shepherding the shepherd
from PreachingToday.com
Carriers of Compassion
Crowds came to Jesus who were crippled in body and soul, chosen people who had never heard that there was good news in God’s kingdom. Harassed comes from a word literally meaning lacerated, an apt description of their hopes and hearts. Helpless because they’d been thrown down and couldn’t get back up; people rejected, unwanted, and unloved.
What’s Become of Us
Pastors are responsible for making sure God’s people, aliens in this dark world, do not forget who we are.
His Very Own
Right now, your people are diamonds in the rough, a scruffy bride, but they are precious beyond price to the Lord. Those saints whose names and stories you know, who gather with you for worship services, prayer, and potlucks week in and week out, have been treasured by God since before time began!
Pastoring the Holy People
I also remember an early Sunday morning in Shillong, India, when I watched two young adults be baptized. They’d come from a state some distance away for an intense period of Christian training before returning to likely persecution at home. They renounced and abjured their worldly citizenship to follow Christ.
“You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation . . ..” (1 Pet. 2:9)
A Royal Priesthood
Royal and priesthood are two words you wouldn’t expect to see together. Royalty suggests being born to privilege and rule, but priests are service providers attending to God and acting as his intermediaries with people.
Your Elite Congregation
They’re an elite congregation, that flock of yours, which, I realize, may not have been obvious last Sunday. But Peter describes their highborn pedigree, beginning with . . .
“You are a chosen people…” (1 Pet. 2:9)