Ministry is Meant for the Marketplace Too!
It's time that every believer recognizes they are a minister. Worship in the workplace. Minister in the meeting. Pray in the school pick-up.
An author whom I’ve read exhaustively, Ed Silvoso, observes four principles from Jesus’ sending out of the seventy-two. I have to share these with you as you minister (work) in the marketplace.
Luke 10:5-11.
“When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you.
Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ I want to obliterate a misunderstanding that has robbed the Body of Christ of much of its effectiveness. We have believed a lie that ministry is a pastor preaching or leading worship, an evangelist hosting a crusade, or a missionary going to a foreign country. Those are ministries. But the CFO leading his business into strong gains in Q3 is ministry.
The teacher investing in the next generation is ministry. The Police Chief training his team for effective service to the community is a ministry as well! You are a minister and you are in ministry!
Points to Ponder
There are four characteristics to our everyday ministry in the marketplace.
1. We should speak peace everywhere we go. Our world is chaotic and frenetic in pace. Having been transformed by the peace of Christ, we should take it wherever we go. Some will receive it and as they do, that peace will multiply. However, others will not receive it but that should never take our peace away. (First, say peace to this house.)
2. We should build relationships everywhere we go. God gave His Son so we could have a relationship with him. We should live sacrificially to have relationships with others. It’s about community throughout the Bible. Think about how Jesus took time to notice people around him who, by cultural or religious standards, should not have been on his radar - Zaccheus, the woman with the issue of blood, the woman at the well, etc. We have that same opportunity to take notice of people around us that, for whatever reasons, are labeled unimportant. (Eat what is offered to you.)
3. We should walk in God’s supernatural power to meet needs. May God as the potter shape us into whatever vessel he needs and breath into us his gifts to be used mightily by Him. May this world take notice that there indeed is one God who breaks through into the natural through us with His supernatural love and power! (Heal the sick.)
4. (Declare the Kingdom of God has come near.) It is when we have spoken peace and blessing over others, spent time with them, and been used by God to meet their need, then they are most receptive to the proclamation of the good news. This earth and its patterns are one kingdom and it will pass away.
People without Christ our trapped in this kingdom supervised by Satan. We who are in Christ have been transferred into a new Kingdom and we should eagerly be telling others about all the things we are learning about the King and His Kingdom. Everywhere we go there should be a sense of the difference between us - the way we see, talk, hear and conceive.
Application
As you put this into practice today, make it your goal to walk in each of these 4 characteristics.
Look for those opportunities to speak blessing, fellowship with someone, minister to someone's need, and share the good news.
Each time you do so, transfer a coin to the other pocket
Prayer
Father, thank you that you have called me to ministry. I embrace your assignment for my life. I want to adjust the way I speak about situations and people. I want to be a depositor of peace and blessing as I speak. Please help me to slow down to notice people and invest in people - to truly fellowship with them rather than passively leading them.
I will walk in power as you, Holy Spirit, gift me to serve others. And I will declare, by life and words, the good news to others you have placed around me. In the name of Jesus Christ, the one who sends me, Amen.