The Gift of Administration: Serving with Purpose and Passion
The focus of this podcast episode is the gift of administration, which is explored in the context of spiritual gifts as outlined in Romans chapter 12. Pastor Josh emphasizes that this gift involves the ability to serve God effectively within the church by understanding its needs, delegating tasks, and fostering an environment of cooperation among members. He highlights the importance of exercising this gift with love, joy, patience, and other characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit, contrasting this with the potential pitfalls of operating in a fleshly manner. The discussion also touches on the biblical figures who exemplified administrative skills, such as Nehemiah and Solomon, and the critical role that administrators play in ensuring the church functions optimally. As the episode concludes, listeners are encouraged to reflect on their own gifts and how they can contribute to the body of believers for the glory of God.
The podcast's exploration of the spiritual gift of administration offers a profound insight into how this gift is vital for the church's functionality and mission. Pastor Josh provides a detailed definition of administration as a divine grace that empowers individuals to view the church's larger vision, identify its needs, and take action to fulfill God's purposes. He draws parallels with biblical figures like Nehemiah and Solomon, who exemplified leadership through their ability to organize, plan, and lead their communities effectively. This discussion brings to light the often-overlooked importance of administrative gifts in church life, showcasing how they contribute to the overall health and effectiveness of the body of Christ.
Pastor Josh emphasizes that the administration gift goes beyond mere organizational skills; it is grounded in the fruit of the Spirit, which includes love, joy, and patience. This is crucial because the effectiveness of administration hinges not just on skill but also on character. The pastor warns listeners about the pitfalls of exercising this gift in the flesh, which can lead to a dismissive attitude towards others or a focus on tasks over relationships. Instead, he encourages a spirit of collaboration and care, reminding listeners that every action taken in the church should reflect the love and grace of Jesus.
As the episode wraps up, Pastor Josh challenges listeners to examine their gifts and consider how they can apply them within their church community. He underscores the importance of being part of a local body of believers, where spiritual gifts can be identified and nurtured. This call to action not only encourages personal growth but also fosters a culture of mutual support and encouragement within the church. The episode sets the stage for future discussions on other spiritual gifts, promising a continued journey of discovery and application for all believers.
Takeaways:
- The podcast emphasizes understanding and utilizing the spiritual gift of administration within the church.
- Pastor Josh encourages listeners to exercise their gifts in alignment with the fruit of the Spirit.
- It's essential for believers to identify and grow in the gifts God has provided.
- The gift of administration is not just about tasks; it involves caring for others.
- Using our God-given gifts properly is vital for the health of the church body.
- Believers are called to serve others and edify the church through their unique gifts.
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This podcast is produced by Ralph Estep, Jr., host of the Ask Ralph Podcast, a daily podcast on Christian Finance you can find it at https://www.askralphpodcast.com/
00:00 - None
00:06 - Introduction to the Word of the Week
00:41 - The Gift of Administration
07:01 - The Gift of Administration and the Spirit's Character Traits
10:16 - Exploring the Gift of Administration
12:13 - Transitioning to New Topics in Spiritual Study
Speaker A
Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.
Speaker A
In this podcast series, we're going to be looking into biblical words that have great significance to our faith.
Speaker A
The name of this series is called the Word of the Week, where once a week we will dive deeper into these words that we are familiar with in scripture.
Speaker A
So come along with me.
Speaker A
Let's study the Word of the week.
Pastor Josh
Pastor Josh here.
Pastor Josh
The word of the week is gift.
Pastor Josh
We've been studying the gifts given to us in the Spirit in Romans chapter 12 here for a long time.
Pastor Josh
Now we're getting towards the end.
Pastor Josh
We're going to be talking today about the gift of administration.
Pastor Josh
Whereas the King James says the.
Pastor Josh
The gift of ruling.
Pastor Josh
And so you can see that there In Romans chapter 12, it speaks of that gift.
Pastor Josh
And as all of these gifts are, they are given to us by Christ through the Holy Spirit with the discernment of God so that we can use them for his purposes in our life.
Pastor Josh
And so the gift of administration could be defined as the Spirit giving grace and I would even say motivation to serve God in the body of believers, to visualize the bigger picture of the body, to understand its needs, to define the needs, to communicate it with other people, to formulate plans of action to encourage members of that body and to complete goals, obviously for the sake of God's glory within the church.
Pastor Josh
And so it is a more public gift when it comes to administration.
Pastor Josh
It is a gift that what we would say is, is in one of the upfront ministries, even though it might not be necessarily preaching or teaching, it would be definitely a ministry that would.
Pastor Josh
Would be demonstrating administrative needs for the body as a whole.
Pastor Josh
And so people that are rulers or administrators are motivated to make the body run with optimum efficiency.
Pastor Josh
Meaning there are things maybe that are going well within the church.
Pastor Josh
They want to make it run better.
Pastor Josh
And they have the tools, as God has given them to, to make the church run better.
Pastor Josh
So some of these people in scripture that would have had these gifts, people that I think about would be people like Nehemiah, Solomon, Joseph, even you look at Joshua there in the Old Testament, these would be people who could have the ability to visualize the final outcome.
Pastor Josh
Sometimes you have people in the church that, and come up with ideas, but they're not able to make them come to pass.
Pastor Josh
These would be individuals led by God in, in the area of, of defining the needs for the goals at hand and being able to delegate the right people for the right jobs.
Pastor Josh
And so biblically speaking, this is a needed position within the church.
Pastor Josh
Obviously it's not always necessarily the most attractive position for people that aren't gifted in that area.
Pastor Josh
Um, they, they would be people who are very faithful and dependable with, with various skills and talents that would be administrative and, and really they are people who are going to be.
Pastor Josh
Tend to be workers.
Pastor Josh
Very, very busy.
Pastor Josh
And.
Pastor Josh
But anytime we have these gifts, we know that we can exercise these gifts with the power of the spirit or the power of the flesh.
Pastor Josh
And so just as much as an administrator is helpful for the church, when exercise within the power of the Spirit, someone that's exercising themselves in a carnal fashion, a fleshly fashion, would, would maybe be harmful to the body at large.
Pastor Josh
And so some people that would have the gift of administration might tend to be more dismissive of others that don't have their vision.
Pastor Josh
Some people that are working in the flesh might be tempted to use people to accomplish goals.
Pastor Josh
So, so using people, right, Seeing people as a, a tool instead of a soul that, that is in need of care, they might be.
Pastor Josh
Tend to be so driven that they forget about other responsibilities in their life.
Pastor Josh
And so we, we know that there's a proper way to administrate and there's an improper way to administrate.
Pastor Josh
And I think the, the goal for somebody who is an administrator would be to exercise their gift that God has given them in the framework of the fruit of the Spirit.
Pastor Josh
And any of these gifts could be exercised that way.
Pastor Josh
If you think about it, you could either work in the flesh or work in the spirit.
Pastor Josh
Galatians chapter five lays that out for us.
Pastor Josh
The Bible speaks of the flesh and the spirit warring against each other.
Pastor Josh
And if we are acting in the flesh, we are going to be characterized by these things of the flesh.
Pastor Josh
And there's a whole list of those things in Galatians chapter five.
Pastor Josh
But then we see at the end of Galatians chapter 5, there is the classic list of the fruit of the Spirit.
Pastor Josh
And if we are characterized in any of these gifts today, specifically including administration, we would be characterized by, by these character traits.
Pastor Josh
So if you look at Galatians chapter 5, verse 22, it says, but the fruit of the Spirit is love.
Pastor Josh
And so I think it's key to an individual who is administrating to do it with love.
Pastor Josh
The spirit of love would be selflessness, humility, care for others, Instead of seeing people as tools for the job to get done.
Pastor Josh
You know, just steps in the machine process.
Pastor Josh
It's, it would be like, hey, this person has issues and Needs and, and might need to be shepherded and cared for.
Pastor Josh
So, so love, joy, so do this in joy.
Pastor Josh
All these gifts can be done in joyful manners.
Pastor Josh
And they could also be done in manners of bitterness and anger.
Pastor Josh
You know, a person could say, well, can't believe I have to do this for the church.
Pastor Josh
Or I can't believe I have to do this for the Lord.
Pastor Josh
No, it's, it's done with joy.
Pastor Josh
That's one of the character traits of doing these things in the spirit.
Pastor Josh
Peace, long suffering.
Pastor Josh
That, that word in our everyday language is patience.
Pastor Josh
You know, you gotta have patience with administration.
Pastor Josh
Sometimes someone gifted in the gift of administration can see exactly what needs to be done, but someone's not doing it.
Pastor Josh
And there could be an inpatient spirit with that.
Pastor Josh
And so to be exercising the gift of administration would be to exercise it in a manner of patience.
Pastor Josh
We see the word gentleness here.
Pastor Josh
Goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, that's self control.
Pastor Josh
Against such there is no law.
Pastor Josh
And so the Bible lists there the different character traits of the fruit of the spirit.
Pastor Josh
And I think that as we're looking at the gift of administration today, it would be wise to check ourselves with that list.
Pastor Josh
You know, am I exercising my gift in these areas?
Pastor Josh
So the gift of administration, the gift of giving, the gift of prophecy or proclamation, the gift of teaching, the gift of exhortation, am I doing it with love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance.
Pastor Josh
If I'm not, then I'm exercising my God given gifts with the flesh.
Pastor Josh
And I think that that would be a dangerous place.
Pastor Josh
It is a dangerous place to be because we are squandering what God has gifted us in, in the area of stewardship.
Pastor Josh
And you go back to, I think it's First Peter, First Peter, Chapter 4, Verse 10.
Pastor Josh
We started here says, as every man hath received the gift, there's the gift.
Pastor Josh
Even so minister that service the same one to another.
Pastor Josh
So the purpose is others as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
Pastor Josh
So what we've been given is a gift of grace.
Pastor Josh
Therefore we are stewards of it.
Pastor Josh
Because it's not ours to, to claim, it's, it's God's, but he's given us the opportunity to manage it and use it for his good.
Pastor Josh
So if we have been given these things in our life and we use them for our own pleasure, or we use them for our own purpose, then we essentially are squandering or wasting the gift of God.
Pastor Josh
We are not being good stewards of what he has gifted us in.
Pastor Josh
And so, so often we, we waste the things that God gives us for our own pleasures, for our own fleshly desires.
Pastor Josh
And so the challenge for us today would be God has given us so much.
Pastor Josh
He has given us talents.
Pastor Josh
He has given us time, truth, treasure.
Pastor Josh
He's given us all these wonderful gifts.
Pastor Josh
As James 1 says, Every good gift comes down from God.
Pastor Josh
What are we doing with these gifts?
Pastor Josh
How am I using this for the furtherance of the gospel?
Pastor Josh
How am I using this for the edification of the body of believers, the church?
Pastor Josh
How am I doing this to edify my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ?
Pastor Josh
How am I exhorting others to love and good works?
Pastor Josh
And so I think of, of may, of all the gifts, administration would be one that could be seen as sometimes as, hey, I'm deflecting work, right?
Pastor Josh
Because I'm, I'm, I'm tasking other people.
Pastor Josh
And though it can turn to that.
Pastor Josh
And we do need people that are good delegators within the church.
Pastor Josh
We do need people that can see the bigger picture and see the end goal and be detail oriented.
Pastor Josh
Not everyone is naturally detail oriented, but I do know that even as all the gifts are, even if we're not supernaturally gifted in these areas, we are supposed to grow in these areas.
Pastor Josh
And so you, you might think that, hey, you know what?
Pastor Josh
I don't have the gift of administration, so I don't need to worry about the details.
Pastor Josh
No, I think as believers, we all need to grow in these areas.
Pastor Josh
And so if I'm scatterbrained or if I'm not organized in my ministry or my service, I need to see how God can help me get stronger in those areas.
Pastor Josh
And so I think that that's the goal for all of us when we come and look at these gifts is how can we all grow in these capacities as believers?
Pastor Josh
So we are looking at administration today.
Pastor Josh
Next week, we are going to look at the gift of mercy.
Pastor Josh
And that will essentially conclude the gifts that are listed there in Romans, chapter 12.
Pastor Josh
And I really hope that this has been a beneficial study for you.
Pastor Josh
And I think that if you.
Pastor Josh
Well, let me say it this way.
Pastor Josh
I know that if you are a believer, God has gifted you with at least one of these gifts.
Pastor Josh
And the challenge would be to, number one, identify that gift in your life, but then, number two, to see how you can use that gift in the local body of believers that you were a part of.
Pastor Josh
And so the assumption there would be that you are a part of a local body of believers.
Pastor Josh
I know that Many of the folks that are listening to this podcast are members of Middletown Baptist Church, but we know that there are many great churches around the world.
Pastor Josh
And so if you're not a part of Middletown Baptist Church, I'm sure there's a church out there for you.
Pastor Josh
And I encourage you to find a local body of believers that you can be a part of so that you can.
Pastor Josh
You can be utilized for the kingdom of God there.
Pastor Josh
Now, you don't have to be a.
Pastor Josh
A member of a church to be saved.
Pastor Josh
You can trust in Jesus Christ as your savior, but the assumption in Scripture would be that immediately we find a local body to be a part of and to grow in.
Pastor Josh
And so the Bible does say to not forsake this, the assembly of ourselves together.
Pastor Josh
And the Bible says that there's a purpose to that assembly, and that is to exhort one another to love and good works.
Pastor Josh
So it's not so much that I have to go to church, but that I want to go to church and that I need that body to complete me.
Pastor Josh
Now, Christ completely satisfies everything that I need in my life, but Christ uses the church.
Pastor Josh
And the Bible says that Christ loves the church and he gave himself for it.
Pastor Josh
So Jesus loves the church, and so we should, too.
Pastor Josh
So we're gonna look at the Gift of Mercy next week and conclude our study, and then we will get into some new words.
Pastor Josh
I know we've been on the spiritual gifts now for.
Pastor Josh
For a long time, and I know that anytime you're studying one thing for an extended amount of time, it can be difficult.
Pastor Josh
But I do encourage you to stay through and see it through so that we can move on to some more wonderful words here as we study the words of the week.
Pastor Josh
God has given us so many things in scripture to learn from and to grow in, and I want to do that along with you.
Pastor Josh
So thank you so much for following along in the study.
Pastor Josh
We are looking for ideas that maybe you would like to hear about in scripture.
Pastor Josh
And so if there's a word or a phrase or a person in Scripture that you would like to hear more about, we would love for you to share that with us.
Pastor Josh
You could email me at Josh, that's J O S H Massaro M as in Mary, A S as in Sam, S as in Sam a r o@middletownbaptistchurch.org you can send me an email there, or you can, you can reach out to the church at large.
Pastor Josh
You can call us at the church, you can find our contact information on our website, you could find that@middletownbaptistchurch.org or you can find a link to our church website at our podcast website.
Pastor Josh
That's nbcpodcast.org well, thank you so much for listening and I appreciate your faithfulness as we've been going through these words for quite a bit of time now.
Pastor Josh
Well, God bless you.
Pastor Josh
We hope you have a wonderful week.
Pastor Josh
We look forward to hearing from you soon and we will be back next week with another Word of the Week.
Pastor Josh
Take care.
Speaker A
Hey, I really appreciate that you listen to the Word of the Week podcast.
Speaker A
If you have any questions about the podcast or about our church, Middletown Baptist Church, you can find more information about us on Facebook or YouTube or you can find the podcast on NBCPodcast.org you can contact me directly at Josh Massaro at middletownbaptistchurch.org stay tuned for future Word of the Week episodes where we dive deeper into words that impact our life according to scripture.
Pastor Josh
Thank you so much.
Speaker A
God bless.
Speaker A
We'll talk to you soon.
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