A Call to Ministry

 

 

So often we say

We are call to do this or that

As opposed to ministry

Which is the fact.

 

One is called to write

Another is called to preach,

One is called to sing

I am called to teach.

 

The emphasis, therefore,

Is on what I do

As opposed to service

Or ministry in view.

 

Again, it is the “I”

Instead of the community,

No wonder it often breeds

Much disunity.

 

Ministry is what’s critical

And not what one does,

It’s not essentially what we do

But what’s done for Jesus.

 

We vaunt ourselves

And we beat on our chest,

“What I do is key!”

O what a mess!

 

It is a call to ministry,

Not what I do

Whether I am in the pulpit

Or siting in the pew.

 

“Amen!” is a ministry

An encouraging one at that

Especially when what is said

Is a biblical fact.

 

 

It’s a call to service

Using God-given resource

Which more often than not,

Determines our course.

 

Whether I sing

Or whether I preach

Is far less important

Than my outreach.

 

And whether I dance

Or whether I teach

Ministry is the key

In church or the street.

 

So, preachers, cool it

And you teachers too,

It is about ministry

And not about you.

 

It is not the show

That the singers put on

But a call to ministry

So, be warned!

 

Whatever it is we do

We must learn to do it well,

It is our call to ministry

To go and tell.

 

 

Tell of the love of God

And His Son He freely gave

To save you and me

From a Christ-less grave.

 

Tell of how he came

To die upon the cross

To restore to humanity

What was originally lost.

 

Do not be a block

In your God-given ministry,

Let it be Jesus

That your audience sees.

 

It’s a call to ministry,

I repeat,

Whether you’re in the church

Or on the street.

 

Stewart Russell © October 20, 2021

Grace Trumps Obedience

There was a man named Noah

He was mandated to build an ark

He assiduously committed to the task

Right from the very start.

It was not easy one would imagine

For this boat was very huge

But he laboured on it night and day

Due to the coming deluge.

God’s word he did not doubt

That it would rain for forty days

And so while building he also preached

To the people to change their ways.

But the people laughed him to scorn

And they continued as before

But Noah would not be deterred

And continued to preached the more.

Year after year had passed

And there was not even a trace of rain

But Noah kept on building the ark

And from his preaching did not refrain.

One could just imagine

When the first twenty years had passed

How those people must have felt

About Noah’s seagoing craft.

For there was no sea around

And not even a semblance of rain

And here was this crazy man

Building an ark in vain.

“I wonder how he would move it,”

Somebody must have thought

But none of their silly observations

Caused Noah to be distraught.

So on and on he worked

Till one hundred years had passed

And still the abuse kept on coming

But Noah stuck to the task.

  

There are some who will opine

It was Noah’s obedience that saved him

But I pause to state emphatically

That view is rather dim.

God’s word points out one and all

That before Noah had laid a plank

He had found grace in God’s own sight

It is God’s grace we have to thank.

There’s nothing that we can do

To merit the favour of God

For grace is God’s unmerited favour

And this must be spread abroad.

Noah had preached to the people around

That God would send a flood

But for one hundred and twenty years

The people against him stood.

Not one of them had repented

And had taken advantage of God’s grace

And so the flood came as appointed

And they vanished without trace.

But Noah and his immediate family

Were safe in the belly of the ark,

‘It’s time we heed the glorious message

The angelic host still bids us, “Hark!”

God’s grace is extended to one and all

As he bids us all to come in,

Would you today believe His word?

Would you be saved from your sin?

Stewart Russell © January 2018