shepherding the shepherd
from PreachingToday.com
The Hard Part of Service
There is only one good thing that humans can do that Almighty God cannot: obey. But obeying God does not come naturally to any human being, not even Jesus.
So… So Human
It’s a wonder to read that Jesus took on humanity when we ourselves, blessed with humanness since birth, are so reluctant to own it. Pastors especially seem bent on being superhuman at least part of the time, lifting more than we were intended to carry, working well past exhaustion, and trying to serve never-ending cups of cold water from a bone-dry well.
‘Taking the Very Nature of a Servant’
The Son of God discerned what so often escapes us—that for the sake of love, we can give up our rights and privileges without losing our identity. We don’t become less; we become better.
Check Under the Carpet
In 1998 I arrived at a deeply damaged congregation. I’ll spare you the details, but they were defeated and demoralized. So much had gone wrong that I wondered if there was some kind of deep-set sin in the congregation, something spiritually toxic buried under the carpet.
When the Commander Appears
Sometimes, we feel so lonely, so solitary, as we survey some foreboding Jericho blocking our way, but it is never so. Christ has promised to be with us always, armed and in command. The thing we must not do is charge into some ill-fated, hurried, committee-driven action before we’ve bent low in reverence, before we’ve taken off our shoes, so our faith can find footing. “All other ground is sinking sand.”
Leading from the Front
My Dear Shepherds, One time after a congregational meeting a CEO in our church invited me to breakfast. I don’t recall what issues had been