Plugging Up God's Flow

What would the church look like after ten or twenty years if it stopped training at these various places?

My wife doesn't like plugged pipes. Neither do I. The only reason my patience is greater is because I am the one that has to fix them! In a similar way, God's people should not accept the lack of training in Christ's church. It hinders the flow of God's grace to a church.

Let the water flow!

Ineffective training always holds up God's work of grace.

Plugging Up God's Flow

We underestimate the value of good instruction. Jesus, Paul, Peter and others all passed on the truth. The success of our ministries rest on our instruction.

If you ever read through 2 Kings, you probably felt a grieving in your heart like I do, "Oh Lord, don't let me read of another failure of a king!" I remember almost rejoicing when coming to a good king. Notice what made the difference in the life of this king and his kingdom.

"And Jehoash did right in the sight of the LORD all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him." (2 Kings 12:2)

We all need to be instructed. Our success depends on the good instruction of others. Josiah, another good king, was blessed through close work with Hilkiah the high priest (2 Kings 22). Most kings did as their fathers' before them had done, only worse.

Many approach ministry or life problems the wrong way and therefore can't find solutions. They ask, "Why aren't things better?" One thing is for sure, the problem is not the supply or amount of God's available grace. God's favor and goodness toward His children never changes.

Once we believe this, we are forced to approach our difficulties from a more helpful perspective. We can then accept and see that the problem is in most cases of our own making, rather than relegating it to outside unchangeable causes.

This series focuses on the problems that occur because of the lack of good training. There are other problems that also must be dealt with. Unresolved divisions in the church, for example, will hold up God's flow of grace into a church. But if this is a recurrent problem, perhaps we can go back and evaluate whether we have properly trained our people in reconciliation and resolving conflict. Many times our problems are due to our lack of training!

Let's note four problem areas caused or exacerbated by the lack of effective training.

Problem	#1 No new Christians	#2 Conversions but most fall away.	#3 Weak Christians disillusioned with Christian living.	#4 Over-burdened and ineffective pastors; sheep scattered.
Results from no training	No evangelism!	Fall away too quickly.	Become self-serving; entertainment mode.	Only professional pastor can care.
Training needed	Instill the vision and skills for evangelism.	Implement basic discipleship program	Start training to meet the greatest needs of your people.	Instill vision and start training of lay leaders.
Goals for the people	Enable brethren to want to and know how to lead people to Christ.	Unite Christians to Christ's body.	Empower Christians to live righteous lives in all areas of their lives.	Develop faith to train others to care for the needs of those around you.

The key point is that God intends to work solutions in our midst. Don't give up! If there is a problem, don't condemn. Instead ask whether or not they have been trained to respond in the right way. Then ask God for wisdom how to provide the needed training.

Let's go on and identify what is perhaps the greatest blockage so that we can get the river of God's grace flowing again!      Next