shepherding the shepherd
from PreachingToday.com
‘One Flock and One Shepherd’
Who of us hasn’t marveled at the kinship we feel almost immediately upon meeting fellow believers from some faraway place? Added to that, pastors share a particularly special bond when we meet. How the Lord accomplished this is a flat-out miracle!
In the Know
While God had always known his sheep, and his faithful people had known him through his words and deeds, Jesus here promised a new level of knowing—of intimate fellowship—between the Lord and his people: “… just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.”
Laying Down Our Lives for the Sheep
When we entered the ministry, we didn’t reckon on just how much dying would be involved. To carry the sorrows and failings of our people, to step into their messes and walk with them in dark places, to wrestle constantly (sometimes publicly) with our own faults and weaknesses, and to know the stab of Satan’s thorns—all that takes a toll.
Wordworkers
I know you face incredible pressures, distractions, and duties, but I must remind you again: nothing pastors do matters more than our Wordwork. We enter people’s lives, both believers and unbelievers, like heralds with long brass trumpets, like physicians carrying scalpel and ointment, like nursing mothers and watchful fathers, like sowers with seeds, and sentinels with sword at the ready.
Fingerprints
No two ministries are alike, I know, but take heart, dear brothers and sisters. Be filled with the Spirit and faithful with the Word. Leave your fingerprints, and Jesus’, on them.
Grace Waylaid
Barnabas was my pastoral hero till this flop. But this brand of hypocrisy still leads pastors astray. We wouldn’t want to be caught outside our camp and there are whole groups of believers we’d rather have sit at the kids’ table.