Ministerial Gifts
1 sermon on this topic
After reviewing the six wrong reasons from session one, Pastor Martin presents the four irreducible elements of an ordinary call to the Christian ministry, drawing on John Owen's distinction between extraordinary and ordinary offices. The four elements are: (1) desire born of right motives -- considerate, constraining, and disinterested; (2) graces indicating genuine, mature Christian experience as outlined in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1; (3) gifts indicating divine provision, including spiritual wisdom, intellectual breadth, and gifts of utterance; and (4) an opportunity to minister indicating providential approval. He emphasizes that both the internal call from God and the external recognition of the church must converge.