Matt 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. NKJV

This Scripture is very familiar to all of us. Unfortunately the church as a whole is not fulfilling the great commission. The church is good at making converts, but lacking skill in making disciples of Jesus Christ. Some are good at making members of the church by entertaining them every Sunday with the hope they come back next week. One of the reasons the American church is so spiritually weak is that we stopped making disciples and instead chose to operate entertainment centers.

But the church is required to make disciples of Jesus Christ. We are required by Christ to teach them to observe all things that I have commanded you. You could say “I was not there with the disciples so I did not observe what Christ did.” But in fact we have 20-20 hindsight through the Bible. The Holy Spirit has inspired men of God to write the Scripture through His guidance. Even today, the Holy Spirit speaks to our spirits to give us the revelation we need for each new day.

So how do we make a convert a disciple? By taking time with them. We must become their friend. One interesting statistic is that a new convert must meet at least 5-10 new Christian friends, in order to keep them in your church or ministry. If this does not happen, they will gravitate back to their old friends and eventually into their old life style. So to put it simply, we must truly love them.

Next, we need to get them into the Word of God. I suggest that you give them a Bible that is easy to read. I remember when I accepted Christ I went to an adult Sunday School Class and shared with the teacher that I had a King James Bible that I could not understand. He blew me away by saying, “Here Bob take my Bible.” That Bible is still being used in my family today. What a blessing.

Next they got me involved in a weekly Bible study where I grew steadily. The key to bringing a convert to maturity is getting them into the Word of God. So if you do not have a Bible study to bring them to, start studying the Bible with them. If the new convert does not learn the promises from the Word of God, when tribulation comes, he will be discouraged and may give up. We need to teach him to stand on the Word of God.

It takes time to make a disciple so we might be inconvenienced to help them grow; i.e., lay down our lives. Why make disciples? Christ modeled it; commanded us to do it; and the New Testament disciples applied it as we see in:

Acts 2:42-47 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. 44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.

46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. NKJV

The apostle taught the Word, they fellowshipped and prayed with each other. They were in awe of what God was doing in their midst and signs and wonders followed them. They broke bread together, went house to; they had the gift of hospitality and praised God together as the Lord added to their numbers.

Next, in making disciples, you must find them meaningful ministry. The interesting thing is that people come out of a need. But within six months they need to feel needed. The baby busters and millenniums want to make a difference with their lives. Interestingly they are very like the people who went through the great depression and World War II. They are workers. They do not want to throw money at the problem; they want to be part of the solution.

So they are attracted to churches or ministries that are doing social outreach. They do not want to just sit in church; they want to be active making changes in their community or the world.

Part of discipling is to help them find and exercise their spiritual gift in ministry. The best way is to put them with a mature Christian that is operating in that gift. But the important thing is that we allow them to practice their gifting so they can grow and mature in that gift.

Lastly, we must release them for ministry so they can influence other in their sphere of influence. Remember for churches and ministries to grow we must encourage our people to minister outside our walls. Remember sheep beget sheep, not shepherds. So to increase the kingdom of God in your area you need to release your people to go outside the wall and reach the lost for Christ and have them in turn disciple their new converts.

Making disciples fundamentally means making friends, taking time to know the person. It seems that the gift of hospitality has left the church; but I encourage you to reignite it in your ministry and church. Take the time to fellowship with new converts; invite them to your home along with other members of your ministry or church so that they get to know others as well. As I said earlier, new converts need to meet 5-10 new Christian friends in order for them to feel accepted.

So discipling simply means taking a believer and moving him on in faith, so he begins to mature and employ his gifts in the body of Christ.

As Bill Hull said in his book The Disciple Making Church, Christ was the ultimate disciple maker. Christ employed a six-step method.

1. Tell them what.

2. Tell them why.

3. Show them how.

4. Do it with them.

5. Let them do it.

6. Deploy them.

Many years ago, I saw a street ministry led by Randy White making disciples. Randy was getting people saved and asking the local churches to work with them. Because it was an affluent area, the pastors were reluctant to allow street people to attend their church. So Randy started his own church and started to make disciples. His ministry fed the street people so one method he used was he use a simple Bible study. What he did was to assign one chapter at a time with an answer sheet that they had to bring back filled out in order to participate in the meal that week. Out of that group he raised up leaders. A physician who was an alcoholic got saved and delivered from alcohol, and became the pastor of that church. It took Randy about two years to raise up the leadership. Making disciples takes time, but to the glory of God, Randy was successful in making disciples for Christ.

So I encourage you not just to make converts, but to fulfill the great commission, by making converts into disciples of Jesus Christ.

Be Blessed,

Bishop Bob Coulter

The book I recommend is: The Disciple Making Church by Bill Hull

Today we continue our look at Spiritual Gifts found in Romans 12: 4-8. These gifts have variously been called Grace Gifts, Motivational Gifts or Foundation Gifts.

Romans 12: 4-8

For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. NKJV

God has given each believer one or more of these gifts.   Many believers exhibit more than one gift, but almost always one is dominant. Each gift affects the way that a person views all ministries. Because we all view ministry through our gifting, we find that some gifted saints can offend differently gifted folks if they do not take time to understand each other’s giftings.

Therefore, I am not going to teach these gifts in the order given, but will compare the gifts that tend to offend each other.

In our last Tips and Tools, we learned about:

Gift of Prophecy compared to the Gift of Mercy:

Gift of Ministry (Serving) compared to the Gift of Leadership (Administration)

Today we will look at the gifts of Teaching compared to Exhortation; and finish with the gift of Giving.

Gift of Teaching: The Teaching gifted derives great joy from studying the Word and doing Biblical research.

Characteristics of the Teaching Motivated:

1. They want everyone else to be excited by the Scriptures
2. They enjoy studying the word as much or more than presenting their findings to others.
3. They prefer to use Biblical examples and rarely use personal experiences.
4. They are watchful that others who teach the Word do not deviate from the truth.
5. They present truth systematically.
6. They use Biblical foundations to test new truths. They know that the Bible is not self-contradictory; it always flows together, and if a new teaching contradicts foundational biblical truth, it is false teaching and should be ignored

Guidelines for teaching motivated people:

1. Be careful to present material in an interesting fashion.
2. Make sure the lessons have practical applications.
3. Teach with humility and compassion: because teachers love to spend time in the Word, they often become very knowledgeable about it. This may lead to a prideful attitude.

Gift of Exhortation very strongly life-related; drawing upon the practical applications of life experiences to produce abundant living in others.

Characteristic of the Exhortation Motivated:

1. They like to give others “Steps of Activity” to follow to bring them out of their misery, trials and tribulations.
2. They like for teaching from God’s Word to be applicable to everyday living.
3. They give practical applications.
4. They want you to relate to the subject matter and incorporate it into your daily life.
5. They are very perceptive to others’ reactions.
6. They like to relate personal examples to Biblical truths.
7. They love to counsel others and give others new insights into the Word so they can practice it and see changes in their lives.

Guidelines for exhortation motivated people:

1. Be sensitive to the Lord’s Exhorters may tend to emphasize their action steps more than stressing depending on the Lord who gives the steps.
2. Have faith in God. If the people to whom exhorters minister do not follow their advice, the exhorters may feel that they have failed God.
3. Be careful not to take Scripture out of context. Sometimes exhorters want so badly to prove their points that they may twist Scripture to fit the example they are giving.

Teachers are very protective of God’s word. They will be the first ones to point out to a preacher if he misquotes a Scripture or takes a Scripture out of context. So if an exhorter takes a scripture out of context, it can bother and upset a teacher. One of my gifts is exhortation so I will give a personal example of how an exhorter can offend a teacher. Recently I was preparing one of my teachings and was tired and could not get the word for the point I was trying to make, so I got sloppy and just threw in a word. Now Judy Covington (the teacher) reviews all my teachings. When she saw what I wrote she immediately challenged me saying that’s not what the Scripture says and suggested another word. And of course she was right. Teachers will protect the word of God; exhorters must not take the Word of God out of context.

Gift of Giving: Means to share spiritual gifts, finances, oneself and the gospel.

Characteristics of the Giving motivated:

1. They not only offer their money, but also their time and themselves to the Lord’s work.
2. They feel they are part of any ministry into which they give. They may not be involved with the day-to day activities of all the ministries to which they give, but they feel they are knit together spiritually with those ministries
3. They are very burdened that the church or ministry’ financial needs are met.
4. They do not like to be pressured into giving. They are often offended when they receive an appeal letter from ministers or ministries.
5. They give high quality gifts, often giving the best and keeping lesser quality items for themselves.

Guideline for giving motivated people:

1. Remember that God is your source and do not use your gifts for manipulation.
2. Remember that others may need encouragement to give.
3. Maintain balance in your giving. Do not go to extremes – do not neglect your family’s needs.
4. Be careful not to help someone who God is trying to discipline in the area of finances. Pray before you give to individuals or organizations to make sure God want you to do so. Do not give because it makes your flesh feel good; make sure it is where God wants to sow His resources through you.

I pray that these teachings will give you some food for thought as you “cultivate your giftings in the Spirit”. This is the theme for this year’s annual conference. We will be teaching and discussing more about cultivating your giftings at the annual conference. On Friday afternoon, we have scheduled a time for small groups so you can give your wisdom on this important subject.

I look forward to seeing you at the Annual Conference which is September 23-25 in Lancaster, South Carolina. Please go to our website www.tmciworld.com for more information.

Be Blessed,

Bishop Bob Coulter

Recommended book: Know Your Ministry by Marilyn Hickey

Let’s take a look at the spiritual gifts found in Romans 12: 4-8. These gifts have variously been called Grace Gifts, Motivational Gifts or Foundation Gifts.

Rom 12:4-8

For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. NKJV

God has given each believer one or more of these gifts. Many believers exhibit more than one gift, but almost always one is dominant. Each gift affects the way that a person views all ministries. Because we all view ministry through our gifting, we find that some gifted saints can offend differently gifted folks if they do not take time to understand each other giftings.

Therefore, I am not going to teach these gifts in the order given but will compare those gifts that tend to offend specific others. Some of the teaching is from Know Your Ministry by Marilyn Hickey.

Gift of Prophecy: Prophecy means speaking forth the Word of God.

Characteristic of the Prophecy Motivated People:

1. They are very frank and direct verbally. They are not afraid to point out weakness in others and are very eager to have their own weakness exposed as well.
2. They have the ability to discern others’ true motives.
3. They want to see outward evidence of change in those who say they repented. They do not simply accept the word of the “changer” but want to see fruit in action as well.

Guidelines for Prophecy Motivated People:

1.Be certain to speak the truth in love. Watch the tone of your voice.

2.Guard against rigidity. God may have more than one way to accomplish his goals.

3. Do not become legalistic.

Gift of Mercy: is the outward manifestation of pity

Characteristics of the Mercy Motivated People:

1 They are eager to show mercy.

2 They rebuke others only when it is absolutely necessary.

3. They have the ability to discern others’ true motives.
4. They prefer to minister to emotional needs rather than physical needs.

5 They are sensitive to others’ reactions to spiritual events.

Guidelines for Mercy Motivated people:

1. Allow God to deal with others’ offenses. Do not assume others ‘offenses . 2. Make decisions based on the Word of God, not on emotions.
2. Exercise caution when ministering to members of the opposite sex. You may become too involved and cause further injury or problems or your deep concern may be misunderstood.
3. Make an effort to fellowship with a variety of people. Mercy motivated people are inclined only to fellowship with others who are also mercy-motivated.

Those with prophecy and mercy motivated gifts tend to offended each other because to their very different approaches to ministry. Prophecy people tend to be very vocal and blunt in dealing with people, whereas the mercy motivated want to coax people into repentance and tend to be much more mild mannered when ministering to people. A mercy motivated person can be offended by the harsh way the prophecy motivated person speaks to a person: the prophecy motivated can be offended because they think the Mercy motivated person is coddling the person. Both have the ability to discern others’ true motives, but their approach in dealing with the person differs. The kingdom needs both approaches. Sometimes some need a “kick in the pants” and sometimes they just need a hug.

Gift of Ministry (Serving): is the gift which motivates the gifted to meet the practical needs in the church.

Characteristics of the Serving Motivated People:

1. They are willing to work physically almost to the point of exhaustion.
2. They will accept any challenge and stick with it to completion even if it means forfeiting hours of their personal time.
3. They prefer to work on projects that yield immediate results.

Guidelines for Serving Motivated People

1. Guard against taking on too many projects – you may be taking away someone else’s opportunity for ministry. Make certain God has called you to do the task that you are performing.
2. Do your work for the Lord and not for man’s approval.
3. Keep your priorities straight. Sometimes severs become so task-oriented that they neglect their personal relationship with God.
4. Be careful not to interfere with God’s dealings with others. Sometimes a server will leap in to help someone whom God is trying to teach a lesson.

Gift of Leadership (Administration) is the ability to lead and direct others. Through their God-given leadership ability, the leadership motivates and facilitates tasks for the rest of the body of Christ.

Characteristics of the Leadership Motivated People:

1. They can visualize long range goals.
2. They love challenge and know what steps are needed to meet the challenge.
3. They love to implement steps needed to meet goals.
4. They gain satisfaction from achieving goals and involving other to help meet them.
5. They are aware of the available resources to complete a task.
6. They are not overly sensitive to criticism; they are concerned with achieving goals, not pleasing people.

Guidelines for Leadership Motivated people:

1. Watch your people skills. Remember people are more important than projects.
2. Remember to be sensitive to others. Leaders like to complete tasks swiftly and may at times appear to be insensitive to others’ schedules and priorities.
3. Explain why certain tasks are necessary. Not everyone can see the long term goals
4. Use your giftings. Leaders will often wait until asked to get involved in projects.
5. In the beginning supervise your projects closely. Leaders tend to delegate their responsibilities too quickly

Leadership and serving gifts tend to offend each other. The server sometime thinks the leader is lazy because he’s not doing the physical labor. If possible, the leader should get involved in some of the physical work to set an example. Because servers do not visualize the long term goals, they may get discouraged. Therefore it is good for the leader to set short term goals and celebrate each as it is reached to encourage the servers.

My next Tips and Tools will complete the teaching on gifts and will include the gifts of Teaching, Exhortation and Giving.

Be Blessed,

Bishop Bob Coulter

Recommended book: Know Your Ministry by Marilyn Hickey

Kenneth Gangel writes, “The Christian leader understands that he functions to facilitate the ministry of others. He does what he must do in order that they may do what God has called them to do.”

Eph 4:11-12 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,

The main call on leadership is found in Ephesian 4: 11 and 12. The fivefold ministry is to equip believers to do the work of the ministry. We, as leaders, are called not to make converts only, but more importantly to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Not to make members for our church or ministry but to make disciples for Christ and release them for ministry. The church as a whole has emphasized making converts, but too many of these saved persons are being left on their own and, when tribulation comes, they falter because they have not been discipled. That is why the American church is so weak. We stopped making disciples and moved into entertainment and “feel good” teaching. We need to go back and train people and release them for ministry so that the kingdom of God is advanced: not just our church or ministry but the Kingdom of God!

Leith Anderson writes “The Church is caught in tensions. Our society is changing, economic, business and political realities are in constant flux. As a people, we feel this pressure ceaselessly. Yet as individuals, we resist change, feeling more secure with a stable environment. This constant pressure from society to change and the tendency for individuals to resist change create tension.

Matt 28:19-20 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

There is no doubt that we live in a time of great chaos. We sometimes wish we could go back to the time when things seemed more stable in our lives. Because of that we sometimes resist change of any kind in our church. We would like to be like a ship moored in the harbor. It is safe, nothing can affect it. But in reality, ships were not made for harbors, but for the open sea where there are strong winds and large waves that bring danger. As Christians, we must do what Jesus told us. “Go”. Not to sit and wait. But to go and preach the gospel to all. We must go outside our church and comfort zone and share boldly the love of God by our actions and words.

Kennon Callahan writes “The watershed question for many people in many congregations is….Do we believe that our best years are behind us, or do we believe that our best years are before us. Either way, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

1 Cor 2:9 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

As leaders, we must believe in what God called us to do. We must have a passion for the call on our lives. If we do not believe in what we are doing, no one else will. It is our leadership and enthusiasm that people will follow. Too many times, leaders let past success hold them back as they try to stay in an old anointing. God is on the move and we must move with him. We must act on the revelation God gives us today.

Leith Anderson: “Great leaders excel amid adversity. Do not resent tough times. Do not mark off the days until problems will be over. It is in hardship that we learn endurance. It is in adversity that we have our greatest opportunities to lead.”

I remember when I first read James 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. I thought I had misread that! It is in adversity that we grow as we learn to trust God for our solutions. Every successful ministry has had some failures. But we learn from our mistakes and move on with God. Ministry will have highs and lows. At one time God is blessing and things are flowing smoothly, at other times things slow down and problems are everywhere. Where we grow most is during the difficult times as God continue to mold us into the persons He needs for the next upward move in our lives. As leaders, we must remain positive as God moves us to new ministries. Many people ask God to make things easy for them. A better prayer would be to ask God to make you a better person.

I am reminded of 2 Thess 1:3-4 as Paul wrote about the Thessalonians: We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. 4 Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.

As the Thessalonians we must have a good report as we go through difficult times in our ministry.

Peter Drucker: “There is no correlation between potential and performance. There are lots of people with potential that do nothing with it. What counts is performance. Great leaders do something.

James 1:22-25 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

As leaders, God has called us to be doers, not triers. We are called to be steadfast in our calling. One religious way that I have seen leaders avoid taking action on a problem is this phrase. “Let pray about it” Yes, I say, “Let pray about it” As you know I am in favor of prayer, but most of the time what they are really saying is “let us hope the problem goes away before we meet again”. Yes, pray about it, but act on the problem. Problems do not go away on their own. One must act under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, but act we must.

In the next Tips and Tools, I will start a two part teaching on the Spiritual Gifts found in Roman12:4-8. I will be sharing on the positives and negatives of these gifts and how someone with one gift might offend another with a different gift.

Keep your thoughts on Christ and the promises he has for you,

Bishop Bob Coulter

The book I recommend this month is The Richest Man who ever lived by Steven K. Scott