God is calling up a new type of gap-stander today.

• A person who stands on behalf of others to connect them with God

• Ezek 22:30 - A gap-stander is an intercessor..

• Ps 106:23 - God liked what Moses did - it benefited both parties, himself and the people he interceded for.

• When my son gets in trouble and his brother stands up for him, my heart is endeared toward both.

• Here’s the beauty - the word “entrepreneur” means the same thing.

• “Entre” comes from the Latin term that means “enter into.”

• “Preneur” comes from the French word “preened” and means “to undertake.”

• In the marketplace there are people with problems.

• An entrepreneur slides in between both and brings a solution.

• He is a “gap-stander” by calling.

• On this foundation, if his solution meets their tangible need then he can bring a solution to their intangible need.

• “If you meet the need the customer is paying you for you may get an open door to meet the need they’re not paying you for - their spiritual need.”

• EX: William Merrill Vorhies - an architect God called to start a firm in Japan.

• Missionary to Japan - used his biz to disciple people.

• He became concerned about all the earthquakes, so he prayed and God gave him a dream about spacers placed strategically in foundation walls.

• He invented the Earthquake-Proof building.

• He had another dream that led him to invent Menthaladium, the vapor rub for chest colds.

• Vorhies saw himself as an entrepreneur/intercessor who bridged the gap between God and the people who were disconnected from Him.

• An entrepreneur is a gap-stander who brings a solution to peoples’ problems for eternal reward.

A minister is not defined by where he’s placed or how he’s paid.

• He’s defined by passion, not position. A minister is one who has the presence of God in his life and is passionate about what he does to bring God glory.

• Vs 11-12 - God equips pastors, prophets, teachers, evangelists, and apostles to equip people for:

• THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY!

• Ministry means “to serve.”

• A Minister is “one who serves.”

• God places His ministers wherever He wants them.

• The marketplace is the context for discipleship and evangelism.

• Our spiritual leaders (those with the five-fold gifts) are to equip us so that we can disciple and evangelize through our work.

• Three paradigms:

• You’re a minister.

• You’re on mission.

• Your work is worship.

As workers, don’t pursue wealth - live out the wealth you already possess.

• When you’re excellent in what you do, profit will chase you down.

• All you have to do is your thing, and do it well. Then let God do His thing.

• Backstory:

• In the first 3 chaps of Ephesians Paul talks about the wealth each of us have in Christ.

• We were saved by grace, reconciled to God, joined into a new body called “church,” and now we have victory over Satan, sin, and death.

• Now, in light of that wealth, we need to “walk it out!”

• Def:

• Riches - the abundance of a valuable possession.

• Profit - anything that leads to life.

• Wealth - the constant flow of both.

• Vs 1- walk in a way that’s suitable to your high rank, especially toward those who try your patience.

• The workplace is the context for discipleship and evangelism - the place where people press your buttons!

• So how do we walk it out?

• Vs 2:

• Be humble - focus on the spiritual wealth you already have, not the financial wealth you want.

• Be gentle - like a surgeon, you’re in the problem-solving business.

• Be patient - patients always wait on doctors - let God do His thing, wait on Him.

• Be accepting - accept people for who they are - “you are who you are, and that’s ok with me!”

•

Power comes by BEING a blessing, not by GETTING your blessing.

• Vs 1 - the spirit in David is commanding his soul to “bless the Lord.”

• Our spirits are to lead our souls.

• Your spirit is your conscience - your inner “knower” that is reborn when you meet Jesus.

• Your soul is your mind, will, and emotions.

• We need to be bossy with our souls.

• What do we need to tell them to do? The same thing David did: Bless the Lord!

• How do we bless Him?

• Three ways to bless God:

• Thank Him - “enter His gates with thanksgiving…”

• Releases oxytocin - bonding chemical in the brain.

• EX: Lubo apple strudel.

• Be kind to His kids - the best way to bless a dad.

• You can’t like me and hate my kids.

• Make Him look good - “you give love a bad name”

• Tori blesses my name.

• What does your name do to God’s name?

In NT times, converting to Christ was a big deal. Why?

• Judaism was accepted by the Romans but not Christianity.

• Christianity was a radical departure from what they knew.

• Jewish leaders tried to keep people in their religion.

• The Galatians fell prey to drifting back into Judaism, which was religion.

• Paul is urging them to live by the Spirit of freedom and not come under the domination of the law (slavery).

• Their effort to please God was taking matters into their own hands.

• He used the example of Abraham - he took matters into his own hands and you’ll see how it turned out.

• Story:

• God gave Abe a promise - he’d have a son.

• Ten years later, no son. He took matters into his own hands and shacked up with Hagar - Ishmael.

• This ended in slavery.

• 25 years after the promise, he had another son with Sarah - Isaac.

• Ishmael became the enemy of Isaac.

• This son was the son of the promise, which resulted in freedom.

• *** Paul used this to ask the Galatians whose son they want to be.

• When Abe took matters into his own hands it ended in slavery.

• When he trusted God and waited on the Spirit it ended in freedom.

• When you operate by the Spirit you don’t try to open doors that God said He would open - you WAIT for Him.

• God’s “yes” and “go” are two different things.

• When you wait you become the person who can handle what He said “yes” to.

• You have to harness your ambition and wait for God to move, otherwise you become like Abe with Hagar - it will end in bondage.

Ambition is a great follower but terrible leader - it’s always meant to stay in the passenger’s seat, not the driver’s seat.

• Harnessing your ambition is a matter of seeing God’s hand at work.

• David wrote this Psalm to encourage the people by remembering how God cares for His own.

• He will always take care of those who find refuge in Him.

• He recalls Israel’s history:

• Vs 8-9 - God called Abe and led him to Canaan.

• Vs 16-17, 23 - He called down famine to get the Israelites to move to Egypt.

• Vs 24 - they were blessed in a foreign land.

• What was happening in Canaan at the same time?

• Infrastructure was being built - houses, roads, cities, farms, etc.

• 430 years later…

• Vs 25 - when the tables have turned, remember that God owns the tables.

• Vs 43-44 - the wealth of the wicked was stored up for the righteous.

• God’s hand was at work all along, and the Israelites had no clue.

• God had to remove them from the Promised Land so others could build it up and prepare it for them to take over (like remodeling a house).

• See God’s hand, harness your ambition.

•

Paul had been encouraging the Corinthians to give generously.

• All of chaps 8 & 9 talk about it.

• He even called it a “ministry.” (2 Cor 9:12)

• Paul wanted to motivate them to excel in the gift of GIVING.

• How would he do it?

• Vs 1-6 - He compared them to others.

• Research shows people are more motivated by positive factors than negative.

• Studies show these four positive motivators work best:

• 1) Progress Monitoring - they want to know where they stand (2 Cor 8:7 - they checked all the other boxes but the giving box)

• 2) Relinquished Control - people don’t want to be micromanaged (2 Cor 8:8 - “I am not commanding you…”)

• 3) Social Incentives - “If others did it I can too.” (2 Cor 9:2 - “…and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action.”

• 4) Immediate Rewards - they want to be recognized & paid (2 Cor 9:6 - “…whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”

The peace of God in your life is determined living at peace with others.

• So Paul wrote 3 letters to the Corinthians (we only have 2) covering lots of different issues.

• Among the issues was disunity.

• 2 Cor 13 is his last warning in his last letter - it’s the summary:

• Vs 11B - “…And the God of love and peace will be with you.”

• Do you want the God of peace to be with you so His peace can be yours?

• Well then you have to do what the first part of the verse says.

• Vs 11A - “Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace.”

• Here are the five steps on the Path to Peace:

• 1) Rejoice - peace is born out of joy. If you don’t have joy you need to “re-joy.” How?

• Know God is in control (Psalms 97:1) - “The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice.”

• Give Him what you have (1 Samuel 2) - Hannah gave her firstborn Samuel to the Lord and she went away “rejoicing.”

• 2) Strive for restoration - like restoring a new car.

• Be willing to work hard (strive).

• Be willing to make it right (restoration).

• NAS says “be made complete.”

• 3) Be an encourager - “to make courageous.” How?

• Let them know you’re in it with them.

• Come alongside people where they are and fight alongside them.

• 4) Be like-minded - definition: “having a like disposition or purpose; of the same mind or habit of thought.”

• Constant disagreement negatively affects relational depth.

• We need to seek agreement. How?

• * Focus on your purpose - big pic thinking (“what is our ultimate goal?”)

• * Listen to understand - find common ground and anchor there.

• 5) Be a peace-maker - when relational tension rises, do you:

• Increase the chaos

• Inspire the calm

• When you do these five things, the Result is that you will have God’s peace!