Effective Ministry - Bob Harrison

this morning we are encouraged to have Bob Harrison with us um Bob comes from a town outside of Kansas City where apparently he's been living for quite some time like most of his life it sounds like and he's here with his wife Alyssa Alyssa would you wave to everyone Alyssa has a smile on her face because she's been supporting her her husband for six years going through the THM with five kids and uh I noticed they're all pre-teens so I wonder if uh how much hair will you'll have left in another 10 years we'll we'll see Bob is going to be uh continuing in his ministry in the Kansas City area called the bridge where he works to help young professionals people who've just graduated from college perhaps get plugged into representing Jesus in their workplace so it's evangelism it's discipleship it's a great way to help us do Faith at work and really represent Christ so it's a great ministry that he's going to I know that you are going to enjoy and be blessed by continuing our worship as we submit together to the word of God so Bob come up I want to pray for you and pray for us that we will have ears to hear and soft Hearts as we listen together so father thank you through the word of God we know it comes from you the exalted God the one who as we have already sung Who is good you are the God who receives our hallelujahs even though we we must come with such a humble expression of that Hallelujah to the king of the universe father we want to open your word in worship and submit and I pray that you would give us ears to hear help our brother Bob as he speaks to speak indeed with Clarity and with enthusiasm and with a passion from on high that we might hear the word well we thank you for what you've done in his life thank you for Alyssa and their family thank you for what you're going to do in the days ahead and will you pray your blessing upon them not only this morning but as he goes and continues his ministry there in Kansas City so thank you for what you're doing in our lives for Jesus sake amen thank you well good morning thank you for the opportunity to be here I recognize it as a special privilege I'm really grateful to The Faculty for the invitation to do this grateful Alyssa for joining me along this whole Adventure half the degree probably rightly belongs to her and uh we're definitely looking forward to celebrating in the weeks to come wrapping things up this morning I'd like to begin with maybe one of the most humbling failures I've ever experienced I'll never forget my very first track meet my senior year of high school my coach had placed me in the fast heat of the 400. if you don't know what that is that's running as fast as you possibly can around the track it's probably the most miserable one minute of anyone's life but I'd done it before and I knew what I was getting myself into I expected to finish somewhere in the middle of the pack not that great what I didn't know is how different this experience was going to be because the morning before I had given blood or a school's Drive blood drive and I didn't realize how bad of an idea that would be until about halfway around the back corner when all of a sudden the blood just drained out of my legs and I felt like a wimp noodle just dragging myself down the track everyone just ran away from me somehow I finished I was determined to finish but I just collapsed in the infield just absolutely exhausted trying to figure out what was going to happen and what my coach was going to do to me because he didn't know and so I finally got up enough courage and strength and confronted him and he's like what were you thinking what happened out there I was like coach I gave blood yesterday he's like why did you do that it's like well I know not a very good idea but he said hey you're done for the day I was like well no kidding I'm done for the day I just I couldn't run to save my life I was without that pint of blood I was completely ineffective as a runner a complete failure of the day now there are other races that come and things like that but that whole experience gets me thinking it's pretty common I think for all of us to want to do things that are effective and to not be a failure and I think that's especially true for us as we represent Christ we want to go out and be engaged in Ministry that truly is effective and that raises I think some really interesting questions for us to Think Through especially as we're preparing or even engage in Ministry already what what exactly does make up an effective Ministry I was talking with uh classmate and we're thinking through you know is it you know we're going to get all this great knowledge and information with getting degrees here at Dallas it will be affected just because we have all the answers to people's questions when we leave um it's tempting for me to think maybe it's the credentials getting some letters behind the name or making a name for myself there's been some big names come through this place we stand sometimes it feels like in the shadow of giants here but is that where effective Ministry is found I would like to open the Bible with us today and take a look at what effective Ministry looks like my hope is that as we do we can begin to see hey here are the qualities of an effective Ministry and as we see them and understand them then we can go out and do the same that's my hope for us and so I want us to think briefly about the Apostle Paul his second missionary journey is he travels the first time to bring the gospel to Europe if you remember he ends up in Philippi and gets arrested and run out of town there and the next place he lands is a little town of thessalonica and there the Bible tells us he only spent maybe three sabbaths maybe a month of ministry very Dynamic month of ministry at that he gets run out of town again but as he's leaving he feels so compelled and cares so much about this little church that's left behind he wants to write him a letter he wants to encourage them and instruct them in the faith he can't be there in person but he can send this letter to them and it's to that letter that I'd like for us to turn today so if you have your Bibles and I hope you do turn to first Thessalonians chapter one we're going to look at all ten Verses first Thessalonians chapter one and as we do I want you to notice three things we're going to notice what an effective Ministry looked like then what's true of an effective Ministry always and even what that can look like for us now today so first Thessalonians chapter 1 verses 1 through 10. follow along as I read Paul Sylvanas and Timothy to the Church of the Thessalonians and God the father and the Lord Jesus Christ grace to you and peace we give thanks to God always for all of you making mention of you in our prayers constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of Hope and our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father knowing Brethren beloved by God his choice for you for Our Gospel did not come to you in word only but also in power in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction just as you know what kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake you also became imitators of us and of the Lord having received the word and much tribulation with the joy of the holy spirit so that you became an example to all the Believers of Macedonia and in Ikea for the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only at Macedonia okay but also in every place your faith where God has gone forth so that we have no need to say anything for they themselves report about us what kind of reception we had with you and how you turn to God from Idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his son from Heaven whom he raised from the dead that is Jesus who rescues us from the Wrath to come the first thing we have to notice from this passage the first main point is simply this was an effective Ministry I mean it just comes right off the page this was an effective Ministry we see the very first section here that there's so much gratitude that Paul has for these people it's a letter from Paul and and Silas and Timothy and they're grateful which is not of Paul's letters start with such a positive feel right so he's really happy about what he's seen happen in these people's lives he can't get out of his mind those distinct Christian virtues of faith and Love and Hope and he is confident in verse 4 of God's love for them and his choice of them which is where we kind of wish that he maybe would have explained that line a little bit more theologically but he doesn't do that he goes right into the evidence what is the evidence of God's love and choice in their lives well the next part there verse five he he points to his his ministry where the gospel came to them it didn't come with word only people must have you know doubted or spoken against this new message that came to town but he says no it didn't come in word only but it came in power and the Holy Spirit with full conviction and with that power came these Messengers they proved to be a certain kind of messenger and verse 5 and that that one little section there we'll come back to an intermittent had tremendous impact because look at the response verse six you became imitators in us and of the Lord having received the word in much tribulation back in Acts 17 1-10 is the historical parallel to this passage that gives us the description of Paul's brief stay there and that much tribulation you go back and you read There were riots there was a mob these people didn't receive the word at some really Pleasant Mountain Bible Conference getaway with room service and and catered meals long walks in the woods to pray and meditate no this is intense they're they're coming for him in the streets but look what it says they received the word with the joy of the Holy Spirit there's a supernatural Joy that's coming to these people in the midst of a really challenging time as I hear about Jesus and it changes them they become something new they become imitators and they become examples this isn't just information transfer this is is life transformation this is a Ministry of heart to heart and it's multiplying too in verse 8 it says the word of the Lord has sounded forth to practically rung out like a bell I think about opening my map in the back of my Bible and putting my finger on thessal and I can just imagine these sound waves Rippling out just all the people in all the regions hearing about what has happened in thessalonica hearing the gospel hearing the word of the Lord of course we don't use a lot of bells like that these days and so it's a little bit unfamiliar I think this might be the first century way of saying that the Thessalonians faith has gone viral I mean the transformation that's happened it's like those those Tick Tock videos don't pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about it's the ones where the girl's looking all frumpy and then does the jump edit cut and drops the beat and she looks like a completely different person you know what I'm talking about it's completely captivating look at this transformation look at that change it can't be the same person but what's happening here with the Thessalonians it's not just Skin Deep you don't just wash it off at the end of the day and let your hair down no this is life deep this is so deep transformation and change it's happened to them and everyone's talking about them everyone's heard about them everyone's talking about them these are first century influencers and what are they saying in verse 9. they're saying three things which actually parallel really well back to those three things that Paul couldn't get out of his mind the people are all talking about how they've turned to God from Idols well that's a a work of Faith they've turned to God to serve the living and true God well that service is a labor of love and they wait for his son from Heaven that is a steadfastness of Hope in our Lord Jesus Christ who rescues us from the Wrath to come these people are completely different completely changed this is an effective Ministry what can we learn from it second main point for us is this always effective Ministry is incarnational and relational always effective Ministries are incarnational and relational go back to verse five just that one little bit here in the text that shows us what this ministry was like chapter two definitely unpacks it more but verse five we focus on we see that this is a Ministry of preaching Jesus but even more than that it's not just a Ministry of the word but it's a Ministry of the messenger it's incarnational it says here that you know what kind of men we prove to be among you now not to get lost in the weeds the Greek is a little bit helpful here the main verb there is genomia it's become they became something in the the next word there is Hoyas it's what kind they became what kind they became a certain kind of messenger the certain kind that matches the message and that's powerful even more thank you even more they they did this among you it's just just the Greek word n and the second person plural y'all for the Texas translation you can't really be in people but when you're in a group of people you're in there among them they became a certain kind of people in and among the Thessalonians and it was powerful the Holy Spirit showed up in that kind of ministry and brought conviction it makes me think of the weeks leading up to when I came to faith in Christ right after my senior year of college the spring semester was wrapping up my roommate and I were decided hey someone needs to celebrate the end of the semester I was living in a fraternity and we needed to find things to celebrate pretty regularly and so we decided we were going to do that um the kicker is we're about halfway into a couple bottles of wine feeling pretty good about things and my friend showed up who had been a friend for three years coming into the fraternity opening the Bible Point all of us Knuckleheads to Jesus and I felt terrible as soon as I saw him I was embarrassed I had this like pit in my stomach my chest was all constricted and it wasn't because he was judgmental he was kind as always he was so kind to us he just wanted to talk about life hey what are you going to be doing this summer what comes next those kinds of things and as I was standing there I felt horrible I know now that it was the conviction of the Holy Spirit just a few weeks later God would completely get a hold of me and begin to transform my life but him standing there in front of me represented everything that we've been talking about for so many weeks and so many months and even a couple of years about what it looked like to know and trust and follow Jesus that kind of incarnational and relational Ministry still has power today it always does I would say Jesus even is the best example of that think about John 1 14. it says the word became flesh Incarnation and dwelt Among Us relational and what happened what was the effect John says we saw his glory glory is of the only begotten from the father full of grace and truth that is an effective Ministry and what's amazing here in the text as we see this isn't Just for Jesus it just isn't for Capital a apostle Paul but this is what the Thessalonians did this Anonymous Believers in the church they do this too that it says they became imitators in examples and the gospel rang out and they impacted everybody see this is effective Ministry happens when it's incarnational and relational for any one of us who take up the name of Jesus in God's Church but where does that leave us today what does this look like for us I would say this the third main point that we have to take away how do we live this out become the message among the people you and I we have to become this message among the people that we want to reach that's what we take away from this passage and it has two parts we need to be incarnational we need to make sure that our walk matches our talk I was recently talking with a friend of mine named Brett he just got to the Working World from college and he loves Jesus and wants to tell everybody about Jesus and share the gospel but he goes from being Big Man on Campus to low man on the totem pole it has like no influence with co-workers boss clients you know he's just there to do the job and he so much wants to win some influence we were talking about that one night we opened up first that's two and there Paul says how he worked hard night and day so it's not to be a burden to any of them and all of a sudden like the light bulb came on for Brett and Brett realized gosh if I don't do my job well if I don't work hard I'm become a burden to my co-workers I'm become a burden to my boss I'm going to come a bird to my clients and they're going to want to listen to a darn thing I have to say it's like it just was just so clear to him all of a sudden that unless his life matched what he wanted to tell them he wouldn't get the opportunity to tell them he may as well be running a 400 meter a pint low on blood it's completely ineffective but that's just the first half the incarnational half what about the relational half see we have to be in and among the people that's where influence can really happen up close life on life I'll never forget walking into Steve's house house I was just a few months into the faith and I was at a conference in Washington DC he was our small group leader and one of the first nights there he had us all into his home about 10 of us or so and when I walked in I experienced something I could I couldn't even quite explain at the time but I'd never experienced it before I could tell it was a home that not only where they talked about Jesus but it was almost like Jesus lived there too he was present it showed up in how he talked with his wife how he interacted with his kids how he just treated us and loved on us as as the guests it was so warm I didn't want to leave but we had to leave and it was such a stark contrast stepping out in the cold night air that night and going back out in the dark cold I remember praying Lord if there's any way would you please let me have a family and a home like that well fast forward so many years and now my wife Alyssa and I we have people in our home all the time we're running people through the house sometimes 30 40 at a time they like line up the street with cars and it is it is wild we got the five kids running around they love it too pick up football games in the backyard run around our little five-year-old girl doesn't really like football so she runs upstairs grabs the pom-poms goes out of the back deck and starts cheering everyone on and leading everybody in a chair just a ton of fun we love it they love it one day one of the girls was telling Alyssa I just love being part of your ministry and Melissa's telling me this I'm like oh hey that's great to hear tell me more I could use a little encouragement here and I'm thinking now is because everything Bob says is so true and relevant and clear and interesting you know just I've learned so much you know trying to feel good about it and she goes now she said um just love being around our family she didn't have that growing up and wants to to experience that and see that more does that mean that all my work in seminary has been for nothing no absolutely not it's been so helpful so shaping in everything that we say and do even in our home the point is this if you're living it well with people well let me put in the negative First if you're not living it well with people you may as well save your breath we don't even need to say anything then they're not going to want to hear it anyways but from the positive if we're living it well in front of people and they see it and experience it from us man we may hardly have to say anything to make a deep and lasting impact on them that's what this is about maybe to bring it home let me close with a visual illustration here when I was in grad school at K-State I studied civil engineering Structural Engineering concrete Bridges and so imagine a bridge for me we all and we all know how bridges work it's intuitive as long as they're not broken we go right over them we don't even think twice about them but Bridges basically there's just a few things that make a bridge work you've got something on this side something over here and over here you've got like this big semi like 80 000 pounds semi full of goods that you're trying to get over to there the only way to go from there to there is to build this bridge that connects them real basic right let me ask you a question what happens if you remove any one of those elements nothing the whole system fails it's completely ineffective now take some basic Ministry terms and overlay those on this illustration this over here this side this Cliff well that's you you've got this giant truck of Truth this Revelation from God that's pretty weighty at times right full of Hope and Glory well in Hebrew that glory and and heavy kind of go together we've got this glorious truth from God that we're trying to communicate over to them that's the over there and the connection the bridge is a relationship the only way for us to communicate this glorious heavy truth that God has given to us is across the bridge of a relationship to them but again same question what happens if any one of those elements is taken away it all fails it's completely ineffective and that's the danger of not having those relationships not being intentional to build them and so really the application there is just two questions one am I living this message am I living this message and two am I among the people am I among the people and so we've seen from first Thessalonians 1. an effective Ministry and from it from this amazing chapter we've seen that effective Ministry is always incarnational and relational and that leaves us with a call I think from the Lord to become the message among the people when I think about being here at DTS it's always a privilege to be on campus Because I feel like we've got great reminders of this all around us one we've got the motto teach truth love well that really points us to this reality but I think also on campus there's the statue of Jesus washing Peter's feet now I'm sure Jesus told Peter some amazing things when they were together he learned a lot from from Jesus I'm sure how could you not but what has amazed me recently going through the gospels is how hard the Lord worked to build that relationship with Peter even getting down on his knees and washing his feet so great of a reminder you've been here on our campus got the motto got a statue and of course at DTS we have the classic Timeless quotes of Howard Hendricks that Echo up and down the hallways in the classrooms I'll leave us with two one when it comes to being incarnational Prof would say show me a person who knows something thoroughly who feels something deeply and is doing something about it and I will show you a significant person the kingdom of God a great wine when it comes to the relational side I've heard Prof say people today aren't asking is this true but does this work friends let's go be those kind of significant men and women effective in Ministry and let's go show the world that our Jesus works let me pray for us Lord God I thank you so much for Christ thank you so much for the Bible thank you so much for the opportunity just to know you but God even the privilege to get to stick around in this crazy world we live in and represent you and point people to you Lord I pray would you enable each one of us in here not only to know you and to love you well but to love others to live out this message and show them how do you work we prayed in Jesus name and For Your Glory to the ends of the Earth amen

Channel: Dallas Theological Seminary

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Length: 24min 54sec (1494 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 27 2023