27th Mar 26 | 16:08
Studies by Book
01 Acts 13 01-03 THE COMMISSIONING OF BARNABAS AND PAUL 06 Acts 13 02 Fulfilling the ministry
📖 Acts 13:01-03
06 – Thu, 20 Feb 2025 – *Fulfilling the ministry* - _Acts 13:01-03_ – THE COMMISSIONING OF BARNABAS AND PAUL – _Acts 20:28-32_
_Acts 13:2 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, "Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."_
As we minister to the Lord, He gives us the ministry that we must do to people. Paul received the ministry of the Lord to the Gentiles, as He ministered to Him. Let us always be in the presence of the Lord, ministering to Him. As we do so, the clarity for the ministry that He entrusts into our hands will take hold of us.
Paul knew not only to whom God was sending him to serve but also what needed to happen to the Gentiles. _Romans 15:16 that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, *that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit*._
The offering of the Gentiles or their worship before God must be acceptable, and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. This is a big ask. The Gentiles were bound in idolatry, ignorance, darkness, superstitions, witchcraft, foolishness, immorality and man-made ideologies. The ministry of Paul was to rescue them from this woeful state and to move them to become worshippers of the living God, offering to Him acceptable worship, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
This clarity of the ministry is understood in serving God in worship.
The danger and pitfall that many people fall into in ministry is that we get immersed in the ministry that we had received in the presence of the Lord, and we are now running on our steam. We start carrying the ministry on our shoulders. This has brought many people of God, doing the ministry, into serious prolonged distress.
Praise God that many have stopped, got their bearings corrected, and went back to the presence of the Lord to worship Him. *To be in the presence of the Lord, serving Him in worship and praise, for this is our core and cannot be left out of our lives*.
There is also another possibility. We received the ministry of God as we served Him in worship, but now, we are immersing ourselves in some other pursuit. We have ignored the ministry that the Lord had entrusted to us.
Many are in this state as well. Today, their life has become cold and listless. They are so caught up in their current pursuit of their well-being. They have forgotten the ministry that the Lord had given to their charge when they served Him in worship.
One such person in the Bible was Archippus. _Colossians 4:17 And say to Archippus, "Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it."_
As those who minister to God in worship and receive from Him the ministry to people, if we do not fulfil the ministry then God’s wrath falls on the people. _Numbers 18:5 And you shall attend to the duties of the sanctuary and the duties of the altar, that there may be no more wrath on the children of Israel._
When we do the ministry that we received in the presence of the Lord, we are saving the people to whom we were sent from the wrath of God. _Ezekiel 33:6-7 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand.' (7) *"So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel*; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me._
For the one who has received the ministry from the presence of the Lord but does not fulfil the ministry, the judgement will be severe. _Luke 12:47 And that servant who knew his master's will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes._
In Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles, he also took much pain to build up those to whom the Lord had entrusted His ministry. Just as he wrote to Archippus, reminding and urging him to take up the ministry that he received from the Lord, he did the same with others.
Paul called the elders of the church at Ephesus to Miletus and gave them his final exhortation to fulfil the ministry that had been entrusted to them. _Acts 20:28-32 Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which *the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God* which He purchased with His own blood. (29) For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. (30) Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. (31) Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. (32) "So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified._
There are several crucial principles for ministry built into this mandate.
```Friend, are you fulfilling the ministry that you received from the presence of the Lord?```