Need of Ministry

1 Samuel 3:1-14 

3 Now the boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation. 2 And it came to pass at that time, while Eli was lying down in his place, and when his eyes had begun to grow so dim that he could not see, 3 and before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the Lord where the ark of God was, and while Samuel was lying down, 4 that the Lord called Samuel. And he answered, “Here I am!” 5 So he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” And he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” And he went and lay down.

6 Then the Lord called yet again, “Samuel!”

So Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” He answered, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 7 (Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him.)

8 And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. So he arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you did call me.”

Then Eli perceived that the Lord had called the boy. 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and it shall be, if He calls you, that you must say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

10 Now the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”

And Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant hears.”

11 Then the Lord said to Samuel: “Behold, I will do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. 12 In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. 13 For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them. 14 And therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.”

According to the text, the word of the Lord was rare and not wide-spread in those days, so we see here that the Lord had a need for ministry to be put forth. 

At present, He couldn’t use the former religious movement because they had lost themselves in the flesh and disqualified themselves with a lifestyle that sought no repentance or mercy from God…so the Lord raised up a child to do a man’s job.

First of all, you need to understand that our fellowship truly is a land of opportunity – what is going on in our churches is very rare…there aren’t many organizations who will allow anyone off the streets to come in to the church, get saved, redeemed, and then enter ministry…for some there must be schooling  and / or years of service building up a resume before this even happens…however, ministry is readily available to the humble and contrite who seek to do His will.

Know this though – you can come into the right place for the wrong reasons, whenever you do that – you abuse opportunities given to you and can possibly lose it all; including your own salvation if you’re not careful.

John 10:11-13 

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 12 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. 13 The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.

We see here, that the hireling had the position, but not the conviction to take care of it…as long as he / she had the title, ministry was simple enough, but whenever there was conflict and / or difficulty…they took off – this cannot happen in the house of God if we are to be effective ministers.

Revelation

Ministry is a revelation…God cannot be explained, He must be revealed! This happens in prayer, the Word, even in worship…with our hearts open to Christ, He can reveal Himself and help us

Galatians 1:15-16 

15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, 16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood,

Paul is testifying that God called him, no one explained this to him, it was revealed. In other words, you know that you know that you know!!

Some people enter into ministry for the wrong reasons:

Emotions and hype of the moment | Opportunity to show off their talents and abilities |

Attention and promotion

This brings with it a lot of headache and heartache…people who minister on these grounds become incredibly difficult to deal with…because, ministry is more than what you do, it’s who you are

Acts 6:3 

3 Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business;

See, the qualities that the apostles were looking for, should already be at work in a person…

Ask yourself, ‘How can I be of service to the King of kings?’ That should always be our motivation, and the Lord will reveal Himself, any other motive, and you’re headed down the wrong roads.

The Need

God is in need of ministers for His kingdom purposes. He needs men and women who love Him and hate sin – so that the gospel can be preached in all the earth…He’s waiting on you and on me to get locked in.

Pastor Wells said something to me that really spoke volumes…he said, “If you’re going to live for God, and / or minister, you must be all in!” 

If you’re not all in, it’s not gonna work! This is so true when it comes to being an effective minister / Christian for Jesus Christ. How are you going to last if you’re half-hearted??

We live in a desperate hour where the lives of many have grown cold, stale, and indifferent towards the things of God, we need men and women to rise up and do something for Jesus!

3 and before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the Lord where the ark of God was, and while Samuel was lying down,

What’s key about that text is, ‘before the lamp of God went out…’

In other words, before all hope was lost, God found a young boy, willing to hear what He had to say…will you be the one whom the Lord will call out to?

The lamp of God is still burning! He has a lot for us to do, it has to be for the cause of the lost and the broken. It cannot be about us only. This church will grow when we focus on others above ourselves.

Too much in reach and not enough outreach!

Matthew 9:36‭-‬38

But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.  Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”