Effectual Ministry

I recently heard a men's speaker use a great phrase: "speak into their chests." Great Bible teachers should be speaking into the chests of people, not tickling their ears!

Here's an old joke with a serious point:

A minister died and went to heaven and ahead of him at the Pearly Gate was a guy
in sunglasses and a leather jacket and the guy said to St. Peter. "I'm Joe
Nestorenko, cabdriver of Las Vegas." Saint Peter gave him a golden robe and
golden staff and then it was the minister's turn. "I am Elmer Lundberg, pastor
of Zion Lutheran for forty five years." Saint Peter gave him a cotton robe and
wooden staff." "But that man was a taxi driver? and he gets a golden robe? and
golden staff?" And St. Peter said, "Up here, we go by results. While you
preached, people slept; while he drove, people prayed."

The issue is whether your ministry was effectual. Does your ministry change lives?

If it doesn't, then you need to seek the Lord and His ways.
1. Repent and be right with God. "Apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5)
2. Seek God's power in you, through you, and in your students. "Apart from me you can do nothing."

With God, all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26)