Tag: Ministry

TGIM, Thank God it’s Monday

November 1, 2022

Sounds wrong, doesn’t it? Sunday, we had a guest speaker. Our pastor has been sharing the book of Matthew.  He began with the upside-down kingdom that Jesus described in the Sermon on the Mount.

Our guest minister told us that we should not be focusing on Friday when our work week ends. We should wait for Monday when we get to work and be with our co-workers for the week. That is topsy-turvy at its best.  

I remember when I began a new job after twenty-five years with one company. It was my dream job. I was called to be a workplace minister while in college. I told everyone how happy I was to be at work even on a Monday. I had reached burnout at my last employer.

I did not know what that was. All I knew was that God wanted me to be a full-time gospel minister.

I knew I wasn’t to be a music minister. I can’t sing. I have trouble playing the radio. I love to talk. One-on-one is my favorite crowd. In high school, I forced myself to take speech. My first talk almost killed me. I thought that five minutes of talking about myself would never end. In three years, I learned to be extroverted and speak to any crowd.

My listeners may not enjoy it as much as I do. I had to experience public speaking to allow me to be more comfortable when I was called to be a minister. All I knew was preaching and singing. If I was not willing to be a preacher, I would not have viewed myself as a minister.

Now, I can proclaim a call to every Christian to be a minister in the workplace. My friend Jim told me years ago that he had asked God to call him to youth ministry. He was told no. He has spent over fifty years owning his own business. He shows his customers, vendors, and employees what it means to be a follower of Christ.

Where is your place of ministry? We all need to find our calling and where we are expected to serve others. Those will be both believers and unbelievers. Servants must find their pace to be of use. I have heard this for years.

It sounds strange to thank God for Mondays. We should be excited to share our faith. Not just in certain circles or at church. Our jobs are where we spend a third or more of our time. We should also be witnessing, serving, and ministering in this arena.

Time is considered precious by all of us. We must work while we have light. The darkness can be overpowering. When we do our part, the world will be a better place. Enjoy your Monday.

©Copyright 2022 by Charles Kensinger

I’m in marketing, you want management

July 30, 2022

I began my career as a full-time gospel minister in the 1970s. I have been studying and learning my trade for over four decades. When I think about where I was then, I am amazed at how little I knew. As I ponder my entry into the presence of God, at the time of my death, in another forty or fifty years, I consider how small my grasp of who God really is. At that time, I will be introduced to Him by those same people who taught me about him sixty years ago.

When I started my journey through God’s word, I was in my teens. My life of service and ministry has taught me a great deal. Years ago, a friend asked me why God did certain things. The question was about why bad things happen to good people. I did not know the answer. I still do not understand everything about Jehovah. My answer to these inquiries is the same as on that day. “I’m in marketing, you want management.”

The ones who are in the upper echelon of every Christian denomination should use the same response. Even the Pope is a representative of Jesus Christ and not the head of the church. We forget that. We try to defend Yahweh and His actions. That is not our job. Our job is to explain what we find in the Bible. I do need to explain to you why things happen the way they do in our world today.

Those are the things that I am still learning from the scriptures. He tells us who He is and why He must work the way He does. My job is to listen to what He says and share those thoughts with you. My ideas are not original. Many others can tell you exactly what I am saying. I may express it differently from others.

Your job is to take what I and other ministers or scholars tell you and check the Bible to be sure we know the Lord the way He reveals himself in the Word. You do not want to believe in Him because of incorrect information. One of the first things I must tell you are some of the things that He will not do when you become a born-again believer.

As a salesman in the secular world, my job was to promote the products I sold. My employer was wrong if he or she wanted me to lie about the advantages of those items. To be able to tell them what it would do and what it would not do I had to study the information that was provided about it. I read specification sheets, technical data sheets, and catalogs. I even looked at them being used by customers and in some cases used them myself to understand how they performed. I have done exactly that for over fifty years with God.

You will not become perfect. That means you will continue to sin. Jesus tells us He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. I have learned that if you do not believe this, you are in trouble. If you miss the straight and narrow way He spoke of, you miss Heaven which is where He lives. Not following the Truth means you are following lies. Missing Life will end in eternal death.

This death is a complete separation from Jehovah. Have you felt an emptiness in your soul? Do you ever feel like you are spiritually dead? Our Lord said that we must be born again. That is because the human spirit died in the garden when the original people disobeyed God. You want a life with Him not death without Him.

©Copyright 2022 by Charles Kensinger