WILL YOU SURVIVE THE SPIRITUAL RETIREMENTS?

WILL YOU SURVIVE THE SPIRITUAL RETIREMENTS?
 
Sermon by Pastor William Boachie-Ansah

TEXTS: Ezek 34:1-10, 1KINGS 19:1-16
'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I WILL REQUIRE MY FLOCK AT THEIR HAND; I WILL CAUSE THEM TO CEASE FEEDING THE SHEEP, and the shepherds shall feed themselves no more; for I WILL DELIVER MY FLOCK FROM THEIR MOUTHS, that they may no longer be food for them." (Ezek 34:10)

¶ And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time." 3 And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. 4 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, "IT IS ENOUGH! NOW, LORD, TAKE MY LIFE, FOR I AM NO BETTER THAN MY FATHERS!" 5 Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, "Arise and eat." 6 Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. 7 And the angel of the LORD came back the second time, and touched him, and said, "Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you." 8 So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 ¶ And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" 10 So he said, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life." 11 Then He said, "Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD." And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. 13 So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" 14 And he said, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life." 15 Then the LORD said to him: "GO, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria. 16 "Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. AND ELISHA the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah YOU SHALL ANOINT AS PROPHET IN YOUR PLACE.

INTRODUCTION

God is now in the business of compulsorily retiring unfaithful workers!! Why? After warning people through personal convictions, prophecies, teachings and exhortations, some church leaders such as Apostles, prophets, Bishops, catechists, elders, deacons, Deaconesses as well as their wives and children are still recalcitrant and insensitive to the plight of the Holy One they are working for…. Church leaders have constantly been abusing their Offices with impunity…. And the flock have been complaining… and their cries have ascended up to the throne room of God.

And this is not the first time God is doing that. He did it to the shepherds of old, the priests by replacing them with prophets. He did it to both the priests and the prophets through captivity and foreign rule. He did it to the Pharisees and the other religious leaders by replacing them with the Apostles and other disciples..

Contrary to what Jesus stated about the hired shepherds of his time whose main motivation was their wages, (John 10:11-13) Ezekiel’s warning was to real shepherds who were deliberately veering off their duties to seek personal gains from the flock. God therefore had to warn them severally and finally decided to put an end to their dispensation. In the same way, if church leaders of today specialize in taking advantage over God’s church, He will not sit down unconcerned…
Today, I want us to discuss what happened to a very powerful man of God who was unfortunately retired at a time when his ministry was expected to be given a big boost. This man of God is Elijah. It must be noted carefully that Elijah was not among the bad nuts. He was a very good, responsible man of God who faced some difficult tasks and worked tirelessly to deliver God’s people from the oppression of Ahab and his wife Jezebel. But God retired him when nobody, including himself, was expecting it! I have chosen the case of Elijah to make us know that if God did not spare a good man when he went wrong, He may equally not spare any of us if we keep on disregarding his warnings.
Elijah’s retirement was premature because it occurred immediately after God had used him tremendously in the performance of great miracles. He was not willing to retire at that time, but God retired him!

WHY SHOULD GOD RETIRE HIM?

1. For running away when he saw the ‘wolf’. Will the God who was able to lead Elijah to kill the Baal prophets not capable of helping him to overcome Jezebel? But Jezebel couldn’t face Elijah; she only sent her ‘word’ to the one with the Word of God. Most Church leaders of today don’t want to face the wolves. If we ran away from the wolves, we make God disappointed.

2. For showing gross unfaithfulness through a negative confession. Take my life… I’m no better than my ancestors… Man of God, beware of every word that comes out of your mouth, for ‘you are what you say.’ If you don’t see yourself as a better man, God will appoint a better man for Himself, (1Sam 13:14) just as he did to Saul.

3. For refusing to go back when God strengthened him……why did God send angels to feed Elijah? He just wanted him to know that He was still with him. That is why God had to ask him (twice) what he was doing at Mt. Horeb.

No matter what God would use you to accomplish, He demands that you show constant and unwavering faithfulness in all matters to the end. What signs could be seen when God is about to compulsorily retire a leader? We shall talk about that next week.

CONTACTS: PASTOR WILLIAM BOACHIE-ANSAH
 THE CHURCH OF PENTECOST (ADOAGYIRI DISTRICT)
 P.O. BOX 203 NSAWAM
 Boachieansah@gmail.com
 copadoagyiri@gmail.com
 http://boachieansah.webs.com

BEING LOYAL TO YOUR CHURCH (PART 6)

BEING LOYAL TO YOUR CHURCH (PART 6)

(Why people leave their churches)

INTRODUCTION: In the previous discussions, we have been dealing with reasons why some church members are not being loyal to their churches but have been hopping from one church to another. We have been elaborating on church leadership deficiencies which cause members to leave their churches. Today, we move to another point:

 NEGLECT OF TEACHING MINISTRY
 
TEXT: Eph 4:1-16

 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and TEACHERS, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head--Christ-- from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

 

Apart from problems emanating from the camp of leadership, the most significant issue which causes people to leave their churches is the neglect and lack of consistent teaching ministry. Consistent teaching ministry simply refers to a well-planned systematic teaching programme instituted in the church through which all groups of people are instructed with the Bible. In this case  ministry material are prepared to constantly address the changing spiritual, emotional and physical needs of church members, delivered by carefully selected and trained Bible teachers to handle these in the local churches.

It must be noted here that teaching is the supernatural ability and desire to communicate and clarify the details to the word of God. Teachers are those who have special God-given ability to clarify, expound and proclaim God’s word in order to build up the body of Christ (Eph 4:12)

People with the gift of teaching characteristically are eloquent speakers who seek to impart knowledge. They are very studious, teachable with focus on members’ understanding and clarifying of issues. Teachers are interrogative by nature (always asking questions on “whys” and “Hows”) and proof-seeking. As such, their preachings are generally full of Bible quotations. Additionally, teachers are generally diligent: accuracy is their hallmark.

The importance of teaching ministry in the church cannot be overemphasized. In the text quoted, Paul explicitly gave the reason why there should be teachers in the church: And He Himself gave some to be… TEACHERS, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, …that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting..

 To begin with, they guard the gospel entrusted to them by the help of the Holy Spirit, (2Tim 1:11-1). They also point the church to biblical revelation and to the original message of Christ and the apostles, thereby ensuring continuity of apostolic teaching and practice. Again, teachers ground the faith of the members with the word of God. Gifted teachers teach the word of God in simplicity and with clarity. They equip church members with the knowledge to overcome the craftiness of the Devil and his team of deceiving liars. Additionally, teachers help to refute faulty doctrine. With their constant studies, they have the capability of effectively comparing scripture with scripture in order to come out with the total picture of what God is saying in any given particular situation. They make the word of God practical to the needs of the members. Most advancement and progress of the church depend on what teachers do and say. Most of the research work aimed toward growth and trends in the church are conducted and revealed by teachers. They additionally suggest ways of handling those trends and provide most of the teaching materials needed for systematic pedagogy.

 With these roles played by teachers in the church, one would have expected the church to give prominence to the teaching ministry, but surprisingly, the teaching ministry is relegated to the background in many churches. We consider teachers as the least in the five-fold ministry gifts of Christ to the church. In apostolic and Pentecostal churches for instance, people are ordained into the offices of Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists and Pastors, but hardly do we see ordained teachers! Some simply explain it off that all pastors are supposed to be teachers. If that is the case Paul, would never have mentioned Teachers. The fact is, all Apostles are supposed to evangelise yet not all apostles are Evangelists. In the same way, all Prophets are supposed to teach but not all Prophets are Teachers. Why then should church leaders conclude that all Pastors are Teachers so there is no need ordaining people into that great office of the Teacher?

 If any church plays down the role of the teaching ministry, the following negative consequences bedevils it: Firstly, members refuse to grow in the spirit. Such a church will continue to produce baby Christians who cannot withstand the trickery of men and the lies of the devil.

 Secondly, members quickly embrace every manner of doctrine. The faithful will accept any message coming to them as the gospel truth. This is where the danger of cultism rears its ugly head in the life of church members. They follow people blindly to prayer camps and fake men of God take advantage of the innocent flock of God.

Thirdly, church splits and cross-carpeting also occur frequently where teaching ministry is neglected. Leaders fight over issues which mostly border on practices which have been dogmatized or reinforced with texts which are hermeneutically inappropriate. Confused members move to join different churches.

Finally, leadership crisis easily crop up in churches where the teaching ministry is neglected more frequently. Institutionalization and succession procedures for churches are, in most cases, spear-headed by teachers. Absence of teachers mean there is the tendency for conflict when it comes to who succeeds the leader. That is why conflicts and breakaways are more frequent in relatively new churches than the old ones.

 

MAY THE GOOD LORD SAVE HIS CHURCH FROM DECEITFUL PLOTTERS!

PASTOR WILLIAM BOACHIE-ANSAH

THE CHURCH OF PENTECOST
P.O. BOX 203
NSAWAM ADOAGYIRI, GHANA

+233 244137880

boachieansah@gmail.com
copadoagyiri@gmail.com