Nourished up in the words of faith

...thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine...(1 Timothy 4:6)

A good minister knows he is not in a political fight, or a social fight. A good minister is in the good fight. He engages in the spiritual battle for the truth of God’s word, and must be nourished up in the words of faith!

A good minister doesn't want or need praise, comfort, or admiration. He's ready to stand for truth, and as a result: be wrongfully accused, persecuted, shamed, betrayed, gossiped about and then dropped like a bad habit by people who claimed in the past to have "loved" them and their church family. This is why a good minister needs to be nourished up in the words of faith!

If a minister can’t take a stand now, he'll never stand when the possibility of imprisonment presents itself, or the threat of having his throat slit, or head cut off becomes a reality.

Christian’s and their ministers have the right to meet in PUBLIC now, but they hardly show up for church. When mid-week service gets cancelled and replaced with baseball practice, or Sunday school is cancelled and replaced with sleeping in, it's a sad day in America and for America's ministers!

Do you really think any of those Christians or ministers are going to meet in PRIVATE…once the persecution dials up in America! Most find excuses to not meet in PUBLIC, while we have all the freedom and liberty to do so.

America needs some good ministers who won't cause anyone shame, but are willing to suffer shame themselves.

America needs some good ministers who don’t harm anyone, but are willing to take some harm themselves.

America needs some good ministers who don't hate their enemies, but love them enough to bring the convicting and confronting truth of the gospel.

This can only happen if they are NOURISHED up in the words of faith.

It's NOT time to retreat.

It's NOT time to find out what the culture wants and give it to them.

It's NOT time to get discouraged because we didn’t get the result we wanted.

It's time to get NOURISHED up in the words of faith.