Title: Has God Called You to the Ministry?
Meta: Some people think that you go to Bible college or seminary and you become a pastor. Let me ask you this, has God come to you and given you something that you did not have before? Has God given you a gift? Has God given you power to be able to carry out the work of a pastor?
Tags: ministry,pastor,teacher,elder,believer,Christian

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Notice this:

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Verse 3

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"How the mystery was made known to me

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by revelation."

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You see how Paul got it?

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By revelation.

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Revelation of who?

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By God.

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You keep reading here.

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Go to verse 5:

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"Which was not made known to the sons of men

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in other generations as it is has now been

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revealed to his holy apostles and prophets

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by the Spirit."

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You keep going. Verse 7:

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"Of this gospel I was made a minister."

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Not, I took it upon myself to become one.

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Men, you men who are interested in the ministry,

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you need to grasp this.

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Jesus Christ gave gifts to men.

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Not only apostles, but prophets,

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evangelists, pastor-teacher.

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They're all in the same category.

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They are given to men.

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Paul says, I have a ministry,

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but I did not dream this up.

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I have a revelation.

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I have something that was given to me.

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A stewardship of God's grace.

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It was given to me.

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You keep reading here in Ephesians 3.

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"Of this gospel I was made a minister

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according to the gift of God's grace

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which was given me by the working

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of His power, to me,

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though I'm the very least of all the saints.

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This grace was given to preach to the Gentiles

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the unsearchable riches of Christ."

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It was given to me.

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Men, you need to recognize something.

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Pastor-teacher is in the same category

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with apostle, in the sense that

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it is a gift that is given of Christ.

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Some people have this idea

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that you go to Bible college

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or you go to seminary and you become one.

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Some people have this idea that

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because I want to become one...

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Let me ask you this:

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Has God come to you and given you something

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that you did not have before?

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Has God entrusted you with a stewardship?

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Has God given you a ministry?

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Has God revealed something to you?

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Has God given you gift?

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Has God given you power

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to be able to carry this out?

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Notice what Paul said.

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Paul said that this had been given

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to him.

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The stewardship of God's grace that

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was given to me for you.

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It was not given to Paul

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for the sake of his own glory.

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It was not given to Paul for the sake

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of his own financial situation.

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It was not given to him so that

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people would think he was a great preacher,

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so they would bow down before him,

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so they would cherish his words as being

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unique and authoritative in the sense

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that they came from him.

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What he is saying is,

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don't look at me as deriving this.

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Don't look at me as being the author of this.

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Don't.

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It's a stewardship of God's grace.

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I'm least than the least of the saints out here.

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I'm nothing.

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But God has entrusted me with this.

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Men, if you do not have something

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that is by the will of God -

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how do you know it's by the will of God?

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Because God came from outside you

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and gave you something that you didn't have

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before that.

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Too many men want to pronounce themselves

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as pastors.

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They want to pronounce themselves as teachers.

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But let me tell you something.

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It's a stewardship of God's grace

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that's given to men for the sake of others.

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And if you've been given such a stewardship,

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the others will recognize that you have such

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a stewardship of God's grace given to you.

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Why?

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Because it's for them.

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It's for their advantage.

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It's for their upbuilding.

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And if nobody's built up,

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nobody's advantaged,

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nobody's helped,

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nobody gleans grace from what you're doing,

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brethren, the last thing the church needs

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is self-pronounced anything.

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It doesn't matter what it is.

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What you see here is a Christianity

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that starts with God.

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It is by the will of God.

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And it's no different in the church.

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What we don't want to do is say

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oh, he's an apostle.

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Yeah, you go to Ephesians 4

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and you will find that apostles and prophets

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and evangelists and pastors and teachers

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are put in the same category.

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They come from Jesus Christ.

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It's the same in the church today

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as it was way back then

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2,000 years ago when Jesus Christ

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chose twelve men to follow Him.

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Brethren, God is still the God

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who is sovereign in the church.

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It's by the will of God that there is an apostle

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and it is by the will of God that there is any

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kind of teacher or preacher

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or anybody gifted for any ministry.

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This comes from God.

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He is sovereign in the church.

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We need to grasp this.

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Men, you need to grasp it.

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Don't enter any ministry if you just have

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some inclination, some self-serving desire to do so.

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If God has not broken into your life

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from the outside,

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come to you and made you

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what you weren't before,

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gifted you in a way you were not gifted before.

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Given you a ministry.

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The grace of God being given to you,

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poured out on your life,

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poured out on your gift,

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poured out on your character;

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where you know God has come.

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This is real Christianity.

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This is the Christianity of Scripture.

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It is God coming in,

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it is God stepping in,

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it is God doing something.

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That's what we need to recognize.