shepherding the shepherd
from PreachingToday.com
Logrolling and Logjams
You may not have given much thought to logrolling, so let me enlighten you. … Every pastor is well-acquainted with ministry logjams.
Beginning with the Breath
In the beginning God created ex nihilo—from nothing. Ezekiel, in his vision of bones and breath, saw God re-create ex mortuis—from the dead; from the condemned dead, to be specific. That is the greater miracle!
“Then he said to [Ezekiel], “Prophesy to the breath;….'”
‘So I Prophesied as He Commanded Me’
Imagine Ezekiel at a timeless reunion of preachers. “What was that like?” one asks. I wonder if Ezekiel wouldn’t look at us and say, “Me? What was it like for me? You preach to the living and breathing saints of God every time you open the Scriptures! I would have given anything to preach as you do, to the saints of God, living and listening.”
‘Then You Will Know…’
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!’” (Ezek. 37:1-4)
Destiny
One of our basic pastoral responsibilities is to help our people die well. That age-old ministry assignment is not only about bolstering their deathbed courage or helping them plan their funerals, although those are pastoral privileges. We prepare them by obeying and echoing Jesus’ command to Peter, “Follow me!”
‘Feed My Sheep’
Here’s the gift: When Jesus restores us he doesn’t take us back to square one, back to where we were before. Jesus not only forgives our failures, he repurposes them to make us better than we had been. Just ask Peter. Thanks to the grace that reinstates us, we love Jesus more deeply. We are better carriers of grace, better models. We are safer and more sympathetic to our people because of our new-found humility.