Just a Thought
1 Corinthians 10:11
Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction,
Everything in life that happens to us, if recorded and shared in some way, can be instructional for the people we lead.
There is no point “fighting the good fight” if people don’t benefit from it.
A warrior never benefits from going into battle. Those that benefit are those that stay at home safe and sound.
In our lives and with our lives we are living letters of grace under fire–we are exhibiting the ability to live victoriously in an increasingly challenging and broken world.
Authenticity is not just our ability to connect with people but to share with people. And not just to share the victorious, but to share the challenges.
Authentic relationships are not built on the things that you are comfortable sharing, but on the things that make you most vulnerable.
Intimacy…..Into-me-see.
Only when we allow others to look into our lives, and when we have been given a privilege to look into theirs, do we truly start to know them. And knowing someone is the starting point of loving them.
If I use my life–the good, the bad and the ugly–my strengths, my weaknesses, and my failings as an example, then these events are no longer tools in the hand of the enemy to condemn us, but lessons in the hand of God to help others.
…just a thought.
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www.provokeblog.org
www.clctx.org
© 2010 Dr. John A. King. All rights reserved.
3 thoughts for pastors
Thought One
You don’t build church around those that don’t value church. Unfortunately, most pastors do. They feel compelled to listen to the minority of whiners and not to serve the majority of faithful people.
You can’t talk people into loving God, they have to be drawn by the Holy Ghost.
You can’t talk people into seeing the value of church, they have to be drawn by the Holy Ghost.
Save your time and your emotional energy for those that truly love you and love what you are building together
Thought Two
Actively try and get rid of people.
Don’t cater to the whiners, tell them they need to go elsewhere.
Don’t tolerate the squeaky wheel, tell them to shut up or move on.
When did doormat and Pastor become synonyms?
They didn’t, so i don’t understand why so many pastors have become spineless all in the name of being a shepherd.
You kill wolfs, you don’t tolerate them.
If they want to repent, bear fruit of repentance (12 months), then come back, let them.
That is due dilligence on your behalf.
Shepherds look after sheep, they don’t sacrifice them on the altar of popularity
Thought Three
Preaching is a social event that, by the power of God, turns strangers into family.
Hearing a sermon on the radio doesn’t do that.
Downloading a podcast doesn’t do that.
Sitting in church under the word does.
If all you’re doing Sunday is appeasing the masses and trying not to offend anyone, you’re not preaching and you’re not discipling.
You are the chairman of a social club, not the head of a family.
Get committed to growing Christians, not congregations, and you will end up with a church.
Just not another thing
The problem we have today is that preaching as become just another thing that a church overseer does.
He manages the activities of the organization, he oversees and he brings a verbal discourse once a week for 20 mins, not including human videos and photos of small fluffy animals with theme music.
This is not preaching, and he is not a preacher.
Pulpits all across America and Australia filled with ‘post-christian, emerging church communicators’, more concerned with dress sense that doctrine.
That is why churches are filled with attendees and not worshippers. Eating donuts and drinking Starbucks instead of lifting holy hands and passionately singing.
And so many of the Christians in the churches don’t know what they believe because the man teaching them doesn’t have a clue. He is an expert at powerpoint, but cannot divide the scriptures accurately.
He sincerely believes that the Message Bible is an accurate translation and church history is something that you learn on the Discovery channel.
He has given himself and exchanged his life for the administration of a public speaking organization, not the growing of the saints.
“He with whom the ministry is a secondary thing, may be a correct, a learned, an elegant, even an oratorical, but will never be a powerful preacher.”
J. W. Alexander
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provoke blog
The greatest thing we face
As christians I think the greatest thing we face is a devil that attempts to kill,steal and destroy our dreams and belief in Gods desire and willingness to use us and touch the world through us.
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Selah
“Let no one think or maintain that a man can search too far or be too well studied in the book of God’s Word [the Bible] or in the book of God’s Works [the universe], divinity or philosophy…[However we should] not unwisely mingle or confound these learnings together.”
Francis Bacon 1605