with the vision.
Otherwise you operate in division, right?
Division. Either you're operating in vision or division. There's one or two.
There's no third choice there.
And so the Bible said the saying pleased everybody.
(09:13):
They were so happy to know that the apostles,
okay, yes, you may can't come to my house and cut my grass or fix my sink or
fix my hair or whatever my natural need may be, but I'm so grateful that you
took the time to seek out the Holy Spirit and that you're going to send people to help.
And these folks are going going to carry out the vision.
(09:33):
They're going to operate in loyalty, well, loyalty, thank you,
Lord Spirit. They're going to operate in honesty.
They're going to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and they're going to operate in wisdom.
And so receiving that person, receiving the Stephen or the Philip or the Nicholas,
receiving them is just like receiving that set leader because they're going
to all operate in the same spirit.
And so the reason why we see the dissension and the confusion and the ism and
(09:56):
the schism is because we have some who are not operating in those spirits or
they've been appointed and don't operate in those spirits. And let me say this.
Sometimes we can start out well. There are many songs that I can bring to your
mind that we start out well, and then somehow, some way, we fall off, right?
(10:19):
Paul talked about how Demas, he was among us, and now he's not among us anymore, right?
And so it is very possible that we can start out being honest,
filled with the Holy Spirit, and be filled with wisdom so that we can be appointed.
But then we are accountable to God when you say, yes, I will.
(10:39):
Yes, Lord. Yes, pastor. Yes, apostle.
Yes, bishop. Yes, ma'am. Yes, or whoever your spiritual authoritative person
is. And you're saying, yes, I will call this person. Yes, I will take on this committee.
Yes, I will take on this region. Yes, I will take on this assignment.
When you say that, then not only are you giving that said person your yes and
(10:59):
your consent to the thing, but you're also acknowledging before the Lord,
God, I'm going to take on this work and I'm going to get it done.
And I'm going to do it in honesty. I'm going to do it filled with the Holy Spirit.
And I'm going to do it in a spirit of wisdom.
But then what happens when we fall short? What happens when we run out of fuel?
(11:21):
Are we maintaining the responsibility for that which the Lord has called us
for, for the things he's called us to?
Do we maintain? Are we still accountable?
What if one of the widow's houses we can't get to by five o'clock?
Do we call and say, Miss Brown, I'm so sorry. I ran out of time. I'll be there tomorrow.
(11:42):
Right. Remember, honesty. Right. We're not going to act like it didn't happen
or we're not going to act like the need is not there. We're going to communicate.
Why? Because we have the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is a spirit of excellence
and a spirit of integrity.
And so our words have to mean something, right?
So that's just a short little thing that was on my heart as I was studying,
(12:03):
just doing some readings and what have you.
And it just came up in my spirit. I was like, you know what?
I just want to talk to the people of God about that.
I want to talk to the people of God. Those of you who are serving,
I want you to just kind of stop and chew on that for a little bit.
Lord, am I serving in a spirit of honesty for the work that you've called me
to do, whatever it is, children's ministry, music ministry, usher ministry, hospitality,
(12:26):
scribe ministry, prison ministry, nursing home ministry, virtual ministry,
whatever it is, whatever the work is that you have been appointed to do,
are you executing that assignment in honesty?
Are you doing that work out of the fullness of the Holy Spirit,
right? Out of the fullness.
In other words, when you touch that work, if you are the administrator and it's
(12:49):
your job to respond to emails or phone calls or write letters or develop programs
or what have you, are you operating full of the Holy Spirit?
And what I mean by that is, are you checking your grammar?
You know, what does that phone language sound like? You know,
what vibe and what What impression do you give when you speak to people on behalf
(13:10):
of your ministry or on behalf of your leader?
Are you doing it out of the fullness of the Holy Spirit or are we operating
out of the flesh? Well, I'll do it when I get to it. I don't feel like it. Why me?
Then we're operating out of the soulless realm, right? That's not being full of the Holy Spirit.
Those are not fruits of the Holy Spirit, not the gentleness,
(13:31):
the kindness, the patience, the faith.
We're not operating in that. And so we're not operating in that.
Then you're certainly not operating in honesty and you're not operating in wisdom.
And so that in that case, we're not operating in vision. We're operating in division.
And these are the things that causes issues, causes problems.
(13:51):
And let's just be honest, right? These are the areas where God looks at that.
Whether your leader acknowledges it or not and or says anything to you about
it or not, you made a vow unto the Lord. Lord, you accepted that assignment
and you said, yes, Lord, I will.
Yes, ma'am, I will. Yes, the one who is representative of the Father,
you gave them your yes that you would do it.
(14:13):
And so then we wonder why prayers are unanswered or we're experiencing some
unusual warfare or some type of challenges because who the Lord loves, he chastens.
And there are areas in our lives that are misaligned.
There are assignments that we have not completed, even speaking for myself,
(14:33):
which is why I'm here talking to you right now. The Lord said,
okay, you're done with school. Get back to your job.
Get back to your assignment, which is to teach the nation, right?
I have no excuse now. He gave me the release to go to school.
Matter of fact, it was the Lord who told me to go. I didn't want to go back
to school. I'm tired of going to school. I got so many degrees.
I'm just, somebody said, you got so many letters behind your name.
And I, you know, praise God.
Thank God, you know, for having the spirit of a scribe and a scholar.
(14:57):
But I did not want to go back to school.
But there were doors that the Lord wanted me to access and get through that
I needed certain credentials.
And I did that so that I could have an influence in certain places on the mountain of education.
So I blessed God for that. As soon as I graduated, the very next morning,
the Lord showed me a dream. He said, get back to teaching. And I said, yes, Lord.
(15:17):
And so this is is where I am. So when you're filled with the Holy Spirit and
you draw back from the things that God has called you to, the Holy Spirit is going to remind you.
He will bring these things to your remembrance.
And he will say, when was the last time you prayed? When was the last time you called a fast?
When was the last time you had a prayer meeting? When was the last time you,
(15:39):
you know, he's going to remind you and he's going to bring you back into a place of righteousness.
Righteousness, but if the Holy Spirit is not talking to you,
if He's not reminding you, if He's not baiting you back to the place where we
wandered from, then we have to ask ourselves, am I filled with the Holy Spirit?
Am I operating out of the fullness of the Holy Spirit, right?
(16:00):
So I pray that this few moments of exhortation has been a blessing to you.
I pray that it's got you thinking about some things, and don't go looking at anybody else.
Just examine yourself and see where you are, or if you're in leadership,
maybe the Lord is speaking to you about some things happening in your house.
Just, you know, whatever the Lord is saying, let Him say that. Amen.
But we came out of Acts chapter 6, 1 through 7, and we were talking about how
(16:22):
there was a need as the church grew, as the work increased, that the apostles
were so, you know, there was a challenge even on their mantle.
And so the widows were like, hey, we're being neglected. And that can happen.
As you're growing, as your ministry is growing, or as certain facets of your
(16:42):
ministry life or community life or whatever is growing, some things are going
to be neglected because you're one person. You can't do everything.
But what God will do is he will assign help.
And God is not just assigning you anybody to help you.
We've got to be wise, as the scripture has revealed,
in who we are appointing to help, that we are placing the right people in position
(17:04):
to get the work of God done so that we can study the word, stay in prayer,
and continue to reach preach and teach the nations. Amen.
I pray this has been a blessing to you. I look forward to our next time. God bless.
Grace and peace. God bless you. It has been such a long time since I've had
the opportunity to speak to you all and just share what is on the heart,
on the Lord's heart for His people.
I am done with grad school, praise the Lord, so I can now turn my attention
to the ministering of the Word. Amen. I'm so grateful. Wonderful.
(00:20):
On my heart tonight, as I was pondering and meditating in the Holy Scriptures,
I want to share with you something I read out of Acts chapter 6, verses 1 through 7.
I'm not going to read it in its entirety, but that's where I'm coming from.
But it's talking about the time during the early church when there was a dissension among the widows.
(00:40):
The Bible says, in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplied.
I want you to pay attention to that. The number of the the disciples was multiplied.
So as the church is growing, as disciples are being added and God is raising
them up, in the midst of that became some contention and some confusion.
(01:02):
And the reason why is because the Greek widows felt there was contention between
the Greek widows and the Hebrew widows, and they felt like they were being neglected.
And so the reason why they felt that they were being neglected is because,
as I mentioned earlier, the disciples were being multiplied, right?
(01:23):
So God is adding to the church and people need, they're needing to be taught,
they're needing to be trained, they're needing prayer and all of these great
spiritual things that we offer in the body of Christ.
And the work was so great that caring for the mothers, caring for the elders,
caring for the widows sort of took a back burner.
(01:43):
It wasn't intentional, you know, but just because of the busyness of the work, you get it.
So the Bible says the 12 called the multitude of the disciples and said, listen.
We can't leave the word of God and serve tables.
In other words, the work we've raised you, right?
We've taken the time to study, to receive impartation, to receive a revelation
(02:06):
from what God is expecting from each of us and all of us.
And so now the body of Christ is growing.
The needs are great. And so we can't, right, stop what we're doing and go knock
on doors and cut grass or take care of, you know, we've got to stay focused.
But you all that we have made impartation, that we have trained,
(02:29):
you are in position to go and do that work so we can stay focused.
And so, wherefore, let's look out among us, right?
Seven men, and at the time, they only needed seven.
That's not to say you can't have more than seven or less than seven. Don't get stuck there.
But they said, let's look out seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom.
(02:53):
That's what I want to focus on right now. Now, honest report,
full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we can appoint over this business.
So, and then he said, and then they go on and said, but we will give ourselves
continually to prayer and to the ministering of the word, right?
And then guess how the people responded?
(03:14):
The Bible says, and the saying pleased the whole multitude.
And they chose Stephen and list all the deacons and the believers and those,
and the apostles laid hands and prayed and set them apart for the work, right?
So what I want to talk about for just a few moments is how important it is for
the work of the apostles or whoever the leaders are of the house,
(03:37):
how important it is, according to what I've read in Acts 6, 1 through 7,
for them to remain focused on studying the word and ministering the word,
right? And being in prayer. Why?
Because Because when time comes for the release to raise up the next set of
leaders or to release leaders to do another work within the ministry or maybe
(04:01):
in the community or what have you,
they're in a position to hear God, to make good decisions.
Think about this in your own personal life. If you're so busy and you've got
a lot of things going on, you're distracted, you're not taking care of yourself,
you're not taking care of your spiritual self the way you should,
and then you have to make a decision.
Decision, nine times out of 10, that decision is going to be born out of a need,
(04:23):
not so much born out of the Spirit of God.
It's going to be born out of an emotional response to your flesh,
not so much a response that has been graced by the Spirit of God and the Spirit of wisdom.
So I think sometimes in church leadership and in church ministry,
and I've done it too, I'm guilty as well, we've appointed people in positions
or we've appointed people to do things and we didn't seek the Holy Spirit for
(04:48):
who had the heart to do the work.
First of all, he said, we need men of honest support.
What happens when we assign people who are dishonest?
What happens when we assign people who don't walk in wisdom?
Wisdom think about the decisions think about the impact these people have if
(05:10):
they're operating within the work of the ministry and they have a carnal heart
or they're operating out of you know.
Dishonesty or they're operating out of the spirit of foolishness because if
you don't have wisdom come on you can't act in wisdom if you don't have wisdom
so think about that think about sometimes Sometimes the fruit we see,
(05:32):
and I say we corporately,
think about the fruit we see that has manifested as a result of some decisions
we've made, whether it's in your business or in your ministry or in your personal life.
Think about some of the decisions you've made. Think about some of the people
that you've asked to help you who did not operate in a spirit of wisdom,
who did not operate in a spirit of honesty.
(05:53):
And think about the fallout, the mess you had to clean up, the people who got
wounded, the people who ended up being hurt, the people who,
in some cases, unfortunately, walked away.
There's so much church right now because they have been touched by people who
have operated in spirits of dishonesty and people who refuse to operate in spirit
(06:15):
of wisdom and who did not have the Holy Spirit, who were not led by the Holy Spirit.
So it is so important, whether you serve in church leadership or senior leadership
or from the pew or what have you,
it's so important to pay attention to who's being appointed and why they're
(06:36):
being appointed and what qualifies them to be appointed.
And then what is the expectation from the appointment?
It's not to have the title or to have the certificate or the license or whatever.
But there has to be fruit and evidence of the work that testifies that the persons
appointed are operating in an honest spirit,
(06:59):
full of the Holy Ghost and full of wisdom.
This is what God is looking for when we are releasing leaders into the body
of Christ, when we're raising leaders, when we're appointing leaders.
He's looking for honesty.
Now, there are many other attributes that we can and that we have looked for.
Oh, they got to have charisma.
They have to be a big tie that they've got to be consistent,
(07:21):
have consistent attendance.
But here, the only three qualifications, and I don't say only like that's all
you need, but these three, honesty, filled with the Holy Ghost, and wisdom.
Honesty, filled with the Holy Ghost, and wisdom. When you have these three character or attributes,
(07:44):
you can be a viable candidate for being used by God and used by those in leadership to serve the people.
The Bible says the say and pleased the whole multitude.
In other words, when you have folks that you have released and you have assigned
and you have appointed or you have delegated who have the wisdom of God,
(08:06):
they've got the Holy Spirit in operation and they have an honest spirit.
Amen. It brings a sense of security and comfort and confidence to the people
because they know that there's someone I can call that I can trust.
There's someone that I can ask for prayer that I can trust.
(08:28):
There's someone that I can seek out for counsel or for assistance in whatever
matter, and I can trust them.
They're going to be honest with me. They're going to tell me the truth.
They're going to be filled with the Holy Spirit. So whatever they tell me,
it's going to align with the scripture and it's going to, listen,
and it's not going to divide, right?
They're going to be in alignment with the Holy Spirit. They're going to be in
(08:50):
alignment with the teachings that's released in the house.
And they're also going to be aligned with the vision of the house. That's so important.
You got to be aligned with the vision.
Otherwise you operate in division, right?
Division. Either you're operating in vision or division. There's one or two.
There's no third choice there.
And so the Bible said the saying pleased everybody.
(09:13):
They were so happy to know that the apostles,
okay, yes, you may can't come to my house and cut my grass or fix my sink or
fix my hair or whatever my natural need may be, but I'm so grateful that you
took the time to seek out the Holy Spirit and that you're going to send people to help.
And these folks are going going to carry out the vision.
(09:33):
They're going to operate in loyalty, well, loyalty, thank you,
Lord Spirit. They're going to operate in honesty.
They're going to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and they're going to operate in wisdom.
And so receiving that person, receiving the Stephen or the Philip or the Nicholas,
receiving them is just like receiving that set leader because they're going
to all operate in the same spirit.
And so the reason why we see the dissension and the confusion and the ism and
(09:56):
the schism is because we have some who are not operating in those spirits or
they've been appointed and don't operate in those spirits. And let me say this.
Sometimes we can start out well. There are many songs that I can bring to your
mind that we start out well, and then somehow, some way, we fall off, right?
(10:19):
Paul talked about how Demas, he was among us, and now he's not among us anymore, right?
And so it is very possible that we can start out being honest,
filled with the Holy Spirit, and be filled with wisdom so that we can be appointed.
But then we are accountable to God when you say, yes, I will.
(10:39):
Yes, Lord. Yes, pastor. Yes, apostle.
Yes, bishop. Yes, ma'am. Yes, or whoever your spiritual authoritative person
is. And you're saying, yes, I will call this person. Yes, I will take on this committee.
Yes, I will take on this region. Yes, I will take on this assignment.
When you say that, then not only are you giving that said person your yes and
(10:59):
your consent to the thing, but you're also acknowledging before the Lord,
God, I'm going to take on this work and I'm going to get it done.
And I'm going to do it in honesty. I'm going to do it filled with the Holy Spirit.
And I'm going to do it in a spirit of wisdom.
But then what happens when we fall short? What happens when we run out of fuel?
(11:21):
Are we maintaining the responsibility for that which the Lord has called us
for, for the things he's called us to?
Do we maintain? Are we still accountable?
What if one of the widow's houses we can't get to by five o'clock?
Do we call and say, Miss Brown, I'm so sorry. I ran out of time. I'll be there tomorrow.
(11:42):
Right. Remember, honesty. Right. We're not going to act like it didn't happen
or we're not going to act like the need is not there. We're going to communicate.
Why? Because we have the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is a spirit of excellence
and a spirit of integrity.
And so our words have to mean something, right?
So that's just a short little thing that was on my heart as I was studying,
(12:03):
just doing some readings and what have you.
And it just came up in my spirit. I was like, you know what?
I just want to talk to the people of God about that.
I want to talk to the people of God. Those of you who are serving,
I want you to just kind of stop and chew on that for a little bit.
Lord, am I serving in a spirit of honesty for the work that you've called me
to do, whatever it is, children's ministry, music ministry, usher ministry, hospitality,
(12:26):
scribe ministry, prison ministry, nursing home ministry, virtual ministry,
whatever it is, whatever the work is that you have been appointed to do,
are you executing that assignment in honesty?
Are you doing that work out of the fullness of the Holy Spirit,
right? Out of the fullness.
In other words, when you touch that work, if you are the administrator and it's
(12:49):
your job to respond to emails or phone calls or write letters or develop programs
or what have you, are you operating full of the Holy Spirit?
And what I mean by that is, are you checking your grammar?
You know, what does that phone language sound like? You know,
what vibe and what What impression do you give when you speak to people on behalf
(13:10):
of your ministry or on behalf of your leader?
Are you doing it out of the fullness of the Holy Spirit or are we operating
out of the flesh? Well, I'll do it when I get to it. I don't feel like it. Why me?
Then we're operating out of the soulless realm, right? That's not being full of the Holy Spirit.
Those are not fruits of the Holy Spirit, not the gentleness,
(13:31):
the kindness, the patience, the faith.
We're not operating in that. And so we're not operating in that.
Then you're certainly not operating in honesty and you're not operating in wisdom.
And so that in that case, we're not operating in vision. We're operating in division.
And these are the things that causes issues, causes problems.
(13:51):
And let's just be honest, right? These are the areas where God looks at that.
Whether your leader acknowledges it or not and or says anything to you about
it or not, you made a vow unto the Lord. Lord, you accepted that assignment
and you said, yes, Lord, I will.
Yes, ma'am, I will. Yes, the one who is representative of the Father,
you gave them your yes that you would do it.
(14:13):
And so then we wonder why prayers are unanswered or we're experiencing some
unusual warfare or some type of challenges because who the Lord loves, he chastens.
And there are areas in our lives that are misaligned.
There are assignments that we have not completed, even speaking for myself,
(14:33):
which is why I'm here talking to you right now. The Lord said,
okay, you're done with school. Get back to your job.
Get back to your assignment, which is to teach the nation, right?
I have no excuse now. He gave me the release to go to school.
Matter of fact, it was the Lord who told me to go. I didn't want to go back
to school. I'm tired of going to school. I got so many degrees.
I'm just, somebody said, you got so many letters behind your name.
And I, you know, praise God.
Thank God, you know, for having the spirit of a scribe and a scholar.
(14:57):
But I did not want to go back to school.
But there were doors that the Lord wanted me to access and get through that
I needed certain credentials.
And I did that so that I could have an influence in certain places on the mountain of education.
So I blessed God for that. As soon as I graduated, the very next morning,
the Lord showed me a dream. He said, get back to teaching. And I said, yes, Lord.
(15:17):
And so this is is where I am. So when you're filled with the Holy Spirit and
you draw back from the things that God has called you to, the Holy Spirit is going to remind you.
He will bring these things to your remembrance.
And he will say, when was the last time you prayed? When was the last time you called a fast?
When was the last time you had a prayer meeting? When was the last time you,
(15:39):
you know, he's going to remind you and he's going to bring you back into a place of righteousness.
Righteousness, but if the Holy Spirit is not talking to you,
if He's not reminding you, if He's not baiting you back to the place where we
wandered from, then we have to ask ourselves, am I filled with the Holy Spirit?
Am I operating out of the fullness of the Holy Spirit, right?
(16:00):
So I pray that this few moments of exhortation has been a blessing to you.
I pray that it's got you thinking about some things, and don't go looking at anybody else.
Just examine yourself and see where you are, or if you're in leadership,
maybe the Lord is speaking to you about some things happening in your house.
Just, you know, whatever the Lord is saying, let Him say that. Amen.
But we came out of Acts chapter 6, 1 through 7, and we were talking about how
(16:22):
there was a need as the church grew, as the work increased, that the apostles
were so, you know, there was a challenge even on their mantle.
And so the widows were like, hey, we're being neglected. And that can happen.
As you're growing, as your ministry is growing, or as certain facets of your
(16:42):
ministry life or community life or whatever is growing, some things are going
to be neglected because you're one person. You can't do everything.
But what God will do is he will assign help.
And God is not just assigning you anybody to help you.
We've got to be wise, as the scripture has revealed,
in who we are appointing to help, that we are placing the right people in position
(17:04):
to get the work of God done so that we can study the word, stay in prayer,
and continue to reach preach and teach the nations. Amen.
I pray this has been a blessing to you. I look forward to our next time. God bless.
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