Hope, Healing & Freedom Podcast: Episode 97
TRANSCRIPT
What is keeping you from receiving RTF ministry? Today we are going to look at 304 reasons people have given over the years to why they don’t go for RTF ministry. OK, I’m kidding about the 304, but we are going to talk about some of the reasons people have given over the years as to why they don’t get RTF ministry.
I’m Lee Whitman with Restoring the Foundations. I got the idea and some of the material for this podcast from Dave and Linda Roeder. Dave and Linda are wonderful longtime RTF ministers who live in Cincinnati, Ohio.
What are some of hindrances that keep people from receiving RTF ministry? I think the number one reason is that people don’t believe they need ministry. Many people have become so accustomed to the struggle they are having that they don’t realize that there is freedom available. People will justify their struggle by reasoning that my struggle is no different than everyone else’s. Or we will hear people say I don’t have “that many” issues, or they might say I have my issues under control.
I have told my story about my addiction to pornography many times. I knew I had a problem so I went to every form of help that I could find looking for someone to help me deal with this horrible problem. Over the years of counseling and reading many self-help books I learned how to manage my sin. I discovered that by self-discipline and effort I could deny the temptations I had on an almost constant basis and not give in to the temptation. I thought this was wonderful. I thought this was the victorious Christian life because I was not giving in to my sin. But managing sin is not freedom. Paul said in Galatians 5:1, “It is for freedom that Christ set us free.” It doesn’t say that Jesus died a horrible death and sent His spirit to live within us in order for us to continually struggle and “manage” our sin. He said He did all of that to provide a way for our FREEDOM! Freedom from anything that is holding you captive.
When people say that my issue is not that bad, I want to ask them how much pollution is ok to have in your drinking water? Is it ok to have just a little?
A very common reason that we hear as to why people don’t think they need to get ministry is because everything was done at the cross. When Jesus died on the cross, everything we need to live the Christian life was given to us and there is nothing more we need to do. Let me give three responses as to why this is not true. Let me start this answer by saying everything we need was done at the cross, but we have to apply what Jesus did to our lives. Let me explain.
First the Bible says that it is God’s will that we His Children be sanctified. 1 Thessalonians 4:3 says, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification.” Sanctification means to be set apart for special use or to be made holy. To be sanctified or made holy is not an instant thing that happens the moment you are saved. If “It was all done at the cross” then there would be no need for us to be sanctified. Let me quote Hebrews 10:14 and explain what it is saying. It says, “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” When Jesus died on that cross, His sacrifice was perfect. He provided everything we needed in order to be sanctified. But it says the sacrifice perfected those “who are being sanctified” or it could also say those who are in the process of being sanctified. It is one of those phrases in the Bible that is written in a tense that means that it is true now, but it is also a process of becoming true. For example, a baby is a complete human being, yet it is going through a process of becoming a fully developed human being. It is a perfect human being from birth, but it is not yet a fully developed human being. You as a child of God have been perfected the moment you accepted Christ, but now you are in a process of applying what Jesus has done for you in order to become sanctified or made holy in all of your life.
Secondly the bible says in 2 Corinthians 7:1 “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” It is clear by this verse that there is a cleansing process that we must go through as a believer. All that we need for this cleansing process was done at the cross of Jesus Christ and by His Blood, but it is our responsibility to apply what He has done to our lives. In the same way that when Jesus died on the cross, He paid the price for all of mankind to be saved, yet only the ones who have received and applied His sacrifice to their lives are the ones who are saved. This sanctification cleansing is not automatic. It is something we must do to apply Christ’s cleansing to our lives. RTF is one of the many ministries God has given to the body of Christ to strip off the filthiness of flesh and spirit. If everything was done at the cross, then why did God establish so many wonderful ministries like RTF that are helping believers cleanse the flesh and the spirit?
The third reason I don’t believe that it was all done at the cross and there is nothing more we need to do to receive this work of Christ is very practical. Look at the Body of Christ. Are we all living perfect lives or are we still struggling with sin? If it was all done at the cross, then those who have accepted Christ should never be sick or infirm since “by His stripes we are healed”. It is very obvious that the Body of Christ is a work in progress, and that includes me. As my wife says since we started receiving RTF ministry, she has a much better husband. I agree, yet the sanctification process in my life is not complete. God continues to love me where I am and yet love me too much to leave me where I am.
Another common reason that people give for not receiving RTF ministry is some variation of the idea that I can’t or don’t want to bring up all that stuff from the past. Since it is in the past, let’s leave it in the past. I have heard many ask what benefit is there in digging up old wounds?
Several years ago, we bought a 60 year old home with the intention of remodeling it and selling it for a huge profit (which didn’t happen!). We could see that a few of the walls had cracks in them. We could have chosen to live with the cracks, but if we wanted to see this house reach its full potential, we would need to repair these cracks. When we did some more research, we discovered that the walls were cracking because the foundation had settled and was unlevel. We hired an engineering firm to come and level and repair the foundation before we could restore the cracked walls. Could we have left the foundation unlevel and still repaired the walls? Not if we wanted to do the job correctly. We had to repair the foundation from issues that affected it from many years ago in order to bring this house up to its full potential.
It is like that in our lives as well. If we have problems in the foundation of our life, it will be impossible for us to reach our full potential until we restore the foundation. Many people are living with a foundation that is settling or unlevel and wonder why they can’t build on that foundation. They want more out of their Christian life but are unwilling to do the work necessary to repair the foundation. Could they continue to live life the way it is? Certainly, they could but why would you. Why would you want to settle for less than what God has for you when an abundant life is available?
There is another common reason given for not wanting to get RTF ministry and that is a combination of I’ve tried other counseling and it didn’t work, or why will this ministry help me when none of the others have helped? This is one of the excuses people give for not wanting to receive ministry that I can address firsthand. I was a Christian counselor for 18 years, so I understand when people use this line of reasoning. Counseling is wonderful once you have your foundation restored. The issue with counseling is that most counseling is only based on changing the way you think. It is based on dealing with things on the cognitive level. Many of the struggles that people have are not cognitive, they are spiritual and they are emotional. In RTF ministry we start the freedom process by dealing with generational curses that come down to you from your family line and put pressure on you to sin in the same ways as your ancestors. You can’t stop the generational curses using counseling. It is a spiritual problem, and you must apply a spiritual solution. That solution is to confess the sins of your ancestors and apply the blood of Jesus to these sins. Leviticus 26:40-42 says, “But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and they accept their guilt—then I will remember My covenant”. It is much the same concept that is found in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” When we confess our sins and the sins of our ancestors and receive God’s forgiveness, it cleanses our blood line from our ancestors’ sins and the pressure they put on us to sin in the same way. You can’t counsel these generational curses away. It is a spiritual issue that must be dealt with spiritually. That is why counseling is not going to break the hold that generational curses have on your life.
The one most common reason people give for not getting RTF ministry is that RTF ministry costs too much and it takes too long. Let me address the amount of time it takes to get RTF ministry. RTF has two formats for ministry. One format is Issue Focused Ministry which is ministry to one issue in a person’s life. Issue Focused Ministry (IFM) is a two-to-three-hour ministry that is very effective in dealing with one issue that someone struggles with. For example, if someone is struggling with anger then IFM is very effective to set them free from their struggle with anger. The second format of RTF ministry is called Thorough Format Ministry (TFM) which is 15 hours of ministry that deals with 3-5 issues in a person’s life. The 15 hours is usually divided into 3 five-hour ministry sessions which can be done in many different ways to accommodate a person’s schedule. There is no reason to let the amount of time, or the schedule stop you from receiving ministry. The ministry schedule can be flexed to fit your schedule.
The other issue people bring up is the cost of the ministry. We often get asked why we have to charge for ministry. The reason is because the RTF ministers make a living by doing RTF ministry.
The recommended price for Issue Focused Ministry is $300. The recommended price for Thorough Format Ministry is $1500. That is a good investment into yourself and into your future. We spend a lot of money on things that will never bring the results that RTF ministry will bring into a person’s life. And this investment is not just for today, but it is an investment into your future and the future of your family line. By cutting off things from your life spiritually you are affecting your generational line into the future. RTF has a generational impact on families that is a good investment reaping a return on investment into the future.
Don’t let these or any other reason keep you from receiving the freedom and healing that God has for you. Go on our website at restoringthefoundations.org and click on the Get Ministry tab at the top and contact an RTF minister in your area. You will be glad you did.
Prayer
Father God thank you that Jesus has provided everything we need to live the abundant Christian life. Thank you that you have given RTF to the body of Christ to help apply the work of Christ to our lives setting us free. Father, please use this podcast to motivate anyone listening who really needs ministry but is being held back by one of these or any other reason. Thank you that you love us just as we are, but you love us too much to leave us the way we are.
Amen.
