Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / The Dos and Don’ts of Ministry │ Msg 210 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: Jesus predicted that the gates of Hades will not prevail
- 0:06Speaker 1: against the Church. But that's not to say the adversary
- 0:11Speaker 1: won't attack it any way he can. I've discovered that
- 0:15Speaker 1: one of the most devastating causes of erosion in the
- 0:18Speaker 1: church has been the drift of pastures from the bold
- 0:24Speaker 1: proclamation of God's word. Many who step into popos today
- 0:30Speaker 1: do so reluctantly, sometimes even apologetically. It's as if they're
- 0:37Speaker 1: ashamed of their calling. You imagine that. But I'll look
- 0:42Speaker 1: back over the past few decades. I find many solid
- 0:47Speaker 1: voices of men who fill pulpits. Not wild eyed, out
- 0:52Speaker 1: of balance fanatics, but intelligent, well read, careful, keen student
- 1:00Speaker 1: of holy scripture. These fine pastors faithfully spoke for God.
- 1:06Speaker 1: They stood for the truth, and they spent time on
- 1:10Speaker 1: their knees. But that was then. Today the ranks of
- 1:16Speaker 1: true and reliable expositors are embarrassingly thin. What does the
- 1:23Speaker 1: Bible say a pastors should be doing. My Bible is
- 1:28Speaker 1: open to First Timothy, chapter one, and I'll begin reading
- 1:31Speaker 1: at verse five. Listen carefully. But the goal of our
- 1:36Speaker 1: instruction is love from a pure heart, and a good conscience,
- 1:42Speaker 1: and a sincere faith. For some men straying from these things,
- 1:48Speaker 1: have turned aside to fruitless discussion, wanting to be teachers
- 1:53Speaker 1: of the law, even though they do not understand either
- 1:56Speaker 1: what they are saying or the matters about which they
- 1:59Speaker 1: make confident assertions. And now Verses eighteen and nineteen. This
- 2:05Speaker 1: command I entrust to you, Timothy my Son, in accordance
- 2:09Speaker 1: with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them
- 2:16Speaker 1: you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience,
- 2:21Speaker 1: which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to
- 2:26Speaker 1: their faith. It may surprise you to hear me say this,
- 2:31Speaker 1: but I am of the impression that of all of
- 2:34Speaker 1: the professions that one might enter, perhaps the most confusing
- 2:42Speaker 1: today is the ministry. A way to illustrate that would
- 2:48Speaker 1: be by way of contrast, if a person has finished
- 2:51Speaker 1: his or her work as a physician, hanging out a
- 2:54Speaker 1: shingle and beginning to practice medicine is not that complicated.
- 2:59Speaker 1: It's certainly is not that difficult to describe. Practicing good
- 3:03Speaker 1: medicine is a science that has learned over the years
- 3:07Speaker 1: of training, hard work, and when one begins to do
- 3:11Speaker 1: so in a practical way, most of us could pretty
- 3:14Speaker 1: well describe in a simple fashion the job description of
- 3:17Speaker 1: the physician who begins to practice medicine. The similar thing
- 3:22Speaker 1: could be said of an attorney. The work is done,
- 3:26Speaker 1: the bar is passed, The job is spelled out rather
- 3:30Speaker 1: clearly for this individual who has specialized in a particular
- 3:33Speaker 1: phase of law, and that individual man or woman begins
- 3:38Speaker 1: to do so, first in a small practice or perhaps
- 3:41Speaker 1: with a group, and then by and by, if he
- 3:45Speaker 1: is so led to do it on his own, practicing
- 3:48Speaker 1: law is not that complicated. Same could be said of
- 3:52Speaker 1: a CPA. The education gets out of the way, the
- 3:56Speaker 1: work is finished enough, practical jobs are taken care of,
- 4:02Speaker 1: so that the person begins to gain confidence and skill
- 4:05Speaker 1: and carrying out the job of a certified public accountant.
- 4:10Speaker 1: Passes that very difficult test, then in the process of time,
- 4:14Speaker 1: develops a practice and carries out the job of working
- 4:18Speaker 1: in the field of finance. But it isn't like that
- 4:22Speaker 1: for the minister, and most of you have never stopped
- 4:28Speaker 1: to think about that. To enter into the ministry is
- 4:33Speaker 1: to step into a whole million of things about which
- 4:40Speaker 1: people have high and great and often muddy in confusing expectations.
- 4:48Speaker 1: It is frequently related to the former minister of a
- 4:51Speaker 1: particular church that a young man might begin, or it's
- 4:56Speaker 1: often related to a culture which might be unusual to
- 5:01Speaker 1: the fellow who has trained in one area of the country,
- 5:05Speaker 1: but God calls him to another, and ministry is not
- 5:08Speaker 1: the same at all across the country, to say nothing
- 5:12Speaker 1: of around the world. And then there are so many
- 5:16Speaker 1: things being rethought in the whole field of theology, so
- 5:22Speaker 1: many things being written, so many voices, so many alleged
- 5:25Speaker 1: authorities who come from all different slants to the scriptures
- 5:33Speaker 1: or to ministry, and make all different kinds of demands
- 5:38Speaker 1: upon one who wishes to respect his seniors and those
- 5:42Speaker 1: who are more seasoned and experienced than he. It's confusing.
- 5:50Speaker 1: I sometimes go back to a funny little thing someone
- 5:54Speaker 1: gave me years ago. It's a want ad minister wanted.
- 6:01Speaker 1: You'll chuckle with some of it because because it's extreme,
- 6:05Speaker 1: obviously it's a sarcastic jab, but you'll get the IDEA
- 6:11Speaker 1: wanted minister for a growing church a real challenge for
- 6:16Speaker 1: the right man. Applicant must offer experience as a shop worker,
- 6:21Speaker 1: office manager, educator, artist, salesman, diplomat, cheerleader, writer, theologian, politician, boy,
- 6:28Speaker 1: scout leader, children's worker, minor league athlete, psychologist, vocational counselor, psychiatrist,
- 6:35Speaker 1: funeral director, wedding consultant, master of ceremonies, circus clown, missionary,
- 6:42Speaker 1: social worker. Helpful but not a central experience as a butcher, cowboy,
- 6:47Speaker 1: Western union messenger. Must know all about problems of birth
- 6:52Speaker 1: and death, marriage, etc. Also conversant with the latest theories
- 6:58Speaker 1: and practices in areas life, pediatrics, economics, in nuclear science.
- 7:04Speaker 1: The right man will hold firm views on every topic,
- 7:07Speaker 1: but is careful not to upset people who disagree. Must
- 7:12Speaker 1: be forthright but flexible return criticism and backbiting with Christian
- 7:18Speaker 1: love and forgiveness. Should have an outgoing, friendly disposition at
- 7:22Speaker 1: all times. Should be a captivating speaker and an intent listener.
- 7:29Speaker 1: Education must be beyond PhD requirements, but always concealed in homespun,
- 7:35Speaker 1: modesty and folks. He talked, able to sound learned at
- 7:39Speaker 1: all times, but most of times talks and acts like
- 7:42Speaker 1: good old Joe. Familiar with the literature read by the
- 7:46Speaker 1: average congregation. Must be willing to work long hours, subject
- 7:49Speaker 1: to call day or night, Adaptable to sudden interruptions, applicant's
- 7:54Speaker 1: wife must be stunning but plain, smartly attired but conservative
- 8:04Speaker 1: in appearance, gracious and able to get along with everyone.
- 8:09Speaker 1: Even women must be willing to work in church, kitchen,
- 8:14Speaker 1: teach sunny school, babysit, run the multilith wait tables, never
- 8:18Speaker 1: listen to gossip, never become discouraged applicants. Children must be
- 8:26Speaker 1: exemplary and conduct and character well behaved, yet basically no
- 8:30Speaker 1: different from other children. And then a little added two
- 8:36Speaker 1: lines decently dressed exclamation point. Opportunity for applicant to live
- 8:44Speaker 1: close to work. Furnished home provided, open door hospitality enforced.
- 8:51Speaker 1: All replies will be kept confidential. Anyone applying will undergo
- 8:55Speaker 1: full investigation to determine his sanity. Oh, I know it's extreme,
- 9:02Speaker 1: and I know it's not funny to some of you. Unfortunately,
- 9:05Speaker 1: some of you stop laughing about things like that. Some
- 9:08Speaker 1: of you, unfortunately have been burned and you've left the
- 9:10Speaker 1: ministry because of things like that. It's very difficult to
- 9:17Speaker 1: get a handle on ministry depends on who you ask.
- 9:23Speaker 1: Not nearly so in medicine or law or finance. But
- 9:28Speaker 1: how easy it is for a young couple entering ministry
- 9:32Speaker 1: within less than five years to be disillusioned. They have
- 9:40Speaker 1: stars in their eyes, they have hope in their lives,
- 9:43Speaker 1: they have great expectations to be a part of changing lives,
- 9:52Speaker 1: and before long they're sort of cut down to sides
- 9:55Speaker 1: by who knows what current or attack or assault. It
- 10:02Speaker 1: can be terribly disillusioning. Makes me very very grateful that
- 10:09Speaker 1: in the bombardment of times like these, God has preserved
- 10:15Speaker 1: a couple or three letters in the New Testament that
- 10:19Speaker 1: have been guidelines from which young men and women who
- 10:27Speaker 1: step into ministry can find some concrete help. And they
- 10:35Speaker 1: can turn to these letters called First Timothy and Second
- 10:40Speaker 1: Timothy and Titus and discover here not hearsay, not cultural expectations,
- 10:49Speaker 1: not unrealistic demands, not false assumptions, but truth to guide
- 10:59Speaker 1: their lives and their ministries by God's word. Does not
- 11:04Speaker 1: leave us without help. I'm very grateful to declare that
- 11:12Speaker 1: you will never know the times in which ministers turn
- 11:15Speaker 1: to these three letters to get their directions, to get
- 11:19Speaker 1: their moorings. And in case there are ministers who hear
- 11:24Speaker 1: these words right now, it might have been a long
- 11:27Speaker 1: time since you turned to these three letters, and just
- 11:30Speaker 1: ask God to feed your soul from them might be
- 11:35Speaker 1: well worth the effort for the next number of weeks,
- 11:38Speaker 1: just to pore over the words, not with a commentary,
- 11:43Speaker 1: not with a set of tapes, not with a bunch
- 11:46Speaker 1: of books. Just the book, the Bible, and just let
- 11:51Speaker 1: God feed you and nourish you and refresh you. We're
- 11:56Speaker 1: doing this in the flagship of the three letters, one
- 12:00Speaker 1: to Timothy. We are making a study of this wonderful book,
- 12:04Speaker 1: and in this particular occasion, we're answering the question, what's
- 12:08Speaker 1: a pastor to do? What are the things in which
- 12:13Speaker 1: he should spend his life? What are the guidelines to follow?
- 12:19Speaker 1: What's the channel to direct his efforts? And I think
- 12:25Speaker 1: we will discover from these first several verses of the
- 12:28Speaker 1: first chapter a few of the things that will clarify,
- 12:33Speaker 1: I certainly hope. So there's a warm greeting to a
- 12:38Speaker 1: close friend as the book begins, or as the letter begins.
- 12:43Speaker 1: The one who is writing is Paul, an apostle. It's
- 12:49Speaker 1: clearly the seasoned and scarred, and wise and well traveled,
- 12:55Speaker 1: no doubt, balding and bearded Paul. What little bit of
- 13:01Speaker 1: hair was left was probably silver gray or snow white.
- 13:06Speaker 1: He had been through the mill, we would say today
- 13:11Speaker 1: he had been stoned and whipped and beaten, and forgotten
- 13:15Speaker 1: and rejected and buffeted and kicked aside. He had, in
- 13:19Speaker 1: other places been revered and worshiped, as if at a shrine.
- 13:24Speaker 1: He had known the extremes of reaction from people. So
- 13:29Speaker 1: he's not writing out of a theory. He's not coming
- 13:33Speaker 1: from the halls of academia. He's not writing in sterile
- 13:39Speaker 1: intellectual style. What ministry is about. He's writing to a
- 13:45Speaker 1: friend named Timothy verse two, and he's talking to Timothy
- 13:50Speaker 1: about stuff that will help the man survive. To put
- 13:54Speaker 1: it frankly, what was Paul like? Well, we read that
- 14:01Speaker 1: he was an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the
- 14:04Speaker 1: commandment of God our savior, and of Christ Jesus, who
- 14:10Speaker 1: is our hope. But what was he like personally? In
- 14:15Speaker 1: an old work by Onocipherus of Iconium entitled The Acts
- 14:19Speaker 1: of Paul and thecla I've uncovered an interesting description of Paul.
- 14:24Speaker 1: May not be inspired, but it might very well be enlightening.
- 14:29Speaker 1: He was a man of moderate stature, with curly hair
- 14:32Speaker 1: and scanty, crooked legs, protruding eyeballs, large knit eyebrows, a
- 14:39Speaker 1: large nose, and thick lips. That's Paul, he said, Well,
- 14:46Speaker 1: I think that's bad press. I think he must have
- 14:48Speaker 1: been better than that. Well, in his own admission Second
- 14:52Speaker 1: Corinthians ten, verse ten, says, his letters are weighty and strong,
- 14:56Speaker 1: but his personal presence is unimpressive, and his speech is contemptible.
- 15:04Speaker 1: By his own admission. In First Corinthians, chapter two, he says,
- 15:08Speaker 1: I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and
- 15:11Speaker 1: in trembling. My message and my preaching were not in
- 15:16Speaker 1: persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit
- 15:19Speaker 1: and power. First Corinthians two, verses three through four. We
- 15:24Speaker 1: evangelicals have built Paul into something he never was. We
- 15:31Speaker 1: have made it the rock of theological Gibraltar. He has
- 15:37Speaker 1: swept people away like an ecclesiastical superman, as though he
- 15:42Speaker 1: was never at a loss to what to say and
- 15:45Speaker 1: how to say it, and swayed people by the masses.
- 15:50Speaker 1: Wrong at every point, wrong, brilliant mind, but in person,
- 16:00Speaker 1: an unattractive, unimpressive. Probably for most large churches today, wouldn't
- 16:07Speaker 1: even be considered as a candidate for the pastorate. Unfortunate
- 16:14Speaker 1: but true. That's Paul, dear Paul, seasoned, gracious, understanding, struggling.
- 16:28Speaker 1: Paul human to the core, but a divine, a man
- 16:35Speaker 1: who had the touch of God, and in spite of
- 16:39Speaker 1: a great deal of humanity, is used to write letters
- 16:43Speaker 1: that will be preserved throughout time and eternity. What a
- 16:49Speaker 1: man think of his writing you a letter. I think
- 16:55Speaker 1: it's wrong to dig into Timothy like we're reading through
- 16:58Speaker 1: a grammar and just pick at words and point out
- 17:02Speaker 1: syntax and get busy with the text and not feeling.
- 17:07Speaker 1: There's feeling here, and I require of us to get
- 17:11Speaker 1: the feeling of the passage, or we haven't done a
- 17:15Speaker 1: good job of this book, of this letter. This is
- 17:17Speaker 1: a letter from a friend. You don't analyze the verbs.
- 17:22Speaker 1: When a friend writes you. You get the feel of
- 17:24Speaker 1: the friend. You want to know where his heart is
- 17:28Speaker 1: or what she's trying to say, and how she feels
- 17:30Speaker 1: about you are, what his aspirations are, what the battle is.
- 17:36Speaker 1: He's writing to his friend Timothy, whom he calls his
- 17:40Speaker 1: true child. It's an endearing term, one man says over
- 17:46Speaker 1: and over again. Paul's voice vibrates with love and affection
- 17:52Speaker 1: when he speaks of Timothy. When he is sending When
- 17:57Speaker 1: he is sending him to that sadly divided church at Corinth,
- 18:01Speaker 1: he writes, I have sent you Timothy, who is my
- 18:05Speaker 1: beloved son and faithful in the Lord. When he is
- 18:08Speaker 1: planning to send him to Philippi, he writes, I have
- 18:11Speaker 1: no man whose mind is in such harmony with mine
- 18:15Speaker 1: as a father with a son he has served with
- 18:20Speaker 1: me in the gospel. He was an adult adopted son
- 18:26Speaker 1: as it were. I mean, they were just like this,
- 18:33Speaker 1: just tight, just like the meshing of teeth in gears
- 18:38Speaker 1: they fit. And Paul says, since I'm not able to come,
- 18:42Speaker 1: I'm sending a man whose gears fit mine, whose head
- 18:48Speaker 1: is with me, whose heart is in harmony. What a
- 18:52Speaker 1: lieutenant this officer had in Timothy. What a man Timothy
- 18:58Speaker 1: must have been, a true child and the faith it's
- 19:10Speaker 1: it's the idea of being sterling in character, genuine, not false,
- 19:21Speaker 1: true child. And he gives the general greeting to his friend,
- 19:26Speaker 1: grace and mercy and peace from Christ Jesus our Lord,
- 19:31Speaker 1: characteristic blessing of affirmation. By the way, one of the
- 19:38Speaker 1: emotional companions of ministry is loneliness. Don't ever forget that.
- 19:45Speaker 1: Think of that before you enter it. Young man or
- 19:48Speaker 1: woman listening to these words, think of that it goes
- 19:53Speaker 1: with the territory. Your work requires of you a sense
- 19:58Speaker 1: of solitude, and the very solitude that gives you the
- 20:04Speaker 1: basis upon which to speak is in and of itself
- 20:09Speaker 1: a lonely vigil. There simply are not too many people
- 20:14Speaker 1: with whom you can open your life. You dare not.
- 20:19Speaker 1: There are some, hopefully like Paul had with Timothy, and
- 20:22Speaker 1: I hope you will not spend your years in loneliness.
- 20:24Speaker 1: I hope that there will be companions, mentors to look
- 20:28Speaker 1: back on and to love, and to wash yourself in
- 20:32Speaker 1: the memory of those people who shaped you, and the
- 20:36Speaker 1: joys of colleagues with you, a few that you can
- 20:40Speaker 1: trust with the very details of your soul. I hope
- 20:45Speaker 1: you have a Timothy. I certainly do. I would feel
- 20:52Speaker 1: poverty stricken without a few Timothys. Not many, but I
- 20:56Speaker 1: have a few. Now, following warm greeting where he has
- 21:01Speaker 1: sort of gotten his foot in the door and expressed
- 21:04Speaker 1: to this young man a word of affirmation, he gets
- 21:07Speaker 1: right down to business. He seems concerned for his friend,
- 21:12Speaker 1: and the council that he offers is in what I'm
- 21:17Speaker 1: suggesting five direct pieces of advice, and I get all
- 21:22Speaker 1: five of them from the better part of this chapter,
- 21:27Speaker 1: as I urged you, upon my departure for Macedonia, remain
- 21:33Speaker 1: on at Ephesus. The first piece of advice is saying,
- 21:42Speaker 1: stay at the task we would say today, don't church
- 21:47Speaker 1: hop now. To be sure, there are reasons for leaving ministries.
- 21:54Speaker 1: In fact, there are reasons on occasion for leaving ministries
- 21:58Speaker 1: shortly after one has begun them. But to do so
- 22:02Speaker 1: as a regular diet or a regular habit is unwise,
- 22:09Speaker 1: Paul says to Timothy, stick it out. I urge you,
- 22:13Speaker 1: it's a plea. Stay there. No work can be done
- 22:21Speaker 1: in depth in a church without the passing of time.
- 22:29Speaker 1: I was grateful for the issue fall of nineteen eighty
- 22:33Speaker 1: three of Leadership, a practical journal for church leaders. The
- 22:39Speaker 1: theme is pastoral transitions, and it addresses the subject and
- 22:45Speaker 1: among other things, of men and women leaving ministry, and
- 22:50Speaker 1: sometime leaving too quickly. In fact, the last interview is
- 22:55Speaker 1: with shepherds who have stayed stayed by the stuff gray
- 22:59Speaker 1: headed men that have hung in there. But an article
- 23:02Speaker 1: that interested me especially was called ten reasons not to Resign.
- 23:10Speaker 1: I thought that was an interesting title, and I read
- 23:13Speaker 1: that not because I have any ideas, I assure you,
- 23:16Speaker 1: but at times it's good to think about reasons not
- 23:19Speaker 1: to walk away. We often entertain reasons to do that,
- 23:24Speaker 1: and this good man Don Bubna suggests these ten Number one,
- 23:31Speaker 1: I need to grow in the new demands I am facing,
- 23:34Speaker 1: rather than find an excuse to cop out. Number two,
- 23:38Speaker 1: I refuse to be guided by my emotions. Number three.
- 23:42Speaker 1: My family needs love and stability. Number four. Building people
- 23:47Speaker 1: takes time. Number five. I want our missionaries to have
- 23:52Speaker 1: a sense of permanence in their home church. Number six.
- 23:56Speaker 1: A longer ministry better serves the church and the community.
- 24:03Speaker 1: Number seven. The support of elders comes gradually, very wise
- 24:08Speaker 1: statement Number eight, our people have been generous with me.
- 24:13Speaker 1: Need to remember that. Need to think about that before
- 24:16Speaker 1: I walk away or resign. In fact, there's a statement
- 24:22Speaker 1: made to leave the church because sin has not been
- 24:25Speaker 1: dealt with is to contribute to the immaturity of the body.
- 24:31Speaker 1: Number nine. I must not avoid confession and forgiveness. And
- 24:35Speaker 1: he admitted in this article admits to an experience he
- 24:40Speaker 1: had with his own staff where there was the need
- 24:43Speaker 1: for forgiveness and confession and that was not reason to leave.
- 24:47Speaker 1: It was all the more reason to stay and work
- 24:49Speaker 1: it through. And number ten, I can trust God and
- 24:53Speaker 1: not panic. We're in a day of a jumping ship
- 25:00Speaker 1: when it gets tough, bailing out because everything isn't working right.
- 25:06Speaker 1: There's greener grass on the other side. Often when you
- 25:09Speaker 1: get there, you notice it's not even not greener, it's
- 25:12Speaker 1: not even edible. It's not nearly as good as you
- 25:15Speaker 1: thought it would be. Sometime it is. Sometime it's even
- 25:17Speaker 1: better than you thought. There is no perfect place. And Timothy,
- 25:24Speaker 1: in case you're you're getting antsy to pull out of
- 25:27Speaker 1: Ephesus and go to Thessalonaika or the minister in Thaia Tyra,
- 25:32Speaker 1: or to take that church at Philadelphia, or to do
- 25:35Speaker 1: a fresh work at lea Atticea. Don't you stay? I
- 25:41Speaker 1: urge you stay at the task. Well, what does he
- 25:48Speaker 1: do there? If he's going to stay, and if the
- 25:50Speaker 1: sledding is tough and the going is rough, what's you
- 25:53Speaker 1: to spend his time doing? Please look at what the
- 25:56Speaker 1: text says and stop listening to what the media is saying.
- 26:02Speaker 1: Just look at what the scripture teaches. I urge you
- 26:08Speaker 1: remain on at Ephesus. Now here's the purpose, in order
- 26:14Speaker 1: that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines,
- 26:25Speaker 1: nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which
- 26:32Speaker 1: give rise to mere speculation, rather than furthering God's provision,
- 26:37Speaker 1: which is by faith. Verse six. For some men straying
- 26:45Speaker 1: from these things the things mentioned in verse five pure heart,
- 26:52Speaker 1: good conscience, and sincere faith. Some men straying from these
- 26:56Speaker 1: things have turned aside to fruitless discussion, wanting to be
- 27:03Speaker 1: teachers of the law, even though they don't understand either
- 27:07Speaker 1: what they're saying or the matters about which they make
- 27:10Speaker 1: confident assertions. Second piece of advice. Communicate the truth. This
- 27:20Speaker 1: is addressed to people who are in ministry. And the
- 27:23Speaker 1: truth for you may be one slice. It may be
- 27:26Speaker 1: in music, it may be in education. It may be
- 27:29Speaker 1: with women's ministries. It may be with men's ministries. It
- 27:33Speaker 1: may be a class you're involved in. It may be
- 27:35Speaker 1: a pulpit ministry. It wears all different hats. It may
- 27:38Speaker 1: be in a conference ministry, it may be in a
- 27:41Speaker 1: school ministry. Whatever, communicate the truth. That's your calling. Why.
- 27:48Speaker 1: It is a very real reason why, because there are
- 27:52Speaker 1: many that communicate falsehood heteros doctrine. Heterosexual is the opposite
- 27:59Speaker 1: of homosexual. Heteros is the term in the Greek that
- 28:04Speaker 1: means different, that is, other, of a different kind. There
- 28:11Speaker 1: are people who are teaching doctrine, but it's heteros doctrine.
- 28:15Speaker 1: They are teaching things that cut cross grain with truth,
- 28:19Speaker 1: and they're making it sound like it's truth, and they're
- 28:23Speaker 1: having an impact and people are gobbling it up. They're
- 28:28Speaker 1: believing it, Timothy, They're buying it hook line and sinker.
- 28:36Speaker 1: Now they are recognized as authorities, and people are oohing
- 28:39Speaker 1: and awing around them as they go into their myths
- 28:42Speaker 1: and genealogies and speculations that simply drift people away from
- 28:47Speaker 1: the truth. Timothy, stay at the task. Communicate the truth.
- 28:54Speaker 1: Do it in season and out of season. Spell out
- 28:59Speaker 1: the doctrines so that they're easily understood. You're not communicating
- 29:03Speaker 1: to seminary students. You're communicating to people in everyday life.
- 29:08Speaker 1: Say it straight so that everybody can understand him. The
- 29:12Speaker 1: great Southern Baptist scholar, doctor Kyle Yates once wrote, the
- 29:18Speaker 1: chief intellectual qualification of the minister must be the power
- 29:23Speaker 1: to conceive clearly and comprehensively Christian doctrine. There is nothing
- 29:33Speaker 1: which so completely nullifies his efforts as confusion and inconsistency
- 29:41Speaker 1: in his statements of doctrine. Timothy stay at the task
- 29:51Speaker 1: and instruct people with the truth. What's the big deal?
- 29:58Speaker 1: Why so much stress on this, Chuck? Why do you
- 30:02Speaker 1: spend the time on it? We've gotten the point? Why? Why?
- 30:08Speaker 1: Very clear reason? Why? Why is it so vital? Because
- 30:13Speaker 1: there are so very many who are unable to defend themselves,
- 30:23Speaker 1: You defend for them, You give them ammunition. C. S.
- 30:32Speaker 1: Lewis made a statement that I have written down and
- 30:36Speaker 1: thought about lots of times. If all the world were Christian,
- 30:42Speaker 1: it might not matter if all the world were uneducated.
- 30:47Speaker 1: But as it is, a cultural life will exist outside
- 30:51Speaker 1: the Church, whether it exists inside or not. To be
- 30:55Speaker 1: ignorant and simple now, not to be able to meet
- 30:59Speaker 1: the enemy on their own ground, would be to throw
- 31:02Speaker 1: down our weapons and to betray our uneducated brethren, who
- 31:06Speaker 1: have under God no defense but us against the intellectual
- 31:11Speaker 1: attacks of the heathen. Good philosophy must exist, if for
- 31:17Speaker 1: no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered.
- 31:22Speaker 1: The cool intellect must work not only against cool intellect
- 31:26Speaker 1: on the other side, but against the muddy heathen mysticisms
- 31:30Speaker 1: which deny intellect altogether. Most of all, perhaps we need
- 31:36Speaker 1: intimate knowledge of the past. The learned life, then, is
- 31:39Speaker 1: for some a duty. I'm not here to entertain you
- 31:47Speaker 1: in this talk. I have no interest in entertaining people.
- 31:51Speaker 1: We often have a great time, and there are occasions
- 31:55Speaker 1: when we will just laugh uproariously, and we will on
- 31:57Speaker 1: occasion just weep together. But I have never been more
- 32:02Speaker 1: sincere than in the reading of that statement. For some people,
- 32:07Speaker 1: the intellectual pursuit of the faith is a duty. Praise
- 32:13Speaker 1: God for men and women who have been raised up
- 32:15Speaker 1: to hammer out and to think through and to spell
- 32:19Speaker 1: out for us ways to answer the enemy. Because I
- 32:25Speaker 1: can assure you they are hard at the task to
- 32:28Speaker 1: tear down the faith, and they are certainly outnumbering those
- 32:34Speaker 1: who are walking in the truth. Timothy, stay at the task.
- 32:41Speaker 1: Ignorance is not bliss, it's dangerous. It's perilous. And if
- 32:47Speaker 1: you flit from place to place because the going gets rough,
- 32:50Speaker 1: there will be no roots put down, there will be
- 32:53Speaker 1: no help given. People will get the impression concerning ministry
- 32:59Speaker 1: in a certain line, and it will be a false impression.
- 33:02Speaker 1: Stay there, Stay there. There's a third and it's out
- 33:13Speaker 1: of verse five. I love it very much. This third
- 33:17Speaker 1: statement is concentrate on the target. Stay at the task,
- 33:21Speaker 1: communicate the truth. Concentrate on the target. Verse five. The
- 33:26Speaker 1: goal of our instruction isn't that helpful? He said to him.
- 33:31Speaker 1: Now wait for you reading further? Wait, wait you're reading further.
- 33:33Speaker 1: Wait a minute, now, no jump ahead. See in verse three,
- 33:36Speaker 1: in order that you may instruct Verse five. The goal
- 33:41Speaker 1: of our instruction isn't that helpful? God gives us his
- 33:45Speaker 1: word and then spells out reasons why we are to
- 33:48Speaker 1: do what we do. Not only do it because I
- 33:50Speaker 1: said so, but do it for this reason. And while
- 33:53Speaker 1: you're doing it, this is your target. To make no
- 34:00Speaker 1: enemy squirm, wrong, to impress people with your intellect. Wrong,
- 34:07Speaker 1: To sway the masses so that people will say, my
- 34:11Speaker 1: what a student of the scriptures? Wrong? The goal, the target,
- 34:16Speaker 1: the bullseye of our instruction is love from a pure heart,
- 34:21Speaker 1: a good conscience, and a sincere faith. That's the goal.
- 34:29Speaker 1: When they walk away from your declaration, from your instruction,
- 34:34Speaker 1: when they step out of the counseling room, and you
- 34:37Speaker 1: have had a chance to talk straight about life. When
- 34:40Speaker 1: they move away from that evening where you have spent
- 34:42Speaker 1: with that group of people, or whatever, whatever the situation,
- 34:48Speaker 1: they will walk away realizing that they had seen in
- 34:52Speaker 1: action love from a pure heart, a clean, good conscience,
- 35:01Speaker 1: and a faith marked by an hypocritas non hypocritical faith.
- 35:08Speaker 1: They heard those words from an authentic source, a person
- 35:12Speaker 1: who was what he is. Conscience is our moral intuition.
- 35:21Speaker 1: It's that part of us that passes judgment upon our
- 35:24Speaker 1: own state. And it takes away our confidence when it
- 35:29Speaker 1: is sour or when it is bad. It takes away
- 35:34Speaker 1: our security when it is soiled. And so be sure, Timothy,
- 35:41Speaker 1: when you are instructing that you've dealt with your conscience
- 35:45Speaker 1: so that it's good. Go over to two Timothy, Chapter two,
- 35:48Speaker 1: verses twenty four to twenty six. The Lord's bond servant,
- 35:55Speaker 1: look at this now, Chapter two, two Timothy, two twenty four.
- 35:59Speaker 1: Lord's must not be quarrelsome. Now that's a mouthful right there.
- 36:05Speaker 1: How many of God's bond servants pick a fight? They
- 36:08Speaker 1: don't talk ten minutes for you so mad you want
- 36:10Speaker 1: to stand up and scream back at them. They're quarrelsome.
- 36:13Speaker 1: But it says, be kind to all able to teach,
- 36:17Speaker 1: patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition,
- 36:25Speaker 1: if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the
- 36:29Speaker 1: knowledge of the truth. I have never in my life
- 36:33Speaker 1: heard anyone say in their testimony I lost an argument.
- 36:36Speaker 1: That guy hit me in the face, and while I
- 36:37Speaker 1: was bleeding and sitting there dejected, I came to no Christ.
- 36:44Speaker 1: Nobody comes to know Christ because somebody gave him a
- 36:47Speaker 1: black eye and won an argument. I hear all the
- 36:50Speaker 1: time people saying, you know, somebody led me to Christ,
- 36:53Speaker 1: and the most gentle and gracious and confident and secure
- 36:57Speaker 1: manner didn't have all the answers to all my questions.
- 37:00Speaker 1: But I couldn't get over the love. I couldn't get
- 37:03Speaker 1: over the purity of that life. I couldn't get over
- 37:05Speaker 1: the authenticity of that model that just blew me away.
- 37:12Speaker 1: Just fulfilling what the Lord's bond servant is to be
- 37:16Speaker 1: so to be well instructed, and to be confident, and
- 37:19Speaker 1: to be secure in one's position, and to be able
- 37:22Speaker 1: to declare it with exacting words, does not suggest that
- 37:29Speaker 1: it must be done defensively. I think we've been sold
- 37:32Speaker 1: to Bill of goods. In our process of defending the faith,
- 37:35Speaker 1: we've become defensive, untouchable, angry. We love that old sinner.
- 37:46Speaker 1: We hate the sin, we despise the wrong that's being done.
- 37:50Speaker 1: But there's something about that sinner that's to draw us.
- 37:58Speaker 1: And I'll tell you, when you've got that kind of
- 38:00Speaker 1: target in front of you, and your ministry is marked
- 38:02Speaker 1: by that, that old center will listen more often than not.
- 38:08Speaker 1: When I was in the Marine Corps, we used to
- 38:09Speaker 1: go to the rifle range, and after we had done
- 38:13Speaker 1: all of the stretching and all the snapping in so
- 38:16Speaker 1: that we learned something of our weapon, we would look
- 38:19Speaker 1: at the distance, which would be two hundred yards, three
- 38:21Speaker 1: hundred yards, and ultimately five hundred yards, and then we
- 38:25Speaker 1: would hear the captain of the firing range scream out
- 38:28Speaker 1: on this PA system, watch your targets, and then up
- 38:34Speaker 1: they'd come, and you start hearing the crack and the
- 38:38Speaker 1: pop of the rifles and the weapons around you. Watch
- 38:41Speaker 1: your targets, Watch your targets. Every once in a while
- 38:45Speaker 1: those words come back to haunt me, and they're right
- 38:48Speaker 1: out of First Timothy one, verse five. Watch your target.
- 38:53Speaker 1: Love from a pure heart, Love from a good conscience,
- 38:57Speaker 1: love from an unhypocritical faith. Watch your targets. You're on target,
- 39:05Speaker 1: that's the bull's eye, that's where you're shooting. See, your
- 39:09Speaker 1: goal is not just to whittle him right down to
- 39:13Speaker 1: size and to watch him squirm. Ah, what did I
- 39:18Speaker 1: whip him into shape? You drive home so confident, probably
- 39:25Speaker 1: have two flats on the way home. And the kind
- 39:26Speaker 1: of thing happened. God is a way of bringing us
- 39:29Speaker 1: down to size. If you're prompted by pride, you're in
- 39:31Speaker 1: the wrong work. If you're keeping scores a little notches
- 39:35Speaker 1: on the handle so that you know how many people
- 39:37Speaker 1: you whipped into shape, that's the wrong method, wrong target,
- 39:40Speaker 1: wrong goal. It's not God's plan. You can't support that
- 39:46Speaker 1: from scripture, even though you see a lot of that
- 39:49Speaker 1: going on around you. I'll tell you, the person who
- 39:56Speaker 1: truly is walking in the light needs to have the
- 40:01Speaker 1: sweetest spirit, most humble heart, the most approachable mind, the
- 40:10Speaker 1: willingness to hear of all people. Fourth, remember the standard.
- 40:21Speaker 1: This is very helpful. He's described people for whom the
- 40:24Speaker 1: law is made Verses eight and nine. He goes through
- 40:28Speaker 1: a whole series of them, those who are lawless. The
- 40:31Speaker 1: rebellious verse nine, the ungodly, the sinners, the unholy, profane,
- 40:36Speaker 1: those who kill fathers and mothers, and murderers and immoral
- 40:40Speaker 1: men and homosexuals, and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, And
- 40:44Speaker 1: in case I left anyone out, whatever else is contrary
- 40:48Speaker 1: to sound teaching. All of those people fall in the
- 40:52Speaker 1: category of the sin fall, all of those that do
- 40:55Speaker 1: whatever is contrary to sound teaching. But what is that
- 40:59Speaker 1: sound teach? Based on verse eleven, it is according to
- 41:05Speaker 1: the glorious Gospel of the Blessed God, with which I
- 41:10Speaker 1: have been entrusted. The syntactical construction of this particular verse,
- 41:16Speaker 1: according to the Gospel, suggests a norm or a standard.
- 41:22Speaker 1: In other words, this sound teaching with which verse ten concludes,
- 41:31Speaker 1: has as its basis the glorious Gospel. Sound teaching is
- 41:38Speaker 1: built from the basic foundation, the norm or the standard
- 41:43Speaker 1: of the Gospel that has been entrusted to us. It's
- 41:48Speaker 1: not original with Paul. It was deposited into his care.
- 41:51Speaker 1: The eye is emphatic with which I, of all people,
- 41:56Speaker 1: have been entrusted. Now I've been entrusted with the Gospel
- 42:00Speaker 1: as a minister, so have all of you as ministers.
- 42:04Speaker 1: Now that is the basis upon which we build our
- 42:06Speaker 1: sound teaching. Good and illustration would be a house that
- 42:11Speaker 1: you build. You build a house according to the standard
- 42:14Speaker 1: of the twelve inch foot, the three foot yard, the
- 42:19Speaker 1: little one inch standard is the basis upon which everything
- 42:22Speaker 1: is gauged based upon the norm or the standard of
- 42:28Speaker 1: the ruler. You build a home based upon the norm
- 42:31Speaker 1: or the standard of the Gospel. You build your sound teaching.
- 42:36Speaker 1: It doesn't come from myths and fables. It doesn't come
- 42:38Speaker 1: from human philosophers. It doesn't drift in with the media
- 42:42Speaker 1: according to the generation in which you live. It doesn't
- 42:45Speaker 1: come from someone's hint or opinion or idea or just
- 42:50Speaker 1: because Mama has always believed it or Daddy always said.
- 42:54Speaker 1: It doesn't come from culture. It comes from the Gospel.
- 42:58Speaker 1: The basis of sound teaching is the glorious Gospel of
- 43:02Speaker 1: the blessed God with which we have been entrusted. That's
- 43:07Speaker 1: the norm. Let's go back to our analogy of medicine.
- 43:14Speaker 1: People who practice good medicine, return to the scientific principles
- 43:19Speaker 1: of medicine. There's no hocus pocus. We call those people
- 43:26Speaker 1: quacks or frauds, and they're exposed every year. Good medicine
- 43:32Speaker 1: is practiced on the basis or according to the standard
- 43:36Speaker 1: of those principles of medicine which have been passed down.
- 43:42Speaker 1: Good sound teaching comes from the basis or the principle
- 43:46Speaker 1: of the Gospel, which has been deposited into our care
- 43:49Speaker 1: like a treasured trust. Now, in light of all of that,
- 43:56Speaker 1: look at verse eighteen. One more piece of advice. Obey
- 44:02Speaker 1: the command. We're going to skip Paul's testimony. He slides
- 44:05Speaker 1: that in verses twelve to seventeen. We'll look at that
- 44:07Speaker 1: next time. Right now, just study verse eighteen, and following
- 44:11Speaker 1: this command, I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in
- 44:15Speaker 1: accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by
- 44:20Speaker 1: them you may fight the good fight, keeping faith. And
- 44:25Speaker 1: he repeats himself, and a good conscience. Pause right there,
- 44:30Speaker 1: fight the good fight, he has said, Stay at the task,
- 44:34Speaker 1: communicate the truth, concentrate on the target. Remember the standard.
- 44:38Speaker 1: Now obey the command. There are times that you must fight.
- 44:43Speaker 1: Would to God that the fight would be over, Would
- 44:46Speaker 1: to God that we could see all the fighting that
- 44:49Speaker 1: has to go on, that we could witness the battle.
- 44:51Speaker 1: But as James Watt said, to me sometime ago when
- 44:54Speaker 1: we were talking. In that private conversation, he described to
- 44:57Speaker 1: me his world, the world in which he was come from,
- 45:00Speaker 1: in which he had lived. He said, Chuck, Frankly, I
- 45:04Speaker 1: have observed that the battle that's going on, it's the
- 45:06Speaker 1: most horrendous battle, is the unseen battle. You cannot envision it,
- 45:13Speaker 1: but I'll tell you when you step into it, you
- 45:15Speaker 1: are aware it's a battle. The minister who is unaware
- 45:19Speaker 1: of the unseen battle is an unprepared minister. It's raging,
- 45:25Speaker 1: it's wild, it goes for the jugular. It's designed to
- 45:29Speaker 1: shipwreck the faith. In fact, he gives you a couple
- 45:33Speaker 1: of people who have had that happen in their lives.
- 45:37Speaker 1: That's where I stop reading, keeping faith in a good conscience,
- 45:41Speaker 1: which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to
- 45:45Speaker 1: their faith. He names them Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom he
- 45:49Speaker 1: delivered over to Satan, that they may be taught, that
- 45:52Speaker 1: may be taught not to Blasphere you have two very
- 45:57Speaker 1: firm weapons for battle. They are given to you here faith,
- 46:02Speaker 1: that is the faith, the body of truth, and a
- 46:05Speaker 1: good conscience. Without those weapons, we crumble like a dry cookie.
- 46:11Speaker 1: That's been sitting on the shelf for three or four days.
- 46:14Speaker 1: There's no body, there's no tenacity, there's no resilience. We
- 46:18Speaker 1: finally fall. These men suffered shipwreck and they walked away
- 46:23Speaker 1: from the truths Now there's a sort of a wrap
- 46:26Speaker 1: up warning the times up. I have so many more
- 46:29Speaker 1: things I'd love to say. I don't know how to
- 46:35Speaker 1: put it quite like this, like I want to, so
- 46:37Speaker 1: let me just kind of stumble my way through it.
- 46:40Speaker 1: I said earlier. The ministry can be a disillusioning and
- 46:44Speaker 1: confusing piece of work. It need not be. It can
- 46:50Speaker 1: be the most fulfilling and the most satisfying of all.
- 46:56Speaker 1: I observe that the difference comes from what we lean
- 47:00Speaker 1: on and who we listen to. Those who lean on
- 47:05Speaker 1: human opinion and listen mainly to people makes no difference
- 47:12Speaker 1: who they are, Allowing those people to determine their direction
- 47:17Speaker 1: and their philosophy wind up disillusioned and confused and terribly insecure.
- 47:28Speaker 1: Those who lean on the Lord and listen mainly to
- 47:31Speaker 1: his word, allowing that to influence and shape their philosophy
- 47:35Speaker 1: and direction, wind up fulfilled, staying more on target, challenge,
- 47:40Speaker 1: and enthusiastic. So the warning be very careful where you
- 47:44Speaker 1: lean and to whom you listen. Be really choosy. Just
- 47:50Speaker 1: like you choose the radio dial those programs you really
- 47:53Speaker 1: want to listen to. You turn away from all the
- 47:55Speaker 1: others to choose the one you want, just as you
- 47:58Speaker 1: pick on the channel of the television, the one channel
- 48:00Speaker 1: you want to watch, and you overlook six or eight.
- 48:03Speaker 1: If you live in a community where there are many,
- 48:05Speaker 1: maybe as many as ten or twelve, and even cable channel,
- 48:08Speaker 1: you choose the one you want to impact you. So
- 48:12Speaker 1: you make such choices in ministry, you overlook deliberately some
- 48:17Speaker 1: so that others might shape you and impact you. It
- 48:21Speaker 1: will have all the difference in the world in how
- 48:24Speaker 1: you survive. I'm reading a good book called Five Smooth
- 48:28Speaker 1: Stones for Pastoral Work by Eugene Peterson, and I want
- 48:35Speaker 1: to close with just a few comments thanks to doctor Peterson.
- 48:42Speaker 1: Pastoral work takes place in a crowded religious fair, noisy
- 48:48Speaker 1: with the bargaining of shoppers and hawkers, those who have
- 48:53Speaker 1: ventured out in the hope of finding something that will
- 48:56Speaker 1: make their lives better, and those who promise that they
- 49:00Speaker 1: have something that will make life better. The shoppers expect
- 49:06Speaker 1: to receive something that they could not otherwise get on
- 49:09Speaker 1: their own, and to learn something that they could not
- 49:13Speaker 1: discover by themselves. They expect to get in on something
- 49:17Speaker 1: that transcends the natural and to understand something that exceeds
- 49:21Speaker 1: the mundane. The ordinary term for what they expect is
- 49:27Speaker 1: quote little g God quote, and they expect the pastor
- 49:34Speaker 1: to give.
- 49:34Speaker 2: It to them.
- 49:37Speaker 1: Since no one has seen God at any time, and
- 49:40Speaker 1: the pastor is perfectly visible at most times, the expectations
- 49:45Speaker 1: that people have of God are often focused on the
- 49:48Speaker 1: pastor the bull's eye for God targeted expectations. The expectations
- 49:56Speaker 1: converge from a wide horizon moral ideal, spiritual hunger, evidence
- 50:02Speaker 1: of righteousness, advocacy for justice, rewards for being good, answers
- 50:07Speaker 1: to enigmas. What people informed by the great Vine of
- 50:11Speaker 1: religion are looking for is aimed at the pastor. We
- 50:17Speaker 1: work on a street teeming with competition. Every kind of
- 50:23Speaker 1: religious leadership is offered to people who want God little G.
- 50:29Speaker 1: No pastor is provided the luxury of people's exclusive attention.
- 50:33Speaker 1: Congregations are not sequestered between Sundays from religious propaganda and
- 50:38Speaker 1: spiritual promises from the radio message in the television spectacular
- 50:43Speaker 1: newspaper advice and magazine wisdom, religious counsel, and gospel preaching
- 50:48Speaker 1: pour into the mind at an unprecedented rate. Saint Paul
- 50:53Speaker 1: angry at sismatic itinerants who were unset his congregations with
- 51:02Speaker 1: gaudy but cheap doctrines, faced only a fraction of what
- 51:06Speaker 1: today's pastor gets from the competitors, many of whom have
- 51:10Speaker 1: access to the expensive media. Then, he writes, the pastor
- 51:28Speaker 1: is not a cheerleader. Pastoral enthusiasm used for propagandistic ends
- 51:35Speaker 1: blunts the fine edge of the divine yes. Pastors have
- 51:40Speaker 1: little to learn and much to fear from the public
- 51:43Speaker 1: relations industry. For the pastor has the responsibility to nurture
- 51:56Speaker 1: the affirmative without encouraging the gullible, to keep people alert
- 52:02Speaker 1: and prepared to say yes to every yes of God
- 52:07Speaker 1: in every part of existence, without at the same time
- 52:11Speaker 1: being a patsy for every confidence game in town. To
- 52:17Speaker 1: train people in robust acceptance of what God brings to us,
- 52:22Speaker 1: and not to passively submit to the trashy merchandising of
- 52:26Speaker 1: religious salespeople. We must confront the breezy, irresponsible nonchalance that
- 52:38Speaker 1: avoids hard difficulties. Did a lot of thinking about that,
- 52:46Speaker 1: especially in southern California, where it's easy to buy the
- 52:50Speaker 1: system and to try to outdo the guy on the
- 52:53Speaker 1: next corner. In the midst of all this, understand that
- 52:59Speaker 1: the pastor has no corner on the truth. He's equipped
- 53:02Speaker 1: with a mind like you are, maybe has a little
- 53:05Speaker 1: bit more time to give to the things of the
- 53:07Speaker 1: scriptures than you have in your workaday world. But as
- 53:10Speaker 1: a man who is pushing for understanding in this whole
- 53:15Speaker 1: world of discovery of the truth of God and at
- 53:20Speaker 1: times missus it, I want to point you therefore, to God,
- 53:28Speaker 1: not to myself. I want you to be a worshiper
- 53:31Speaker 1: of your heavenly Father, not of your pastor. While I
- 53:38Speaker 1: appreciate the respect of God's people, I in no sense
- 53:42Speaker 1: deserve being on a shrine. I don't fit a pedestal.
- 53:46Speaker 1: Get me off of it. Don't quote me as though
- 53:50Speaker 1: I were Christ. Find your satisfaction and your fulfillment in
- 53:58Speaker 1: the Savior and the defense for such in his Gospel.
- 54:05Speaker 1: View me as a model, if you please, as one
- 54:09Speaker 1: who wants to do the right thing, but who on
- 54:11Speaker 1: occasion does not, does not even think right. I wish
- 54:17Speaker 1: I did all the time, but I fresh out of miracles,
- 54:21Speaker 1: and therefore you need to know that you need to
- 54:24Speaker 1: keep your mind fixed on Christ. Very important. It's a
- 54:30Speaker 1: crazy way to endoscermon, but I'm through. Thank you, Father
- 54:35Speaker 1: for saying some things to us in a smooth and
- 54:38Speaker 1: calm manner. From this book. We're learning things about you
- 54:41Speaker 1: that are helpful, and we are very grateful. We're tired
- 54:46Speaker 1: of the pep rallies. We're tired of the Madison Avenue hype.
- 54:52Speaker 1: We're weary of so called experts, answer givers, racle workers
- 55:01Speaker 1: who give the impression that they're at any moment in
- 55:06Speaker 1: touch and in power and in control can do it all.
- 55:14Speaker 1: As we just read, there are hawkers on the sidewalk,
- 55:17Speaker 1: and they're they're all around us, and they're screaming at us,
- 55:20Speaker 1: and they have a way of grabbing our attention and
- 55:26Speaker 1: making us believe and follow them. Bring us back to
- 55:32Speaker 1: the truth, without pride and without defensiveness. May we be
- 55:36Speaker 1: confident and calm in the truth of Your glorious Gospel,
- 55:43Speaker 1: and Father, teach us all in the nurturing of our
- 55:47Speaker 1: years with you, to walk, to do justice, to love, mercy,
- 55:54Speaker 1: and to walk humbly with you our God in your
- 55:59Speaker 1: son's name. Amen.
- 56:03Speaker 2: The preceding message, What's a Pastor to Do, was copyrighted
- 56:07Speaker 2: in nineteen eighty three, and the sound recording was copyrighted
- 56:10Speaker 2: in twenty fifteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All rights
- 56:14Speaker 2: are reserved worldwide