Making Your Ministry CREDIBLE

This past weekend, I had the wonderful blessing of being able to attend a Beth Moore conference/bible study.  If you've ever done a Beth Moore study, or if you've ever heard her speak, then you know how much she loves the Lord and how full of wisdom she is about God's Word!  Truth be told.... until this past weekend, I had never heard her speak, nor had I ever completed one of her studies.  **GASP**  Well, let me just say that it was an honor to be able to go and hear God speak through her.  Please understand, ladies, that Beth Moore is not Jesus.  (Whaaaa???, you ask)  Nope, she's not.  I say this not to SHOCK you, but to encourage you not to rely solely on her speaking and her studies.  Yes, she is a strong woman of God, but you are challenged to acquire your own personal relationship with the Father, and that requires independent study of God's Word.  So... use her lessons as a guide, but then go study the scriptures yourself and see what the Holy Spirit reveals to YOU! 

Anyway, I wanted to share the message from this weekend to those of you who were unable to attend.  Beth shared through the scripture 2 Corinthians 6:1-7:4.  She began by showing us in v. 1-2 that our time of favor is NOW.  Christ has come!  He is risen!  We are living in the time that was prophesied for ages!  IT'S HERE!!!  So relish in God's grace and be bold!

BUT, Beth spent the rest of her study based on v. 3 which commands us to have a ministry that cannot be discredited.  Here's the thing... how many times do you say that something is INCREDIBLE?  Well, guess what, do you realize that the prefix "in" really means "not"?  Do we want our ministry to be "not believable"???  Of course not!  So, let us begin speaking of how CREDIBLE things can be!!!  She shared the rest of the message by using an acrostic of the word credible.  Here is the summary:

C- Credibility is believability that can only be earned.  (v.3-10)
             -"The gospel can't be spread if you ain't got no cred!!!!"
             -"No one's cred can be yours instead"
      What does your ministry look like?  When people interact with you, do they believe they can trust you?  Can they trust you as a witness to Christ?  What do you need to do to be able to do what you're called to do in such a way that you're seen as credible??
             -In order to gain credibility, you will have to greatly endure through many things throughout your life.  Consider it a blessing to be able to claim that you have greatly endured for His namesake!

R- Reconciling adversity and divine favor is true mystery disclosed.  (v.8-10)
             -We will encounter dire circumstances, but we STILL have His favor.  That is true revelation.

E- Every single antithetical inch is spaced by grace.  (v.8-10)
             -Okay, big word.  Basically, Beth is saying that our state of mind in Christ is separated from our circumstances.  We have the ability to understand true joy because in all of the crud that we encounter, we have EVERYTHING in Christ Jesus.  Grace covers the distance from our worldly junk to the blessed arms of our Father.

D- Dying to self feels most like a killing when the unloved love.  (v.11-13)
              -Sometimes it's hard to love when the love is not returned.  Beth referred us to Psalm 119:32 to remind us to enlarge our hearts so that we may be able to love more fully.

I- Interlocking lives is double strength or double trouble.  (v.14-18)
              -Paul talks of not being yoked to nonbelievers.  Hear me in this, he is NOT saying to stay away from them or to not interact with them.  He is telling believers not to bind themselves to nonbelievers.  We must be careful in our relationships.  Two people who love the Lord can grow strong together.  Two people who disagree in their faith will struggle.  As far as love relationships go, specifically, remember that love and obsession are NOT the same thing!  Love is not based on emotion or physical desires.

B- Bondage at its deadly best is trading repentance for regret.  (7:1-4)
               -Regret causes us to relive the foolishness over and over again.
               -Repentance allows you to own up to your sin and then WALK AWAY FROM IT.  It's done.  It's forgiven.  Move forward.

L- Living and dying together (in reverse order) in heart, is fellowship at its finest.  (7:2-4)
               -We laughed for a long time as Beth realized in front of 13,000+ women that she had made a mistake.  In her study of this passage, she came to learn that the original Greek phrases this verse "to together die and to together live".  We switch them in the NIV to make it easier to understand for ourselves, but in this case, it's not the true intention here.
               -The death is in reference to our sharing in Christ's death.  Death to our sin and former self.
               -The life is in reference to our sharing in Christ's resurrection.  Life eternal.
               -Die and live together.  That is true fellowship.

E- Everything is nothing without Jesus.  (6:10b)
               -In this world, we may have nothing, but because of Christ Jesus, we possess EVERYTHING!!!


Welp, that's a little summary of our weekend.  If you hung with me through it all, give a big "HOLLA".  And if you did read through it all, I hope that God spoke to you in some way.  It was an encouraging message, but a challenging one as well.  I sincerely pray that when people look at me, they see a credible witness.  Am I perfect?  Ha... absolutely not.  Do I make mistakes?  Ha... absolutely yes.  However, in those mistakes, in those trying circumstances, I pray that God would shine through me so that people see Him, and not my sorry self.

These are the ladies that were in my vehicle on the way to and from the Conference.  That's my mother-in-law up front.  As I was taking this picture, she said "Oh!  Do you smell the skunk?!"  Please note her expression.  She loves the smell of fresh  skunk, and let me just say that this one was fresh.

Here are all the ladies who went this past weekend!  It was a blessing to fellowship with them!!!

Is your ministry credible?