Semi-Live Blogging the Midwest Pastors' Conference: Session 1 - Jerry McAnulty

Luke 9

• Most of Luke's Gospel is about Jesus training His disciples
• Most of Jesus' training was simple - we try to complicate it
• Ministry is only effective when it is others-centered, not self-centered.
• "Who do you really work for - Calvary Chapel, or Jesus?"
• Our job description: (1) preach the Kingdom, and (2) heal the broken-hearted.
• Real ministry is not a title or a position - it is doing what Jesus did & for His sake.
• Real ministry is to heal the hurting.
• Minister to the broker, & you will never run out of opportunities.
• "Where God guides, God provides.
  • That's more important now, with a failing economy!
• God's provision for ministry is directly connected to our ministering to others - God provides for us as we provide for others.
• Jesus taught His disciples to have radical trust in Him
  • The fish & loaves
  • The stormy sea
• To see people through the eyes of Jesus is to see people with eyes of compassion.
• When we feed the sheep, He will multiply the provision (He will not do the latter if we are not doing the former, but only wanting it for ourselves or other reasons)
• A great ministry-killer: a spirit of condemnation.
  • Nothing will negate ministry quicker than a critical spirit towards other brothers & sisters
• Another wet blanket for ministry: sectarian exclusivity.
  • We can become entrapped in our local fellowship or group and miss what God's doing in the broader Body.
• Anger does not play well in ministry - especially when it's homicidal. ;)
  • Sometimes anger is justified
  • Staying angry is destructive & sin.
• Be open - wide open - to correction.
• Ministry is most fruitful when it begins with a position of resting in the Lord
  • Ministry done for us & in our effort is a life-killer.
• "Worry does not empty tomorrow of its problems - it robs today of its strength." - Corrie Ten Boom
• We don't start by resting - we start by serving.