And it was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers;And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;And he gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
4 sermons cite this verse
… I'm the minister here. to know. So I want us to go to Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11. I'm preaching harder than y'all was in the building. I feel this thing right now. I see God doing something in somebody. Faith is coming alive in somebody right now. You're realizing that the reason God hasn't let you off that job was because he sent you in there as a secret agent. You are the minister at that place. The reason you're trying to step into this other lane and God says, I need you right there, is because if I could get enough of my ministers spread out all in government and I could get enough of my out in every mountain of society, then maybe a banner could be lifted up in the kingdom of God, we'd be expanded. Somebody just shout at me, I'm the minister here. Look at Ephesians 4.11, because some of y'all are like, that doesn't make sense. Rev, you the minister. Bishop, you the minister. I think that this has been a misnomer in the body of Christ that has jacked up people's theology and jacked up people's responsibility. Because what ends up happening is you leave the four walls of the church and you think that, oh, this pandemic is happening. …
… political activists or protesters. He has not called us to be psychologists. He has called us to be pastors and teachers. Paul said his own goal was to present every man mature in Christ. Ephesians 4.11, speaking of the church, says their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ, until we to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's son will be mature and full grown in the Lord. And yet the slogan of one of the biggest fast food chains is alive and well in many churches today. Have it your way. Whatever you want. You don't want us to talk about sin. We won't talk about sin. We want you to feel good. You don't want a long sermon. We won't give you a long sermon. and we'll just give you a little bit and you can figure it out yourself. Have it your way. But our McChurches are producing McChristians. Our sermonettes are producing Christianettes. …
… Great job. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11 through 16 says this. So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature. Everyone say mature. And become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. In other words, God has created the church so we could do good works for the reason of two things, unity and maturity. God wants to develop you and grow you. He wants to stretch you so you can have unity and maturity. Isn't this so cool? Maybe you hear like, well, why do we got to have pastors at this church? Why do we got to have worship leaders? Can't we all just kind of like, you know, gather in a room? Well, we have people who are pastors and evangelists and teachers. …
Why does God give us church leaders? Put down Ephesians 4, verses 11 and 12. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints. God gave you a pastor teacher to perfect you. That means for the maturing of the saints, for the work of the ministry. Now, you are to be made mature, so you do the work of the ministry. You say, that's what we hire you for. No, you don't hire me. I'm not a hireling. I am, I'm going to smile when I say this, but I'm God's gift to you. I'm God's gift to you. I'm God's gift to you. I'm not a hireling. Well, no, no. I'm not asking for applause, but I am saying this, that you cannot hire somebody to be spiritual for you. God gives you a pastor to mature you so you can do the work of the ministry. God's plan is that every mother's child in this building and on this church row be a minister for Jesus Christ. …