All of God’s people are ministers—all of you can teach one another and pray for one another. We are a community of ministers!

November 17-18, 2018

ILL: A preacher was very animated and wore a lapel mike with a cord. As he paced back and forth, he kept getting tangled in the cord. So he would stop and jerk the cord, then get tangled again and jerk it again. A little girl sitting up front whispered to her mom, “If he gets loose, will he hurt us?”

Many Christians are on a leash. They are bound up by misconceptions that keep them from being all that God wants them to be. Today, I want to unleash you! I want to dispel the misconception that teaching and prayer are primarily the domain of the professional clergy. God wants all of us to teach one another and pray for one another, and when we do, the church will be unleashed…loose and dangerous!

What do you think of when I say the words “ordained minister”? How many of you picture a professional clergy-person—a pastor or priest or reverend dressed in a black frock with a backward collar? That’s what most of us think of. Let me give you a quick test:

Everyone who said yes to the first question should have said yes to the others too. The word “minister” means servant, and Christ calls us all to be His servants. And “ordained” means chosen, appointed or commissioned. The Bible says that God has chosen you to be His servant; God has appointed and commissioned you to serve Him! So you are an ordained minister, you are God’s chosen servant, and He has gifted you for the task. We are