WCTLC

The Holy Spirit is your righteousness for bringing the life and ministry of Jesus into your life and ministry.

Don’t Just Be Impressed

We aren’t reading the Gospels and looking at the life, ministry, message, and methods of Jesus so as to admire them. Jesus didn’t do any of these things to impress us. There is a way for us to join Him in all these things. But, He isn’t asking us to try to DUPLICATE His ministry. He is God and He alone can do God things in and through us. He isn’t inviting us to try to do what He did through our own righteousness or holiness. He doesn’t expect us to be able to measure up to Him and all He is and does. And yet, He tells us that we will do what He did (John 14:12).

Jesus’ life and ministry consists of righteousness. Righteousness is Who He is and what He does. Righteousness is us not doing those things listed in Galatians 5:19-21 and doing those things listed in Galatians 5:22-23. 1 Cor 1:30-31 (NIV) It is because of Him [God] that you are IN Christ Jesus, Who has become FOR US wisdom from God--that is, our RIGHTEOUSNESS, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.” He isn’t doing supernatural, righteous things to impress people; He is doing them to help people.

Jesus Is Doing The Supernatural, Not The Spectacular

Mark 8:11-12 (NIV) The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test Him, they asked Him for a sign from heaven. He sighed deeply and said, “Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it.” Jesus refuses to use His power to impress people. Jesus wants to work miracles in people’s lives through you so they will be healed physically, emotionally, financially, relationally, and spiritually. He isn’t trying to convince people of Who He is by doing spectacular things that impress them; it is all about love.

Jesus wants to continue His ministry of love by working in and through you. He wants to demonstrate and provide His love to the people of our generation by coming into you with gifts of service (ministry).

God Is Giving You Faith For A Certain Type Of Ministry In Jesus

Rom 12:3 (NIV) For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

The life and ministry of Jesus will flow through you in a unique way that is based on the will of God. As you read the Gospels, you will see Jesus doing things He will be willing to do through you. You will also see Him doing things He will not want to duplicate in your life and ministry. Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and your heavenly Father will be designing a special ministry of Jesus for you. God will start giving you special gifts that will structure the type of ministry He will work with you on.

The type of ministry Jesus uses with you will be based on His will and purpose for you. There will be supernatural things that flow through you easily and there will be things Jesus does in the Gospels that He may never do through you. He will use others in ways that He will limit or restrict in you. You won’t have to decide what kind of service ministry you will receive from Jesus; nor will you have to try to get certain power gifts from the Holy Spirit. God will decide which gifts, how often, when, and where He uses them in you.

The Body Of Jesus

Rom 12:4-5 (NIV) Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so IN Christ we who are many FORM one body, and each member BELONGS to all the others.

All the Christians all over the world are working under the headship of Jesus. He is giving each member in His body assignments that He wants to do with them. He has plans, purposes, and certain needs He wants to meet. You are a part of all the work He is doing in your part of the world. He has certain assignments He wants to give you. He is asking you to yield your body to the things He wants to do with you. This will bring His power, skills, wisdom, and love to those people who need His help that live around you.

God Is Giving You Specific Gifts

Rom 12:6a (NIV) We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.

There are various spiritual abilities He is giving you that will represent how He wants to work with you. According to the grace given you, He may empower you to give certain people information from God that is specific to them, teach the Bible, proclaim the good news message, care for people on certain spiritual levels, help start up new works of God in new areas of the world, or something else that fulfills His will in and through you. The life and ministry of Jesus will flow through you in a special way that represents His relationship of ministry through you.

Rom 12:6b-8 (NIV) If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

Together, We Christians Make Up The Body Of Jesus

Jesus has other people He is working with that will have other gifts He has given them. With you and them working together, all the needs will be met by Jesus in the area of the world you are working. A complete ministry of Jesus will be accomplished by you and other Christians yielding to Jesus’ will through all of your lives. No person or need will be neglected because Jesus will give all of you what you need to be able to allow Him to flow through every one of you.

The Holy Spirit Is Supplying Power Gifts

While you are doing this ministry of Jesus, the Holy Spirit will be supplying you with special tools that will help you do your part of Jesus’ ministry. He will be giving you spiritual abilities that are vital to the service gift (ministry) Jesus has given you.

1 Cor 12:7 (NIV) Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and your heavenly Father will be empowering you to work together with the other Christians around you. They will have service ministries from Jesus that are needed by all the people you are responsible for. And they will have power gifts of the Spirit that give them the supernatural abilities to meet these people’s needs. The Holy Spirit will know which of the following gifts to give all your Christian friends so you will all be mightily used by Jesus.

1 Cor 12:8-11 (NIV) To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.

The Holy Spirit Controls Who Gets What Power Gifts

Some of these gifts of the Spirit will show up in your life and ministry based on the desires of the Holy Spirit. He will decide which ones to give you at the exact moment they are needed. He is in total control over what kind of gifts you will be equipped with and what times. All of these power gifts will be things Jesus will want to do with you so He can bless and heal the people He wants to help. The life and ministry of Jesus will be shaped by Jesus and the Holy Spirit in a unique way through your ministry. Your ministry will look like Jesus and the Holy Spirit design it.

1 Cor 12:11 (NIV) All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He gives them to each one, just as He determines.

God Decides Which Type Of Ministry With Jesus You Will Have

You may want to have a kind of ministry you have seen others doing. You may try to train and work with people you choose to pattern your ministry after. But, if that isn’t the ministry Jesus chooses to do through you, then you will be working against His plan for your life. You will need to step back and watch your life and ministry and see how He has empowered and equipped you. Certain spiritual power gifts from the Holy Spirit and certain service (ministry) gifts from Jesus will come “natural” to you.

Go over the lists in 1 Corinthians 12:8-11; 12:27-30, Ephesians 4:11; Romans 12:6-8. As you yield to Jesus and the Holy Spirit, you will see Them empowering you to do certain things and refusing to work with you in other areas. You may want to be used in some areas and not want to work in others. But, the decision will not be yours. You will need to follow the empowerment and flow of how God chooses to use you. People may come to you for help with needs God isn’t using you in. Other ministers may try to put you in places and positions God isn’t empowering and equipping you to do. You need to see how God is trying to flow through you and yield to that.

Righteousness Is You Obeying God

Righteousness is us not doing those things listed in Galatians 5:19-21 and doing those things listed in Galatians 5:22-23. However, righteousness is ALSO you yielding to God in the way He wants to use you. It is you allowing Him to be Who He wants to be in and through you. Doing good is doing God’s will and yielding to His plan for your life and ministry. You can only be who He has made you to be.