You are called to be a minister of the gospel wherever you are, whether you are at home, at work, or on the school bus. Stop waiting for a church building to serve God and start seeing your daily tasks as your seminary. Embrace your identity today and let your actions show the world the love of Jesus.
Welcome to the real church podcast. Our mission is for you to know the love of Jesus and live out your God given purpose. Now join us and listen in to the latest message from pastor David John Phillips.
Submarine life. I remember this 1 patrol I was on. It was 1 of the most difficult patrols that we did. It was the most difficult 1 for me. I was just going through a lot of things at the time.
And I remember being in my my bunk, the place where I did quiet time with Jesus. And if you don't know what quiet time for me is, it's it's that place where you're you're still, be still and know that I'm God. Right? So I do it in the mornings now. Lot of times, I'll just get up and just my quiet time whether I'm writing in my journal or or getting my word.
Well, the submarine, I had a place for quiet time. It was my bunk. It's about 2 and a half feet tall and 6 foot 3 inches long. I'm 6 foot 3 tall. It was it was a tight space for me.
I would close the curtain to my bunk and it would be pitch black in there, like a little bear cave. Right? The air conditioner running, can't hear anything. And, I'd turn on my little light, roll over on my belly, and I would read scripture, write in my journal, or read a book. At that time, I was reading a book by Francis Chan called Crazy Love.
Never read the book, I'd encourage it. Talks about the crazy love of God for us, but then also being crazy in love with God in such a way that the world around you can see it. Let me ask you a question, like, if you were to die right now, what would people say about you at your funeral? Like, really, what what would they they walk away and say? Man, I I would want the legacy of my life when when a a bystander came in and heard these people speaking about me or maybe somebody that that knew me either intimately or from a distance, I would I would want them to walk away saying, man, that that guy, David, he was "crazy in love with God".
He loved God and his life showed that he loved God. I remember being and that that was like what the book really encouraged and it was lighting a fire in my heart. It was during that time, in 1 of my quiet times, remember praying and asking God because it was it was a tough season. It was just super stressful. I remember praying and asking God, why am I here?
Why am I on this submarine? Because if you knew me before military, I'm kinda like I am now. You wouldn't think that I was military. At least, I I I wouldn't think that you would think I was. I was, you know, happy go lucky kinda guy, just did a lot of fun stuff.
And, anyway, it just didn't make sense with what I felt called to do, what I felt called to be in my life. But yet, there I was. I'm I'm I'm almost asking God in my quiet time, why am I here? And in that moment, God began to speak. I began to weep.
That's how important it was to me. He reminded me of my father. See, my dad, before he was a pastor, was a high school football coach. He coached in a little town called Wisner, Louisiana. Wisner, small town, I don't know, maybe 800 people, 1000 people, maybe less in city limits, like really small town.
But the most drugs per capita in The United States at that time. That means that higher percentage of people in Wisner were on drugs than anywhere else in The United States at the time my dad was teaching at Wisner. And my dad, for a year, promised *God* that he would drive a school bus to the projects, pick up the kids and their families, whosoever would come, take them to the local black church, because that was the closest church to where he was going, and preach the gospel to them every Thursday night for a full year. That was his promise. And, my little brother and this is how serious he was about that.
My little brother was born during that year on a Thursday night. And my dad went to my little brother's birth and then he went and did what he promised God he would do. Crazy, So, in that moment, I'm on the submarine, I'm praying, asking God why am I here. God reminds me of that story. He reminds me of my father.
See, my father always told me that story and he would tell me, son, this was my seminary. And in that moment, weeping, tears flowing down my cheeks, God said, Son, this is your seminary. And I raised my hands as high as I could in that little bunk and I said, God, every life decision I make from this day forward will be in line with full time ministry. From that moment, I saw myself as a minister of the gospel. That was a defining moment in my life.
I still did my job, like, I I wasn't just a submariner. I was a minister of the gospel on the submarine. I was a minister of the gospel in the Navy as a submariner, and I still did my job to the best of my ability, but my purpose in doing my job to the best of my ability was to minister to those around me. Period. And and, because I saw myself as a minister of the gospel, that was my identity.
*Ministry happened, and people began to give their lives to Jesus*. I'll never forget standing in RC division, Rapture Controls division, with 1 of the the petty officers there holding his hands as he prayed, receiving Jesus Christ in his life for the first time, being born again right there. Why? Because I saw my myself as a minister. So everywhere that I went, no matter what I was doing, I was doing ministry, period.
Everywhere that I would go, as I would go, I would minister which what what is ministry? It's making disciples. *Matthew-28* says this, verse 19 says, Jesus is speaking. He says, therefore, go and **make disciples** of all nations. Another version says, "as you go".
The command is to make disciples but how do you do that? As you go, no matter what you're doing. *Ephesians-4:12* says this. It says, the purpose of the pastors is to equip his people for the works of ministry. Ministry.
What would it be like if you saw yourself as a minister of the gospel? What if that was your identity? See, my role as a pastor is to equip equip you for just that. That is what you are. If you have given your life to Jesus, then you're you're not just a someone who sits in in a chair at church on Sunday morning.
You're not just a mother. You're not just a a at home mom. You're not just an accountant. You're not just a business person. You're not just a an army person, or a navy person, or marine.
You're not just a a musician. A You're not, you know, you're a minister who plays music. You're a minister who is a stay at home mom. You're a minister who is in the army, or in the navy, or the You're a minister who is a business person. Your identity as a *Christian* is a minister, and as you go in your daily life, if that is who you see yourself as, you will minister no matter where you go.
Because that's who you are and that is what God has called you to be. That is what God has called you to do. The day I I got out of the navy, the next the very next day, was hired at a church. I wasn't hired as a minister. I wasn't hired as a pastor.
I was hired hired as the maintenance guy. I was hired as a janitor, clean toilets and mow lawn. *God* told me to take it. I didn't want to. Was being obedient, honestly.
And I remember thinking, why? Because I'm a minister, it's who I am. I remember thinking, how can I do *ministry* as the maintenance guy? How can I do ministry as the janitor? I'm a minister of the gospel.
That's who you say that I am. So no matter where I go, no matter what other people have me doing, no matter what my job title is, I know that as I go, I'm gonna do that to the best of my ability because I'm doing it as unto the Lord and I'm a minister of the gospel. So I'm going to find a way to minister no matter where I go. We had just got this new facility, the church did and and the lawn was huge. And I I had this I I don't know if it was during my quiet time or what, but I just had this idea about ministry.
I I I could recruit guys to serve at the church by mowing the lawn on Saturday in the morning, and before we do that, I could start a bible study, and we could pray and and eat breakfast together, and and I can minister to them, and we can learn from 1 another, and then go and serve and and and minister to the church by by mowing the lawn together. So I recruited 4 teams of 8 men, 32 guys. They would come in once a month, each team would come in once a month and I would get there, we'd get there at 7AM and we I'd bring breakfast to them, we talk about their lives and and we talk about the word, and we'd pray together, and and and confess to 1 another, pray for 1 another, and encourage 1 another. Then at 08:00, we'd go and we'd pick up the lawn mower, and the weed eater, and the blower, and and we'd go and make the the the church look great to the best of our ability. Why?
Because as a maintenance guy and a janitor, that's part of my role. But as a minister of the gospel, I I need to find ways to be a minister no matter where I am. I I remember while was working at that job, like, I I would a lot of my day was sweeping, because it was a big church. Right? Sweeping and mopping and cleaning toilets and stuff, and as I would clean these different rooms, I would have in ears in my in my ears and listen to music and listen to podcasts and and pray, and worship, and man, was just a time I was like constantly praying to God, listening to God, being encouraged by the word, constantly listening to music.
And, it was just so special. It was a time where I grew so much in my relationship with Jesus as I was serving. Why? Because I was letting the Holy Spirit minister to me, but I thought I had this stroke of, oh my gosh, wait. If this is so impactful for my life, maybe it would be impactful for other people's lives as well.
So, I began to recruit people to come in and minister the church to to to clean the different rooms, adopt a room once a week, and use it as their personal quiet time. Because if that's what I was doing, maybe it could impact someone else. And so different people would adopt different rooms throughout the the church, throughout the week, and I would go in and I would encourage them as they're cleaning the room to listen to worship music and to pray and to let God really speak to them as they were serving at the church. And I would go in during that hour that they were cleaning the room and I would I would ask them how I could pray for them and minister to them. You know why?
Was it because I was a pastor? Because I wasn't. Not in everybody else's eyes, but I was who God told me I was. I was a minister of the gospel. And so as a janitor and as a maintenance guy, I knew that my first calling and my first role was to be a minister.
So I was gonna do that job to the best of my ability working as unto the Lord and as I did it, as I went, as I go, minister, make disciples, period. Our role, my role, Ephesians-4:11 and 12, is to equip you to do ministry. But pastor, you're the pastor. Like, that's that's what you're supposed to do. Like, aren't I supposed to invite people to church and have them come to church so you can make them into disciples?
No. That's not what the Bible says. The Bible says in Matthew-28 that, therefore, go. You go. As you go in your daily life, make disciples.
Period. And my role, Ephesians-4:11-12, is to equip you to be effective at making **disciples** in your daily life. Period. So who you know, where are you going in your daily life? Who is God putting in in front of you that needs to see Jesus in you?
Think about it. I'll answer it for you. Everyone, everywhere you go, people need to see Jesus in you. Every every every job that you have, you're a missionary of the gospel at that job. You're a minister of the gospel at that job.
That is who you are. See, as I was faithful to minister in my daily life, God promoted me. I didn't promote myself, he promoted me, and I became 1 of the pastors at that church. And I'll never forget master chief Rosado, he was a senior chief at the time, I think of a bunch of mechanics, if I remember correctly. It was either auxiliary division or the mechanics.
But, either way, he came to me and he said, David, he was he was Latino, he said, I feel called to ministry. I said, how do I get into ministry? I looked at him and I said, senior chief, you be faithful. We were at church at the time when we just got done with this this bible study. He said, I said, you be faithful where you are, to minister where you are.
As you go in your daily life, you minister the gospel where you are. I said, I said, those guys in your division, they need to see Jesus in you. I said, so so when the opportunity you go and you do your work as under the Lord, like you'd be the best senior chief that you could possibly be, and then by his grace, he's gonna empower you to be even better. And as they see you working, maybe they'll ask, why are you working so hard? You could say, Jesus, man.
Or are some of the conversations that come up, maybe some some tough stuff coming up in your guys' life, and you're able to mentor them because you're senior chief. As you talk to them, talk to them about Jesus, pray for them, minister to them. Be faithful to minister where you are and watch how God expands your influence. Lead a I told him, lead a bible study once a week. He said, man, I'm doing that.
I'm doing that. I said, well, continue. Continue to be faithful. It wasn't a couple weeks later, I started something I got I I asked him to help me, and next thing you know, he's translating for me as we're preaching the gospel to a bunch of internationals, a bunch of Latinos after a soccer tournament, which was awesome. God expanding, God bringing him into more ministry.
See, his role didn't lead to him being a pastor. It actually led to him being promoted even higher and higher in the Navy becoming a master chief. See, when you're faithful with a little, God gives you more. He wants to expand your influence. He wants to give you more so that you have more people in order to minister to in your daily life.
See, I'm I'm as a pastor, my first role, my main role is to equip you for ministry. My my secondary role is just as a believer. I'm a minister of the gospel. So I still need to do this in my daily life. It's just the other day, you know, we we had just gotten into the building and had to get the the air conditioner checked.
So the air conditioner guys came for like a preliminary visit. And there's these 2 guys and as they're walking out, I asked them, hey, can I pray for you? Would you mind if I pray for you? He said, sure. That'd that'd be great.
And 1 guy kinda, you know, rolled his eyes a little bit. And so when I when I prayed, I just prayed that God would open up their hearts to see Jesus, that that they would see how much God loves them and give them a desire to know him more. And I knew God would answer my prayer because that's his will for them. So I knew that the guy that rolled his eyes a little bit, God was gonna open his heart for to him because I was praying God's will. And if you ask anything according to his will, he hears you.
And if you know that he hears you, you know that you have what you've asked. So as I go in my daily life, just a meeting with the AC guys, being a minister, no matter where I'm going, no matter what I'm doing. Right? Couple days later, that same guy came back to to work on the a c and as he's walking out, I asked him, hey, if you don't mind me asking, like, are your real thoughts about, you know, Jesus and all that? He's like, yeah, you know, I'm a good person and talked about that, you know, I got to share the gospel with him.
When I got done sharing the gospel, this was just, I don't know, last week, a little over a week ago. I got done sharing the gospel, said, if Jesus was standing right here in front of you, knocking on your heart saying, would you let me in? Would you let him in? Thought about it, he said, yeah, I would. I said, well, he is.
*Jesus* is in me and he's he wants to come into your life. He wants to be the Lord of your life. He wants to to help you so that you could know God personally. I said, do you wanna receive him right now? He said, yeah.
And right there, right at the front of our new church area, I got to hold his hands and pray with this grown man as he received Jesus in his life. Why? Was it because I'm a pastor? No. It's because I'm a minister of the gospel, just like you.
You are a minister of the gospel. Countless times, I find myself going into McDonald's or Arby's. I love Arby's. Arby's is the best. You know, my my wife doesn't like Arby's.
She's wrong. Arby's is the best. Anyway, countless times, I find myself going into to to these restaurants, and and I'll I'll talk with the person behind the the the counter, the cash register or or whatever. I'll I'll talk with the person, and I'll find out that they're Christian. You know what I tell them?
I say, hey. When I find out that they they know Jesus, I'll say, hey. You know what? "You're a missionary" right here at this job, and those people around you, they need to see Jesus in you. And I'm gonna pray for you, and I'm gonna pray that God gives you boldness to share his goodness with those around you every day, everywhere that you go, because man, what they what you have inside of you, they need.
And they'll look at me and say, man, I I needed to hear that. I said, praise the Lord. Be encouraged. They need to see the hope and the joy and the peace in you as you are working, as you are going in your daily life. I forgot to tell you about the AC guy.
The AC guy left, the 1 that gave his life to Jesus. His buddy was still working in the building. I went and talked to him. I asked him, do do do you know Jesus? He he said, yeah.
I got to encourage him a little bit. I said, hey, your buddy just gave his life to Jesus. He said, what? I said, yeah. And he needs you to just to "show him Jesus" every day on the job.
He needs you to disciple him. He needs you to pray for him, to encourage him because you're a minister of the gospel. He said, man, thank you. I said, absolutely. Did I do that because I'm a pastor?
No. I did that because I'm a minister, and everywhere I go, I'm ministering the gospel. And you are a minister of the gospel too, and you are to do ministry everywhere that you go, as you go. If you gave your life to Jesus, if he's the Lord of your life, you don't have a choice. That is who you are.
So start seeing yourself as a minister of the gospel. But pastor David, I don't know what to say. Did Jesus save your life? Say that. Tell people what Jesus did for you.
And if you don't know what Jesus did for you, then give your life to Jesus. Get born again so that you can know, and then begin to share Jesus with other people. People need him. And they're the in a lot of times, the only way that they're gonna have him is if you share Jesus with the people in in in your world, the people that Jesus has put you in front of, with your family, with your kids, with your with your cousins, with your enemies, with your neighbors, with your coworkers. I'll tell you this, I before we moved here, I was doing some school and as I was I was working at my dad's church, but God had kinda told me to to to finish up some school stuff, and and I needed to some extra money to pay for it.
And so I got a job as a school bus driver. You know, I could still complete all of my hours at work and, you know, just get up early in the morning, drive the kids to school, go to church, do my my work hours, and then leave from church and go in the evening and take the kids home from school. Crazy thing is they put me working, picking up kids from the projects. Remember my dad? He did the same thing, which was awesome.
And every day, when we were driving to school, you know, I I would play like some Christian rap music and stuff, you know, so that they're they're hearing the gospel and and they like the beat and everything. Before we get to school, I'd cut off all the music and I'd get in the intercom on the bus as I'm driving and I'd tell them, I say, hey, guys, I'm gonna pray for you. And I pray before they got to school every day. I pray that they would have an amazing day, and that they would come to know how much God loves them, that he sees them as precious, and he has an amazing plan and future for their life, and he's put gifts and talents and abilities. I'm seeding them with the gospel.
Yeah. I prayed on a school bus driving, and I didn't care what other people thought because I knew that first, before I'm a school bus driver, I'm a minister of the gospel, and you're a minister where you are, so don't make any excuses. If the shoe fits, kick it off. Start ministering. Alright.
So so they get back on the school bus and at the end of the day, and I'd invite them to church, you know, as they're getting off. And next thing you know, they started coming to church. Next thing you know, some of them gave their life to Jesus. If I would have just not been a minister, I would just been a school bus driver. Maybe they would have never given their life to Jesus.
I even remember this 1 girl. She's getting off or she's getting on the school bus in the afternoon. She had messed her ankle up, like, real bad, you know, and she was limping and hobbling. I said I said, can I can I pray for your ankle? She said, yeah, mister Phillips.
You can pray for your for my ankle. I said, okay. And I I said, do you mind if I I put my hand on your ankle? She said, no, mister Phillips. It's okay.
So I put my hand on her ankle, and I I said, in the name of Jesus, thank you for loving her, and and, Lord, I I I pray for this ankle. In the name of Jesus, be healed. I said, test it out. Is it any better? She said, no.
It still hurts. I said, it's gonna get better. And when it does, would you come tell me? She said, yeah. I will I'll I'll tell you, Philemon.
I said, okay. About 10 minutes goes by, she walks back up. She said, mister Philemon, my ankle, there's no pain in my ankle. I said, amazing. I said, so you're saying it's healed?
She says, yes, sir. I said, who healed you? She said, Jesus. I said, why did he healed you? Why did he heal you?
She said, I don't know, mister Phillips. I said, because he loves you. She said, wow. Thank Thank you, mister Phillips. I said, absolutely.
You know why I did that? It's not because I was a pastor. It's because I saw myself as a minister of the gospel. And that's how God wanted to love her and he wanted to use me to love her in the way that he she needed in that moment to show his love for her. He wants to use you in your daily life as a minister of gospel no matter where you are.
Whether it's at your home, as a stay at home mom, or stay at home dad, whether it's at your job, whether it's at McDonald's, whether it's at Walmart, as you go. See, is the final part of the globally connected series. **globally connected church**. Every local church should be becoming a globally connected church. And a globally connected church has 4 characteristics.
They're a relational church. But see, for the the church to be a relational church, the individuals in the church must be relational. And when a critical mass of individuals, when when the majority of individuals become relational, the church itself is seen as a relational church. Now, I'm not relational. Yeah.
But Jesus is in you and he's relational, so yes, you are. You're dead to yourself and alive to Christ. If you're if you're a Christian, that's what that's that's the deal. So start saying identity statements of who he says you are. A disciple number 2, a globally connected church is a discipling church.
As a whole, a church will become discipling when individuals in the church are discipling. What's that mean? Not only I'm pursuing being discipled by Christ, if there's somebody that knows Jesus a little bit more than me, I'm opening up my life to them so that they can help me in my pursuit of Jesus. I'm being discipled, but I'm also finding others that need Jesus, that don't know him as much as I do, and I'm opening up my life to them so that they can see my pursuit of Jesus and pursue after him with everything that they have, and it pushes me on. And as individuals in the church become intentional about discipleship, guess what?
The church becomes a discipling church. Church, I need you to be relational. I need you to be discipling. Our call is to be a globally connected church. Number 3 is sowing church.
The more that the individuals in the church learn to sow their time, talent, and the treasure into the people God's called them to and into the local church, the church as a whole becomes a sowing church and we become more effective at expanding the kingdom of God in the world. We become a sowing church where we're doing amazing *ministry* not only in our city, not only in our in our community, but all around the world. Church, I need you to be a sowing church. God wants you to be sowing church. Real church is a sowing church.
And and the more that the individuals in the church learn that, the more the church will be a sowing church. Number 4, a going church. In your daily life, as you go, you're a minister of the gospel. Ministering the gospel everywhere that you go, and realizing that as you're faithful to minister where you are, God is gonna expand. Faithful with a little, he gives you more, expand your influence, expand your relationships, expand your discipleship, expand your ability to sow.
As you're faithful to go, you will grow. And as the individuals in the church become faithful to be a going church, maybe going individuals, the church itself, real church will be a going church, and I can't wait to take you with me when God sends us to other churches to help them, to learn from them, and to help them when God sends us to other cities, when God sends us to other nations. Because the best is absolutely yet to come, and it's not just gonna all happen in an instant. It's gonna happen step by step as each of us continue to grow. As each, 1 x 1, we disciple others and they begin to grow, and next thing you know, our church as a whole is becoming more effective at sharing Jesus with those around.
Real Church is becoming a globally connected church, and you are invited to be a part.
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