What Everyone Should Know about Pastors & Pastoring

Thank you, Roger. And, as he mentioned, that, that is a luncheon, so there is food provided. Not that that will sway anybody, but just thought we'd point that out. but that'll be, shortly after the conclusion of the, the second service.

well, let me have you turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 31 Timothy chapter 3. We're doing a verse by verse study through the book of First Timothy as we continue in our study of this book, we come, we came last week in First Timothy 3 where we began to talk about the subject of pastors and elders and overseers. And, Carlos did an excellent job. I've already listened to the message of handling verse one.

And, what I want to do today is not so much move into verse two, but I've got a bunch of introductory things to say that I think will help to set the stage for verses two and following as we get into the qualifications for, that of, elder or overseer. And let's see, do we get the slides up? the title of the message, if you want to give a title to it, is What Everyone Should Know about Pastors and pastoring, What Everyone Should Know about Pastors and pastoring. It's not everything you should know about pastors and pastoring, but the six things that we'll be looking at this morning are, things that we believe that every, every Christian who loves the Lord and is a part of the church should know.

about, and I know that none of you woke up this morning. And if you did, please tell me, come up to me afterwards and say, Whoa, I had that experience this morning. But my guess is that no one woke up this morning with this burning desire, like, Lord, I just feel this hunger to learn about pastors today. If you could quench that appetite, it would make my day.

I know none of you probably woke up with that burning desire. But what, if you love the church, and you want Cornerstone to be everything that God wants it to be, if you want the universal church, if you want the church in Hong Kong, or wherever else to be everything that God wants it to be, then, then you will care very deeply about, about this topic. Paul in chapter 3, verse 15, is saying, I'm writing the stuff I'm writing, so you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church.

And by way of talking about that very topic, he spends 7 verses, verses 1 through 7 of First Timothy 3 talking about the topic of elders.

All right. And I want to go over some introductory stuff with you because there are a lot of myths, out there regarding, pastors and elders. In fact, this week, I made a list of 10 myths that that I've encountered in my time in the ministry. You want to hear them?

Yeah. OK. myth number one. It is the job of the pastors to do the work of the ministry.

It is the job of the congregation to pay them to do the work of the ministry. we're going to bust that myth this morning. Another myth is pastors have it made. They work only one day a week.

I've actually had people say, so what do you do during the week? But anyway, another myth is, pastors do not struggle with the same issues that normal people struggle with. So yeah, pastors up there getting all passionate, saying we got to do this and that, but he doesn't understand real life. He lives in a bubble, and does not know real life struggles the way that normal people do.

here's another myth. pastor's children are automatically godly simply because there's pastor, they're pastor's kids. Like it's just in the genes, and pastor's children just wake up just saying, how can I be godly today? and it's the job of the pastor to just direct them in their pursuit of godliness.

So I've encountered that myth. But here's another myth I've actually encountered more. It's the opposite myth. And that is pastor's children are automatically bad.

Simply because they're pastors kids, and there are some bad pastor's kids that have earned that reputation for everybody else. And unfortunately people expect pastors' children to just be rebellious and bad. 1/5 myth is only immature and weak believers need pastors. Mature believers have grown beyond the need for pastors.

Like, I'm so thankful we have pastors, because there's so many weak believers that need them. But I, I don't, I've matured beyond the need for pastors. 1/6 myth is the job of pastoring is for those who can't seem to succeed at doing anything else. Pastoring is really not a very desirable job.

So if you get someone who's really gifted and talented, it's a tragic thing to see them waste that giftedness on pastoring. rather than some better occupation, but, pastors are just guys who failed at everything else. So it was the only thing left to them. another myth is Cornerstone has only 3 pastors on the elder board.

Is that a myth? We have 7 elders. How many pastors do we have? Well, sometimes, only 3 of us get called pastors, and then the rest are referred to as elders.

And that's, that's not a bad thing. But we'll see this morning that that that's actually a myth. Another myth is other churches may have pastors who fail morally, but our pastors could never do that. It's a big myth, a dangerous myth.

Pray for us that we will be faithful and don't buy into that lie. Another myth is Pastor Milton is the senior pastor of Cornerstone. Am I the senior pastor? Of Cornerstone.

Is that a myth? Is that true or false? Well, occasionally Mike and Carlos will refer to me as the big dog. And I guess there's nothing biblically wrong with that.

Although I must say I feel unworthy of such an exalted title. But senior pastor, it's nothing to start a war over, but technically, who is the senior pastor of Cornerstone? Who's the chief shepherd of Cornerstone? Jesus, and I and all of the other pastors are merely associate pastors working under him.

and then a final myth that we're going to bust today is pastors and elders are a ministry construct that worked in former times, but that construct is now outdated. In the modern era. I'm going to quote from some guys who think that. So what I want to do with the time we have today is, give you 6 facts or 6 truths, about pastors and pastoring that, that I think will destroy, maybe all or at least 9 of the myths that, that we've just gone over.

All right, so here we go. the first fact or truth that I want us to look at is this, that the scripture affirms about pastors and pastoring, is that all elders are pastors, and all pastors are overseers. All right, all elders are pastors, and all pastors are overseers. Alexander Strou, who wrote the book Biblical Eldership, he, he tells a story at the beginning of that book, how he walked into a church lobby once.

And there were pictures on the wall. And there was a the picture at the top of the senior pastor. And then underneath him in a pyramid scheme where all the associate pastors. And then over in another place on the wall were photos of the elders.

So you got senior pastor, associate pastors, and then something distinct from those pastors were the elders. the thing is, guys, when you look at what the Bible teaches, you don't see that distinction. Pastors are elders, elders are pastors, pastors are overseers, and overseers are pastors and elders. Look at this.

1 Peter 5, Peter says, I exhort the elders among you to pastor. the flock of God. Now, many of your translations say shepherd, which is a good translation. But just understand that our English word pastor is from the old Latin word that meant a shepherd.

All right, a pastor is a shepherd. And so he's literally saying, I exhort the elders among you, pastor, the flock of God among you. Overseeing, in other words, part of the role of elders and pastors is to oversee. So elder, eldering, pastoring, overseeing are all tied together.

In Acts 20, Paul calls the Ephesian elders to him. And in verse 17, it says, he called to him the elders of the church, and then to those elders, look at what he says, be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to pastor the Church of God. It's tough for me to figure out A way around this. The teaching of scripture is that all elders are pastors and all pastors are overseers.

So we have 7 active elders at Cornerstone and 1 that's on sabbatical, but you could look at any of the elders and call them pastors. They're all pastors, shepherds, and, overseers. All right. So that's the first, truth that I want us to look at, to just eliminate that distinction that sometimes people make between elders and, pastors.

A second fact that I want us to look at that the Bible affirms is that pastors are a gift from Christ to his people. I feel really weird saying this, but, that I am a gift. To the church, but I really am. I am, I am a gift to To you, aren't you grateful?

but all of the elders are a gift from, from Christ to, to his people. In fact, not just a gift, but the way you need to think about it is that Jesus died. He was raised, he went all the way up to heaven, in order to be able to give you gifts, among which are pastors. And so you may not have thought that I really need pastors, I don't really need them.

But Jesus died to give you pastors. So your thinking needs to be if Jesus is all wise, and he must know something that I don't know. And he knows that I need this. And so he died and was raised and ascended to give this gift to me.

It's not the only gift he gives believers, but look at this, if you read Ephesians 4, we don't have time to elaborate on this, but Jesus, ascended on high, led captivity captive, and he gave gifts to men. And among those gifts, verse 11, and he gave Some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, or it could be translated pastor teachers, whichever way. But the point is that pastors and teachers are among the gifts that Jesus died to be able to give to his people.

Now, why does he give you pastors, verse 12, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service or the work of ministry?

That word service means ministry. And so in the teaching of the Bible, it's not like the pastors are the ones that are in the ministry. Every believer in the church is involved in ministry. Everyone is called to ministry.

And it is the role of the pastors to equip every believer in the local church to be involved in ministry. So all of you have been called. Don't sit around and wait for a call to the ministry. You all have been called to the ministry, and we have been called as pastors and elders and overseers to equip you to do your ministry well.

We want a congregation full of ministers. That's, that's our dream. And our job as elders is to be used of God to see that become a reality. There's a third truth about pastors and pastoring that the scripture affirms.

And this is the point that if, if I were preaching 20 years ago, I would have never taken the time to even make the point. But nowadays, you have to take the time to, make, the point, and that is that it is God's plan that local churches have pastors. It's God's plan that local churches have pastors., with the emergent church and a lot of the other movements that are going on nowadays, there's a whole reinvestigation of do we need pastors and, and what is their role? There are forums that are being held.

Where they're just reinvestigating the role and the place of pastors, in the church and is even the church, to be a part of God's program today. Listen to what this one guy says, in an article entitled The Old Church Killing the West. he says, I believe that the kingdom is its own locating device and churches per se are no longer required gear. So to funnel the kingdom of God through an artificial pipe, which he says is the church is insufficient.

so he's basically knocking the church, and he says the church in other places in the article, the church was had a place in the first century, but after the first century, it was no longer necessary, and we're now free to explore other mechanisms other than the church. he, he has this criticism for people like us. He says, we are so enamored with continuously replicating God's first century solution, the church, that we have ignored millions of more efficient, legitimate avenues to apply the healing salve of the kingdom to the world's wounds.

So it's not surprising to hear this guy say, I believe God eliminated the need for pastors.

He says we have the Spirit within us. We've got the Word of God, and we don't need any. Human external to us to teach us and give us the truth. There's a lot of people who think this way.

Another writer was, elaborating on Hebrews 10 about how we have Christ as our high priest. And he draws the inference that therefore, we need no pastor or minister because Christ is our pastor. There's just not serious thinking going on here. If they would just read 1 Peter 5, where Jesus is the pastor, he is every believer's pastor, he is the chief shepherd.

But that chief shepherd has called Me to serve as under shepherds. The Bible affirms both Jesus is our pastor, and he is, and he has put in our lives, other pastors who are under shepherds working under him to bless our lives. here's another great theologian. Who waxed eloquent on this opinion.

This is a literal quote. I don't need no pastor, Reverend, or what have you telling me how I should act. and this is an actual advertisement for a home church. And by the way, not every home church is like this.

So I'm not broad stroking here, but this particular home church, here's their advertisement, no building, no pastor, no tithe, no sermons, no programs, please call. And then they gave the phone number and I left the number off because I know some of you would have called them. But that's, they, they feel that that's an appealing feature about them that we don't have a pastor. So you're gonna really love our church.

But the truth is, guys, that when you look at the teaching of the Bible, like in Titus 15, Paul leaves Titus in Crete. to oversee the church there, and he says, I left you in Crete so that you would appoint elders in every city as I directed you. It's like you're overseeing the church, and I want elders. I want pastors in these churches.

In 1 Timothy 5:17, elders govern, they, they rule, they work hard at preaching and teaching. I don't know any. way around this. And as we started the message this morning, Paul is saying, in chapter 3, verse 15, I write so that one will know how he ought to conduct himself in the household of God.

And as a part of elaborating on how we conduct ourselves in the household of God, he gives 7 full verses on the subject of pastors, overseers, and elders. So, let us affirm this truth, but I take a little bit of time with this so that you're aware of some of the notions that are out there that you might even have already encountered and just respond to this way of thinking with scripture. scripture is sufficient to dispel that myth. There's a 4th fact that the Bible reveals about pastors and pastoring that I want to look at this morning, and that is that pastoring is an absolutely beautiful work, worth craving.

Pastoring is an absolutely beautiful work worth craving. Paul says in verse one, it is a trustworthy statement. If any man aspires to the office of overseer, and again elder, pastor, overseer, they're all synonymous terms, he says it is a fine work he desires to do, and Carlos explained last week how the word fine has the idea of beautiful. It's a beautiful.

work that he craves to do, that word desires is the word that is often translated lust in the New Testament to speak of a strong, passionate craving for something. And Paul would say pastoring is absolutely a beautiful work worth craving. Notice how he begins the statement in verse one, he says it's a trustworthy statement. And whenever Paul says that something is a trustworthy statement, he's essentially putting an exclamation point on whatever it is that he is saying.

In other words, he's saying you can take this to the bank. is it not true everything Paul says in all of his letters are trustworthy statements? He's not saying you can trust this, but, everything else I've said is not trustworthy. But, I'm being honest when I say this, that, that's not his point.

What he's doing is he's saying what I'm about to say is extremely important. And I want to put an exclamation point on what I am about to say. And then he makes the point. And if you do a study of 1st and 2 Timothy, you find that there's actually 5 times in, 1 and 2 Timothy, where Paul brands something as a trustworthy statement.

And the things that he labels trustworthy statements are very powerful and theologically rich statements. Look at this real quick. here, here's the trustworthy statements. Here's 4 of them from Titus 3, we are justified by God's grace and heirs of eternal life.

Another trustworthy statement that he labels as trustworthy. If we died with Christ, we shall also live with Him. Another trustworthy statement, Godliness is profitable for all things. And another trustworthy statement that we've actually seen in chapter one is Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

Those are exclamation point statements. And they're so rich doctrinally. And so what's striking is that in the 5th occasion, where he says it's a trustworthy statement, what it is, is, if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a beautiful work. That he craves to do.

This is not only a true statement, but Paul believes this very passionately. And what, guys, all occupations that further God's purposes, the only exception would be occupations where someone is working at cross purposes with God's agenda, and there are occupations like that. But all other occupations, whether someone is a carpenter or an investor or a baseball player, or, an architect or a school teacher, all occupations are noble, and affirmed by God if a person goes into that occupation with the agenda of glorifying God and furthering his purposes.

Amen.

However, of all the occupations in the world, This occupation gets special mention. And with an exclamation point, God says, if anyone aspires to the office of pastor, of elder, it is a beautiful work. that he craves to do. And we want to let that sink in.

That doesn't mean everyone at Cornerstone needs to be a pastor, but we need to embrace this statement and see that role the way that the apostle Paul does. Why is being a pastor such a beautiful work? just three quick reasons, because you get to serve precious people. This blows me away.

I don't think a day goes by that I'm not pondering this, that, that the people I'm called to serve, Jesus shed his blood for them. And so they, they're precious to him. And so how could I, how could I willfully injure any one of them and, and what a privilege it is to be able to serve people for whom Jesus died. Also, as a pastor, you've got the perfect boss, right?

Jesus is the chief shepherd. He's the perfect boss in this occupation. And also the rewards are great, eternal reward is promised in 1 Peter 5:4, for those who serve faithfully in the role of elder or of pastor. And, and also, as a pastor, you get to be engaged with people, meeting with them on the threshold of, of eternity, and you get to build things into their life that are going to survive the fires of judgment Day.

that's, by using the right materials, it's like you're, you're not just investing in something that's going to get burned up either in this life or it's not going to get burned up at the judgment, but that when the fires of judgment Day burn, there is stuff that was, Accomplished that will survive those fires and we will be able to take with us into eternity. That's true of all people, whether they're pastors or not, but the thing is, as a pastor, you get to make that investment and the rewards are great.

And so, let me just get a little practical here and give you guys a few exhortations. First of all, young men, Here at Cornerstone, I don't care if you're 8 years old or 12 years old or 16.

11 of the, the things that I think is a little unsettling is that, that in, in churches across our land, that young men grow up in the church. And when they're considering the possible range of careers that they might want to choose, the possibility of being a pastor of God's people never even makes it onto the list of options to be considered. Paul would say this option ought to be On the list for consideration. That doesn't mean everyone's supposed to be a pastor, but, but, I think every young man should be aware of the fact that God might call me to this role.

And whether he does or not, I want to live my life even now so that I'm ready if that day were to come. when we went up to, Shiphawana, Indiana, we visited an Amish village, and the, the Amish people I met were born again believers. I have no doubt about it, putting their trust in Christ alone for salvation. But one of the things about their community.

That, that I found fascinating was how they choose their pastors. Basically, when you get baptized into the Amish, Amish Church, part of what you're saying is that I'm not only going to live for the Lord, and I'm going to live with my trust in Him. But I am also pledging that if the lot ever falls to me to become a pastor, I will do that. And I will live my life being ready for that, if that's what the Lord wills.

And the way they choose their pastor is that if like their existing community pastor passes away or something, they will have a meeting, and they will take a vote by secret ballot, and people will vote, they will pick who they think should be the pastor. And they will then tally that vote and then And then the leadership will approach that person and say, guess what? You are the pastor of this community. And, and no one ever says no to that.

In fact, everyone, every man has been living his life ready for that possibility. I'm not saying we want to start doing that. But something of that sensibility, I think is appropriate to where we, even as young men that that we live our lives in such a way that, what, God may put his hand on me and say, I want you to do this. And, and if he did, I, I want to be ready for that.

I want to be ready to say yes to that, if that's what God led me to do. And I will see this as a beautiful work. Parents, I would encourage you to hold the occupation or the office of pastor in high esteem. Let your children get that vibe from, from you.

Be careful how you speak about your pastors in front of your children. behind closed doors, that might be one thing between a husband and wife, but, but just think long and hard about what you say about pastors and elders. in front of your children. I grew up in the church.

we went to some really good churches. We went to churches that were not so good. We had some really excellent pastors, and we had some pastors that were not excellent. and, My parents even left one church after a fistfight had broken out during a business meeting, and the pastor was essentially the, the cause of that, and that pastor gave my parents plenty of reason to say, a lot of bad things about him, but I can honestly say I have no memory growing up of my parents ever saying a single negative word in my presence about a pastor.

All I ever heard were good. And so what? I grew up, and with, and just assuming every other home was like this, I grew up in a home where pastors were heroes, preachers were heroes. So when we played games and we played make believe, guess what we played church.

And I would be the pastor and my younger brother, my older brother would be the song leader, and my younger brother would be the repentant sinner who, who Who every service, I I'd say I want every head bowed, every eye closed, and And no one's looking around. If you want to accept Christ, just raise your hand and And he would slip it up and I'd say, I see that hand. You can put it down and My older brother would come up and lead in all four verses of Just As I Am, and I'm pleading, just please come forward.

And my younger brother was clutching the chair in front of him and Under deep conviction, his knuckles were white and finally near the end of the 4th verse, he would come forward and I would, I, I have led him to Christ hundreds of times.

But that's, why did we do that? My parents never said now play church right now. We just did that because pastors were our heroes. And my younger brother and I, when we were in high school, we had, we shared the same bedroom, we had two posters on, on our wall.

And one of them was a poster of Franco Harris, the running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The other poster on our wall was a poster of DL Moody, the great pastor, evangelists whom God used to, preach truth and touch the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. And those were, those were the men that were our heroes. And so we never felt the slightest pressure.

Our parents never tried to direct our future in terms of occupation. But coincidentally, I am a pastor. My younger brother is a pastor. My sister is married to a pastor, and my older brother served as a youth pastor for a few years and now as a computer programmer, but all of us, we love the ministry.

And so the things I'm saying about the role of pastor, don't think, well, he's just saying that because he's a pastor. Of course, he's got to put a positive spin on his job. no, I am a pastor. Because of these truths.

and I was raised in a home where the role of preaching God's truth and investing for eternity in the lives of people was held in very high esteem. And so parents do that. And, and if your son comes to you and says, I'm thinking about the ministry, don't say, but you're so gifted. you have so much promise and potential.

No, it's a beautiful work. It's a beautiful work to be encouraged. Also, elders, there's times, is it not, where we need to hear what Paul says in verse one, where we get discouraged in the ministry and we just want to run. there are times where that happens, and, and we need to come to verse one and say, now, what we're doing is a fine, a fine work.

It is a beautiful work that is worth craving. And so all of us need to think, this way. moving on, because time is, is drawing short. A 5th truth about pastoring and pastors is that pastoring is fraught with hardship and dangers.

Yeah, it's a beautiful work, but what, it's not an easy work, and so please don't think, oh, I want to be a pastor because I only work one day a week and everything's great. No, it's a mess. Pastoring, eldering is is an absolute mess that that seems chaotic. but you can look back over the years and see what God has done.

It's hard work. First Timothy 5:17. Paul speaks of elders that work hard at preaching and teaching. 2 Timothy 4:5, he tells Timothy as a pastor to endure hardship.

And 2 Timothy 2:3, endure hardship as a good soldier, you've got to come into the role with the mindset of someone in the military who's ready to, to fight and to engage in battle. The ministry is not for sissies. It's not for someone who wants to live a comfortable life. and even us as elders, we need to remember this, that it's a mess and it's bloody, and there are discouragements, but, but we were soldiers, and we're called into this fight.

I remember one time about 12 years ago, It's, it's really the only time that I've I've like just in anger complained to the Lord. And it was the night before an Easter service, and I was just at my wits' end getting a sermon ready. And I had spent the whole week on a message, and Saturday night around midnight, I realized I can't preach this tomorrow. I got to go in a different direction.

And so I got ticked. And I was like, God, why can't you give me a sermon on Monday, so I can be thinking about it during the week. And I'm, I'm tired of this cloud hanging over my head and And having to labor so hard to preach, and then I drain my brain on Sundays, and then my brain is empty, and I got to get up the next week and have something else to say. And I'm just feeling wearied from, from all of that.

And I fussed and fumed in God's presence. And when I got done, I fell silent, which by the way, if you ever complain to the Lord, when you're done, just be silent, OK? Give him a chance to speak. He didn't speak audibly, but I'll tell you what I sensed from him.

No sympathy. No, poor Milton, And the vibe that I got from him was, you want to quit? Go ahead and step aside and I'll get a soldier in your place who's willing to fight. And I don't know, there, I was like, my response was, well, if you're going to put it that way, I'm not going to step aside.

And I'm going to fight, and I got to work. the ministry is a fight. It's full of hardships. And when your pastors study to, to preach or to teach you, and don't think that they're just studying and it's just an academic thing.

No, we got to study with tools of exegesis in one hand and a sword in the other, because there are sentinels of hell stationed around every truth in the Bible. We got to fight against those, sentinels of hell to be able to get at those truths just so we can come to the pulpit and say here, and pass it on to you. So it's, it's hardship. and don't, don't go into the ministry if you think it's going to be easy.

There's also dangers, even spiritual dangers. James says, let not many of you be teachers, knowing that as such, you will incur a stricter judgment. In Acts 20 Paul tells elders, you be on guard for yourselves. After my departure.

Your savage wolves are going to come in. And no shepherd likes to deal with savage wolves. It's dangerous. Verse 30, he says, and from among your own selves, men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them.

Therefore, be on the alert. So it's dangerous. the people you minister to are in grave danger every day, and you are in grave danger, every day. of going astray yourself.

And so there's hardship, and there's dangers. And there's also things about the ministry itself of pastoring and eldering, that, that creates some of these pitfalls. And that's why Paul, like when he looks at the qualifications, and he lists them and in chapter 3, verses 1 through 7, he says as he gets to the end, he starts throwing in these things. At first, it's like, oh, he's making a nice list of qualifications.

But then you see his heart why he's giving these, he says, an elder needs to be such and such so that he will not become conceited. there are things about pastoring that could fill someone's heart with pride, if he is not careful, and fall into condemnation incurred by the devil. Verse 7, an elder needs to be such and such so that he will not fall into reproach, and the snare of the devil. So there, there are aspects of the shepherding ministry that, that are traps and, and we hear stories about pastors that just get picked off one right after another.

And some of that happens because of just the dynamic of pastoring and eldering. You look at the list of qualifications and, and by looking at the list, you would start to feel alarmed. I want you to imagine, man, let's say I called you up and said, I want you to come into my office. You come into my office, and I say, listen, I got a ministry.

I want you to be involved in, OK? But here's the deal. You've got to be a one woman, man. Your heart has to totally belong to your wife.

Is it? You got to be temperate. You're going to have to be prudent. You cannot be addicted to wine, or to anything else.

you cannot be a pugnacious person who's quick to strike with your fist or with words. You've got to be gentle, you're going to be peaceable, you got to be free from the love of money. You can't be a novice. if I'm like building it up that way and, and giving you that list of Requirements, you would be thinking, oh my goodness, what's involved in this.

That it would require that I be these things. For me, I don't need to look any further than the list of qualifications to know that something about eldering is, is intense enough to where if I'm a pugnacious person, I'm going to choke somebody. I'm going to say something, I'm going to do something that is going to bring injury to myself or to somebody else. If I'm not a gentle person, if I'm not a one woman man, I'm going to get picked off.

And so it's not something that you enter into lightly. In fact, I wrote this down so I can say it right. A man doing the ministry of pastoring will find himself frequently in situations in which he is sure to bring hurt to himself and to others unless he has the character. Paul demands in 1 Timothy 3.

A couple of years ago, I was interviewed by a blog site, and in the interview they asked, This question, what advice would you share with people who are aspiring pastors or elders? And here's what I said. If you can do anything else, by all means do it. And if you can do anything else, you probably aren't called.

Ministry is not for the faint of heart. It is gritty and often painfully messy. If you wish to be comfortable, do yourself a favor and avoid ministry. The downside to avoiding ministry is that when you reach your deathbed, you will have lived but one life.

However, if you wish to live 1000 lives and truly laugh all of your laughter and weep all of your tears, then ministry is definitely where it's at. You experience extreme highs, you experience extreme lows. You are with God's people in their best moments. You are with them in their worst moments.

You see things, you hear things that leave you shattered. But it is, it's life on the edge. I had an opportunity a few years ago. A job opportunity to to go into the classroom and to To be a teacher and to leave here and to do that and And God leads people differently.

So I'm not faulting. I would never, we need people in the classroom, but for me, it just seemed boring. and I'm just speaking, from my own heart. there's something about the mess of ministry and just, just being in the thick of it with people and seeing lives being changed and just in the thick of the battle that, that if I were to step away from the ministry, I feel like I would curl up in the fetal position and die.

It's a blessing to be involved with people for whom Jesus shed his blood. To work for the perfect boss. And to be investing in the lives of people for, Eternity, and it's a, it's a privilege for me to be one of your pastors. Let me give you 1/6 and final fact about pastors and pastoring.

And that is pastors are not perfect and they need your prayers. I was sharing my sermon points with my wife and This point seemed to resonate with her. She offered to Come up and provide illustrative material to Bring this point home. But no, pastors are not perfect, and we need your prayers.

In 1 Timothy 5, Paul says, do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses. Paul obviously entertained the possibility that Elders may do things, pastors may do things that merit accusation, and he tells Timothy that if an accusation is brought to you, make sure it's confirmed, but if it is confirmed, then you need to deal with it. You need to confront them. Paul would only say that because he understands that it happens in the life of the church.

And if an elder is confronted and refuses to repent, Paul says those who continue and sin rebuke in the presence of the whole church. It's very serious and, I, I just share this point at the end to ask you to pray. More passionately than ever for Your pastors, your elders, your overseers, that God will make us faithful, faithful as men of God, faithful in our homes, faithful towards our wives, faithful in ministry to you, the precious people of God, for whom Jesus shed his blood.

Well, let me ask you to bow your heads.