Rebuilding for the Future...Continued from page 3

Some of us have not yet found and filled our place on a Ministry Team. We need you now. We need people who are called to work with children to join the Children Ministry Team, who are called to work with youth to join the Youth Ministry Team, who are called to work with Preschoolers to join the Preschool Ministry Team, who are called to evangelism to join the Outreach Ministry Team, and who are called to visit the sick to join the Hospital Ministry Team. Plans for the Community Center are coming together; great ministry opportunities are going to present themselves there. We need to band together behind that ministry. The trumpet is blowing; we need to rally together. We are going to be offering more and more opportunities to get involved in ministry to the people all around us. We need to step out and to get involved.

And we need to be vigilant. Nehemiah told the people to stay inside Jerusalem all the time so that they could work by day and stand guard by night; they always stayed on ready, clothed and with their weapons in their hands (4:21-23). In the New Testament, Jesus told His disciples always to be ready for His coming and in the meantime to do what they were supposed to do. Paul called his churches to be on the lookout for the return of Christ but to be vigilant about their ministry in the meantime.

We also need to be vigilant. In all days ? and especially in these days ? we need to stay alert, to stay committed, and to stay focused on the great ministry that God has given us to perform.

People all around us are choking to death. They need less talk from us and more action. It’s time. The enemy is at the gates. This community is in need of God’s love and grace. There is no time but the present. The trumpet is blowing and it is time to rally together. God is with us but he expects us to make it happen. Are we willing? Will we show it?

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Michael L. Ruffin is Pastor of The Hill Baptist Church in Augusta, GA.