Hello and welcome to our broadcast. We're in Romans chapter 12 looking at why people respond the way they do. Stay tuned. The fact that you're listening to this broadcast is an indication that you're interested in spiritual things. And as a Christian, if you're interested in spiritual things and the ministry that we have been presented, there's going to be some things that will bother you in the ministry. And if you are one that is bothered by compromisers, then you're probably your gift is that of a prophet, which is mentioned in Romans chapter 12, verse number six. If you are bothered by the concern to help people with their basic needs, then very likely you are a servant. If you are bothered by people who corrupt the word of God, they misuse it, take it out of context, that really concerns you, perhaps your gift is that of the teacher, which is mentioned in verse number seven. Now, there's a difference between the prophet and the teacher. The prophet is going to preach, and the teacher is going to teach. We'll look at that a little bit more in a minute. As you go down this list, maybe what bothers you is when Christians remain childish, that is, as Paul said, I could not speak unto you as spiritual, but as unto babes. Why don't people grow up spiritually? Does that bother you? Well, perhaps it's because you are an exhorter. Then, maybe it's cash that bothers you. We've got those that are bothered by compromisers, those that are bothered by the lack of concern for people's needs, those that are bothered by those who would corrupt or misuse the word God, then those that are upset because Christians remain childish. Well, maybe your problem is to do with cash. People misuse finances, and that really upsets you. Then maybe your gift is that of the giver. That is what motivates you in the Christian ministry. Or maybe what really upsets you is confusion, where there's a lack of organization here. We've got to get organized. And if that's your basic response, When things are disorganized like that, you may be an administrator called here a ruler in verse number eight, or maybe you are concerned about compassion. We just need to prove the sincerity of our love. We need to be compassionate with people. Maybe your gift is out of a mercy shore. Now, the first one we mentioned here is compromisers. What's it mean to compromise? Well, it means to accept standards that are lower than scripturally correct. Does that really bother you? Well, it should bother everybody, but it's going to be a motivational thing. It's going to cause a response in the life of the of the prophet more, perhaps, than any of these others. Now, what would the response be of the prophet? Well, the response of the prophet would be to preach. And that word, where you find it in the Bible, means to herald. And we've talked about this before. It used to be a herald would come in on his horse, and he would say, ye, thus saith the king." He didn't come to teach them anything. He came to just tell them what the king said, and his response was to just do what the king said. Here, this is what the king said. Now you better listen. We said before he didn't soft-pedal the message in case some people left town and they didn't get as much taxes as they used to get. That happens in our churches all the time. I can't preach that. People might leave and then we won't get the tithes and offerings. Yeah, well, that's compromise and that really really bothers the prophet. What would be the response of the teacher? What is his motivation? Well to teach we got to sit down here and we got to teach and the prophet says no We just preach and let the Holy Spirit do the teaching here. Who's right? Well, they're both right and But when we get to this thing called compromise, the result of compromise is apostasy. And so whatever amount of profits we have in the world today, those that have that gift, they're really being upset because there's so much compromise going on in the world today. Well, today we want to talk about the ruler, the administrator. The Bible says in verse number eight, he that ruleth with diligence, with diligence. Now, as we look into the Word of God, we want to see if we can determine who was a ruler, who was an administrator in the Word of God. I think there's little doubt that Nehemiah was an administrator, if you study what Nehemiah did. He had the ability to visualize the final results of what he was going to do. We read concerning Nehemiah that God's people were in great affliction. Now, Nehemiah visualized how to fix that problem. As a matter of fact, a problem is something that is simply unwelcome and harmful. But it was more than a problem to Nehemiah, it was a project. A project is a plan designed to meet a particular aim, and Nehemiah's aim was They can't be in great affliction. We have to go and fix this problem." And he was organized to do it. An administrator has got the ability to see bite-size achievable goals rather than the big project. Nehemiah did not focus on that big wall. What he did was he organized and focused on ten gates and the parts in between those gates, and he had some bite-sized achievable goals for people to reach. He was well organized in that respect. Then an administrator knows what he needs to get the job done. Chapter 2 you read he had the timber to make the beams He had the supplies from the king's forest that he needed when he talked to the king He said this is what we need to get this job done and the king gave it to him Not only that he gave him bodyguards because there's going to be some opposition when it comes to the administrator, the ruler, he's called here. And in the corresponding verse to the ruler, we saw that verse 14 says, Bless them which persecute you, bless and curse not. Nehemiah got a lot of persecution as he determined to get that job done. Well, then also he had the ability to remove things that would hinder getting the job done. Nehemiah, really, he didn't build anything. What he did was he kept the way clear for others to do what they needed to do while he was just dealing with the opposition. In chapter 4, the people were discouraged, and so he encouraged them. In chapter 5, there were some problems concerning finances, and he removed the financial problem. Nehemiah organized the workers. He organized the prayer times. He organized the fighting times. And later on, when the revival was underway, we don't see Nehemiah preaching. He's just the organizer here. He even organized in that respect, as far as the revival was concerned. Now Nehemiah was also willing, as we said, to endure any opposition that might come along. There was opposition from without. That included Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashtonites. They were all coming. It says in chapter 4 and verse number 8, they conspired together to hinder Nehemiah from getting the job done. Well, opposition from without is one thing, but opposition from within, you can read about it in chapter 2, And verse number 17, that is a serious problem. And so we see here that concerning that Nehemiah, he said, I was very angry. He said, I consulted with myself and I rebuked the people that needed rebuking. And then he required an oath of them. In chapter 10, you have the names of all the people who signed the oath. He said, we need some loyalty here. And the administrator needs loyalty from his followers. And so they all signed an oath. Good idea, I think. Maybe we should get back to that today. And then we have seen that the administrator has the ability to wisely delegate responsibilities, and so we see he hand-picked the crews on every section of the wall and every section of the gate. You can read about that in Nehemiah chapter 3. We see in Chapter 4 that Nehemiah encouraged the discouraged workers to finish the job, and then there's a joy that the administrator has in seeing the finished project. Chapter 7, if you note the organization in that chapter, he united the people in the revival meeting in Chapter 8, he organized the details, and as we said earlier, he had people sign a covenant that they were going to do things God's way. Well, if you're an administrator, we need to realize that with all of these gifts come the weaknesses, and the weakness of an administrator can be viewing people as people who can help with a project rather than people that the project can help. The administrator needs people to help them, and he might overlook the needs of the people while viewing the project because he needs the people. And then using people to accomplish his personal goals, an administrator needs to be very careful that the goals that he is setting are goals that God won't set. Then the administrator, he will reward those who appear to be loyal while ignoring others. Loyalty and dependability are important qualities to the administrator, but the administrator needs to learn to help people to learn to be loyal and learn to be dependable. Now that's where the exhorter comes in. If he's doing his job, he can help out there a lot as well, but the administrator needs to realize that need is there. And then one of the weaknesses of an administrator can be taking charge of situations that are not his God-given responsibilities. That's a very important word, responsibilities, to know what they are and to leave those that are not yours alone. It's difficult for the administrator to watch inefficiency in this management. Well, then the administrator needs to be careful when he delegates work. They sometimes cannot be sensitive enough to the needs and schedules of the individuals. They have homes of their own, they have families to take care of, and they need to be very careful not to delegate too much work to other people because they're willing to work. The result of that can be a group of resentful people. Then also overlooking spiritual deficiencies in people who are good workers. The prophet says, no, look, there's some standards here we got to meet if you're going to get in line to work for the Lord. Well, sometimes it can be a weakness of the administrator. Just overlook those standards because we got to get the project done and we got to get it done right. And this fellow has the ability to do it. That's a weakness. Then also rejecting suggestions that might be better than the one they had planned. Administrators don't know it all. Someone has said, every man is my teacher, and that's exactly how we need to look at life. The administrator has the ability to withstand a lot of criticism, and sometimes they become close to people who have good ideas, assuming they're just somebody else finding fault. And then a weakness of the administrator can be the failing to explain things to the workers. Workers need to be made to feel like they are appreciated and not just pawns in the game of the administrator. Well, be sure to tune in for our next broadcast. We're going to look at what motivates the Mercy Showers.