Did you ever think your past could disqualify you from the department?Are there things that have made you feel incapable of being a church leader, pastor, or implanter?
I know what you’re going through. When I first considered being called, it took me a long time to feel guilty and disqualified to preach the gospel. A voice from the past told me it wasn’t clean to preach. That’s what happened.
- Before I became a pastor.
- I worked as a security manager in a sophisticated retail store.
- Sometimes things were very monotonous.
- However.
- Creative thieves have sometimes generated adrenaline.
- So it happened one day when I looked out of a mirrored window.
- A boy put an expensive item in a bag and then left the store.
- I tried to intercept it when I left the store.
- But dropped what I had stolen and ran.
- Leaving me no choice but to throw it to the ground.
- He remained violently unwilling to cooperate.
- So I felt compelled.
- Say.
- Arranging a concerted meeting between his head and cement.
- The police arrived.
- Took him to police custody and then to the hospital to get the necessary points on his head.
It wasn’t a big deal, was it? Certainly, in the monotonous world of commercial security, it was a bad thing on the streets. However, for most patrolmen, such an event would rarely qualify as serious police work.
But something funny happened. When I began to think of my own pastoral vocation, I had the strange and disturbing impression that I was largely disqualified from the ministry because I had “shed blood”. Hitting someone’s head is far from what King David did. This passage in which you mentioned that David had shed blood?(1 Chronicles 28:3) who accused me repeatedly, as if I were a filthy criminal, I still do not understand him well, but I will never forget the strength of these words in my soul, terrorizing and condemning myself. I was convinced I couldn’t go through what happened to me in the past. Fortunately, a good shepherd accompanied me and said, in the most appropriate way, “Dave, you” are an idiot. “
Thank God for the shepherds who know how to interpret the past!
Can you tell my story? Some men who explore the question of pastoral vocation are terrified of their past, the sins of their past preach to them and lead them to wonder if they will ever be able to climb into the pulpit.
If you fall into this category, do I want to cheer you up by drawing your attention to a guy who was probably worse than you? a man with a very sordid past. His name was Paulo.
The preacher with a past
Paulo had a serious background in his past. In 1 Timothy 1:13, he says “at another time he was blasphemous, persecuting, and insolent. “Before becoming a Christian, Paul was in a violent race against Christians. I wanted an inquisition. He wanted to discredit Christ and prepare for the collapse of Christianity. He was a bloody, brutal and religious predator.
However, God’s call to Paul was overwhelming, and in an astonishing and blinded moment, God saved Paul from his sins.
But Paul never forgot who he was. He didn’t try to bury or forget. In the book of Acts, Paul shares his story twice (Acts 22:3, 26:9). In fact, Paul often guided his story (Philippians 3:4-14, 1 Timothy 1:12-17).
This is my point: Paulo could see his past in a way that did not condemn, destroy, slow down or drive down the path of self-loading. He understood that Christ, in a way, has turned the page of his history. The bitterness of his past has made Christ much sweeter for him.
Do you see the first chapters of your life through the same lens as the gospel?
The good news is that the gospel is transforming our sinful past; more than a source of identity, our past becomes a source of testimony. I was like this once, but in Christ, I am like that now!I was blasphemous, now Christ-loving, no longer defines the past?Christ and the attribution of his righteousness define us. As Sinclair Ferguson says, “The determining factor in my existence is no longer my past. Is this Christ’s past?” (Sinclair B. Ferguson, Christian Spirituality: Five Views on Sanctification, p. 57 ).
The preacher who forgot
In Philippians 3: 13-14, Paul says: “But one thing I do: forget the things that are left behind and move on so that those that are before me can be, I proceed to the goal, for the price of the sovereign vocation of God in Jesus Christ?
It is not that Paul has denied and ignored his past; he simply did not let his past define or dismantle his apartment; revealed how Christ transformed him and his joy in Christ propelled him toward ministry; He courageously referred to his past, not as a source of pride, but as a testimony of the transformative power of the gospel.
If you are considering a call to pastoral ministry, you must examine your past through the prism of the gospel. Your past is not insignificant, it’s just not the determining factor in your life. The righteousness of Christ, your past!? It’s the determining factor in your life. And it is the reality of Christ’s imputed righteousness (Romans 4:22-25) that silences the accusatory exclamations of the past.
An honest discussion of his past with a wise shepherd, like the one I had, will certainly help him guide and refine his sense of appeal. For instant wisdom, legal considerations or protectionist measures may necessarily restrict an offender convicted of certain ministerial opportunities. , his history of sin was erased on the cross and replaced by the just history of Christ. God no longer sees your past, God sees Christ’s past!And the Savior who works daily to save us always identifies the good works in which we walk, regardless of our past (Ephesians 2:10).
Remember, through the gospel, God is turning the page of our history; use the madness of this world to shame the wise; use the weak to shame the strong (1 Corinthians 1. 27). , your past is probably not a problem. On the contrary, you can show your past and say, “If God has done such an amazing job in my life, He can do the same for you. “
If you feel charged, preach the gospel and run toward the Savior’s power that becomes our history.
By: Dave Harvey, © 2014 Am I called? Original: I FEEL CALLED, BUT YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT I DID!
Translation: Paulo Santos. Critique: Yago Martins. © 2016 Faithful Ministério. All rights reserved. Website: MinistryFiel. com. br. Original: I want to be a pastor, but my past condemns me
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