In this dynamic episode, the transformative power of discovering your personal ministry is explored. Speaker Adrian Rogers calls upon the faithful to rise above the complacency found in both clergy and laity, urging an awakening to individual and collective ministry. Learn how the principles of lordship, membership, and stewardship intertwine to reveal one’s spiritual gifts. In a time when moral standards are faltering, discovering the ministry within yourself becomes not only a call but a divine urgency.
Known for his unique ability to simplify profound truth so that it can be applied to everyday life, Adrian Rogers was one of the most effective preachers, respected Bible teachers, and Christian leaders of our time. Thanks for joining us for this message. Here’s Adrian Rogers.
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Now, sometimes we think that God divides people in a more artificial way than He does between laity and clergy. Clergy refers to those of us who are the professionals and the laity refers to those who are in the pew, who in the minds of some don’t do much. Somebody asked a little girl, what is the difference between the laity and the clergy? And the little girl said, well, the clergy are paid for being good. The laity are good for nothing. Now, the problem is, the problem is I think a professional clergy and a good-for-nothing laity, both of them are an abomination to God. We’re in the business of serving the Lord. And God has given to every one of us a ministry. As a matter of fact, we’re going to read in Romans chapter 12, the first couple of verses about what he calls your reasonable service. Do you know what that literally means in the Greek language? A literal interpretation is your logical ministry. Your logical ministry. That’s literally what it refers to. It’s logical that God would put you into the ministry. Now, so many Christians are just floundering in their Christian life. I mean, they don’t have any true fulfillment. And they’re wanting to know, what does God want me to do? If God has a ministry for me, what is my ministry? I don’t want to just sit, soak, and sour. I want to serve. But frankly, pastor, I don’t have a ministry. I wouldn’t know what I’m equipped to do. And if I found that out, I wouldn’t know how to do it or what to do it. And I tell you, it’s time that we discovered our ministry, not only as a church, but as individuals. The hour, friend, in which we’re living is desperate. This is a desperate day. Militant atheism is on the march. We need something. We need a revival that cannot be explained by philosophy or psychology or promotion or propaganda. And I’ll tell you something else. Moral standards have toppled. I’ve never seen anything like it. Today we have movie stars who have faces like angels and morals like alley cats. They’re the ones that are setting the standard for our children. We have glamorized adultery. We’ve licorized society and humanized God. And yet, in the churches, there’s so many people who sit unconcerned and apathetic. I’m telling you, the hour is desperate and the hour is ripe. Did you know what I’m seeing? I’m seeing today, in spite of all of the debauchery and sin, an awakening hunger. There is a turning to spiritual things. People have tried sin and found out that they’ve been feeding on husks and sawdust. And it’s all just a mouthful of ashes. And they’re asking one more time, is Jesus Christ the answer? Is this book true? Is there hope in the Lord Jesus Christ? And there’s a strange new hunger in the land. The hour is desperate. The hour is ripe. And the hour is late. And the sands of time are running low. And we’re in a race against sin, against Satan, against self. And we need to find out what is the ministry that our Lord has for us. Now, I want to give you four principles. And these four principles for discovering your ministry… I’m not talking about going to pastor a church somewhere, but your ministry in your neighborhood, in your business, in your family, whatever the ministry is, there are four principles we’re going to find right here. Principle number one is the principle of lordship. All right, did you get that? Write it down, the principle of lordship. Look, if you will, in verses one and two. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice… holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Remember, that literally means your logical ministry. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect ministry. Will of God. Now, that’s what you want to know. You want to know the will of God for your life. Now, look at this. Let’s break it down. First of all, the request. Notice how it begins. I beseech you, therefore, brethren. Now, it’s almost as if Jesus Christ is on his knees through the Apostle Paul praying to us. So many times we pray to Him. But here’s God’s request to us. I beseech you. Now, we’re beseeching God to do something, but God is also beseeching us to do something. Have you ever wondered why God may not answer your prayer? I wonder if you’ve answered His request. Have you presented yourself? If we don’t hear God’s Word, why should God hear our Word? And so, first of all, I want you to notice the request. And then I want you to notice the reasons. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by… Because of the mercies of God. Now, if you think that it’s something unusual, it’s something difficult for you to bow the knee to Jesus Christ, you’ve never seen the mercies of God. Listen to me, friend. then cursed and darkened on our way to hell. God in mercy sought us. He has saved us. He has secured us. He calls that here the mercies of God. Listen, folks, He came to save us. He died to save us. He rose to save us. He lives to save us. Soon He’s coming to take us home. All of this is the mercy of God. We are His. We are not our own. We are bought with a price.” Let me tell you what consecration is. Listen carefully. If you don’t hear anything else, I want you to hear this. Consecration is not giving God anything. It is taking your hands off of that which already belongs to Him. Did you hear that? You are not your own, the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 6. You are bought. Now, the request, I beseech you, the reason, the mercies of God, the requirement that ye present your bodies, that is, you present yourself. He’s not going to make you do it. There are no draftees in our Lord’s army. Every one of them is a volunteer. You are to present yourself a living sacrifice. That’s your requirement. Now notice this sacrifice. First of all, it is personal. You present yourself. I can’t do it for you. You can’t do it for me. You don’t need to ask, Lord, what would you have Adrian to do? Each one of us must say, Lord, today I present myself. It is personal sacrifice. And let me say this, you present yourself a sacrifice. Do you know what a sacrifice was? That was an animal that was slain and put on an altar. Are you willing to present yourself a sacrifice today? The reason many of you don’t have a ministry and the reason that many don’t know the will of God and you don’t know the power of God and you don’t know the anointing of God, you’re not willing to die. You’re not willing to be a living sacrifice. An altar is a place to die on. Do you know what that means? That means that when you die, you have no more rights of yourself, your wife, your husband, your children, your car, your home, your ambitions, your education, your business. It all belongs to Him. God doesn’t want you to take Him into your business as your partner. He’s your boss. He owns it. I mean, it is His. And you’re to do it holy. H-O-L-Y is related to the word W-H-O-L-L-Y, which means completely, totally, completely. You can’t just have half a sacrifice. God will not accept half a sacrifice. You are to present yourself a living sacrifice, holy sacrifice. And that means acceptable unto Him. There was an evangelist of yesteryear whose name was Wilbur Chapman who was talking to William Booth who founded the Salvation Army. William Booth was mightily used of God. Chapman asked William Booth, General Booth, God has used you in a great way. What is the secret of God’s use of you? And old General Booth moved the hair out of his face and looked through those piercing eyes, and here’s what he said. God has had all there was of me. God has had all there was of me. There have been men of greater brains, greater opportunities than I, but from the day I had a vision of what God could do with poor old London… I made up my mind that God would have all there is of William Booth. Boy, when I read that, I had to ask, do you have all there is of Adrian Rogers? You ask, does God have all there is of me? Ask it. Are you just playing church? You come to the Sunday morning bench warmer and think you’ve done God a wild service. I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, personal, slain, whole, and bound. Did you know that this freshly slain animal would be covered with blood and would be very slippery? So when they would put the animal on the sacrifice table, They had two flesh hooks that would bind it to the altar, into that flesh, to keep it from sliding off the altar. Do you find that when you come to a service, somebody will preach, you’ll say, yes, Lord, I want to present my body a living sacrifice, and that lasts until you get home and after Sunday dinner and you’ve forgotten all about it? I’ll tell you why. There are two flesh hooks. Do you know what they are? Devotion and discipline. Devotion and discipline that will keep you on the altar. You know what’s wrong with most American Christians today? The reason they don’t have a ministry, the reason they don’t know the will of God, the reason that they are not used of God, I’ll tell you one reason. Self. Self. They don’t want to get bound down. They don’t want to be a sacrifice. Now, they want the blessings. They come to the church and say, Lord, bless me. Lord, entertain me. Lord, amuse me. Lord, inform me. but they don’t want to be on that altar bound down. There are some of you here today who ought to be members of this church or some church, but you’re not. Do you know what you are? You’re a drop-in, drop-out type of person. You say, you know, if I come down there and go down and put my name on the membership roll and get involved, man, I might want to be away for a few Sundays. I might want to do this. I don’t want to be bound down. I don’t want to be bound down. That’s the reason you don’t join a church. You don’t want to be bound. That’s the reason some of you won’t take a Sunday school class. Because if you want to go to the lake on Sunday, you don’t want to be bound. I’ll tell you one thing about a sacrifice, friend. It’s bound to the altar. It’s bound to the altar. We have a take it or leave it type of Christianity and we wonder why we do not know the will of God in our lives. And I’ll tell you something else. When that sacrifice is presented willingly, when it is a whole sacrifice, when it is put on the altar, when it is bound to the altar, do you know what happens? It’s consumed. Do you know what worship is? Worship is putting yourself on the altar and letting God consume you. Has He ever consumed you? I mean, until there’s none of you and it’s all of Him. That He has consumed you, that is worship. Letting Him consume the sacrifice and there is an incense, a savor that goes up as we’re presented upon that altar. Let me tell you what’s going to happen next. when you present yourself this way. What is going to be the result? I’ve talked to you about the reasons and the requirement. What is the result? Well, look at it here. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed. The first result will be transformation by the renewing of your mind. The second will be information or revelation. Those two things are going to take place. There’s going to be a change in you. Be transformed. This word transformed is the word we get our English word metamorphosis from. It comes from two words, meta, which means a change, and morphos, which means a form. It is a change of form. You will be transformed. You will be metamorphosed when you do this. When you present yourself upon that altar and the fire consumes you, then you are transformed. You’re transformed. You’re not conformed, squeezed into the mold of this world, but you are transformed. Now, what is a metamorphosis? Well, when you took biology in junior high school, you learned that word. One of the first big words you ever learned was metamorphosis. I can remember almost like it was yesterday learning about that word, metamorphosis. It just intrigued me. You take a caterpillar who crawls up into a cocoon and he goes through a what? A metamorphosis, and he comes out a beautiful monarch butterfly. Now, what is the nature of that caterpillar? It is a monarch butterfly. The inner nature comes to the surface. That’s what a metamorphosis is. The same word metamorphosis or transformed was used of Jesus when he was transfigured on the Mount of Transfiguration. Remember reading there that Jesus took his disciples apart up into the exceeding high mountain, Peter, James, and John. And then the Bible says in there he was transfigured. Friend, that word transfigured is the same word that is used transformed right here. Now, what does it mean transfigured? Well, Jesus, had you seen Jesus walking down the streets, you would not have recognized him as unusual. I mean, you would have walked right past him. Judas had to point him out so they could take him in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Bible says when we see him, there’s no form to come on us. no beauty that we should desire Him. He was a common, ordinary person. And if you saw Him, you would not have picked Him out of the crowd. That’s very clear. There was nothing that distinct about Him. But on that Mount of Transfiguration, the Bible says that He began to glow like the sun and His garments, His clothes became white as snow and there was a radiance about Him. Now what was the inner nature of Jesus? Deity. And there he was metamorphosed. The inner nature came to the surface. What is the inner nature of a Christian? Jesus. Now what the devil is trying to do is to stuff Jesus in. He doesn’t want Jesus to come out. So He’s trying to conform you so you won’t be transformed, metamorphized, so your inner nature will not come to the surface. The inner nature of a Christian is Jesus. Jesus. And when you present yourself a living sacrifice, then you are transformed, metamorphized. The inner nature, which is Jesus, comes to the surface and people see Jesus. I want people to see Jesus in me. Don’t you want people to see Jesus in you? The little boy says to his dad, he said, Dad, is Jesus bigger than I am? Dad said, well, yes, son, I guess he is. He said, well, then, God, if Jesus is in me, he’ll stick out, won’t he? He sure will. If you let him, he will stick out. People will see the Lord Jesus, the inner nature. of a Christian is Jesus. Now, when there comes that transformation, then there comes that revelation. Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Now watch this, that ye may prove, that is, that you may know what is that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. And then look, if you will, as he continues to talk in the same train of Verse 3, For I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly, underscore the word think, more highly than he ought to think, underscore the word think again, but to think soberly, underscore the word think, for the third time according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. Now listen, when you’re metamorphosed, You have the mind of Christ. No longer your mind. It is the mind of Jesus. That’s your inner nature. Now, why did God renew your mind? So you could think with it. So you could think with it. So after he talks about the renewing of your mind, he says, think, think, think. Don’t be afraid to use your mind. Be afraid not to use your mind. You have the mind of Christ. The will of God is found between your ears when you get right with God. You can think, not in sinful exaggeration more highly than you ought to think, not in false humiliation saying, I don’t have a gift because He says, I say by the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not in sinful exaggeration, false humiliation, but in sober estimation. Listen, the first thing, therefore, is lordship. When you present yourself to Him, a living sacrifice, you’re transformed, you get the mind of Christ, you are able to use the mind of Christ, and you’re able to make assessments that you could never make before, and you think, you think, and you think, not with human rationality, not with human intellect, not with human intuition, but with divine guidance. You are transformed. You have now the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ. Second principle. First one, lordship. Second principle is membership. Look, if you will, now. Verse 4, For as we have many members in one body, that is, your body sitting there has many members, eyes, ears, nose, feet, hands, lung, liver, and what else? All right? As we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office, that is, my hand doesn’t do what my eye does, my eye doesn’t do what my ears do, my ears don’t do what my feet do, and so forth. They have not the same office. So we being many are one body. Amen. The church is not an organization with Jesus Christ, the president. The church is an organism with Jesus Christ, the head. He is the head. We are one body. Amen. in Christ and everyone members one of another. I belong to you and you belong to me because we both belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen to me, folks. You want to know why many of you don’t know your ministry? Because you’ve tried to find it apart from the body of Christ. What arrogance! What conceit! What pride! Don’t you understand? His Lordship and our membership. We need one another. To say that you don’t need other Christians is sheer pride, consummate arrogance. God made us different. Like our bodies, we don’t all have the same office. Why did God make us different? God made us different that He might make us one. God made it where I am not supposed to be able to get along without you. You’re not supposed to be able to get along without me any more than my eyes could get along without the rest of my body or my ears could get along without the rest of my body or my hands could get along without the rest of my body or my feet could get along without the rest of my body or all of this could get along without my liver or my lungs and sometimes parts of our body that seem more obvious and more needful are not the most valuable. Your right hand. I hear people say, I’d give my right arm for this. I’d give my right arm for that. Well, that’d be a big sacrifice. But friend, I tell you what, I’d rather give up my right arm than my liver. You’d think about it if it weren’t there. We’re different. But God made us different that God might make us one. And God made us where we could not be independent one of another. And you want to find your ministry? Listen to me very carefully. You’re never going to find your ministry outside the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, I don’t believe in the organized church. Friend Elder, wheel your brain to the Smithsonian. Why do you believe in the disorganized church? The church is a body. Whoever heard of a body didn’t have organs. Whoever heard of a body that wasn’t organized, of course there’s an organized church. Thank God for it. God made us different that He might make us one. And God made us an organization in an organism. And He’s the head, the Lord Jesus. And that’s where you’re going to find your ministry. Now here’s the third principle. The third one is stewardship. Lordship means Membership. Stewardship. Look, if you will, in verses 6 and following. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us. And that word grace is charisma. Charisma. the charisma, the charis that is given unto us. Whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith. Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering. Or he that teacheth on teaching, or he that exhorteth on exhortation, or he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity. He that rooteth with diligence, he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness. Or let’s just stop right there. Now, right here, he mentions seven basic Christian gifts. Now, every Christian is charismatic. That is, every Christian has grace gifts. That doesn’t mean that he is going to do miracles or speak in tongues. That’s not what the word charismatic means. It means simply that you have received a grace gift. Here are seven areas of stewardship right here. Let’s see where you fit in. Because you see, God gives you a gift. Listen to me. Don’t you dare, don’t you dare insult God by saying God can’t use you. What an insult. What an insult to the God who crafted you, formed you, saved you, and gave you a spiritual gift. God has given you a spiritual gift. Now, if God has given you a gift, then you’re a steward over it. You’ve got to use that gift. Now let’s see where you might fit in. For example, he mentions in verse 6, prophecy. Well, what is prophecy? That’s the ability to speak for God. He that speaks unto men in a prophecy speaks unto edification, exhortation, and comfort. Very frankly, I believe that’s the gift that God has given me. And it could be used in preaching. It could be used in jail services. It could be used in mission work. It could be used in vacation Bible school. Maybe that is your gift. If it is, have at it. We say, it’s not mine. Then he mentions ministry. Look in verse 7. The word ministry means service. It’s the word we get our word deacon from. It means to be a servant. You could work in general church work. You could work in the activities program here. You could do typing. You could do ushering. You could do coaching. These are those who are serving. You say, well, that’s not glamorous like performing miracles. Thank God they’re there doing it. And then there’s the ministry of teaching. Now you say, well… Can I teach? Yes. You could teach perhaps in Sunday school if that’s your gift, in training, in missionary organizations, neighborhood Bible studies, vacation Bible school, backyard Bible studies. There’s so many ways that you could use the gift of teaching. You say, that’s not my gift. All right, then he mentions another gift, exhortation. What is exhortation in verse 8? That is to encourage people in the Lord. You can use that in visitation. You could use that in soul winning. You could use that in counseling. Most counselors have the gift of exhortation. You could use that in hospital ministry to encourage people. Then in verse 8, there’s the gift of giving. Now, all of us have the obligation to give, just as we all have the obligation to exhort people. But some of us have the gift of giving. That is the ability to make money, to see needs, and to give, and to give over and above, and to give sacrificially. And it’s these people who have the gift of giving that make up for the lack of so many others who don’t even do what they’re supposed to do. And then there’s a gift of ruling. That doesn’t mean bossing. It has the idea of organization. It deals with leadership. It deals with church staff. It deals with committees. You could be a coach and have this gift. It deals with organizing. Then there’s the gift of mercy in verse 8. Look at it. Thank God for those that have the gift of mercy. Bill Gothard illustrated all these gifts, I think, wonderfully. He just imagined a dinner party and the dessert is being served and the dessert slips off the tray. Let me show you how all these different gifts would work together. The person who has the gift of prophecy might say, you know, that’s what happens when you’re not careful. A person who has the gift of mercy says, hey, hey, don’t feel bad. That could have happened to anybody. The person who has the gift of service says, hey, let me help you to clean it up. The person who has the gift of teaching says, well, you know, it fell because it was too heavy on one side. The person who has the gift of exhortation says, hey, let’s serve the dessert next time with the meal. The person who has the gift of giving says, I’ll buy a new dessert. The person who has the gift of administration says, Jim, you get them up. Sue, please help pick it up. Mary, you go fix some more dessert. Now look, all of that just happens in the church. You see, all of those are needful. All of those are necessary. All of those are valid. So you’re going to find your ministry, look, first of all, lordship. Secondly, membership. Thirdly, stewardship. Find out what your gift is. Well, you say, how am I going to find out what your gift is? Go back, think, think, think. But that won’t work unless everything’s on the altar and you have the mind of Christ. All right, now here’s the last thing. And that’s the principle of fellowship. Look, if you will, now in verses 9 through 13. Let love be without dissimulation. That means without hypocrisy. Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil. Cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affection one to another with brotherly love and honor, preferring one another. Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Amen. rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer. Notice that phrase, serving the Lord. If you’ll put those four things together. Now listen to me very carefully. If you’ll put those four things together, lordship, membership, stewardship, Lord help me to find my gift and use it, and fellowship in a spirit of love Friend, I’ll tell you what. Not only will God use you, God will wear you out. God will wear you out. You have been called into the ministry. There is something that God wants you to do. Now, the problem with many of us is we’re in a rut. We gave our hearts to Jesus, some of us, when we were boys and girls. And then we’ve just kind of taken things for granted. I went to England one time. I went to the Tower of London. I wanted to see the crown jewels. And there was one jewel that I especially wanted to see. I asked the guide about it, and I made it my point to see that one jewel because I’d read about it. It was the coronor diamond. When the coronor diamond was found, it was 186 carats. Incredible. As a matter of fact, they said the value of the coroner diamond was worth one half of the daily expenses of the whole world. The coroner diamond. This diamond was passed round about. Finally, it ended up in India under the aegis of a Punjab prince who was 10 years old. He gave this diamond to Queen Victoria, the queen. OF ENGLAND AS A TEN-YEAR-OLD BOY. LATER ON, THIS PUNJAB PRINCE GREW TO BE A MAN. HE WENT TO THE TOWER OF LONDON, OR WHERE THE JEWELS WERE KEPT AT THAT TIME, AND ASKED TO SEE THE KURINOR DIAMOND. THEY BROUGHT IT OUT. HE SAID, WOULD YOU PLACE IT IN MY HAND? THEY THOUGHT, UH-OH. HE NOW REALIZES AS A GROWN MAN WHAT THAT DIAMOND WAS WORTH. But they could do nothing else. They took it and placed it in his hand. Then he turned to the queen and this is what he said. When I was a lad, a boy, I gave you this diamond. I did not know what it was worth. Now as a man, fully realizing what it is worth, I want to give it to you, my queen, one more. I read that, I thought, oh, oh, that’s what I’ve been trying to say so often. Many of us, many of us gave our hearts to Jesus. But friend, when we grow in the grace and knowledge, when we see all that Jesus did, when we think of the mercies of God, I think some of us want to say, Lord Jesus, I gave you my life as a child. I meant it. But now, my Lord… Realizing more about you and more about me. Here, Lord. I give you my life. A new and a fresh. That’s what I want to do. In these desperate days, we need to present our bodies A living sacrifice. Then we’ll prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
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