MINISTERS MATTER

BUILD A HEDGE AROUND YOUR LIFE

A book by Jerry B. Jenkins called, Loving Your Marriage Enough to Protect It has helped so many ministers. Often, the reason for a moral failure has been the lack of protective hedges that should have been planted around our spouse, marriage, or ministry.

I have used the 3G's over the years to help fellow ministers do a check-up from the neck up. Are they allowing their minds to go where they shouldn't? What are the 3G's?

It goes like this. In ministry, don't touch the girls, the glory or the gold. For the girls it's don't touch the guys, the glory or the gold. These are personal hedges built around our minds and ministries to protect and preserve our personal purity.

Godly character will protect us from breaches in the hedge that could result in the loss of all we have built over the years in marriage and ministry.

Here are some affirmative things to build into your life, marriage and ministry. These are hedges against immorality and for purity.

1. Keep the Home Fires Burning
2. Be Proactive with Purity and Prevention
3. Be a Man's Man Like Jesus
4. Win the War on Porn with Purity
5. Have A Personal Covenant of Godliness
6. Live Above Reproach

I will print out the Shepherd's Covenant tomorrow as it deals with GRACE.

G - Genuine Accountability
R - Right Relationships
A - A Servant-Shepherd's Heart
C - Constant Safegurards
E - Embrace God Intimately

At Mission O, Ministers Matter!

WHEN FRIENDS FALL MORALLY

H. B. London has written an excellent story from The Minister's Little Devotional Book and it must be repeated. Moral failure has terrible consequences. The pain is so deep and the lives affected by it are often ruined and far-reaching.

"He was my mentor for preaching. As a young ministerial student, I followed his ministry with great enthusiasm. He could sprinkle the stardust with his oratories. Without question, he will be remembered as one of the greatest camp meeting speakers of the 20th century.

"Recently, my hero sat across the breakfast table from me. Having been removed from his pulpit, he was a broken man - a life in shambles and a ministry ruined by years of illicit sexual behaviour that had finally caught up with him. At his age, there was little hope for restoration to ministry.

"As the tears flowed freely, my fallen preacher hero asked for my forgiveness. I reminded him that I loved and forgave him. I emphasized that God in heaven had also forgiven him. He acknowledged that he was forgiven through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

"As I watched him walk away, shoulders slumped, I thought of the mighty cleansing power of God's forgiveness and grace. I then thought of the people who might never hear one of his inspirational messages because of his sin."

Sins of the inner life are hard for us to admit but easy to rationalize or deny. That is why it is important for us to know our own heart. How many of us who love Jesus struggle with sexual sin? Purity issues? Temptations?

Let us commit to a life of moral excellence within and without!

At Mission O, Ministers Matter!

PURITY MATTERS

My son and his wife just finished preaching a series on Love Life. It was wonderful to hear them talk so openly and freely about their own sexuality, in a church setting. As Christians, we need to hear what God has to say about sex rather than what society is always saying.

You can watch the entire series at www.lifecentre.org and click on video. You won't be disappointed.

God expects us as ministers to live lives of purity. It used to be called personal holiness. It was what gave us our authenticity. Walking in personal purity enabled us to enjoy self-respect, confidence and the joy of having a good reputation in our community.

Ephesians 5:3 is a challenge to all of us who love Jesus. It reminds us that there should not even be a hint of sexual immorality among us as God's people. In reality, many ministers have fallen morally. It has grave consequences as their marriages and families were destroyed. Churches became divided and where there once was credibility and a good testimony in the community, it was replaced by scorn.

Nobody wants to live with their reputation ruined and a cloud of suspicion over them the rest of their lives. The price for impurity is too high!

The temptations are all around us and they are very real. We need to have friends in our lives that we can be accountable to when we are feeling tempted. We need to give them permission to ask us the hard questions if they see us struggling.We also need to walk with integrity and answer them honestly.

Personal purity must be a proactive decision of our heart because none of us are immune. The spirit may be willing but the flesh is weak.

Let us pray.

Father, in the Name of Jesus, my heart desires to be morally pure. Empower me to live in Your amazing grace and peace as you continue to conform me to the image of Your dear Son. Amen.

At Mission O, Ministers Matter!