Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – Cords That Hold Pastors and Flocks Together, Part 1
Transcript
- 0:08Speaker 1: Pastors in their congregations don't always have the serene relationship
- 0:12Speaker 1: that many people on the outside might think. Today, on
- 0:15Speaker 1: Insight for Living, Chuck Swindall gets candid about the real
- 0:18Speaker 1: struggles minister's face. In this message, Chuck highlights five concerns
- 0:23Speaker 1: that plague every pastor. Whether it's short term commitments, lingering,
- 0:28Speaker 1: unresolved conflicts, insufficient time with God, or dangerous theological drifts.
- 0:34Speaker 1: There's a lot that can pull a church body apart.
- 0:37Speaker 1: So Chuck turns to Second Thessalonians to show us what
- 0:40Speaker 1: holds pastors and flocks together. This is message number six
- 0:44Speaker 1: in an eight part series called Steadfast Christianity.
- 0:55Speaker 2: Pastors have been compared to shepherds since the beginning of
- 0:58Speaker 2: the church. The apostle Peter encouraged the church elders to
- 1:03Speaker 2: shepherd the flock of God among you. The word pastor
- 1:07Speaker 2: itself comes from a Latin word that means herdsmen. Just
- 1:12Speaker 2: as shepherds guide and tenderly care for their flocks, so
- 1:16Speaker 2: pastors lead and serve and care for the needs of
- 1:20Speaker 2: their congregation. However, relationships between pastors and flocks are not
- 1:26Speaker 2: always as serene as the pastoral image might imply. Sheep
- 1:32Speaker 2: sometimes stray and sometimes bleat behind the shepherd's back. Pastors
- 1:38Speaker 2: sometimes fight with the sheep and sometimes flee altogether. Often
- 1:43Speaker 2: fed up with the flock and in search of greener pastors,
- 1:47Speaker 2: pastors vacate pulpits on an average of once every three years.
- 1:52Speaker 2: Think of that one or two sheep with a little
- 1:55Speaker 2: goat in them can butt heads often enough with the
- 1:58Speaker 2: pastor to make his ministry miserable. The lingering, unresolved personality
- 2:05Speaker 2: conflicts can drain both his emotions and his energy. Sometimes too,
- 2:12Speaker 2: the sheep can crowd the shepherd to such an extent
- 2:15Speaker 2: that his personal time for study and growth are eaten away. Gradually,
- 2:22Speaker 2: his life and teaching begin to lose their cutting edge,
- 2:27Speaker 2: growing dull and ultimately ineffective. Also, out of either insecurity
- 2:34Speaker 2: or a desire to set a sterling example, some pastors
- 2:37Speaker 2: are reluctant to be real and open and vulnerable. All
- 2:44Speaker 2: pastors have needs. Never forget that underneath the ministerial garb,
- 2:50Speaker 2: they are just sheep like everyone else. They hurt when
- 2:54Speaker 2: they're bitten, they fight or run when they're threatened, and
- 2:58Speaker 2: they shiver in the cold wind when they're shorn back
- 3:03Speaker 2: in Second Thessalonians, Chapter three, verses one through five, the
- 3:08Speaker 2: apostle Paul reveals a lot about himself as a pastor
- 3:12Speaker 2: shepherd and about his relationship to the flock at Thessalonika.
- 3:18Speaker 2: In doing so, he indirectly instructs us in strengthening the
- 3:24Speaker 2: pastor flock relationship. Let's read this passage together from the
- 3:29Speaker 2: New Testament, the letter named Second Thessalonians. It's in chapter three,
- 3:35Speaker 2: the first five verses. I'll begin with Second Thessalonians three,
- 3:40Speaker 2: verse one. Finally, Brethren, pray for us that the word
- 3:45Speaker 2: of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just
- 3:50Speaker 2: as it did also with you, and that we will
- 3:53Speaker 2: be rescued from perverse and evil men. For not all
- 3:58Speaker 2: have faith, but the Lord is faithful, and he will