MINISTRY MUST BE A 2 WAY STREET

I have commenced reading afresh Paul’s letter to the Romans, it is an awesome book, someone has said it is the ABC OF SALVATION  spelt out so clearly, but it is even much more than that.
The verses that stood out to me today are chapter 1:11-12
For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established, that is, that I may encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me NKJV
The longer this waiting goes on, the deeper the ache, I so want to be there to deliver God’s gift in person and watch you grow stronger right before my eyes! But don’t think I’m not expecting to get something out of this too! You have as much to give me as I do to you. MESSAGE
Here the Apostle Paul has such a burden to share the Word of God with the Roman church (perhaps even lay hands on the believers and impart spiritual gifts to them). This firstly MUST be the motivation of every ministry, not to just impart information, but be  God’s mouthpiece to share awesome truth., and to expect a positive response seeing the believers embrace the truth and practically and quickly let it work out in their lives.
Paul then goes on and indicates, he wants to receive something in return I would suggest, it is not just the clear evidence of the acceptance of the teaching, but that the believers share something with him too, as Jesus said, even out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, new believers can share their simple new insights, thus ministry MUST BE A TWO WAY STREET.
We could easily slide over this verse, majoring on the role of the Ministry Gifts (Eph. 4:11) to ably share the Word of God, and not share out the responsibility that every believer is not just a hearer and a doer of the Word, but also a SHARER.
As believers we can develop the attitude of “Pastor feed me, feed me”, which is very selfish if we only think of ourselves. Listen to the writer of Hebrews 3:13
BUT EXHORT (ENCOURAGE) ONE ANOTHER DAILY. (NKJV)
BUT WARN (ADMONISH URGE AND ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER EVERY DAY (MESSAGE)
As a Pastor and especially when I went into Bible College Ministry, and became firstly the Dean of Men at Commonwealth Bible College, than later at Hillsong College the Dean of Pastoral Care,  I would make a habit when I saw  student,  that I would prayerfully seek to share a simple word of encouragement with them. The response sometimes has been remarkable, as the Holy Spirit took the simple word and ministered it to their heart.
The book of Hebrews  tells us to do it DAILY, can I encourage you today, either if you are going out prepare your heart so God can put a word of encouragement on your lips for a Christian brother or sister who may “just happen” to cross your path. What about tomorrow in church what an opportunity to start putting this verse into practice. These days with social media, we have a fantastic opportunity to share words of encouragement.
Every few weeks I deliberately use FACEBOOK, OR WHATSAPP, OR BBM as a means of sharing a word of encouragement.

LET IT BECOME A LIFESTYLE AND SEEK TO DO IT DAILY