"My Ministry within the Ministry" By Arman George August 28th,
2016
First of all, I really, really
want to thank Andy and Parrish for this opportunity for the children. They are real excited about what is going on
today. They couldn’t wait to do
this. As you can see, they prepared, and
then they, you know—it’s really awesome. I’m going to talk about my
ministry within the ministry. And, I
have three points I want to go to. 1. What
inspires me to be in children’s ministry? 2. Why
it’s important to me? 3. Why
children’s ministry matters? And, before I talk about that, I
want to give a little background of how I got into the children’s ministry. When I got baptized, back in 1996, you know,
this ministry is—Pastor Davis was a really, really—he has this ministry really
well. The guys, and the girls, and the
women, they’re not just walking; they know the Scriptures. For me, being new in the ministry, I mean, I
can’t hang out, and, just, like, hang my head, so, I have to go out there and
learn something, you know? And, what I
did, was, I started going out to Bible study, okay? Almost every day, I tried to get into the
Bible study, in the church, you know, we were in the church. And, you know, that wasn’t enough, really,
because, I mean, you know, you’re just sitting there reading from… I started going to the Bible study in
Chicago—Pastor Davis had a vision that this dove was flying all over Chicago,
so they started, you know, going to do a Bible study in Chicago. So, I was going there, and, you know, it was
a great time. I was learning something,
but, just taking it in. So, Brother Jeff
Lynch, who was the one teaching the Bible study in Chicago, he told me, “You
know what?” Because he teaches the
children’s ministry. He said, “You know
what? You need to get into a children’s
ministry.” I said, “You really think
so?” because that was what I was saying I wanted, and, that’s where to go. So, I spoke to Pastor Paine, “Pastor Paine,
do you think I can help out in the children’s ministry?” “Yeah, what do you want to do?” he asked. “I just want to help out, because I really
want to learn something. I mean, I can’t
hang out with the guys, me not knowing anything about the Bible.” I mean, Pastor Davis raised this ministry,
you know, with knowledge in the Bible. So,
I talked to Bob, “Bob, is it okay?” Bob
said, “No problem.” You know. Hey, that’s how I got into a ministry, right
there. And, so, I, you know, started
teaching, and, actually, helping teaching and stuff. And that’s how I got in there,
and, so, you know, I had to learn, I had to do something, so, I’m going to ask
a question to myself:
And, the Scriptures that I have in
there is in: Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child
in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Train, train, train. And it’s not—kids, it’s not that train that
moves and says, “Choo-Choo,” it’s not that.
It’s train, I mean, you guys are training in school. You guys are going back to school; you’re
training for the future. I mean, I have
to—that word is really big in me, because train is something that, you know,
it’s not something easy you can take. I
have to remind myself so many times, and go to that, and say, “Train, train.” Okay?
And I know everyone knows what that means. You know, so many people, I think just about all of us,
are, you know, doing that, whether we know it or not. You know, just the reflections of your life
and my life, whether it’s good or bad, our children will see it. All our lives revolve around it, pretty much,
if you think about it. Because, I mean,
you go to work, and you train yourself, or you train somebody. You buy a new house, and you’ve got to train
yourself how to fix it. You go and train
yourself to be, you know, physically fit.
I mean, pretty much everything is about training. So, why don’t we take that training in
ourselves, and teach it to our children, where they can get real good blessings? I mean, it will really, really give God a
great service if we take that to our children.
Because, God said, “Train up a child in the way that it should go.” You know, I’m still training, right now, I’m
still training to be a good father. I’m
still training to be a good husband, you know?
Sometimes my wife train me, how to be a good—doing the laundry or
something. But I’m training, you
know? I’m training. You know, I heard someone say that children
are basically good. And I believe it;
they are good. I mean, you know, why do
we have train them if they are good?
Because evil exists in our world.
Because some other, some other people out there that are going to teach our
children, you know, and, whether we know it or not, the reflection of that
person is going to take them in, if we don’t teach it, if I don’t teach it to
my children. And, I really just want to,
you know, to point that out, to train.
And, you know what? The good
thing about that, you’re doing God great service, doing God great service. I mean, you’re putting that all in there. You know, as an adult, I still look
for that, actually, I really do, because, I mean, where else could I find?
Because sometimes it’s really not—the Bible says whenever you do good, evil is
always present. You know? Evil is always present, so don’t be surprised
if you are going to get up against something, you know? I just wanted to say, you know,
when—the kids will never forget anything.
You know, one time, I had an opportunity to attend a funeral of my
co-worker. And, it was a young kid that
died from something—I forgot what it was, but, anyway, and he was a teen, and,
so, anyway, I got in there, you know, just paid my respects. There was overflowing with teens in
there. And, you know what? At least, there’s like three or our children,
three or four teens that came to me, and said, “Hey, Mr. George! Remember me?
Christian Fellowship Church; I was in your class!” And that right there just really opened up my
heart and life. You know, at the time, I
didn’t think, you know, I was just shaking my head, and, I’m trying to think,
“Where did I see this kid?” You
know? But, you know what? That’s the anointing; you see the kids, out
there in the market, and they beep at you, “Beep, beep!” “Hello, you know, I’m so-and-so!” Oh, you’re going to like this. You know, I work at Jelly Belly, and there is
a tour over there; lots of kids goes through there. Every now and then, they’ll be waving at me,
and I was like, “Okay, hi,” you know?
But, you know, that’s really, that’s my return. That, just, that’s really a gift, and I just
wanted to share that. 2. Why it’s Important to Me My Scripture’s in: 1 Timothy 4:12 Let no man despise
thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation,
in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. It says, “Let no man despise thy
youth…” You know, you know how to
despise thy youth? I’m going to tell
you, right now. I worked at my previous
job, and it’s pretty relaxed in there.
There’s a brother there that’s working, he’s working there, but he’s not
in the same department that I was, you know, so, every now and then, he and I
meet, and during our lunch time, we go down and have a Bible study. And, one time, he actually was, he was
speaking in tongues in there, in the building, you know. And I was like, “Wow!” and it was awesome. And we had some other people that work with
us that were in the Bible study. But,
anyway, throughout this time, God speaks to me, you know, and I walked around
the building, and I speak to folks, and He says, “Why don’t you go share with
that guy?” And I don’t listen to it, you
know, and I shrug it off. There’s at
least a couple of workers that were where I was at, and they came here and got
baptized, and it was a great, great opportunity. But, you know what? There’s this one thing that God spoke, He
says, “Why don’t you go talk to that guy?”
And his name is Kevin. Kevin is,
like, around, I think he’s a teen, like nineteen or twenty, something like
that. And, what do you know? I didn’t listen to God. You know?
I just blew it. I don’t know why,
I just, you know, didn’t listen. And
we’re talking about despising thy youth, you know? And, you know, I didn’t listen to Him. I walked away, and I was like, you know, “I’m
busy,” or something like that. Anyway,
two weeks later—he lived in Zion, by the way—anyway, two weeks later, someone broke
into his house, and his parents, and his brothers and sisters are gone, he’s by
himself, doing something, and someone robbed him, their house, walked into
their house and robbed them, and, in the process, he got killed. And, you know, I—it was hard, you know? I had to go back to children’s ministry to learn
more training, because that blood is on my hands, and I don’t want to let that
happen again. Because, you know,
sometimes it’s not like—like the Bible said, evil is always present. There’s always something that leads, I’ve got
to say, to make excuse for. But, that
kid never had a chance because I disobeyed.
The reason I’m sharing is because I don’t want anybody to go through the
same situation. And we all kind of learn
from each other, because that’s what the family is, the family of God is. That’s why He put us together, because I can
learn a lot of things from you, and you learn a lot from me; I hope so, anyway,
and I pray to God that you do. But don’t
let that happen again, please, because it’s not up to—I, several times, had to
go back to children’s ministry, because that’s where my comfort zone. You know. And my last question to myself is:
You have, you have some reading
materials that the usher passed out, and I just want to read some of
them. Children’s ministry matters,
because it promotes their eternal happiness.
And, it helps them make sense out of life. 3. It's
their best chance to accept Christ.
4. It helps them avoid negative
outcomes of sin. It can help them counter
balance worldly influences. It can help
them learn to love others. And that’s
why it matters. I matters to me, because
Jesus said—I’m sorry, I’m going to read verse thirteen and fourteen: Matthew 19:13-14 Then were
there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them,
and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Suffer little
children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of
heaven. And, of such is the Kingdom of
Heaven. You know a lot—all of us, such
is the Kingdom of Heaven. We are the children
of God. We are the children of God. And, it matters to God, it matters to God,
every single soul, every single child that comes in here, wants to make sure
they get well fed. Well-fed in
everything, you know? I f I could say
something, in closing, if I could say something, before I leave here, what I
want to say is, you know, pick something in this ministry. Pick something in this ministry. It doesn’t have to be children’s ministry; it
doesn’t have to be, you know? There’s
the military ministry. There’s a ladies’
ministry. There’s senior’—I mean, I can
name, you know all of them. Pick
something in this ministry, and take it well, and nurture it, because, you
know, children’s ministry has been good to me.
I’ve got to tell you that, children’s ministry has been good to me. I took it, I took children’s ministry as my
stepping stool. A lot of times I go to
this because it lifts me up, you know?
Whenever I teach something, it reminds me, a lot, it encourages me. David said, David said, he encouraged himself
in the Lord (1 Samuel 30:6). A lot of
times, I come to there. You know, take
something in this ministry, and nurture it, and take care of it, and use it for
your own benefit. I used this—you know, a
lot of times, the devil—when you would do good, evil is always present—a lot of
times, the devil puts something in front of you, but, when you take your
ministry with you, you stand on it, as a footstool, as a footstool, and you can
see higher than what’s, than what the devil is putting in front of you. I just want to say that. It can lift you higher. It doesn’t have to be the children’s
ministry, it doesn’t have to be. Just
take ministry, in our ministry. Take
it. Thank you, and God bless you.
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