Equipped and Accountable

Ephesians 2:8-10:  "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Tonight I want to talk about Christians to be equipped and accountable.

If you go home and 'google ' verse 10 of Ephesians, you will find it says it is a masterpiece.  God says who I am.  A lot of times when things go wrong we ring someone and complain.   Go first to God and talk to him about to.  Whoever you are, whatever job or position you have, you are first and foremost a minister of God.

What matters is what you've done with the Lord.  Not material things.  Life changing truth about you:  you are a minister of God.

Ministry is not worship, music; it about loving people.  Practice what God has given to you.

1 Peter 4:10 - Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

We in Australia operate under a government system of democracy.
God works a theocracy.   God calls us to be ministers of Jesus Christ.  (a system of government in which priests rule in the name of God or a god.... dictionary.com)

Matthew 28:18-19  The Great Commission.  Our ministry.
Our authority comes from God.  We are not here to control anyone but to exercise authority.   Matthew 20:28 - we are called to serve.  God wants us to do the work He has called us to do.
We are commanded for ministry.  

"Success is never final and failure never fatal. It’s courage that counts.
Success is not final; failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts."

We have to practice our faith.  Another  command is to not worry.

Ephesians 4:11-16: "So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.  Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."

When parents bring their child home, they teach them to grow up, to walk, to learn.

Pastors, teachers, apostles had to be taught.   Paul after the road to Damascus went and learnt for several years about Jesus before he began preaching.

1 Corinthians 12:27 "Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it."

In the body of Christ, e.g. fighting, illness this affects the whole body.   For the body to be healthy, each part must do it's part.  Jesus thought so much of you, he died on the cross a cruel death.

Matthew 9:36-37 - there is a while world out there that needs to hear Jesus.  Tell the world about Jesus, and let the Holy Spirit do the rest.

Romans 14:12
Matthew 25:14-30
Colossians 3:23-24
Matthew 25:23