7 WAYS A MINISTER CAN DESTROY HIS MESSAGE | Ministry success Tips
7 WAYS A MINISTER CAN DESTROY HIS MESSAGE | Ministry success Tips
once said, and I quote, ” The best way to try to destroy what you are trying to say is to teach your teachers.” By PA S. G. ELTON
Strong word there! Beloved, as a preacher or teacher of the Word, you have a duty to pay keen attention to the way and manner you communicate the truth of God’s Word in your heart.
From ministry experience, and also from my firm grasp of Church history, I discovered two categories of ministers in this regard.
1. Those who have a genuine message but use wrong methods of communication.
2. Those who don’t really have a genuine message but reel out heresies, confusing gullible Christians but who are self-deluded that they’re on track.
We always have these two categories of people sometimes in every generation but the second category is very common.
For the first set of people, if you have a genuine message in your heart based on the truth of Scripture and as revealed by the Spirit, then you don’t have to destroy the message by the way and manner you present it.
Nothing really is new under the sun. Rev Kenneth Hagin of blessed memory taught us that ” Errors run in cycles .”
Whatever is happening today in the Body of Christ has some kind of semblance in history, and it will also fissle out with time — those who know know that that’s true.
This is one of the areas that the Lord drew my attention to while preparing me for the teaching ministry — a teacher can have a genuine message but muddle things up by his manner of presentation .
” MANNERISM” is everything in ministry. Presentation is everything in the teaching ministry.
Truth is that GREAT REVELATION without a GOOD PRESENTATION will lead to NO EDIFICATION.
There’s always WHAT TO TEACH, but there’s equally HOW TO TEACH (Isa. 50:4). DON’T MIX THEM UP!
There are SEVEN WAYS a minister can destroy his message.
ESTABLISHED IN CHRIST
1 . TO RUBBISH THE LABOUR OF THE PREVIOUS GENERATION (S)
God will never approve of that. No matter what you know, always remember that some fathers laboured before you.
It is not something light in the sight of God to make light of the labour of the fathers — any minister who does that unrepentantly is always finishing his ministry without starting.
Even Jesus never rubbished the writings of the prophets who came ” before ” Him; He, on the other hand, quoted them copiously and He also said that He came to fulfill the law and the prophets.
LUKE 24:27,44
27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me .
MATTHEW 5:17
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
Instructive! Isn’t it? Jesus spoke very glowingly about the prophets who came “before” Him despite the fact that He’s the Messiah.
2 . TEACHING AS THOUGH YOU HAVE A MONOPOLY OF KNOWLEDGE
You will destroy your message like that. No matter what you know, some others know better than you.
Never claim a monopoly of knowledge on any level. The moment you give the impression that you’re the highest authority in Scriptures, and that no one else understands Scriptures like you, your message is dead on arrival.
As great as Rev Kenneth Hagin was, he was always making references to other ministers he learnt from (both the ones who were his mentors in ministry and also his contemporaries).
3 . ALWAYS SOUNDING CONTROVERSIAL
The fastest way a ministry starter (a young minister just starting out in ministry) can destroy his ministry is to get involved in controversies .
You see, I always make reference to the Great Council Meeting in Jerusalem — how that ministers like Apostle Paul (who evidently was an authority in Christology, Apologetics, Systematic Theology and New Creation Realities) didn’t raise any dust on the aspect of the collective resolution that says the Gentiles should refrain from strangled animals (Acts 15:29).
You see, it was the same Paul who wrote in 1 Timothy 4:3-6 that every meat should be eaten with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer.
So how come he didn’t stir unnecessary controversy at that Great Council Meeting in Jerusalem, probably saying that those apostolic elders were too Law-conscious without being Grace-conscious?
Truth is that YOU CAN’T BE A SOUND TEACHER IF YOU CAN’T DISCERN THE BODY OF CHRIST.
The true Spirit of Christ doesn’t stir daily confusion and controversies among the Brethren. That’s nothing but FLESH!
4 . WHEN A MINISTER IS GIVEN TO THE WRONG USE OF WORDS
The New Testament’s standard is to let your speech be seasoned with salt (Col.4:6) and use edifying words that minister grace to the hearers (Eph.4:29).
No matter how the massage is burning in your heart, when you start using abusive, suggestive, derogatory, denigrating , and unedifying words, you’ll destroy your message.
5 . WHEN THE MINISTER TRIES TO FORCE HIS MESSAGE DOWN THE THROAT OF PEOPLE
That’s not the Bible way. As a minister, yours is to TEACH , it is the Holy Spirit Who will cause the light of the Word to shine in people’s hearts.
You PREACH the Word, but He CONFIRMS (Mk. 16:20). Trying to take the place of the Holy Spirit in the value chain of the ministry of the Word leads to fruitless fleshly attempts thereby destroying the message.
6 . TO CRITICIZE OTHERS EXCEPT ONESELF
That’s an untamed and overbloated ego. It’s FLESH . It’s a demonic deception to think that you’re the only minister getting it right in the Body of Christ while every other minister is wrong. That’s self delusion!
I have seen folks do exactly that in my 24 years of ministry, but the Lord warned me against such attitude at the beginning of my ministry.
You will destroy your message that way. The Lord Jesus said:
MATTHEW 7:3-5
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
7 . WHEN A MINISTER TEACHES WITHOUT A SENSE OF ACCOUNTABILITY
As great, sound and loaded as the Apostle Paul was, he still submitted his revelations to men of reputation ( Gal. 2:2). He didn’t feel bigger than the leadership of the Church.
As great as the Apostle Peter was, he still gave a report of his ministry to the Gentiles to the Church elders and leaders of Jerusalem (Acts 11:1-4). He didn’t feel bigger than the leadership of the Church.
No matter how high-sounding you are as a preacher or teacher, if you have no voice that can speak into your life, I don’t take you seriously.
By God’s grace, I have a robust knowledge of history to know the end point of such arrogant behavior.
We run our teachings through fathers too. They look into our work. We don’t just come up and start confusing everyone in the name of ” Rhema ” or ” New Revelation”.
If you’re accountable to no man, then you can teach anything, say anything, even when you’re off track , and when men of reputation are trying to call your attention to your errors, you will say their mouth is smelling.
Dear minister, you’ve got to pay attention to your COMMUNICATION METHODS so that you don’t destroy your message.
It takes more than ZEAL to teach the Word; it takes WISDOM, MEEKNESS and SPIRITUAL MATURITY and good sense of COMMUNICATION SYSTEM .
May the Lord give us understanding!
Amen!!
I trust this is a Blessing Champions
You are ANOINTED!
