Pastor Appreciation Month: Day #16

Pastor Appreciation Month: Day #16

October is Pastor Appreciation Month.
Take time today to express to your pastor how much he means to you.

The Pastor Wears Many Hats (I Peter 5:4).

I Peter 5:1-4, “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: 2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; 3 Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”

What do pastors actually do? While this may seem pretty obvious, some people are actually curious. I had a person tell me once that I had the “good life”. I preach a sermon on Sunday and I play golf the rest of the week. I didn’t correct him, but all he needed to do was to see my so-called golf game and he would know real quick that my time is not spent on the greens. The truth is, there are some who really think pastors only work on Sundays. While that might be true for some, God’s pastors work on average 48-74 hours per week. It’s not easy to explain in a few short sentences, the role of a pastor and all that he fulfills. Pastors can, do, and must wear many different hats in their work. Each hat represents a role that the pastor fulfills.

Here are some: A pastor is a counselor, psychiatrist, janitor, plumber, groundskeeper, maintenance man, taxi, mechanic, moving man, custodian, cheerleader, event planner, secretary, fundraiser, teacher, life coach, door greeter, usher, sound man, videographer, song leader, Sunday school teacher, advisor, web designer, preacher, friend, prayer warrior, shoulder to cry on, and so many, many more.

As a minister, this exhortation is to you, and it is frank and forceful. It is as clear as can be, “to feed the flock of God." The word "feed" means not only to preach and teach the Word of God, but to tend and shepherd the flock. It means to act like a shepherd, to carry out the duties of a shepherd. The duties of the shepherd are severalfold. Here are seven:
1) to feed the sheep even if he has to gather them in his arms and carry them to the pasture.
2) to guide the sheep to the pasture and away from the rough places and precipices.
3) to seek and save the sheep who get lost.
4) to protect the sheep. The true shepherd is even willing to sacrifice his life for the sheep.
5) to restore the sheep who go astray and return.
6) to reward the sheep for obedience and faithfulness.
7) to keep the sheep separate from the goats.

As the watchman over His house, your duties are twofold:

1. To hear the Word of God that has come from God's very own heart and mouth.
2. To warn people of coming attacks and judgment.

A pastor must oversee the administration of the church, setting its affairs and organization in order (Titus 1:5).

Two administrative duties are being assigned to the minister (Titus).
1. He must set in order the things that are defective and left undone. No matter the church, there are still some defects and some things to be done. Every church still has a long way to go before it reaches the full stature of what it should be before its Lord. But tragically, too many churches have two serious defects and flaws: they are not adequately organized for ministry and they have allowed false teaching in their ranks. As a result they are not reaching people for Christ and, in some cases, they are facing terrible division and the destruction of their testimony.

2. He must ordain and set up whatever leadership is needed to carry on the ministry of the church (Acts 6:2-4). The pastor must make sure the church is organized and operated orderly and efficiently: so that he can give himself to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. Your primary call is:

1. to bathe yourself and your people.
2. to always be ministering the Word of God to people by comforting, encouraging, challenging, growing, and seeking their conversion.

The church is to be orderly, efficiently organized, so that the pastor can be effective and bear fruit in his ministry. In all honesty, the vast majority of us waste minute after minute every hour in useless daydreaming and wandering thoughts—wasting precious time that could be spent in prayer. If we would learn to captivate these minutes for prayer, we would discover what it is to walk and live in prayer. Note a critical fact: this is your duty. It is not something God can do for you. You are the one who has to discipline yourself to pray. If you do not pray, then prayer never gets done.

If this post has blessed you in any way,
please share this website and its articles with others:
www.fellowshipbaptistcarrabelle.com