Part of the pastoral calling is a deep love for people. Now I have been pastoring people for a while, sometimes I get into the middle of that. I might tell one of my pastors that such and such is not doing well, or is not ready to lead worship or whatever, and they will defend their sheep with such a passion against any perceived insult.
I understand that, and I talked in my last post about the truth that true pastors would honestly die for their sheep. But what I want to say today to every pastor reading this is never put the people before God. Don’t preach to people without going to God first, don’t pastor people without going to God first, don’t correct people without going to God first. Do not ever promote people without going to God first.
The high priest would go into the Most Holy Place and pour the blood on the mercy seat, then only after that would he come out and sprinkle blood on the people. When you preach you are sprinkling blood on people, sharing with them the power of the blood, the principles of the kingdom, and the goodness of the Lord. Do not sprinkle blood you have not brought into the Most Holy Place – get in with God and spend time with Him! You need a routine that before you minister to the people, you set aside time with the Lord and pray and meditate and get the mind of the Lord.
Don’t just pull a couple of Scriptures together and think that is a sermon. Don’t just copy something you heard Kenneth Copeland or Andrew Wommack say and think you are going to bring life and freedom to people. There will be a blessing because the Word brings a blessing, but you need to find out the exact right message for your people. That takes time with the Lord.
I do not get up to preach to entertain people. I do not get up to preach with an agenda. I am very aware that I standing before many people with many needs. I am very aware that I do not have the wisdom or grace to bring life to everyone. Every time I stand in a pulpit, I am very much like Paul, with fear and trembling. I think of myself like the little boy in the gospels – all I have is five loaves and two fish, what is that for so many, but as I spend time with Jesus and walk with Him and His grace, I find that in His strength and wisdom and glory, the limited food I have is multiplied and everyone in the room is fed.
It’s funny sometimes, I can preach a sermon and I can have ten people tell me that God fed them, that God spoke to them through those messages, that it has changed their life. Then one person will come and say something derogatory for whatever reason. You have to realize that is like someone watching Jesus multiply the loaves and fishes and complain that they don’t like tilapia or that the bread isn’t organic, gluten-free. Every time you hear a sermon from a preacher that has been with Jesus, you are in an atmosphere of multiplication.
That’s why as a pastor, you need to get into that atmosphere in private, just you and the Lord, and the blood – then when you emerge, you sprinkle the blood over people and people are set free, and healed, and saved. It’s awesome.
In other words, what you give people has to be what you have received from the Lord. If you do not spend time with the Lord, you have nothing to say. I preach twice most Sundays, and at least once mid-week every week. I have preached the same sermon twice about ten times, and even then it never ends up the same sermon twice. How can I do that – I have been with the Lord. When we are with the Lord, our feeble bread and fish can feed crowds and still have more left over for tomorrow. Not only that, when we sow that – we will have a harvest of revelation for ourselves! What a deal.
There is much more in the Word, I mean seriously much much more, than any of us no matter who we are have tapped into. So, dig deep and take the time – it’s part of our calling.
Put God before the sheep. Go and spend time with God and do not let the people interrupt that.
Inspiring and Challenging Dreamers 