PASTOR'S ROLE
Jesus Christ said this, "all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
Go therefore and
make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I commanded you,
and low, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
I believe self-identity has much to do with this
I wrote in my Bible many
years ago, these thoughts:
"I want to be forthright and genuine.
I don't want to be a
deceptive and acting as someone I am not.
I want to do God's will
and I pray to God teach me thy will
teach me to do thy will
for thou art my God, let thy good spirit lead me on level ground.
Everyone that exults himself shall be abased Luke 18:14
"let another praise
the and not thine own mouth" Proverbs 27:2
"
We, as Christians, do
come before the judgement seat of Christ (2Cor. 5:10)Jesus Christ said
OBVIOUSLY THE CHURCH BODY FITS INTO THIS.
The church is the "called out ones--the body of Christ"
The church is the "called out ones--the body of Christ"
i have pastored 7 churches and in this number I believe I know where the Lord would judge the ministry that I worked most favorably. When I write church, I of course mean the assembled Body of Believers.
The church people
had a number of regular "sunday church going folks" when we got
there. I had been told, by a reliable former pastor of that church,
"the church was 'holdin its own barely--probably not expected to grow."
It so happened while with this church, I began having one or two survivalist and nonconformist coming. Apparently, or I was told, these people had come up the coast from the south like LA and Frisco to Newport, Oregon. Some came inland where we were. I believe the Lord's Spirit began working with these people through Bible Studies and that began working the people already living in the area.
One brother elder brought in a neighboring group, and the Body increased greatly. Numbers come and go. While I was visiting most of the people in the locality of our church, and that brought in many, this other brother elder probably had as much or more of, a pastoring with this neighbor group he brought in. I've had this same situation happen in other churches.
These groups could have functioned as a Oikos Body. These elder--pastors could have functioned better if they had more Bible.
One burden which I felt, as a pastor, and I still feel that burden. Not because
my feeling is fearful about being judged--I respect the Lord's judgement and
know it's just. But it's the church people that I feel responsible for, and
maybe being more wrapped up in my own problems and actions.What I'm talking
about is the Christians that I pastored. One example of this is a person by the
name of Ken.
Ken came out of a
background of drinking and carousing with other women--even though he was
married at the time, and had a family. Numerous times, because of a marital fight, he
would take off for Texas, and I would bet, among his friends, were ladies. But this one time we, his wife and my wife and myself, started praying for him.
He said he got near the state border, drinking as he drove, and he suddenly asked himself, "why am I doing this?" Suddenly he realized, he was driving away from my happiness and worthwhile things. He stopped the car and threw the whiskey bottle out of the car window. He turned around drove back home.
Ken came to Christ, and got help with his drinking problem. He also got involved in home Bible studies and church.
Most the people of this Bible study were what I would call nonconformists Christians. But these folks are some of the most genuine Christians that I have ever meant. The Bible study was usually in a huge old barn that part of it had been made into a house. Now I had a number of home Bible studies and it may be that Ken wasn't a member of that study, but that's how some of the people were like there.
He said he got near the state border, drinking as he drove, and he suddenly asked himself, "why am I doing this?" Suddenly he realized, he was driving away from my happiness and worthwhile things. He stopped the car and threw the whiskey bottle out of the car window. He turned around drove back home.
Ken came to Christ, and got help with his drinking problem. He also got involved in home Bible studies and church.
Most the people of this Bible study were what I would call nonconformists Christians. But these folks are some of the most genuine Christians that I have ever meant. The Bible study was usually in a huge old barn that part of it had been made into a house. Now I had a number of home Bible studies and it may be that Ken wasn't a member of that study, but that's how some of the people were like there.
Then the
Lord called us to a new field, hundreds of miles off, in another state. At that
time, Ken was going through some very bitter trials. His wife had run off with
another man, and here I was leaving the whole area.
Ken
called me up when we had been at this new field some month later, and he shared
about his wife being gone and the problems that he had. And I remember the
sweet time we had in prayer over the phone. How I prayed that man.
Fast-forward two or three decades or more--I had pastored three more churches, and I received a phone call from one of Ken's
kids. He wasn't a kid anymore. But he was still calling me, pastor, and he
wanted me to call his father on the phone. Ken , his father, was close to
death, he wanted me to call and make sure his father knew Jesus. Well, course,
I called Ken .
Ken had
left the country, to move far off to Texas. He was living with his brother. Ken
must've been aware that his kids felt he was close to death, because I had not
gotten much beyond saying hello, and he brought up knowing Jesus as Savior and
he was totally comfortable in whatever the Lord had for him. I don't remember
everything he said, but that he was praising God praising the Lord Jesus Christ
for salvation. My wife, in a later phone contact, with his brother and he said Kenney had
died. For some reason I wasn't in on this last conversation, but
my wife said, his brother broke down in describing Ken's going to
Jesus.
There are a number of things that I really felt blessed about pastoring a church, some things that don't feel that way, but above all blessings that make it all worthwhile are the times like with Kenney.
There are a number of things that I really felt blessed about pastoring a church, some things that don't feel that way, but above all blessings that make it all worthwhile are the times like with Kenney.
Jesus Christ said this,
"all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
Go therefore and
make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I commanded you,
and low, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
Go therefore and
make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I commanded you,
and low, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
No comments:
Post a Comment