Don’t rejoice over a ministry victory as much as a great salvation!
I am always captured by the words of Christ in Luke 10:17-20 where Jesus tells his disciples:
…rejoice that your names are written in heaven
John Piper writes a poem here that flows from the above text, here is the latter portion of it:
“Do not rejoice in this, dear ones,
That Satan and his hordes are subject to your voice,
But that, in heav’n as treasured sons,
Your names are written down. In this, in this, rejoice!Rejoice, rejoice, my friends, my prize!
Your names are written there, in blood with my own hand.
Rejoice and sing, rejoice, arise
And leap for this: before the world, your name was planned.Rejoice, your name is written there
Secure, and by this Lamb it is forever placed.
And thus by my own blood I swear:
Your name will never be, no never be, erased.”
Read Piper’s post in it’s entirety here.
I find that this command of Christ guards us from relying on ministry success as our basis for joy, and ensures constant always and forever joy not based on circumstances, but based on something that has been established before the foundation of the world, unchangable, and constant, namely eternal salvation. We can worship and rejoice in God this day just as much as the next not based on if we see the demons being subject to us but even when we do not, because our names, the names of all who believe, are written in heaven. Will you believe?
Read MoreTen Smart Priorities for Pastors (and Churches)
Here is a helpful excerpt that my wife and I read recently. It comes from Ed Stetzer’s interview of a guy who recently wrote a book entitled Ten Stupid Things Churches Do. Here is a question and answer that Stetzer shares.
Read MoreYour ministry background includes 27 years of ministry in churches ranging in size from 11 members to now over 10,000 attendees at Seacoast. Based on your experience, if you were to go back to that small church in Texas to how would your approach to ministry than it was the first time?
Ten Stupid Things that Keep Churches from Growing is based on the mistakes I have made through 27 years of ministry and how to recover from those errors. If I went back to pastor the little church in Texas that I left 15 years ago my hope would be that I have learned to avoid at least some of these mistakes. With that in mind I would approach pastoring with the following ten priorities:
- Preparing others to do the work of the ministry rather than trying to do most of the ministry myself.
- Finding the right balance between family and ministry
- Focusing on having an outstanding weekend worship experience
- Creating compelling environments for children’s ministry
- Emphasizing integrity rather than just talent in developing new leaders
- Being willing to move the church if it wasn’t in the right location for the mission of that local congregation
- Finding God’s unique expression of ministry rather than closely copying what another successful church is doing
- Always working for reconciliation in conflict rather than defaulting to discipline
- Avoiding any conflict of interest when pursuing any business opportunities outside of the church
- Building healthy teams rather than getting bogged down with endless committees
How to Pray for Your Pastor
1. That [your pastor] would know and love the living God, would have a saving interest in Christ, being purchased by His blood, and thus would be bound to the Lord by the indissoluble bond of the Holy Spirit.
2. That [your pastor] would know, embrace and ever more deeply understand the Gospel and be shaped by it in life and ministry.
3. That [your pastor] would be useful servant of the Lord, that he would know and love God’s word, God’s people, and God’s kingdom; that he would be used to build it up and so that it prevails even against Hell’s gates.
4. That [your pastor] would study, practice and teach the Word of the Lord, by the grace of the Holy Spirit.
5. That [your pastor] would love to pray, because he loves to commune with his God, and that he would be a man of prayer, characteristically.
6. That [your pastor] would be ever dependent upon and filled with the Spirit; and that he would possess true Spiritual wisdom.
7. That [your pastor] would be holy unto the Lord. That his tongue and heart would be wholly God’s.
8. That [your pastor] would be kept from pride, and especially spiritual pride. That the Lord himself would be gracious to slay pride in him, and that your pastor would endeavor to always be putting pride to death, by the grace of the Holy Spirit.
9. That God would give [your pastor] guidance as to where to focus his efforts in ministry.
10. That He would protect [your pastor] from himself, from the enemy of his soul, and from all earthly enemies.
11. That no decision which [your pastor] ever makes or desire that [your pastor] ever pursues would restrict his ability to pour his whole soul into the Gospel ministry.
12.That many would be converted and many built up under [your pastor]’s ministry, to God’s glory alone.
13. That the Lord would bless [your pastor]’s wife, [. . . ], with holiness and happiness, Gospel assurance and Gospel rest.
14. That God would make [your pastor] a decent husband and father.
15. That [your pastor] would be a good friend to his wife, and love her self-sacrificially,
16. That [your pastor] would be a good daddy to his children. That they would love God, their parents and the church.
17. That [your pastor] would be a testimony in the home so that his wife might be able to respect him when he is in the pulpit, and so that [your pastor] will be able to feed her soul, along with the rest of the congregation.
(this list taken from Pure Church article)
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