1 Chronicles 6: What is Ministry?

Ever contemplated how your everyday actions might be more significant than you think? We're peeling back the layers to reveal the heart of ministry, exploring how our daily routines, when performed with intention, can become profound acts of worship. In a world where the word 'ministry' often conjures images of pulpits and choirs, we're turning to 1 Chronicles chapter 6 to redefine it through the longstanding dedication of the Levites. They lived their lives as a testament to service and faith, and their story urges us to recognize our spiritual kinship, connecting us to a legacy that fortifies our hope and commitment.

As we unravel the fabric of our own lives, we uncover the unique threads of talent and passion that can weave a vibrant tapestry of ministry. You'll be encouraged to identify your own skills—be it your knack for storytelling through comics or your culinary prowess—and channel them into impactful expressions of faith. From discussing the strategic placements God may have for you in your workplace to the simple, yet profound act of offering a prayer or a helping hand, this episode is an invitation to step out in faith and make a difference. And with a closing prayer inspired by the integrity celebrated in 1 Chronicles 29, we commit to using what's in our hands for good, embracing the full spectrum of what ministry can mean in our lives today.

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The More You Dig. The More You Find.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:25

Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today. First Chronicles, chapter 6, and today's title is what is Ministry? What is ministry? Is it something people do on a stage? Is it some people do on the street corners, like, what is that? What does that mean? We're going to talk about it in just a moment. But, as always, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like, share and subscribe to YouTube channel. Make sure, as always, my favorites leave us a 5-star review on the podcast and where we all gather together the Bible Breakdown Discussion, where the more we dig, the more we find.

Speaker 1: 0:58

And a real quick note I cannot tell you how many times recently I've had people come up and say hey, now listen. I watch you on the YouTube channel every day and I feel some kind of weight when you tell me that those podcast listeners are your favorites. So I go and tell you something, and I mean this law in my heart they're still my favorites. Oh, I love it. If you haven't noticed yet, one of my spiritual gifts is aggravation. So I hope that you don't take it too personal. I love messing with you, I love aggravating and I just have to be honest with you. The more of you that come and tell me that it aggravates you, the harder it is for me to resist. So I'm just letting you know it's what it is. I love you so much. I hope you know I'm just messing with you.

Speaker 1: 1:36

If you have your Bibles, you want to open up with me to 1st Chronicles, chapter 6. Yes, we are continuing to establish our family and that we have a spiritual family, that God has not forgotten about us. We have a lineage of God's faithfulness and a whole bunch of hard names that are hard to say, right, but today, what we're going to do is, if you remember, most likely this was compiled by Ezra, who is a priest, so this is written from the point of view of a priest, of worship and of re-establishing the line of God's faithfulness, and the overall theme is when God is with you, there's always hope. Well, the time now is for Ezra to show us the line of priests, of people that were part of the chosen people to attend to God, the Levites and all this, and we're going to talk about what ministry is, because this was an entire group, entire tribe, that their entire tribe was committed to ministry. So what is that, and what does that look like in a modern context? And so let's read Gazz'word. And the more we dig, the more we find. And so let's read this together If you're ready.

Speaker 1: 2:44

First Chronicles, chapter six, verse one says this the sons of Levi were Gershon, kohath, marirai, and the descendants of Kohath included Amram, isshar, hebron and Uzael. The children of Amram were Aaron, moses and Miriam. We know those people, right? The sons of Aaron were Nadeb, abihu, eliezar and Ithamar. Eliezar was the father of Panias. Panias was the father of Abishu. Abishu was the father of Buki. Can we just pause Buki? Come on now. That's a fun name, all right.

Speaker 1: 3:21

Obuki was the father of Uzai. Uzai was the father of Zerari. Zerari was the father of Mayoroth. Mayoroth was the father of Amirai. Amirai was the father of Ahetub. Ahetub was the father of Zedak. Zedak was the father of Amahaz. Amahaz was the father of Azariah. Azariah who was also, I think, a cat in the smurfs, I don't know, I digress was the father of Johanan, and Johanan was the father of Azariah, the high priest at the temple built by Solomon in Jerusalem. Azariah was the father of Amirai. Amirai was the father of Ahetub. Ahetub was the father of Zedak. Zedak was the father of Shaluam. Shaluam was the father of Helikaiah, helikaiah was the father of Azariah, azariah was the father of Saraiah and Saraiah was the father of Jehozodec when he went into exile, when the Lord sent the people of Judah and Jerusalem into captivity under Nebuchadnezzar.

Speaker 1: 4:22

The sons of the Levites, or sons of Levi, were Gersham, kohath and Morirai. The descendants of Gershan included Lebni Shema'ayah. The descendants of Kohath included Amram, isjar, Hebron and Uzael. The descendants of Morirai included Mahali and Mushi.

Speaker 1: 4:40

The following the Levi clans listed according to their ancestral descendants. The descendants of Gershan were Lebni, jeheth, zema'ayah, joah, edo, zariah and Jethariah. The descendants of Kohath included Abinadam, korah, isir, elkana, abishaf, isir, t'ahath, uzayah and Shua. The descendants of Elkana included Amishaya, ahath, ahemath, elkana, sufai, nehath, elib, joamam, ikhla and Samuel. Thank goodness for Samuel. Sons of Samuel were Joelle the older and Abijah.

Speaker 1: 5:21

The second Pause. Remember those guys? Something about them wasn't so good. I don't know. We don't know what that was, but Samuel was the one who then looked. They looked at Samuel and was like those guys aren't like you. I think we need a king. So we don't know exactly what was up, but those two guys, but something about them made them go. We're done with judges. We now want a king. The descendants of Marirai included Mahali Libi, shemaya Uzah, shemai Haga'i and Asahaya.

Speaker 1: 5:53

David assigned the following men to lead the music at the house of the Lord after the ark was placed there. They ministered with music at the tabernacle until Solomon built the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. They carried out their work following all the regulations handed down to them. These were the men who served along with their sons. Heman the musician was from the clan of Kohath, and his genealogy was traced back through Joel, samuel El-Khanai, jehoram El-El Tahoa, zuf Al-Khanai, mahath Amashai Al-Khanai, joel Ezariah, saphoniah, tel-hath, esir Ebishath, korah Ezau and Heman Kohath, levi and Israel.

Speaker 1: 6:38

We had notice. We just said the same names before, but backwards. Thank you, god, for putting them in there. Appreciate that All right, but this is important to know. If you notice, it is the sons of Kohath, the sons of Korah. Well, if you go, look in some of the Psalms, you will see how a lot of the Psalms in the book of Psalms are written by David, which you'll also see where it was the sons of Asaph or the sons of Korah. You know the different ones. Well, these are the people that they come from. So when you look at that next time. You can remember because you know you'll remember all these names that in 1 Chronicles, chapter 6, these are the people that this particular Psalm came from.

Speaker 1: 7:16

All right, verse 39, heman's first assistant was Asaph. You can find a lot of the Psalms written by a guy named Asaph from the clan of Gershon. Asaph's genealogy. Going backwards again, asaph's genealogy was traced back through Barakaya, shemaya, machel, besahaya, malchaja, ethonai, zariah, adahaya, ethon, zima, zimshimi, jehath, gershon and Levi, good old Levi. And then Heman's second assistant was Ethan, Good old Ethan, from the clan of Marari. Ethan's genealogy was traced back through Kishi, abdi, maluch, hamashabab I said that so bad Amaziah, helkaya, ezmi, benai, shimmer, halua'i, mushua'i, mara'i and Levi. Gotta love Levi. Only four letters, gotta love it. Verse 48,.

Speaker 1: 8:13

Their fellow Levites were appointed to various other tasks in the Tabernacle, the house of God. That's the verse we're going to hold on to in just a minute. Verse 49, only Aaron, his descendants, served as priests. They presented the offerings on the altar of burnt offering and the altar of incense, and they performed all the other duties related to the most holy place. They made atonement for Israel by doing everything that Moses, the servant of God, had commanded them. The descendants of Aaron, where Eleazar Pinaeus, abishua, buki, uzah, zar'haya, maroth, amarhaya, etub Zedok and Amm Ahamas.

Speaker 1: 8:56

This is the record of the towns and territories assigned by means of sacred lot to the descendants of Aran who were from the clan of Kohath. The territory included Hebron and its surrounding pasturelands in Judah, but the fields and outlying areas belong to the city. That were given to Caleb, the son of Jethua. So the descendants of Aran were given to the following towns, each with its pastureland Hebron, the city of refuge, lipnah, jathir, eshtimo, holon, dibir, ain, judah and Beshehemesh, and the territory of Benjamin, where they were given Gibbian, jiba, alamath, anahath, and each with its pastureland. So 13 towns were given to the descendants of Aran. The remaining descendants of the Kohath received 10 towns from the territory of the half-travel Manasseh by means of sacred lots. The descendants of Ghurhashan received the sacred lots, 13 towns from the territories of Ishakar, esher, Niftali and from Behashan areas of Manasseh east of the Jordan. The descendants of Marirai received, by sacred lots, the 12 towns from the territories of Rubin, gad and Zebulon. So the people of Israel assigned all these towns and pasturelands to the Levites, and the towns and their territories were of Judah, simeon and Benjamin mentioned above, and they were assigned to them by means of sacred lot.

Speaker 1: 10:23

The descendants of Kohath were given to the following towns from the territory of Ephraim, each with its own pastureland Shechem, the city of refuge in the hill country of Ephraim, gezer, kokkaman, beth-horon, ashelon and Gath-Rimon. The remaining descendants of Kohath were assigned to the towns of Anir, bellim and the territory of the half-travel Manasseh, each with its pastureland. The descendants of Ghursham received the towns of Golon in Behashan and Ashtaroth were the territory of the half-travel Manasseh, each with its pastureland. From the territory of Izakar, they had given Keresh, debreoth, reimoth, henim, and each with its pastureland. And from the territory of Asher, they received Mashel, abdan, hekuth, rehab, each with its pastureland. And from the territory of Neftali, there had been given Keresh and Gileon, haman and Kereeth Ha'fam, each with its pastureland. The remaining descendants of Marirai received the towns of Jokunim, katar, reimon and Tabor from the territory of Zebulon, each with its pastureland. And from the territory of Rubin, east of the Jordan River, opposite of Jericho, they received Bezir, a desert town, jihaz and Kereeth Ha'fam, kedimunath, Bihath, and each with its pastor lamb. And from the territory of Gad, they received Ramath, gilead and Gilead Ramath, heshban, jezir, each with its pastor lamb. Yes, so as you see, it was all these different people, and so, of course, since they had all these different people, they had to have places to live, and that was one of the things that they had to go through here, as you see, all these different names, all these different things.

Speaker 1: 12:06

But what I wanna grab onto is you notice that, before it was talking about, these people had various different jobs that they were assigned in the house of God, and what I wanted to talk to you about for a moment before we end our time together, is to define for all of us really quickly, what it means to do ministry. You know, when I was growing up, no one ever said this and, as a matter of fact, my dad was my pastor when I was growing up and he would very often try to dissuade people from thinking this, but for some reason, people just thought that the only thing that could be classified as ministry was what happened on stage on a Sunday morning. So if you sang a song, you played an instrument, you said an announcement, or if you preached a message, that was ministry. Nothing else was. Well, can I tell you that's not true.

Speaker 1: 12:54

As a matter of fact, ministry is anything you do as an act of worship on behalf of God. Anything you do as an act of worship on behalf of God from one person to another, that is ministry. Therefore, if you use my definition, anything you do as an act of worship on behalf of God is ministry. Therefore, you take out the trash and you do it as an act of worship. That's ministry. You serve somebody in some kind of way. That's ministry.

Speaker 1: 13:24

You know, when you go to work, the Bible says in the New Testament when you work for somebody, work not as though you're working for that person, work as though you are working for the Lord, because you are developing a reputation. This is what a Christ follower does, and so when you start to have a positive reputation, they start to go. Well, I wonder what this God is that they serve, if it causes them to be this way. So, anything you do, when you do it as an act of worship on behalf of God, it becomes ministry. Therefore, god has given you everything you need to do, everything he's called you to do, and your design reveals a ministry that you can do.

Speaker 1: 14:03

One of the things that encourages me so much is when I talk to people and they'll say things like you know I don't really have anything I can do for God. I don't have a ministry. And so what do you like to do? I like to let's just do this one. I like to read comic books Really you do. Do you know anybody else who reads comic books? Absolutely. I've got a group of friends they got about five friends. We read comic books all the time and talk about it. Why don't you do this? Why don't you invite everybody over to your house to read comic books? But right before you read comic books, why don't you pray? Hey guys, I just wanna pray over us before we start this, and if any time you wanna talk to me about anything to do with God, let's do it. Let's pray and you pray with them and you go, you reach comic books and you start doing life together. Do you know, when you're doing that as an act of focusing on God, as ministry, because you know what happens you bring God into the conversation. That's a form of ministry.

Speaker 1: 14:56

I talked to somebody one time who said you know, I don't really have anything that I'm good at cooking, but what's that got to do with being on stage on Sunday? Absolutely nothing. I bet we could find a way to make it ministry. And you know what they started doing. They started every time somebody was sick in our church. They would find out and they would go and they would take them soup and they would say hey, before we go, can I pray over you? And they still thought they were not doing ministry. And can I tell you, over time we lost track of how many people would say you know what? It wasn't the soup, it was that they prayed with me, but the soup was a doorway. I talked to other people who would say you know what? I can't go on missions trips, but you know what I can do, I can cook, and so they would take food and they would sell it and they would raise money for other people to go on missions trips. And that's just a few things that people would do all the time.

Speaker 1: 15:43

I talked to somebody one time who they had been confined to a wheelchair, they had had an accident and they couldn't walk, and they said I have nothing that I can do. And someone was listening to this and they said you know what I know so, and so they're going through a hard time. You know what they need. They need someone to listen. I love listening, okay, and you know, that person became a lifeline for that other one who was going through something, who they just needed someone to love them and someone to care.

Speaker 1: 16:07

Anything you do as an active worship to God, on behalf of God, to somebody else, that's ministry. And so can I tell you, everybody is qualified to do ministry. It just might look a little bit different than what somebody else does. So I want to ask you this question as we end our time together Not what do you wish you could do, what do you wish God would give you the opportunity or the ability to do, but what has he put in your hands, these people? Like I was thinking about it before when we were reading this together. It said that there were some of these people who they didn't have a choice. They were musicians because their parents were musicians. They were priests because their parents were priests and they came to do this. The great thing that we have is we have something in our hands.

Speaker 1: 16:52

What are you already naturally good at? Are you good at business? Are you good at making stuff with your hands? Are you good at talking to people? Are you good at listening? Are you good at cooking? I don't know. What are you good at? What do you like? I bet you could turn that into something life-giving. I bet you could turn that into an open door to bring conversations up about Jesus.

Speaker 1: 17:13

So my question for you is what is in your hand? What are you already naturally good at? You know what else is in your hand your job, where you work, you know. I don't think it's a mistake that you work where you do. I think it's entirely possible that God puts you exactly where you are so that you could be an undercover agent for His glory.

Speaker 1: 17:31

What if you took that and you were no longer undercover but you started to tell them hey, I love Jesus. If I could ever pray with you about anything, you let me know. Well, pastor, they probably look at me weird Now. They probably need somebody who's a little weird in their life, because they need someone who's representing God. And if you do that as an active worship God, I'm going to go out on a limb, but I'm doing it because I love you. That's ministry. And watch what God would do in your life when you take what's already in your hand and you give it to Him. Let's pray together, god. Thank you so much. You are with us more than we can imagine.

Speaker 1: 18:01

I pray to God as we get ready to start our day. For some of us, some of us were ending our day, some of us were in the middle of our day I pray you will help us, lord, to never never compare ourselves to somebody else, but rather, what if you put in our hand? What can we do today? I pray Lord as some of us go to work, some of us are off today, some of us are going to school. There's so many different things we're going to encounter, but I pray that the number one thing we'll encounter today is hope. Encounter you and to realize that you're for us and you have crafted us. You have gifted us to make a difference. Today, in Jesus name, we pray amen. And then what God's word says in 1 Chronicles, chapter 29,. I know, my God, that you examine our hearts and rejoice when you find integrity there. God knows you, god sees you, and when God is with you, there is always hope. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for 1 Chronicles, chapter 7.