A Minister's Hope Strengthened

My brothers, most of us here today are paid ministers of the gospel and the Word of God, and therefore we presently have the support of our congregation. Therefore we ought to be laboring in hope all the more. We have been given time by the Lord, and support of our congregations to engage in the labors that are listed for us here, and so I would stir you up to hope in the Lord for greater success in your respective ministries. Let me remind you, very briefly, of 3 things to which you have been called. You have been called to wage war spiritually in hope. And you have been called to plant, or cultivate a vineyard in hope. Actually there is a third thing, but we will not have time to go into it today. That is; you have been called to tend a flock in hope. These are the three aspects of what the minister primarily occupies his time with, which are given to us in verse 7. “Who ever goes to war at his own expense?” “Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit?” And, “Who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock?”