It took me 15 years to understand this, I'm going to tell you in less than 30 seconds.
If nobody sees you as an enemy, you're not important.
If nobody talks behind your back, you're not relevant.
If somebody tries to take advantage of you, it means you have value.
If somebody tries to put you down, it means you're already above them.
Hate only comes from below, never from above.
If they doubt you, it means you're doing things that they believe are impossible for themselves.
Criticism, that's just a hidden form of admiration.
Your haters are actually your biggest fans.
They just haven't figured out how to clap yet.
This is W-T-T-R, Truth Time Radio.
Today, we're asking the question, Just what does it mean to be a good minister?
As members of the Body of Christ, we only have one apostle, his name, Paul, and he tells us exactly what a good minister is.
1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 6, If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.
So, to be a good minister is to put the brethren in remembrance of these things.
What things?
Well, contextually speaking, doctrines of devils.
He said, Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, (thats the faith of Christ) giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
What are the doctrines of devils? Verse 3 forbidding to marry.
What church do you know that does that?
The Roman Catholics, they require celibacy from their bishops, priests, nuns, monks.
The ancient Gnostics were very similar in what they taught.
They were extremely strict concerning celibacy and taught that it was a means to achieving noces, noces, meaning special spiritual knowledge.
Okay, now, let's see, what's next here on the doctrines of devils list?
Paul says, Commanding to abstain from meats, and who does that?
Again, the Catholic church, abstain from meats on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
But they make some sort of provision for fish, I think, I know they used to.
And let's not leave out the Seventh Day Adventists.
They very strongly encourage to abstain from meats as well.
According to Paul, these teachings are doctrines of devils.
Meanwhile, most choose to look away in the name of love and tolerance, refusing to take a stand and say anything against those evil teachings.
Let's just hold hands around the ecumenical, let's all get along kumbaya campfire, even though they're teaching adults and even children to practice doctrines of devils.
It's despicable.
In light of this truth, we, we're certain that neither Catholics, Gnostics, or Seventh-Dayers have good ministers, not according to the word of God.
A good minister is one that has allowed the word of God to equip them to edify others and minister grace to the hearer, Ephesians 4:29.
A good minister agrees with God even when it affects them financially or goes against the traditions of men.
Today, God doesn't forbid marriage, men do.
He doesn't forbid marriage, and he created meat to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth, 1 Timothy 4:3.
A good minister is one that communicates clearly and presents truth with conviction and compassion.
Doesn't mince words and doesn't suffer fools gladly. 2 Corinthians 11:19.
A good minister knows right from wrong and is not afraid to speak up about it, no matter who likes it or not.
A good minister will not shy away from labor in 1 Thessalonians 5:12 Paul wrote, And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves.
A good minister will encourage you to remain steadfast and actively engaged.
They try not to get discouraged in well doing to spot the difficulties and challenges they may be faced with.
In the 6th chapter, in the 6th chapter of the book of Galatians, Paul, he said, And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
A good minister will nourish others in the words of faith and good doctrine because our nourishment is a high priority, very important.
What does your daily diet consist of?
Is it milk or meat?
Are you growing?
We need to grow and mature spiritually.
That's what allows us to spot and avoid false teachers.
You remember, you remember reading about Epaphras?
Who was he to Paul?
He was a dear fellow servant.
He meant a lot to Paul, and he told those at Colossae that Epaphras was a faithful minister of Christ.
He was a good minister, being a good minister involves being a good steward.
Titus 1:7, For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
1 Corinthians 4 verses 1 and 2, Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
That's a good minister.
A good minister is Titus 1:8, But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; (Titus 1:9) Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
A good minister is one who preaches the gospel without charge.
They don't charge for the gospel.
That would be an abuse of power.
1 Corinthians 9-18.
In Ephesians 6, Paul said, And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,
For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
So a good minister is one who speaks boldly.
A good minister is an ambassador, one who is able to Ephesians 3:9 make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery. How that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ by the gospel.
A good minister refuses profane and old wives' fables.
1 Timothy 4:7, And instead exercises themselves unto Godliness.
A good minister studies to show themselves approved unto God.
In order to be an unashamed workman who rightly divides the word of truth while shunning profane and vain babblings.
Profane and vain babblings is what we're hearing today, those adding a "do" to forgiveness.
A good minister will rightly divide water baptism from spiritual baptism, mandatory law tithing from goodwill grace giving, divides the return of Jesus to set up an earthly kingdom from the catching away to meet him in the air and go to heavenly places.
A good minister divides time past Israel, having to do something about their imputed trespasses from the but now world not having to do anything about trespasses.
Coming into the knowledge of these truths, it removes the chains.
Having a transformative understanding of the gospel brings spiritual freedom.
A good minister will make a straight cut and slice it right, preach the word of truth rightly divided without placing limitations on forgiveness.
After hearing a good minister, you should walk away feeling free and light with a spring in your step, feeling encouraged and edified, ready to go to work and share the good news with others.
If you're solid, if you're grounded in Paul's gospel, your words, they're going to bring grace to the hearer, and telling someone they got to do something for forgiveness is not ministering grace to anyone.
Telling them they can lose their salvation, that's not ministering grace.
Think about telling someone they can lose their salvation when it's not even theirs to lose.
We commit our salvation to the Lord rather than trying to self-manage it.
Doing so brings peace.
Relinquishing control is what enables us to conquer all these anxieties we had about our salvation.
This happens when we start relying on his power to save and to keep us safe. Christ assures us that he will finish what he began, Philippians 1:6.
Paul said, If we believe not, he abideth faithful and he cannot deny himself. 2 Timothy 2:13.
And in Acts 20 verse 32, he said, And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.
Our inheritance is set, locked in.
It cannot be denied to us.
In Ephesians 4 Paul said, And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Those who don't believe this are those who don't want to believe it.
Hey, it's heresy to reject eternal security.
How can you lose your salvation when the Holy Spirit has sealed it unto the day of redemption?
I have complete and full trust in the person of the Holy Spirit to keep his promise.
Paul didn't mince words in Ephesians 1:13. He said, In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Meaning, we're eternally kept by God's power.
Salvation is a gift and the gifts of God are what?
They're irrevocable.
There's no sound argument against the eternal security of the believer,
none, never has been, and the only reason some of us, myself included, used to think we could lose our salvation is, we didn't bother to rightly divide God's word of truth.
We didn't study right.
But once we did, once we caught on to this, we realized that the only ones in scripture who could suffer loss of salvation was those outside the dispensation of grace.
There is something an interesting term called the personal incredulity fallacy.
It's a fallacy, and it's where someone claims that something is false because they can't fully understand it.
It's false because I can't believe it.
It can't be true because my brain does not accept it.
It's where their brain bypasses and avoids engaging with the evidence.
But we should never say something is untrue just because it seems counterintuitive.
We should never regard it as being false based on our personal inability
to believe or understand it.
That's just not how it works.
This is what limited forgivers do, though.
They can't imagine how God could stop imputing someone's trespasses without that person having a hand in it.
And because they can't imagine it, they think it means it's not true.
That's how their brain works.
To them, their lack of understanding makes it not true.
This is the personal incredulity fallacy.
It's flawed logic.
Limited forgivers are guilty of this, and they come in all flavors.
The Church of Christ, for example, the Church of Christ limited forgivers say you have to, you got to be water baptized to be forgiven.
Methodists, they'll tell you you have to confess your sins to God, and even to one another for forgiveness.
And the Baptists, they come along and say you have to turn from your sins for forgiveness.
Mormons, for what they deemed to be serious sins, they'll say you got to go see the bishop to make restitution.
That's much like the Jehovah's Witnesses.
They send you to the church elders to get forgiveness.
And the Catholic Church, of course, they'll have you doing multiple things.
One of the most popular is to take your sins inside the confessional booth where you can sit down with a priest, he'll absolve them for you.
Even though the Bible is clear, there is only one mediator between God and man, and that's Christ Jesus, not the man in the booth. 1 Timothy 2:5.
But what should we expect from a religion that invokes the dead, prays to Mary, and bows to statue?
Their personal incredulity, it has them blind to this truth.
But a good minister, a good minister won't fall into this trap.
A good minister will rightly divide that which was meant for Israel according to the prophetic program, from that which is meant for us according to God's mystery program.
A good minister knows there is more than one gospel in the Bible, and today salvation is found in believing that Christ having died and shed his blood for all your sins, he was buried and rose on the third day offering eternal life as a free gift to all who will believe on him.
Grace and peace.
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