What would you like someone to tell you when your ministry began?
“I would have liked to know how easily Satan’s attacks could discourage me,” said Andy Davis, pastor of the first Baptist Church in Durham, North Carolina, during a roundtable recorded with David Helm and JD Greear. “I have learned that he will use my sin, the sins of others, or unfulfilled expectations to discourage me and get me out of the game. “
- “Is the longevity of faithful service how God prepares us for work? said Helm.
- Senior pastor of the Holy Trinity Church congregation in Chicago.
- ? There is no shortcut.
- Give your heart to the people of Christ.
- Pastor is working with people.
- Also.
- Adds Greear.
- Pastor of The Summit Church in North Carolina.
- “I wish I could have understood how the pulpit ministry exacerbates the idols of human approval.
- “.
Watch this video (7 minutes) to hear these experienced pastors talk about the battles they faced in their ministry:
JD Greear: One of the questions that people who enter the department ask me the most is: if I could go back 10 or 15 years, when I started in the department, what is something that I would have liked to know or want? I have been told. I can think of a few dozen, but I know we probably have two or three that stand out.
Andy Davis: For me, when I entered the ministry, it was to realize how important it is for Satan to attack me and put me in a state of discouragement, use my sin, the sins of others, or unfulfilled expectations to discourage me. , and that’s incredibly debilitating. However, knowing where it comes from helps me protect myself. “I know you’re trying to discourage me, get me out of the game. “Because we have impenetrable armor in Ephesians 6, we have in 10 Corinthians 10 irresistible attack weapons, all Satan can do is keep us out of the game, and he does so out of discouragement, so beware of discouragement in the ministry.
David Helm: When I was 25? Today I am 52; I’m the dest here, aren’t I?How old are you?
Davis: 50 years
Helm: So I’m the dest here. I still think not, but I am. At 25, did I write to Joe Bailey? None of the younger ones will remember?But I said in the letter, “I’m going to go to the apartment, what do I need?That same question. One of the things he said to me and that I keep to this day is: “I don’t like people going into the department and getting all this success in advance. “And he said, “I think God tends to train people as He always has: He puts you in a dark and distant place, just as He did with Moses, and you stay there 40 years, so this person is ready to go?.
You know what if I had to tell a 21-year-old?I remember being in this situation, wanting to change the world, and that was it for me?Would the world change as a result of my commitment to the gospel?God, in fact, is to stand you in a small place and keep you isolated and want you to work there for a long time, this is what I wanted to know: the longevity of faithful service is the way God prepares us to work And there are no shortcuts. I have never forgotten it and it has been of great help to me over the years.
Greear: Yes, it’s great. To take a look at it, I would have liked to understand — maybe they tried to explain it to me, but I didn’t understand — how did the pulpit’s ministry exacerbate idols for the approval of man and flesh, because when did I do it?go to the ministry, as we call it in my tradition, I thought: do I have the cross before me, the world behind me, even in poverty?great place for men who love success, who hide it and feed it in the name of the flesh.
Have I had devastating battles with God? God should have devastated me in such a way and said, “I need to put him behind the scenes for a while. “
Helm: It’s very valuable when you think you’re consciously confident and suddenly you have those moments of clarity and you understand you don’t, so start building from that again. Otherwise, you’re in trouble.
Davis: I recently preached in Isaiah, and we looked at Ezekiel, he became arrogant after God delivered Jerusalem through the Angel of the Lord. In the Chronicles, he says that God abandoned him to prove it, to know what was in his heart. In these three steps: God has abandoned him and gone a little further to prove it and know what is in his heart and knows that it is not good. It’s not to show how wonderful you are, but what happened was pride.
Greear: I think it was because of Manasseh that he said, “When you were little in your own eyes, these things happened, but now you’re great. “
Helm: I think of the moment Jesus asks Peter three times: “Do you love me?Do you love me? Our love for Christ, according to the word of Christ, will be evident when we dedicate ourselves to our members. Feed my sheep, feed my lambs. So you’re young, you want to love Christ, you want to change the world?Give your heart to his people. I have to remember it every day. Lord, connect my heart to these people. That’s what you have to do. It’s a job with people, not a job to change the world.
Greear: Does that remind me? I guess this is attributed to Luther. I don’t know if he said that, but addressing a group of his students who are candidates for the pastor, he said, “Never aspire to teach the church in general. Let your congregation kick. And if there’s anything the church in general needs to hear, they’ll come to you. So many times I found myself thinking: talk here, do this. And God said to me, “Here is the congregation. “immerse myself in it.
Davis: At the end of your life, if we die in our beds, after all we don’t know how we’re going to die, if you know your ending is near you, your family is around you and you take your last breath, you’ll think of one thing: justification only by faith, regardless of works. It’ll all come down to that. Your time of service is over, and there will be Christ. He’s — he’s — he’s — he
Helm: Can I say one last thing?
Greear: Sure.
Helm: People aren’t always what they seem to be, I’d like to know at the time. Both on the positive and the negative side. In decades of ministry, people you don’t think God will use much in your congregation become the pillars that keep the church. There’s one thing you’re thinking, “Wow, that’s how all the change is going to happen. “And that doesn’t happen. Just keep this in mind: love people, give yourself to people, they’re not always what you think they are.
Well, there’s a lot you’d like to know at first
Davis: That’s right. The Lord will teach you.
Greear: Yes, there’s a lot of wisdom there.