YOUR Ministry in Jesus

Today's Three-minute Bible Study
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Title: YOUR Ministry in Jesus
Keywords:   "ministry"
Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation.

Passage: Colossians 4:17*

And say to Archippus, "Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it."

Questions

1. Archippus is not a well-known New Testament character. Have you every heard of him?

 

2. What does Paul say about Archippus in this verse?

 

3. We aren’t given a clue as to what Archippus’ “ministry” might be. What kinds of ministries to you think a man in the first century could have been involved in?

 

Practical help

What kinds of ministry opportunities exist for men (and women, of course) in our world today? Certainly, they are legion! Everything from teaching and preaching to community clean up, to helping those in need, to sharing the Gospel — and on and on and on we could go.

What is your ministry? If Archippus, a virtual nobody as far as church history is concerned, had a ministry “in the Lord” isn’t it reasonable to assume that everybody has a ministry that God wants them to fulfill? If you are not vitally involved in ministry right now, is it possible that your involvement with pornography is a big obstacle to that involvement? Are there things you could picture yourself doing for Jesus, but are so burdened by guilt and by preoccupation with porn that you don’t have the energy to invest in something that would pay eternal dividends?

There are dozens of reasons to cease viewing Internet porn. One that is not often mentioned is that every man has a limited resource of energies and focus. If a significant portion of your energies and focus are being given to smut, then it is small wonder that you don’t have energy to devote to serving Christ.

To be an Archippus, a man who fulfills the ministry God has given you, you will probably first have to decide whether you want to make an eternal investment in the lives of others or keep on clicking your mouse to dirty pictures. You can’t have it both ways.

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*"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission."