Steve Lumbley Testimony- Part Five

I am in no way saying that I have reached perfection. Far from it. But I do know that I am a long way from where I was seven or eight years ago. I am amazed at how many people get saved and then immediately launch out into ministry. No training, no seasoning, just go right out and start a church or become an evangelist or some such. Many of the big faith preachers started out just that way. Saved and called to the ministry all at the same time.

I ‘m not saying that you need a seminary degree to preach the gospel, although that in itself is not a bad thing. I’m not saying that there aren’t some people who realize a call on their life very early on. But I do think that what many people see as a “call to ministry” is simply the call that each of us has to share the gospel in the natural course of our Christian walk.

You see each and every one of us is called to the work of the ministry. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are given to bring us to the point where we do the work of the ministry. It was never meant to be up to them.

The church in our age is set up all wrong. It was never meant to be a one man show. God never intended for us to hire a man to take care of the spiritual side of our lives. But that’s what we’ve done. We expect the professionals to do the work of the ministry. We expect to sit back and be entertained and carried along by them. This is wrong.

I think that many people when they get saved have an innate understanding that they are supposed to be involved in ministry but the only way they see that they can do it is by getting “into the ministry” as a full time profession. This is why many people launch out before they are ready.

Moses spent 40 years on the backside of the desert before God brought him forth to lead Israel. The disciples spent 3 years of intense training with Jesus before they were ready to do the work of the ministry. Even Paul who was a Pharisee and was trained in the scriptures spent time learning the gospel directly from the Lord before his ministry came fully into being.

In December of 2005 I left my last position in the car business. For the next nine months we had no money and no means of support .During this time we went through a sometimes painful process of actually laying down the things of the world. We sold our house and as many of our material possessions as we were able. In August 2006 we completed the sale of our house and the Lord moved us to a smaller rental house only a few blocks away from where we had been living. Also during this time my youngest daughter gave birth to our first grandchild who she named Genesis. The Lord showed that he had given her that name because it was a time of new beginnings for us as well as our daughter.

So today after many years of training, many years of rebellion and repentance here’s where I am. We have laid down our lives, as much as we know how, to follow Jesus. I have set aside all my ambition, all my plans to do His will on a daily basis. God has brought me out of the harlot religious system and the harlot commercial – economic system that enslaved us for years. We depend daily on Gods provision and He has never once failed us. We seek daily to do Gods will.

This ministry has become much more of a full time endeavor that I ever imagined it would be. We manage the website and write articles for our own website and others. I deliver two live bible study teachings every week. We produce and mail audio recordings of our teachings to people all over the world every week at no charge. In addition we minister to as many people as God leads to us by phone and in person when possible. We do all of this by faith, without ever asking for financial support, the Lord supplying our daily bread.

I hope this testimony has been a blessing to you. I will be happy to answer questions about anything I have written or about anything you might be facing in life. You might not always like what I have to say but I will always endeavor to answer you by the Spirit of God.