Hello, and thank you for joining me today for Give Him 15.

The title of today's post is Connecting the Nots, Not the Dots, the Nots.

The body of Christ's misunderstanding and misuse of certain words has cost us greatly.

Two of those words are calling and ministry.

We have taught that clergy, or those who do full-time ministry as a vocation, are called to the ministry.

The rest of you non-called Christians, well, I'm sorry, but I guess you just have jobs

in order to support the called. The Bible, however, teaches that all believers have a

calling from God, and I give you several references. The verse in 2 Timothy 1.9 says, God has

called us, or saved us, and called us with a holy calling,

not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace,

which He granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.

All believers have a holy calling and purpose. The Greek word,

Cleisus, means, an invitation. We have also greatly misused the word ministry. There are actually

six New Testament words for minister or ministry. There are actually six New Testament words for minister or ministry, all of

which mean to serve. Each of them offers a different nuance and or purpose for the serving.

The one normally associated with what we call the ministry is

Deaconia, which simply means to serve, attend, or wait on. We also get the word deacon from this word.

In Acts chapter six, it is used for both the apostles' ministries and the deacons' ministries.

One group served natural food to the widows, the other served spiritual food to the entire church. Both were

servants. Diocania simply means to serve one another, regardless of the purpose. We are all called

to ministry or service for Christ.

My apologies to all the clergy, but there is actually only one reverend.

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