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Keys to Effective Ministry (5)


5. The ministry that is effective, that God blesses, is planned according to God’s purpose.

Paul says, “It’s always been my ambition…” Circle that. Is it ok to have ambition? Sure it is. You’d better have an ambition. Your ambition better be to fulfill God’s life mission for your life and the ministry that He’s given you. Paul says, “It’s always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known. But now there is no more place for me to work in these regions. I plan to do so when I go to Spain.” Notice that Paul made plans.
 Some of you think you should just get up in the morning and say, “Lord, what do You want me to do today?” and kind of free-float through life. I don’t think so at all. I think life’s too important to go without a plan. I think we need to be strategic. If you read the book of Acts, Paul had a very clear strategy. His strategy was to go to the key cities in the Roman Empire and all the places he went -- Ephesus, Corinth, Philippi, Colosse, all these major places were all trade centers, travel centers, crossroads in the Roman Empire. He said I know I can’t get everywhere so I’m going to go to the most strategic places I can and spread the Gospel there.

God has given us a tremendous privilege of being in one of the most strategic places in America. Orange County has such a powerful influence on California. And California has such a powerful influence on the United States. And the United States has so much powerful influence on the world. If I knew a more strategic place to be, I’d leave for it tonight. I want my life to count. If we can reach the people in this area – the movers and shakers of Orange county – we will have made a significant dent in the devil’s territory.
 Paul was strategic. Fortunately we’re in a strategic area. So we need to take this very seriously.
 People sometimes think planning is unspiritual but I suggest you read all these Proverbs I’ve listed because they all talk about how God says He wants you to plan. The Bible says it’s foolish not to plan. The wise person plans. That’s why I’ve passed out these questions. Our staff is continually planning and saying, “God, You’ve taken us here so far. Now where do You want us to go tomorrow?” We’re always looking forward and planning. Why? Because souls are in the balance. We’re talking about heaven or hell here and eternity in the balance for many lives. We take it very seriously to plan and strategize and say what is the maximum way to use our resources for the glory of God and take the most people to heaven with us as we can on the way, while we’re having fun! Because you rarely do something unless you have fun in doing it anyway. 

Fortunately, ministry is fun. It’s hard, but it’s fun. Somebody asked Billy Graham, “Do you ever get tired of ministry?” He said, “I get tired in the ministry but I don’t get tired of the ministry.” That’s true of me. I get tired in the ministry, but never tired of it. There is nothing more significant than helping influence people’s lives in a positive way for the Good News. That’s what you’re doing.

Pastor Rick Warren 

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