-full-time ministry
apostle john was taken prisoner
and shipped off to rome it was either
the emperor nero or diocletian
who banished him to a barren island
called patmos
only a few prisoners probably at the
time
were there banished
in this small uninhabited island
this is the beloved john who leaned on
the bosom of jesus
this is the beloved john who was the
brother of james
sons of zebedee he was the author of the
fourth gospel
uh matthew mark luke john he’s
the author of first second and third
john
john later wrote he said i am banished
to patmos for the word of god
and for the testimony of jesus christ
now can you imagine how john must have
lived and a little shack a dirt floor
can you imagine how many mediterranean
storms beat upon him and how
many times he shivered himself to sleep
one change of clothes
perhaps perhaps allowed to have
uh some of his books the law
and and some of the writings perhaps the
first five books of the old testament
and maybe some parchment
by every standard of man’s judgment this
man is a total failure
he’s a waste in fact
today he would have been asked by many
to where’s your faith
because aren’t you the one who wrote
whatsoever you shall ask
the father in my name he will give it to
you ask and you shall receive
and your joy might be full john why
didn’t you
ask god why didn’t you believe and be
delivered why would god
put one of the most sanctified holy men
of all times
stranded on an island nearly starving
open to the elements john where’s your
faith
and let me tell you how god would be
judged by new
standards especially the american
standard of success
there’s no building there’s no
congregation
there’s no money to build a structure
there’s no vehicle to travel the island
here’s no decent house no decent
clothing one change of clothing
no meat except the lizard or snake he
might catch at times
there’s no agenda he has no outreach
there’s no plan to reach
nations the world today would explain
this man has no ministry
this man is finished
something happened to this man you see
when he
embarked when he got off onto that
island
he died all his plans his thoughts of
ministry
or success i’m gonna walk in the spirit
i’m gonna give myself to prayer and
praise i’m gonna seek the face of god
you see john was now in full time
ministry not like we
think of it today but he’s in full time
ministry
until the lord the lord adam all to
himself and what the devil meant
to destroy because they never intended
john ever survive
no one was to leave patmos
see this is john now in full-time
ministry he has
he has no need of uh on purpose you
don’t need any hype
you don’t need any advertising you don’t
need anybody to praise you
you don’t have to build an institution
you don’t compete with anybody no
fundraising no slogans
no numbers to boast about nobody to
congratulate you
because you were reduced to a single
focus
jesus that’s all you’ve got
but that’s all you need john said that’s
all i will ever need
you see full-time ministry is being
reduced into
total focus on jesus in worship and
praise
because you and i have all been called
to be priests unto the lord
let me talk to you about full-time
ministry
what is it it’s simply not
pastoring a church are going around
holding revival meetings
full-time ministry has nothing to do
with a diploma or ordination
certificate from a bible college or
seminary
it’s not determined by ordination some
leaders laying hands on you and setting
you into the ministry i’m not against
any of that
but that doesn’t make you a full-time
minister
there are pastors of churches that are
full-time
paid ministers who are not full-time
ministers unto the lord
in fact many of the bible says are
hiring according to the prophets
they were hirelings and they were out
they they were fully paid
and overpaid but the lord said i don’t
even know them
and there are thousands of pastors all
over the world today
that say and they are called and part of
his full-time pastor’s full-time
ministry
but in the eyes of god there are no
ministry whatsoever
a man who doesn’t pray a man who doesn’t
seek god who doesn’t have a burden for
the people
a man who doesn’t hear from heaven and
speak the mind of christ
he is not of god he is not in full-time
ministry
and everywhere i go i’ve had it here
many times at times for church
and everywhere i go people come and say
would you
lay hands on me would you pray for me
that god would open the doors
for me to be in full time ministry
let me tell you when you’re ready for
full-time ministry
when you no longer need human applause
you don’t need to have anybody give you
an assignment
you don’t need a plan you don’t need an
endorsement you don’t need a building
you don’t need a congregation you don’t
need any credentials
when you no longer are looking for some
great work to do
when the only thing that fully satisfies
your heart
is your ministry of prayer and worship
unto the lord
when when you are satisfied with feeding
christ
when you have given yourself completely
and you are focused on this one thing
my calling on this earth first
of all is to be a minister unto him
i am in full time ministry when my whole
focus
is not what i can accomplish what i can
build what i can do
what i can see as results i’m in
full-time ministry
when i give myself to prayer and to
christ it being on my mind
day and night every waking hour
jesus is being ministered to
on the subway on the job that quiet
prayer that reaches up to him
that ministry unto jesus that worship
and praise
the church of i john the church of i
gave it
i’m mary whatever your name is
and then out of that communion
out of that focus comes all the ministry
to people
only as he leads and as he directs and
it always begins one-on-one
and if you can’t be a preacher to one
person at a time
how do you believe god ever trust you
with somebody else
i i i’ve been in churches
and i know as soon as i go in and sit
that the man i’m listening to
doesn’t know the lord he’s got a
private agenda this particular one i’m
thinking of is a harley
but in that particular church there were
people sitting in that audience
that had outgrown their pastor long ago
they were shut in with the lord
they were men and women of prayer and
god was revealing himself to them
they had a prophetic word and actually
pastors feared these
i i know that pastor particularly who
actually feared these people
because this man knows it they’ve been
with god
and every time they see this man or
woman come and they back away because
you see a man what has been with god is
a reproof
to those who have been of apathetic to
the lord
and there are some people the
congregations that have outgrown pastors
because they’re in full-time ministry
the pastor may be fully paid
they may not get a dime for this they
might have nothing but they are in
full-time ministry
because they minister to the lord they
meet in the before they go to work they
meet
the lord and through the day and then
before they go to bed at night they have
this precious time they’re ministering
unto the lord
that is full-time ministry
anybody see it hear it yet wave your
hand at me if you know what i’m talking
about
look again at john on patmos
you see rocks you probably hear a few
birds
scattered shrubs you hear a pounding
surf
a few handmade shelters but what is it
you don’t see
and you don’t hear picture yourself on
patents
there’s john on the rocky
side of the mountain cliff looking down
into the ocean and what is it that you
don’t hear
you don’t hear another voice
what you don’t hear is any other voice
the only voice he had now was the voice
of the holy spirit
directing him if he wanted to talk
he could talk to only the lord
he could hear only the holy spirit the
only voice and he says i was in the
spirit
i was holy given up to the holy spirit i
trusted the spirit
i was taught by the spirit he showed me
the condition of the church the first
thing the lord did was show him the
condition of the church
he showed him the churches of asia and
those
the good conditions and the the awful
conditions
of the church he took him into the
heavens
i was holy given he said to the holy
spirit and the door was opened in heaven
and a voice said come up here there john
and i’ll show you things which must be
hereafter
and immediately i was in the spirit and
behold the throne was said in heaven
and one sat on the throne
you see in this full-time ministry of
john that had been imposed upon him
he is taken into heaven and he sees the
throne of god
now no man has seen it but he said i saw
one into likeness
in other words there was some revelation
of the glory of god given to this man
and he was told of things that were
going to come
and he said i heard a voice
but you see that call today to come up
is being ignored
by many in the ministry today is being
ignored by many people in the po
in the congregations today that call to
come up that call to seek the face
of god because everybody now is so busy
everybody today has time for most people
have time for television they have time
for internet they have time for
all their time for shopping
there’s no time to come up hither
lord said if you’ll come up here i’ll
show you things to come i’ll show you
the throne i’ll show you mercy i’ll show
you grace
i’ll show you things that you’ve never
seen or heard and that nobody else has
ever seen because
you’ve set your heart to seek me
tell me let me tell you what i believe
is needed
in these last days men and women who
would impose
a patmos experience on themselves see
this was imposed on john
but the greatest call of the greatest
need today is for men and women who will
impose upon themselves in isolation from
all other voices
and isolation where they say god i’m not
going to listen
to the voice of man i’m not going to get
involved and i’m not talking about god
the counselor or for the ministry
but i’m not going to listen to the plans
of man i’m not going to be
guided by this i’m going to be guided by
the holy spirit
i i want to hear i want to be in the
spirit and walk in the spirit i want to
be governed by the holy spirit and i
want to hear that voice holding
he said my sheep know my voice they will
hear when i call
and i believe that with all of my heart
that when people begin to seek god with
everything in them
and when christ is the only focus first
thing you get is your discernment back
and then you begin to hear clearly
things he takes you into the heavenlies
and he began to reveal you will know
what’s coming
god will speak to you about your family
he will speak to you about your
future you speak to many many things god
will speak to your heart
when you give him time and wait upon him
and he becomes your focus
and you are in the full-time ministry
ministering to christ
this self-imposed
patmos experience where you don’t
fall for the competition
you don’t fall for the designation of
successes
as it’s determined to date by so many
people you don’t fall for
nothing so many voices calling so many
rantings of these voices
networking ambition
folks when god can find a man or a woman
who’s willing to let everybody bypass
him or her
let them go their way sit back and let them
glory in what the world calls success
but a man or woman can set themselves in
the lord say lord none of this matters
to me anymore
and it’s a self-imposed exile
where the only thing that matters is
that lord jesus i want my life to please you
and i want you to know jesus and when i
go into this secret closet with you i’m
here for you
to minister unto you the lord i’m going
to sit here and wait
for you and i want you to speak and i
want to tell you
a man or woman who’s shot in full-time
ministry
that mean that doesn’t mean you leave
your job doesn’t mean you don’t witness
no in fact you can be a very very busy person
and still have this pathless exile
that i call where you have learned to
shut out everything that would hinder
you from hearing the voice of the lord you