When all you have is, ‘Go ye!’
Filed in General |
Journal,
In this entry I hope to especially benefit those who are cognizance of a call to the gospel ministry, and especially if you are young both in years and somewhat inexperienced. After forty-three years as a minister I believe I do have some things to share.
The short side of things is that in all my years in the ministry, the insightful principles of faith that I’ve learned came directly from the Scriptures. With regard to the gospel ministry I have to point to Matthew chapter ten.
There are many things that cannot be taught in seminary training or in Bible college. They can only be taught by Jesus Himself. This is how I learned them. They have to become life experiences.
OK, now that I have your attention, I’ll leave Matthew ten off for a bit while I talk about other things.
First to give a feel for the gospel trail that Betty and I have walked, here are some of the places the Lord has taken us through the years…
Precluding other states and countries, in Louisiana alone I’ve done revivals, conducted seminars, held pastorates, or otherwise preached in a number of places, including -
Mora, Flatwoods, Pinecoupee, Sharp, Lafayette, Breaux Bridge, Thibodeaux, Leesville, DeRidder, Florien, Lake Charles, West Monroe, Pollock, Alexandria, Boyce, Lena, Anacoco, Burr Ferry, Many, Mansfield, Toledo Bend, Tioga, Slagle, Sulpher, Milton, Baton Rouge, Lilly, Natchitoches, Gorum, Marco, Pitkin, Elizabeth, Fairfield, and in other places that I’m sure have slipped my mind.
In addition to the mentioned places, for the last 32 years my service in God’s kingdom has settled almost exclusively in a ministry that I founded in 1976, Christian Challenge International.
From the very beginning it has been my earnest desire to help Christians learn the lessons of Biblical discipleship. I’ve designed training courses, taken believers on mission trips, and have seen several hundreds of people come through the training courses offered by our School for Christian Workers.
It is my joy to say that many are now in the gospel ministry. Many more are serving in various churches with a good understanding of the gospel.
I’ve had more than one of our students tell me that they learned more of a spiritual nature in our ’Disciple’s Heart Training Program’ than they did in all their time at Bible college.
Of course they did. Bible colleges and seminaries pretty much center largely on their own religions. The under-gird of all our courses have to do with having a true relationship with Jesus Christ that is unencumbered with the trappings of religion.
And as an after thought, believe it or not, I still have many of my sermon notes that reach back to 1965.
So I guess you could pretty much say that all this makes me an old timer.
Enough on that. Now let’s talk about –
Timeless love and the gospel road…
The figurine in the picture above is a gift to me from my sweet Betty. The title of the figurine is ‘timeless love.’ And it pretty much tells the story of the most important element in a gospel minister’s life, which, by the way, is the minister’s wife.
Is it enough to say that the carrier of the gospel is unable to fulfill his calling until he has a faithful companion who both understands the call to the ministry and is willing to walk beside him each step of the way? 
Listen:
“Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?” (1Co9:5)
“It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. (1Tim3:1-3)
There is so much I would like to share about having a faithful companion, but I’ll simply leave this with you. Your wife is your partner by covenant. Without her fully at your side, your ministry will never be fruitful.
Now let’s come to one of the most important chapters in all the Bible with regard to the faith walk of a gospel minister. The very lessons that Jesus taught His apostles, will carry over in one form or another into the present day minister’s life.
Without detailing all that Jesus instructed His disciples, the best I can do at this point is simply highlight certain principles that the Lord shared with me, and that I learned by experience. However, I must point that not one of the principles can I teach you. They can only be taught by the Lord. And they can only be experienced in the doing of them.
Spiritual principles of ministry found in Matthew chapter ten…
Every gospel minister should read this chapter over and over until he begins to hear what the Lord would speak into his life. Here are some of the principles:
Verse 7: “As you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”
We are not to simply preach Jesus of the cross. We are to preach Jesus as the ascended ever present Lord of glory.
Don’t preach deadness. Preach Jesus as the living Savior. Preach Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, and preach Him as a personal Savior. Preach Him as the God of our yesterdays, our todays, and our tomorrows.
Verse 9: “Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts, or a bag for your journey, or even two coats, or sandals, or a staff; for the worker is worthy of his support.”
This is the one that will tell the story. This is the one that will tell whether you are truly ready to fulfill a call to the ministry. First of all you must have the ‘Go ye!’ Once you have the Lord’s release for ministry, it is here where you must learn that heaven is to be your support base and not man.
Don’t ever get your eyes on man. Don’t be a whiner, a begger, or a moaner, or a crybaby. Whatever you do, don’t preach money. If you will take care of the Father’s business, He will most certainly take care of your business.
The thing to keep in mind is that the gospel ministry is work, but it is work that is well rewarded by heaven. Do your work well and the Lord will reward you well.
I began Christian Challenge in 1976 with no more than a stewardship from the Lord, with no congregation, with no organization to back me. It was my wife, my three children, myself, my Bible, and my guitar. And on top of things the Lord instructed me not to pass an offering plate in our services. I was to learn what it meant to be ‘worthy’ of heaven’s support.
There is where the minister must learn Paul’s secret, when he said, “I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering, I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (Phil4:12)
Verses 11-13: “And whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it, and stay at his house until you leave.”
This principle is what I call God’s ’son of peace’ provision. One way the Lord provides for His servant is by raising up someone who will literally fill the needs of the servant and not even realize that he was chosen to do exactly that. I have met a great many of my ’sons of peace’ providers. These people are especially blessed of the Lord.
Study the Scriptures to see if this is not a true principle for the servant’s calling. These peoples are a special gifting from the Lord to the servant of the Lord.
Verse 27: “What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops.”
This principle requires that the servant be able to hear spiritually. Over the years I’ve 
had the Lord whisper in my ears, in my heart, in my dreams and visions, and in many other ways. He never fails to give me my instructions for the matters at hand, and often even something concerning the future.
If you are unable to live by the Spirit, you are unable to fulfill a call of service in God’s kingdom.
Verses 38,39: “And he who does not take up his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.”
A call to the ministry is about giving up all rights to your own life. The most valuable lesson you can ever learn as a minister of the gospel is to release control over to the Lord. The Psalmist talks about this:
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eyes upon you. Do not be as the horse or the mule which have no understanding, whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, otherwise they will not come near you.” (Psalm 32:8,9)
There is much more to be said about Matthew chapter ten. In fact I’ve barely scratched the surface, but I find it best to let the Lord provide whatever insights you may need.
Are there other things the gospel minister needs to learn? Absolutely. If I were to make a list, I would place at the very top for the minister to stay out of debt, that is, to owe no man anything but to love him.
Alas, for the sake of time, I find it best to leave off for now. Just felt it on my heart that someone among my readers truly needed to hear what I had to share.
May the blessings of the Lord overtake you,
In Christ,
Buddy
