Pastor Appreciation Month: Day #25 - The Pastor’s Priorities

Pastor Appreciation Month: Day #25

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

The Pastor’s Priorities (I Peter 5:1-4)
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: 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; Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.”

Your pastor is a gift from God to the local church. Your pastor is called to the high ministry of giving to the congregation the most valuable truths ever revealed to man. Every Sunday, for about thirty minutes, he preaches these truths. before he preaches the sermon, he will spend many hours praying, studying, and preparing.

The pastor is fully aware of the dangers and threats of the flock of God concerning spiritual warfare. He is concerned of the spiritual health of his sheep. He has in his position, his spiritual first aid kit to aid and administer to his suffering or sick sheep. His desire is to live his life like the Lord Jesus and to compel those who will, to follow his as he follows Jesus Christ.

Although the pastor will devote much of his time to the ministry, he will face constant and cruel criticism. He is never eager to hear all that people say about him. Over the course of time, he catches enough of the criticism to crush him. He is your servant for Christ who will stand before the Lord one day and give an account to Him for how he pastored your church. There are priorities for every pastor that focus on the care for souls under our charge in our local church.

Jesus spoke His Word to His apostles who wrote down and spoke that Word to others. The charge to guard the Gospel has been passed down and entrusted to faithful men, undershepherds, or pastors of the Lord Jesus Christ. Truths like the sinlessness of Jesus, His atoning death that was completely sufficient to satisfy the wrath of God on sin, His imputed righteousness, His physical resurrection, His rulership at the right hand of God, and that salvation comes by grace alone through faith alone in Him. “All Scripture is God-breathed” and is inspired by God. We guard the truth when we view the whole counsel of God as God’s authoritative, inerrant, infallible Word, and we defend it as that.

Peter exhorted to take the oversight as a function of shepherding, which means a pastor is to oversee not just that God’s Word is taught and preached, but to lead in such a way that God’s Word is the standard for the practice of the church in its day-to-day operations. Pastors must delegate responsibilities to deacons and other leaders, but ultimately pastors still must maintain oversight over the entire church, for they are the ones who are held accountable. In other words, administration, the handling of finances, caring for the children, planning the public gatherings, upkeep on the building, and many other tasks, making sure we operate with a Biblical standard and practice in all we do as a local church.

The priorities are:
1. Care for Widows (I Timothy 5:3; Acts 6:1-7)
2. Comfort the Grieving (I Thessalonians 4:13-17; John 11)
3. Confront Sin (I Corinthians 5; Matthew 18; I Thessalonians 3; Titus 3)
4. Encourage the Faint-hearted (I Thessalonians 5:14; Romans 14:1)
5. Guard the Truth (I Timothy 4:6-7, 16; 6:20-21; II Timothy 1:13-14; 2:1-2)
6. Identify and Train Other Leaders (Acts 6:1-7; 13:1-3; II Timothy 2:2)
7. Pray for the Flock (Ephesians 6:18-20; I Thessalonians 5:17; Acts 6:2)
8. Preach and Teach the Word (I Timothy 4:13; II Timothy 4:2; Acts 6:2)
9. Set an Example (I Timothy 4:12; I Peter 5:3; I Corinthians 11:1)
10. Visit the Sick (James 5:14; Matthew 25:31-40)

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