Pray For Your Pastor II
Did you pray for your pastor? This was the only response that I asked
for last time and it is an important one. Many of us pray for our pastor
all the time and do not need to be asked, some need prompting and others
will not pray for them even if asked to. Be honest, did you pray for
your pastor? Or did you just delete the message?
We all need to stir up the gifts in the body. We should all have a
testimony of Jesus and we should all be diligent in asking Him to bring
revival. We have all been called to worship and to pray and to give
testimony of Jesus. If you have truly been called, remember this, that
many are called but few are chosen. Your calling means nothing if not
acted upon.
As this first trumpet is being sounded, the twenty-four elders worshiped
Him that sat upon the throne. "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory
and honor and power; for you have created all things and for your
pleasure they are and were created."
He that is worthy had taken the book sealed with seven seals and "the
four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having
every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the
prayers of saints. And they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to
take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for You were slain, and
have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every kindred, and tongue,
and people, and nation; And have made us unto our God kings and priests:
and we shall reign on the earth."
The prayers of the saints! The power of intercession will identify those
that have been chosen to bring the army of the Lord into the heavenlies.
Are you among the chosen? Or are you just called?
This time I would like to have responses of what it takes for a Pastor
today to be among the chosen in the Bride of Christ. Not just called to
the body of Christ, not just business as usual, but what does church
leadership have to do to bring their congregation to the point that they
truly "sing a new song." This is today on God's calendar so we must take
these things seriously. Exactly what is this new thing that we are to
bring to the world? Does anyone know the lyrics to our new song? It is a
symphony, an orchestrated melody of angels and saints. Do we know the
tune, or are the churches just singing the same tired old song?
Jay
The answer is in organized, corporate, deliberate, Seeking of His Face,
Intercession, and Spiritual Warfare.
Traditions, personal opinions, emotions, and behaviors are only a mere
shadow of the real condition of things. There are organized
Principalities/Satanic Strongholds assigned to specific geographic
regions,
which encompass specific churches, and those who congregate in them.
This
is what is really in back of Traditions, Factions, Opinions, Errors,
Divisions, and the Wounding of the Body of Christ.
RevDeb
From: Ivan Poulter
Partnership Demands Participation
The church was never designed to be supported by sleeping partners -
those
who invest in a company, but who never play an active role in the
running
of the company. The Church of the Living God and His Christ has been
called, not to passive 'spectator-ship' but to active participation. Why
would pastors or the church board rulers settle for sleeping partners,
and
why would the congregation member be content to be a sleeping partner? I
think if you could hear the Lord Jesus Christ you'll hear, "Will the
Participating Partners please rise!"
In rising, what would we do? I hope to cover some of the aspects within
this letter I've sat on for just about two months. I do not know why,
for
to be honest, I feel it is one of the most profound I've ever been given
to write.
Pastors Want Sleeping Partners
Sometimes, leaders are happy to have sleeping partners, because then,
no-one interferes with the way, they, the pastors want things to be run.
He is happy with the attendance and his income and just because there
are
people, there will be more people. Hence, he can even be happier. In
this
type of church, the pastor is happy with the steady growth that comes
through with no extra effort. As long as he is pleasant and as long as
he'll not stand on any toes, the steady growth will be assured. In this
church, there is no need for participants. Only spectators.
The Super-Pastor
We have mentioned that some church members are as children needing to
grow up to be come adult partners with the leadership. As children they
can be content that 'daddy-pastor' will feed them. Daddy-pastor is
talented, gifted and super-able. As I said, a pastor teaching a
Spiritual
Gifts Seminar in his summary of a pastor, made him an administrator, a
teacher and preacher, a gifted leader and an exhorter. He insured that
they would not see him as the director and not a servant who'd pick up
the
trash. Not being 'gifted with the ministry of helps, he didn't even see
the trash'. He was 'focused upon his gift of teaching' and the whole
congregation bought the subtle clergy-laity differentiation.
Some time back I wrote of a pastor who led the praise and worship,
exhorted the members for the tithes and offering, spoke in tongues, gave
the interpretation and then taught from a passage of scripture. Within
his
message he acknowledged that he was a marriage counselor and stated that
not only was he the pastor (to shepherd and nurture the flock) but he
was
also a prophet (to give vision and direction to the church).
At the end of the service he prophesied which probably included a word
of
knowledge and a word of wisdom. He called for the sick to come and be
prayed for and he exercised the gifts of healing too. This one pastor
was
the whole church incorporated. He didn't need anyone to help him all he
needed were willing recipients of his ministry. He was also the chief
administrator of the church.
He held the monthly welcoming reception to the church in which he
declared
the way his church was to be organized was according to his own vision
and
if you did not like it enough to submit to, you could leave. I later
heard
it said that he had shares in a local casino. If that was true, he might
even have funded his own ministry. He was certainly gifted, talented and
super-able and the members in the congregation appeared to be super
happy.
Oh! He also sang a solo, the church special and so the congregation was
also entertained. All they had to do was to show up and be blessed. In
this church, the members were not participants, but
spectators. Need I add.. ..this man's church was doing quite well, thank
you.
Members are Contented Sleeping Partners
Sometimes, the members, in the congregation, are happy to be sleeping
partners, because then they are not responsible for the mistakes.
Someone
said, "If you're never making any mistakes, then you are not doing
anything." If you're not doing anything, then you have withdrawn for one
reason or another. You're a child who is to 'be seen but not heard while
the adult is speaking.' We might add, "Now go out and play!" Except that
would mean not coming in with the finances that keep the place running.
You may have also been hurt when trying to do something, and you did not
like the correction. Maybe, you were on the front line, and had to take
the abuses from the people unhappy with the way things were done. You
were
thus very conveniently the leader's scapegoat. You felt like you were an
abused victim and so withdrew from participation and just settled for
bringing in your weekly offering. Happy just to be a sleeping partner.
Happy to be entertained and given your weekly pep talk. Happy to merely
be
a spectator.
Congregation members are happy to have the super hero up front do it
all.
He, after all helps you to recognize that there is Someone in the
heavens
better than yourself. "It's funny", you think, "How much like Jesus he
really is." Sometimes, he is so much like Jesus to you, you never even
pray to God any more, after all, "Pastor will know how to heal or deal
with this."
There you have it in a nutshell. Members within too many congregations
have substituted God by the super hero that stands before them every
week.
We all have an inner need to identify with someone greater than
ourselves.
We don't just want to identify with movie or sports star any more. We
have
to have Pa-Star as well, our own religious idol.
It is really the call to acknowledge God inbuilt within all our
hearts. (Eccl 3:11) However, for most, God is too distant. It's too
difficult relating to Someone we cannot see. And hence, the super pastor
becomes, all to often himself, a willing substitute for God. Enjoying
the
adulation, he cannot afford, at least so he thinks, to encourage
maturity.
It'll threaten, most often, his pocket: His income.
While he is the super hero, the people will be happy to pay. They're
happy
to be spectators. While they're paying, he is happy for them to be
spectators. They sometimes, even enjoy the weekly church game of
praising,
worshiping, standing, sitting, clapping, cheering (sometimes) and
sleeping
(sometimes).
Board Member Power Base Prefers Sleeping Partners
While the members are hardly doing anything and yet the congregation
still
grows at a steady pace in some churches, there'll not be any position
threatened here and there. Not so in other churches. At least two
churches
here within my area got rid of their pastors, and one of the main
reasons
was that the churches under the pastors gifting was growing and hence,
the
established power base became threatened with the bi-annual elections
coming up. The members of the power base demonstrated that they did not
want the church to grow. At least the one here and there audibly voiced
it. They were content with the way things were.
Every year the churches savings account increased, and that was all they
were concerned about. No-one was doing any ministry work. That was the
job of the pastor. They only met every week to appease the religious
conscience and receive a good pep talk for the coming week. But to
encourage participation? No way! We're happy with our supporting
sleeping
partners. Thank you very much!
AND these new converts coming in? They were going out telling others
about
Jesus. They were showing an interest in ministry. This would mean, we
have
to do something more than what we are prepared to do. And do something
they did - they got rid of the preachers causing it all.
Will the Participating Partners Please Rise
Now there are churches that need to grow, and with no natural growth
pattern they will not survive. These are the churches that need the
members to become active participants. The pastor is not a do it all
super
hero. He has abilities, but not all abilities. There are some churches
that hear the call of Jesus to be active. It's not just church growth,
they're concerned about. It's the commission of the Master, they hear.
They sense His desire to save the lost. They know what it was like to be
without Him, and they know better what it is to be with Him. On his own,
the pastor knows he cannot do it all. They, the members, know the pastor
cannot do it all. With others, ...they together can more fully represent
the fullness of Jesus Christ. Together, they form the church, the body
of
Christ. Together, they are moved by the compassionate heart of Jesus.
They
advance, their compassion, really His compassion. His, theirs. It's hard
to tell, so in unison with one another they are.
This pastor knows his God-given task, together with other leaders, is to
equip the members to do the work of the ministry. He knows that if he
fails to equip the body to do the work of the ministry, he has failed in
his calling. He knows in failing to fulfill his calling, he has failed
first and foremost, his God and Father and his Lord Jesus Christ; he
knows
he has failed himself and he knows that he has failed each and every
member of the congregation: Failed them, not only of an earthly and
therefore temporal reward, but also failed them of a heavenly and
eternal
reward.
This pastor knows that in failing the members he is also failing
the community. People in it, needing to be saved, will not be reached.
He
cannot do it all. He has to have help. The fields are ripe unto harvest,
but the laborers are few. Something has to be done. Right!
The body of Christ has to leave the irresponsibility of childhood.
Maturing as adults, they have to learn to take the initiative to leave
the
rank and file of spectator-hood. Leave the know it all experts sitting
on
the benches shouting praise or commands. Leaving the 'wards of the
wounded
souls', they must leave the victim mentality and become warriors for
Jesus.
Note, I said, 'warriors' not worry-iers. Leaving the comfortable
pews they become involved in the team. They have to become participants.
They are not to worry where this dollar will come from, the car, the
house, the food the clothing. They are not to worry about how God will
bring the people in nor to worry about the provisions for the ministry.
They don't worry about how they will go out. They just go!
They are warriors who obey the Commander in Chief, the Captain of the
mighty hosts - the armies of God. His name is Jesus. What He says, goes.
Nothing else matters. And He says, Go!
God's warriors go forth well equipped and trained.
They discern the forces of darkness and wielding the sword of the
Spirit,
which is the Christ- word, the Anointed Word, the anointed utterance,
they
devastate those forces of darkness. Their minds are protected by the
helmets of salvation. They are secure in Whom they trust. Their breasts
are armored with righteousness; the righteousness that is in Christ and
even the righteousness, the fruit of their doings in, by and through
faith.
They're girt about with Truth. His name is Jesus. And with and like Him
no
guile is upon their lips. No gossip either. Neither do they glory in
passed sins of the old man put to death. They glory in their weaknesses,
knowing the GLORY of HIS STRENGTH.
The shield baring arm and hand linked through the arm of their fellows,
they advance, the other hand carrying the sword. Holding up the shield
of
faith, quenching every fiery dart of the enemy, they advance in unison;
the one dependent upon the Christ within the other.
Their feet are prepared against the thorns of the enemy, planted within
the course of life to prevent effectiveness and efficiency in Christ.
Aah!
But the feet of God's warriors are equipped with the word of God,
lighting
up the very course of life, exposing every obstacle of the enemy. Down,
our feet in Christ come, crushing every enemies head, even as they lay
the
obstacles.
Yep! God's warriors have risen. They're advancing. No longer sitting as
mere spectators. They are partners with the Captain of hosts, with
Jesus.
Taking the initiative as called out adult- sons, with full rights to
inheritance, they are participators with Him.
They go forth in Knowledge. Jesus. They go forth in Wisdom. Jesus. They
go
forth in Power. Jesus. They go forth in Authority. Jesus. Where the work
needs to be done. They see to it that is done. Not waiting for another.
They in their eagerness to obey, hear His whispered instruction from
that
inner still small voice as His
shouted command. AND in that command, they hear their VICTORY!
None can ever again encourage these members of God's armies to be
sleeping
partners nor criticizing or cheering spectators. They have tasted what
it
is to be part of the team, and none can again take it from them. This is
the church, I co-labor with the Lord Jesus Christ to equip.
July 1, 2000
klm@brightok.net
Date: Tuesday, 27 June 2000 0:21Latter Rain Discussion Archives
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