Encouragement for Small Church Pastors

I'm pastor Salem and I've been preaching off for over seventy years and still preaching you wouldn't know it by the way I preach what is true nonetheless of those years 52 and a half have been spent in one church the wonderful First Baptist Church of Aberdeen South Dakota the last four years have been preaching on the Christian worship hour a worldwide radio television ministry and out of that ministry I've heard from a number of pastors some of them having discouraging times so I thought I've had some as discouraging times to so perhaps I can maybe just talk and visit with you a little bit so that you take heart stay at your post and never give up so I'd like to give you some experiences and some suggestions and some thoughts that I've had over those years by the way this message is available to you on CD or DVD and it is on a given on a free will offering basis and for our address you can get us at the Christian worship our com now I want you to know that I'm speaking primarily to those who serve in small churches and and I just love small church I was raised in a small church I love the small church I'm proud of the small church I pray for the small church and I think God likes that kind of church the best because he's made so many of them as a matter of fact all over the world most of the churches are composed of small churches by that I mean 50 members or less and that includes good bad indifferent and impossible members your church may be small but my guess is you probably have all four kinds in it we're supposed to thank God for everything but sometimes it's a little hard to do but it's a good practice that we follow the command of God and be thankful for all things in my case we were small and we were poor I know because my Sunday suit my preaching suit was so thin that I could sit on a and tell you whether it was heads or tails but nevertheless I love the small church I wouldn't go to a mega church if they asked me to matter of fact they haven't asked me to anywhere any place so I want to encourage you to stay at your post don't always be looking for a bigger Church and God forbid a mega church set your roots and get them down and when you do that and when you have a long pastor it you're going to find some wonderful things happening for one thing the life of the pastor and people are intertwined and that love grows and you're just like a family there's joy and satisfaction beyond words when you dedicate the little babies and then you see them come to be young people in accepting Jesus and they're baptized and then you see them married and you dedicate their children there's just nothing like it but it takes years to do there's a deep intertwining of lies when you experience them and feel deeply with one another as you go through a divorce or sickness or death or sorrow you'll just become a part of the family and then of course there's a satisfaction of seeing the result of your own labors like Paul said a bit not to build on someone else's foundation there's a joy when you can say you stayed in that church and see the results of your work course on the other side of the coin after 52 years is kind of hard to blame some of the problems on the former pastor it's all yours but that's alright it helps to keep you humble and then something else I found out you can minister to the whole community everybody will know you and maybe there'll be a church without a pastor and they'll be you can minister to them or it might be they have a pastor that tells everything he hears they'll never share anything with him or her and so you come to the you can be there to help and then the numerical growth you you see we can be successful without great numerical growth because it has to be to be successful has to have a spiritual dimension to it you can have the big numbers but not be successful in God's sight and so don't always worry about those numbers because you can be small in numbers and big in spirit and what God really wants us to do is to just to be faithful to stay at our place and preach the wonderful Word of God so it's possible to be successful in God's eyes and has some dreadfully low numbers in our attendance chart but we have low numbers to report the world will say oh he's a failure not much there but God will say that's my prized servant for instance look at Noah he preached a hundred and twenty years he had six converts you know what that figures out that figures out one convert every 20 years and so they you know the bigwigs in the denominational headquarters they say he's a failure God says he's a great success and God placed Noah in the Hebrews Hall of Fame isn't that's not too shabby is it or look at Isaiah God says I want you to go to these people and preach but their ears are heavy they are they won't listen they won't listen to what you're preaching but I want to be vindicated I want I don't want them to stand in the judgement and say they didn't know and so you go and preach even though they won't listen so my sharing I want to talk about the long pastor it in the small church that has spiritual depth so how do you accomplish that well first of all we look at our relationship with God in our relationship with God we'll want to look at the devotional life the devotional life of the fat pastor is of the first magnitude of importance because we can you know we can preach a storm we can look so sanctimonious we can look so spiritual and unless we have that soul's closeness to God there's not going to be any power not things going to be performed nothing going to be accomplished without a devotional life we're like a certain pastor I heard about and the custodian was discussing the condition of the furnace with a trustee one one nosy old gossip was listening in and she thought that he was talking about the pastor but he was talking about the furnace and the custodian said the blower still works but the fires gone out and you know we can get up and we can preach up a storm and nothing happens nothing takes place and it's because we have to have we don't have that closeness with God it just has to be and remember what jesus warned us he said men ought always to pray and not to faint and so I think we can say if for if we don't pray we're gonna faint and we're gonna make noise but not accomplish anything now so where we gonna have our devotional life and how we're gonna do it and when we have our Bible study and all that the time factor enters in but you know we really are we really control our own time we have we have a great way of it we live our own life and nobody's there to tell us exactly what to do unless you got a watchdog committee in your church and they're checking to see if you're into the church on time and if you stay there on time but you can fool the watchdog committee because you can catnap daydream read the sports page listen to the radio Twitter your thumbs check the gossip the grapevine oh I've heard that in some of these mega churches they even have television sets in their study so them they may be checking to see if you're there on time but once you're in there nobody's gonna check anything they don't know what you're doing and nobody else knows what you're doing until you get up to preach and then they'll find he hasn't been studying hasn't been praying hasn't been close to God he's doing everything in the arm of flesh and so we have to just be very careful we prioritize our time and find time to be with God and I'm gonna tell you the devil will do his best to keep you out of the Word of God he'll fight you every way he can and he'll distract you every way he can somebody comes they want a cup of coffee somebody else comes and want you to check they're sick dog somebody else comes and he wants to kill some time and on and on it goes and so justice be very careful that you have time for God and I want to confess right now that I failed here a lot of times in a lot of ways I was busy doing nothing when I should have been time with God so if you fail in your Bible study in your prayer maybe been failing in that start today start now and I don't care because the devotional life is all-important to a long fast Earth and a spiritual depth to it and then it seems to me that we have to have a committed life that that is at doe we have to feel that God has called us to that ministry because I'm going to tell you there temporary setbacks time setbacks come all the time trouble sometimes come and you know you'll feel like just you just feel like giving up and you feel like nothing is happening and then you can just tie to this God called me into the ministry and he called me to this place he called me to the Ministry in general he called me to this place in particular and so I'm here because God has put me here and when you do that the stress problem is going to go down Paul a qual Byrne says stress is not the problem in the ministry anyway he says it's rather distress and so when we know in our hearts that God called us here and no matter what comes what happens no matter what takes place I'm gonna stay at my post and I'm gonna serve God and when we do that dear friends the numbers game won't ensnare us because God knows how many souls he wants us to shepherd for him we don't have to have big numbers if we have them that's fine that's great but I'm gonna tell you let's just be just take that small Church and stay with it and love it and give it your life in your soul and don't be looking for another bigger church to grow up because let's face it most of us aren't going to be called to some church with 50,000 some odd members with the emphasis on the odd by the way most churches are small and we can thank God for that and besides who'd want to church so big you couldn't get to know the troublemakers personally no doubt about it the call to the ministry in general and the call to a field of service is all-important and if you're married never underestimate the value and worth of your spouse because unless you have full participation from their spouse you're not going to really accomplish much in the ministry if you even stay in it in my case I had a wonderful life named Beulah Steve she stood with me 59 and a half years and helped me through a lot of times and I'll taste something she did she helped my faith and she helped me to be truthful for instance here we are we go to own annual pastors conference everybody's bragging on all the number of people they have baptized all the number of people they had coming and all the money they had coming in and when I look at my church and yeah we really didn't have a lot going on and so what am I going to say when it comes to my turn so and I get up I say oh I had a service I had a revival service had 500 people at it well boy I had their attention small Church peak pastors they could really look in my way on the way home Beulah says now Harold you know it wasn't 500 it was about a hundred and fifty wasn't it and I have to say yeah yeah that's right and then she says and that you know it wasn't a revival meeting wasn't it was a funeral wasn't it yeah yeah I guess so but she's not done with me yet and she says and you didn't preach you were Paul beare weren't you well I'm gonna tell you when she gets done with you you don't have much and so you know taking your wife with you to convention is like going going hunting with a game warden there isn't much going on not much happening but I'm going to tell you something that wonderful wife kept me honest and and we all have a tendency to exaggerate or most lot of us do especially when we're around others are exaggerating too and it's a good thing to have asked just to keep our feet to the ground well my wonderful wife is gone she's with the Lord now when I go to meetings while I'm I got some pretty good meetings to report and if you're single don't give up because just read the life of John are stocked a great man was single all his life and what a great worker he was for the Lord and so let's just you know III let's just stay with it at the post and be honest and be open to the Lord now I want to talk about a relationship with a congregation and that happens in two ways it happens from the pulpit from the pulpit through preaching it happens through personal contact with our people so let's look at from the pulpits through our preaching I have a firm conviction that from the pulpit we need to preach the Word of God in season and out of season st. Paul wrote the last message ever rolled so far as who have any record was in a second epistle to Timothy and in the last chapter of this beautiful letter he begins with a charge and this is what he says in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who will judge the living and the dead and in viewers appearing in his kingdom I give you this charge and what was the charge that an aged st. Paul gave to young Timothy the charge was preached the word 2nd Timothy chapter 4 I have failed in the ministry in many ways but thank God I always preach the Word of God I'm so in season and out of season and because I think that in the preaching of the word it makes a climate or an atmosphere in the church that goes for the longer pastor it so as who preach the Word of God and people become more kind and loving and long-suffering and gentle and forgiving and free and forbearing and all of the rest of it there's a climate there that you can live with and when you make your mistakes of forgiving help you see and when we preach and so when we preach the Word of God there's an atmosphere of it just helps us without us staying with the Lord staying with his people growing in grace and when we preach the Word of God we can preach with authority we don't have to get them say I think or I hope it could be or possibly so you can say thus saith the Lord preach the word and heaven and earth are going to pass away but God's Word is not going to pass away and when this world and this culture and all that is in it is vanished and burned up as Saint Peter says the word of the God is going to shine forever preach the word gives you authority you want to be successful in your ministry I can give you a fool full a foolproof recipe for that if you want to be something that never fails preach the Word of God we're said are told in Isaiah 55 verse 11 social my word be that goes forth out of my mouth it shall not return unto me void it shall accomplish that which I please it shall prosper in the thing that I send it to do and so preach the word and you have a successful ministry now I'm not saying you're gonna be ahead of the numbers game because there's many people are preaching if you're in a declining community you may have a declining Church it may not be growing and yet you can be successful in God's eyes because you're preaching the word I like to add to that central theme of preaching that preach the word and that is preach about the cross of Jesus Christ John our stott makes and enterings interesting observation he says that the early church could have had at least eight different symbols to stand for Christianity but they chose above all else the cross stop writes a universally acceptable Christian emblem would obviously need to speak of Jesus Christ but there was a single wide range of possibilities Christians might have chosen the crib or manger in which the baby Jesus laid they could have taken the carpenter's bench where he worked as a young man in Nazareth dignifying manual labor he could have taken the boat from which he taught them crowds in Galilee he could have taken the apron as a symbol for the core of the Christian faith because he warded the washing of the disciples feet teaching us to have the spirit of humble service he could have taken the stone which rolled away from Joseph's mouth talks about the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ other possibilities of thought says could have been the throne symbol of divine sovereignty which John and his vision of heaven saw Jesus was sharing could have been the dove symbol of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven on the day of Pentecost any of these seven symbols would have been suitable aspect and assertable pointers of some aspect of the ministry but instead they chose the simple great beautiful cross of Jesus Christ and we really need to remember that when we preach we want to lift up Jesus Christ and as st. Paul said we preach Christ crucified and along with the crucifixion don't forget about the blood of the Lamb that was slain on them on the cross because that's what we're gonna sing about heaven and I don't see a lot of hymns and I don't hear a lot of preaching about the blood precious blood of Jesus Christ but it's there and was there at the cross and without the shedding of blood there's no remission of sins and also don't forget to include the resurrection never talk about the of Christ without him in the same breath talk about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and so preach the word the wonderful word of God service to God is not going to really accomplish a thing until we really zero in and make that the center of all our teachings we can have very illustrations or you can have our stories and we can have all of the rest of it but unless and until we have that wonderful precious Word of God it's not gonna do anything and something else I like to do I like to give an invitation at the close of every service I give an invitation for salvation for rededication for prayer requests for healing and I teach I stand up at the front by the altar and I give that invitation I don't see a lot of that anymore and so somebody you're saying yeah but I I'm in a small church and what if I'm standing up then I stand all alone and nobody comes forward well I'll tell you what I'll do I spent I spend more time alone up there before that Pope before that altar that I do with people but I'll tell you how I handle that I give the invitation then if nobody comes forward I give the benediction I go home and I eat dinner and I relax what's so hard about that you see you you see we're not talking about the mega church and the mega church when they give an invitation boy the throng just comes down they just come crowding down almost trampled the preacher he's got to be careful they run over him where are all these people coming from coming from the small church and what these mega churches ought to do they ought to pay us for those people they're taken out of our churches if it's a Sunday school teacher give them $100 for every Sunday school teacher they give a tither give them $1,000 as a deacon well give them what you want free will offering on that whatever you want to do give them a God give them a chance to make an invitation invitation give them a chance to make a decision you don't know what the Holy Spirit is doing in the hearts of those people and let them have a way of expressing it and if you stand all alone up there listen if I was asking them to come to me I could be offended I'm not asking them to come to me I'm asking them to come to Jesus and if they want to refuse Jesus Christ that's their business they can make that decision but I have given them a chance no question about it give those people a chance to come so there's power in the pulpit no can't question that at all but now I want to spend most of our time through personal contact with our people that is if there are certain things that are very practical that make a long pastor possible I want to share some of them with you for what they're worth maybe I'll help you maybe they won't but I put on this first of all first and foremost love your people as a matter of fact a person who doesn't love the people ought not be in the ministry in the first place Jeremiah had a heart for people we have to have a heart for people and Jeremiah had a heart for his people listen to him he says all that my head were waters mine eyes a fountain of Tears that I might weep weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people if we really love people that will move us and it will touch our hearts and soul and people would respond to love they'll respond to love when they don't respond to anything else and love draws out and our love for them draws their love for us and it's mutual and as time goes by after 50 years there's a love that's just like a family and when they hurt I hurt and when they rejoice I rejoice love grows with time and listen I want to tell you this friends you have to be genuine in this love you can't fake it you can fake a smile I guess but you can't fake love even the little children know if you care for them are interested in them they can pick it out and so out of your heart you'll love your people and the pastors and pastor needs to make the first move they don't move toward us we move toward them and so if you're going to be in the ministry two or three years and then you're going to move on to another Church you won't have time to develop love at all so love your people second don't be afraid to lead on the atmosphere of love and truth and trust comes the ability to lead in my philosophy of ministry is we are to care for the flock of God and lead them as an under shepherd as a shepherd of the sheep we're to have a close loving relationship with them and David talked about that in the Old Testament didn't in the 23rd psalm he talks about the Good Shepherd and he leadeth me where the under Shepherds and we're to lead God's people somebody has to lead them why why why wouldn't the pastor do that and in that and that part of the country the Shepherd got up in the morning and he struck his rod against the rock and he says this is the way we'll go he didn't get up and go to some old RAM and say now buster where should we go today he hit him on there hit the rock with us laughs and he said this is the way walking in it and he led the way so you see you can't lead people till you have their trust until you until they trust you that takes time it's not something like instant potatoes that you can whip up in a minister time it takes time a lot of time but then you can get their ear they can get you can get their confidence and what did Jesus say a stranger will they not follow and you're a stranger for five years at least and so you something you have to win see and once you've won it you can have these people they'll help you and they'll follow you over and over and over year after year after year that's the way it is with sheep you can share a sheep a year after year after year but you can skin them only once and when you pull a deal on your people forget it it's gonna take a long time to get that bang a pastor oughta then work with his board work with his committee work with his congregation and so that don't circumvent your board and come up with giving ideas that they never heard about shared with them so they can pray with them and get along with them and if you can't if you want to get something done and you can see that it isn't going to pass just ask him to pray and wait a week wait a month wait a year you see if you're gonna be there 52 years you can wait a year you can wait five years but if you're going to set up a kingdom of God in 18 months you got some problems buster and so what you have to do is just to work with the people and give them time I remember when the computer age came in I've been so old that I remise before television computer and Lord only knows what and I wanted to have computer now he got our little church and we didn't need a computer but I see all the people in the mega churches the big guys had computers so I thought it'd be nice if I'd have a computer in my church and so I brought it up in a board meeting and a deacons meeting and one of the men jumped up like a scalded cat he thought they made computers in hell and he was against it so what do I do I waited in the next year he's off the board had the vote got the computer we don't know what to do with it but we got it we're just like the mega church well with least with them on that see so you what you have to do is lead but don't push it because you can have it to blow up in your face third keep in mind you serve the sheep Jesus taught us to serve that if we want to be master we need to be the servant of all I don't hear much about this servanthood business anymore I hear them say well I'll be in my office from 10:00 to 12:00 on Monday Tuesday and Wednesday and to come on in if you want to but don't come any other time because I'm busy and that's you see if you want to serve the you want to be their pastor with a with a servant of all and that just doesn't hurt the ministry at all it dignifies the ministry it makes it beautiful serve your people and then pray for your people pray for your people by name use your membership list as a prayer book and pray for a certain number then make a mark and the next time we're pray on makes another mark wherever you're at see I read about one pastor in his little church every Saturday afternoon he'd gone igneel down by every pew and he pray for the people it's gonna be in that pew now you see if you're in a mega church you've got 10,000 people you're gonna have to start praying Monday you're not gonna get anything done I don't know what you're gonna do for a sermon take you all week pray for each pew see but in a small church I know who sits in this pew I know about exactly where they're sit I'm praying for her I know she's got a broken heart I know he's having a you can't can't can't find a job and I know he's struggling with bills you can pray for your people see and and by the way when you do that you'll get so you know all their names just like the back of your hand pray for your people then five continually practice forgiveness if you don't learn to forgive and forget you're in for trouble not only in the church but in the home in the school in business in society wherever you go the old nature wants vindication for everything that is wrong whether it's intentional or unintentional whether it's real or whether it's imagined they want to get things even and so what we have to do is pray for those people forgive those people and I'm telling you when you've been in a church for 50 years you'd better learn to forgive and you better let us set it back and just pray for those people and love those people hand in hand with this goes what I call fence-mending I used to live on the farm and one offense went down we'd always go and put it up so our livestock didn't get into the neighbors filled while in the church there's times when their fences need to be mended there's problems between two of your members or maybe you have a problem with the pastor the pastor with somebody else and one one of the members and as soon as you learn of that problem you go to that person and talk to them go the same day or the next day don't put it off if you put it off you'll never get it accomplished you'll never get it done and I'm talking from experience I've put it off and we never got it amended never got to put together and that's a sad part of the ministry so talk to your people and many times most times you can work it out if not it live at least it's like the Scriptures tell us live as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men you've tried do your part six remember patience is a virtue as we grow older I think we get more more patient maybe we maybe it isn't patience maybe we're just tired I don't know but I think that a lot of times we destroy our effectiveness by being impatient we have another pastor has an idea and it could be right it could be from God and you want it done and you want it done now and so you push and you come across like Madison Avenue high pressure promoter in New York City and you come across like that and they won't trust you and I don't trust those high promoters either and so you just give it time when that farmer plants his crop he doesn't go out the next day dig it up to see if it's growing he plants at any weights and so just wait just give it time but if it takes a long pastor to do that to take give a time and then I put down seven mark it down visitation is important seems to me there's a woeful lack of visitation these days I can assure you the church suffers because of it but when you go to the home go to the homes of your people visit with them see where they're at how do you know what to preach about if you don't know what the questions are and so you visit with them and I'm going to tell you the most wonderful place in the world to win a soul to Christ is in that person's home where they're comfortable with the surroundings and you could talk to them about Jesus that's a wonderful mission field and so leave your TV set and get out and go and see your people the psalmist discovered it long time ago he said he that goeth forth and so on bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again you get up and you go out you go to them don't have them calling you for an appointment and then 8 learn how to live with the ever-present critic and if you don't learn how to live with these people you're in for a long haul because don't suppose for a minute that the change of past roots is going to take care of the problem because everywhere on the face of the earth is the critic more damage has been done about this and you can imagine and it hurts the body of Christ Erwin Lutzer writes it this way problem person doesn't see himself as difficult to live with but as a loyal member of the congregation just doing his duty many a person like that has sent a person a pastor to an early grave either unaware of his destructive influence or sincerely thinking the pastor deserved to be punished and I don't know who let's just talking about going to send a pastor to an early grave you're not going to do that to me I wouldn't give you the satisfaction and I'm 93 so if you're gonna send me to an early grave you better get to work and so though the critic is going to be everywhere now what you have to do how do you handle a Crysta critic keep them in the right proportion don't make them bigger than they are see now here let me tell you something that's happened to you you have produced preached a sermon and it was a sermon that was beautiful you could feel it you could feel it in your bones or your heart or wherever you have feeling you could feel you just knew some of our sermons go over just like a cement duck they don't fly very far but you this one was a beautiful sermon you felt so happy and now the service is over and here comes your people you're coming out and they're saying oh I just love that sermon I just think that for that sermon it's just done so much good for me and then here comes some little mutt and he says I didn't like your sermon terrible and he stomps off now so then you go home you eat dinner and all dinner and all afternoon you're what are you thinking about you're thinking about all those wonderful people that thank you for the sermon are you thinking about this little mutt you're thinking about that little critic that gave you a jam and it bothers you and so when you do that when we do that you make the critic too big you make him bigger than your congregation and so what you have to do is just just forget it and I'll always listen to what they have a critic has to say and because God forbid he might be right so when the criticism is given listen and if you get it from several people listen pay attention to them but and if as some of you correct corrected what is a saw one of the Proverbs say proverbs 9 8 reprove a wise man and he will love you so if they got a point okay but if they're like this fellow don't give them any time at all and whatever you do don't retaliate don't strike back from the pulpit and put him in his place from the pulpit there's three reasons you shouldn't do that first of all that little critic that little Buzzard a little mutt he isn't worth the time and the effort all your people are sitting there for the worst of God and you're gonna hit this little mutt see that's the first thing you shouldn't do the second thing you shouldn't do it is because it's you taking an unfair advantage of him what if he jumps up and says no I didn't I read I'm gonna argue with you you take an advantage of him he can't talk back and the third thing is you're not going to hit him any this is what happens you get up and here he is and you're gonna blast him you're gonna hurt somebody else I read about a shepherd and he had an old goat that all goat headcanon gave him nothing but problems and one time he took a rock put it in his sling and sent that rock toward that goat but the old gold had been in the business a long time he ducked the rock and the rock had a little lamb broke his leg and that's what we do if we strike back at these critics from the pulpit we're gonna hit the wrong person so leave him alone I was born on I was raised on a farm and I learned a long time ago never kick a skunk let him be and leave him with God because God says I'll retaliate the retaliation is in my department your department is to forgive and I'll take care of the rest the critic he's always there or she's always there and then number nine don't fall prey to envy I think there's more Envy in our ranks than any of us meant want to admit it always did that damages our effectiveness effectiveness for Christ don't envy what the other person has again Lutzer writes it this way says our fallen nature lols to be cast in a bad light it's difficult to rejoice with those were more successful at times we even take it quite satisfaction when you learn about others failures by comparison we're doing better we have to be careful that we're not envious of other people or what they have and really dear friends listen to me now most of us aren't going to be called to the big mega churches most of us are going to labour unknown and unseen in God's great vineyard I'm from South Dakota most of you don't even know our South Dakota is I wouldn't be some of surprised of some you thought it was in a foreign country South Dakota where's foreign just where's South Dakota and so and sometimes people say well good do you have any books that you least I have to tell him books that I published them I haven't even read any books how would I publish books I didn't publish books I remember I sent a sermon into the publishing company one time they wrote back and they said it was so bad they had to edit it before they could throw it out and so that's where I'm at and where we're just going to spend our time most of us in small unknown little churches well unseen work I think the way to conquer this is to remember what st. what John the Baptist said Jesus came on the scene and John the Baptist had a following of people and they all left John the Baptist and they went and followed Jesus and this is what John said in John chapter 3 and verse 27 he says a man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven and when we realize that everything we have and everything that famous person in order was that soloist and that preaching and all of the rest of it that's something that God gave them and what he gave me is one thing in what he gave another is another thing and so what we have to do is this you see when we say well god I should be up there we're challenging the sovereignty of God Almighty because we're saying I should have been there goss's no you shouldn't that little church is my body that's a part of my body as much as any big mega church and I need you there and I pre quipped you and put you there and when we feel slighted and envious we're challenging God and is so instead we just have to realize a man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven and what those big TV preachers and all have is one thing and what I have in my little church is another thing Francis Schaeffer said there's no such thing as small people and big people only people who are consecrated and people who are unconsecrated and one pastor confessed when I finally accepted the fact that God didn't want me to well be well-known began to experience his blessings we're important in God's work as we are that should take away the sting of envy and jealousy we're part of the body and it functions and were just as important as anybody else in that great body of Christ they're number 10 refused to make any snap decisions really we we're how could you make a snap decision how could you make a big decision without praying first and so we all have those times when we feel like resigning from the church blue Mondays and bad moored board meetings and sharp heartless criticism and down attendance and all of the rest and so we feel like you know we just we just want to just get done and go on to better fields well what you need to do is wait about 10 days years don't make a decision for 10 days and in that 10 days time there'll be about five other things come up just as bad as the original thing so just forget it and stay with your hand on the plow then watch out for guilt feelings you're never going to get everything done so keep your priorities straight I remember God's work it's God's work and he's going to carry it out and maybe you're not going to get everything done in the church that you wanted to but give it to the Lord give it to God and so we've we you see don't be lazy but just be sure that you do put in God and keep your priorities straight and those of you who are married you give your spouse time and if you have children you give your children time and I was as if one thing I were mistaken my ministry was I always had somebody to help but if I had my ministry to live over again I would tell my children Friday night is our night you are the most precious things you're the most important thing to me in my life and Friday night is your night and we'll do whatever you want to do that's what I'd say well you say what if the church burns down let it burn down he says well what if one of the deacon die yeah be just like him to die on my night out well there's times to pull it to a horse or the cow out of the slow out of the ditch there's time to make exceptions but give your parent your children time and that's because because that's the most precious thing you have in you and your whole and congregation is your own family and then twelve beware of the numbers game if we continue things the way they are will be putting turn child turn styles in our churches so he can claim who has the largest with many a new ways to measure spirituality has emerged and it is if big is best if you're not biggest then you're not the best and then there's all to the subtle insinuation that if you're not growing by leaps and bounds you're not experiencing God's blessings and so I don't know how that goes alongside the cults they're going by leaps and bounds they're not of the Lord so you can't count numbers can't go by by the numbers and so record-setting you may have record-setting and you may not your congregation may decline if you're in a declining community you're all important somebody has to be there to minister to those people of God you don't need the big numbers now I know I know they've got all kinds of church growth books they got tea that you can get people you can grow even if you don't have people if they're just marvelous books and I wish Noah would have had one you know he could have filled his ark with people instead of animals but when you see the way some of these people are I'll take the animals you see why don't you write a book on on Gideon's thinning process where he dropped them off and thin them down think about that for a little bit and so we just have to be careful just be faithful to God that's all and we can all be faithful if we want to 13 learn to laugh god I know God as a sense humor gonna I looked at the some of the faces of some of my people I know he's got a sense of humor when I looked in the mirror I know he's got a sense of humor why would he hang that on me well learn to laugh and when you laugh the Deacons they just go crazy because they think you're up to something 14 watch out for pride we have a lot of preachers running around the countryside they strut so that they make a peacock jealous watch out for compliments don't take them to heart do with those compliments after they come out of the church and take them just like you would perfume smell it but don't swallow it smells good that's all you do and so you just people come out they've been sleeping for half an hour and they'll tell you some wonderful things and they when they shake your hand what would they know what about if they've been asleep for half an hour now come on as a pastor that was sermon was wonderful it's just like a bucket of water to a drowning man now what does that supposed to mean and then this little old lady came on says oh my husband he just loves your preaching now since he lost his mind well you know just just take it to by just remember God needs the glory don't get proud don't get pride because God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble and then 15 don't swallow it wallow in self-pity don't feel sorry for yourself I hear these stories and the pastor's life is so terrible listen there are parts in the world where these dear brothers and sisters are dying for Christ right now while we speak they die and we're here in America and we're worrying because we have some little rinky-dink thing that happens to us get over it don't feel sorry for yourself pray for those dear brothers and sisters pray and in other countries pray for their families and their loved ones giving their life for Jesus that's when it costs to serve and then I have to the things man number 16 memorized Romans 8:28 all things work together we know and when the troubles come and the trials come and things don't work out you can say dear God we know that all things work together for good and when you said something in your sermon you wish you wouldn't have sent it you know you get home I've done this I wished I wouldn't have said a certain way a certain thing a certain way or I wished I would have thought to say this and I forgot to say it when I get home I said dear lord I really bungled this one today I really made a lot of blunders even as I'm giving my little message to all you pastors encouraging you full of blunders you can find all kinds of them but then I take all things work together for good and God will take to all of the mess and he'll bring good out of it devil can't do that but God can do that and the hard things of life Memo jesus said a woman during travail has great pain and sorrow but when she sees that man-child that baby she forgets all of those hard things and out of the hard things he brings this glorious child that's what God does Romans 8:28 and the last thing I put down is thank God he called you into the ministry I to me the ministry is the greatest calling in the world I'm amazed that God would take the likes of me man I'm not going to complain about it every day I'm in it if I I thank God that I can be in it and I can preach even in my old age and I'm gonna tell you young people something if I had a hundred lives I give everyone to Jesus Christ I'm thankful that he lets me preach these years and sure we have some hard times in the ministry keep him in proportion remember the symbol of a Christianity is the cross not a lazy boy easy boy rocker the Apostle Paul looking wasn't looking for the soft life he prayed in Philippians 3:10 he prayed that he might experience the Fellowship of his suffering instead of thinking of the hard things think of the glory of the ministry and that you can be a part of a praise God I want to thank you all for listening to me I don't know how many even listen to the whole thing I don't know how you could do it but God bless you and I just want to leave you with this challenge of st. Paul that he said I press toward the mark and he says I won't see you here I'll see you at the finish line so you stay where your hand you have your troubles no question about it stay with it be true to God he'll be true to you don't try to please people G Campbell Morgan says it's easier to please God than it is to please men be right with God stay at your post I'll see you all at the finish line god bless you your family and your church amen

Channel: ChristianWorshipHour

Views: 11,066

Rating: 4.8133335 out of 5

Keywords: encouragement for pastors of small churches, relationship with God, Devotional life, Committed Life, Relationship with Congregation, shepherding a church, inspiration for pastors of small churches, 2 Timothy 4, Isaiah 55:11, Jeremiah 9:1, Psalm 23, John 3:27, Romans 8:28, Philippians 3:10

Id: abJThtH27RI

Length: 52min 13sec (3133 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 25 2014