Just For Pastors 24: Take Charge of Your Service!

Every church service should have the power of the Spirit manifest, we should be seeing the gifts happen. It’s that simple. You have to provide a system in which those gifts flow – and you both enable those who have something from God to share, and those who are a little kooky and spooky to be restrained and prevented from sharing nonsense – thereby protecting your flock.

Freedom is not freedom to be kooky. It is freedom to serve responsibly. If you have an open mic, trust me someone will take advantage of it, and it will take a while to clean up and it will be harder than you think. You think you have sorted it and weeks later someone is still trying to live and die by some nonsense word. Paul never told the immature and foolish and ambitious Corinthians to stop using the gifts, he gave them ways to use them in order. As pastors we have to do the same. Paul started with the basics – if you want to drink alcohol, stay home, don’t come to church. Then he said things like no more than two tongues messages per service – no more than two prophetic words – only one person interprets a tongues message.

It is up to you as a pastor to learn these Biblical principles and insist your church follow them. We had a worship leader who would stop the worship and let people share testimonies between songs. It stopped people truly getting into a place of worship, the testimonies became blander and blander, and the songs became less reflective and less focused on Jesus, and more of a performance. Now as the pastor, I cannot let that happen – I had to insist on certain standards for the worship service. It is my job – and your job – pastor – to train and equip the saints to do the work of the ministry. Our services now have much more powerful worship, more gifts, and more glory – it’s wonderful.

If the saints are being equipped and trained you have a healthy church. If the worship connects people to Jesus, you have a healthy church. If the gifts flow, you have a healthy church. If your church has no Holy Spirit, and your services have no flow, no gifts, no power – or on the other hand, no order, no restrains, no standards for those you platform – then you are failing your church and your people.

At Tree of Life Church, we have certain standards for people who are at the front – whether it is preaching, leading worship, leading children’s ministry or youth ministry, or flowing in the gifts. You have to be loyal to the church, in regular attendance, a tither, part of a small group, and not driven by the spotlight. In addition, you have to be sexually pure – not living with your boyfriend or girlfriend for example. Those standards protect our people and line us up with the Word, and bring more glory, more freedom, more power and more gifts to our church services.

As pastors we either enforces these standards and see God’s glory, or we fail to, and then that is on us. Take charge of your service!

Just For Pastors 23: Titles and Respect

Accolade - Wikipedia

If you want to survive in ministry, you need people not just to like you but to respect you. They need not just to relate to you, but they need to appreciate your fruitfulness. Now, at the end of the day, people are going to make their own choices, and many are stubborn, selfish and do not know or care to be part of something bigger than themselves. Many love travelling speakers and Bible College and conferences and TV ministries because they can like the speakers and not respect them, but for a church to be healthy, there must be respect for the pastors.

Sometimes that is hard because people can get used to anything. Keith Moore last night was talking about the rebellion of the Israelites happened while the glory of God was visible in the camp! We can get accustomed to anything. A guest speaker from a foreign nation with a different accent and a different slant on things can be very exciting, especially if we have seen them on TV first.

Now I am not writing this post to the church but to the pastors, so I am not saying “respect your pastor” – if I was talking to the whole church, I would. I am talking to the pastors, so I will say this – you have a role to play in whether people respect you. The way you dress, your punctuality, your respect for others, the way you handle money, the way you treat your wife – all of this will come into how people respect you. You should be shocked when people are all mate-y with you and treat you like a chum, rather than a pastor.

I have never been one to adopt the title “Pastor”, some people say my name like one word “Pastorben”, and that is because I don’t see it in the Bible, and neither do I come from a culture where titles are used much, we don’t in the UK call people by their job role, be it Prime Minister or Coach. However, there should still be a respect for the office. I do understand why people do that, because there has to be a respect for the office because otherwise it simply will not function. You cannot benefit from a ministry you do not honour.

There must be a distance, it should not be as much as some say it is, but there should be a place for people to accept your preaching and teaching as it is – you as the chosen man of God for the church leading and feeding the church (I taught on honour once at a summer conference, and a person I had marked for a key leadership position left the church because he disagreed with the teaching, and I am so glad I taught it because of that, that would have ended badly – leaders need to honour God, the Word and you) – and you also act in a way that enables the church to trust and respect you. You need people to realize you genuinely love them, that they are a human to you, not just a number or whatever. Ask the Lord today what two or three things can you change in your life today to make it easier for people to trust you and respect you.

Do not compromise, but being all things to all men to win some is a Biblical principle.

Just for the Pastors 22: Let’s Talk About Money

As a pastor you have to understand on a very deep, heart level that money is not evil, and you should not be poor. You should have a lot of money, and because of that, you should be learning how to handle money with wisdom, faith and gentleness. If you cannot handle money well, satan will destroy you. I know many ministers who have been destroyed because they cannot talk about money, cannot handle money, cannot raise money, cannot save money, cannot spend money. Part of your job as a pastor is to set a great example when it comes to money.

The first step to this is simple. Never ever ever ever minister for money. It’s that simple. Never make a decision for the ministry based on gain for you. Never care for the flock, never pastor, never preach for what you will get out of it. Make your mind up you will go where God calls you, be faithful to the people God calls you to without thought of reward. We get upset when a businessman leaves your church to move to another town for a meagre pay rise, but I have seen pastors leave flocks or assignments for an even more meagre pay rise so no wonder people do that with so many bad examples in the church leadership.

Peter had to tell elders and pastors:

And now, a word to you who are elders in the churches. I, too, am an elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ. And I, too, will share in his glory when he is revealed to the whole world. As a fellow elder, I appeal to you: 2 Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly—not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God. 3 Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example. 4 And when the Great Shepherd appears, you will receive a crown of never-ending glory and honor. (1 Peter 5.1-4, NLT)

You serve God and you do what the Lord Jesus tells you, not what money tells you. You serve God for God not for money. Not for what you will get out of it. I know guest preachers who will not go somewhere unless they are guaranteed so much up front, a minimum offering, and certain requirements while there. I’m not interested in that at all. You have to set the bar high as a pastor because you are influencing all your people. I have gone to preach in places, they gave me an offering, and I gave it all back to them because they needed it more. I have given personal offerings straight into the church before. I have never asked for a minimum amount, and never taken a preaching engagement because of money. It’s that simple.

Money gives you power. If you do not know how to handle money, you do not know how to handle power, and power not handled well corrupts. In the last post we mentioned sexual sin, well, there are money sins too, and as pastors we have to resist temptation and serve God not money. Ask God to help you here. Of course, you are worth being paid and so on, but do not focus on that and it will come. Seek the things and nothing happens. Seek God first and His kingdom first, and the things will be added to you. That’s for everyone in your church, so do not merely teach it, model it. AMEN.

Just for the Pastors 21: Let’s Talk About Sex

Lester Sumrall said that ministers only fall for three reasons: power, money and sex, and the hardest fall is when it involves sex. When a minister commits adultery, there is always steps before that, often pornography. Sexual sin will not just destroy your ministry, it will destroy your soul and your family too. It’s serious.

Now one thing that happens is that pastors assume God is not disappointed with their sexual sin because they can still minister life and work miracles. There was a pastor not far from where I live who had a large church and saw miracles and healings week after week. It later turned out he was having an affair for over seven years, but still every Sunday he preached with power. The gifts of God are without repentance, but we should still repent!

Now, all sin has been dealt with once and for all by the blood of Jesus, but if you as a born again, righteous Christian, persist in sin, that sin will lead to death, it will pay you the wages of death. Now if you repent and turn from sin, you can be made clean and forgiven, and God can also as your Good Shepherd restore your soul, and restore your pain, and your marriage. Several times I have seen marriages restored after adultery. On the other hand, I have seen people divorce, remarry quickly and then get into the same messes as before because they never dealt with the sin in the first place.

Of course, the best advice is Paul’s – do not give place to the devil (Ephesians 4.27) – do not give the devil a place. It is not your job to provide for satan! You are a representation of Jesus Christ when you minister. You are not in ministry for your gain, but to honour Jesus Christ and represent Him.

As ministers we have to be very careful. On a personal level we need to control our sexual appetite. It seems sad to have to talk about this, but I have met far too many ministers who have committed sexual immorality and thought it was no big deal. I have met far too many Christians who are having sex before and outside of marriage to know we have to talk about this. I have met Christians who would literally pray together then have sex outside of marriage. They have no sense of the fear of the Lord, no sense of holy living. As pastors, we need to be sure of our purity, then develop a culture of purity in our churches. It is essential.

Teach your people boldly that sex is for marriage and marriage is for life. Teach them boldly that faithfulness and commitment is part of being a disciple of Jesus. Let us be a force of purity across this nation.

Just for the Pastors 20: Keep Good Company

1 Cor. 15.33 is very clear: do not be deceived, evil company corrupts good habits. As a pastor, you have to be careful of the company you keep. There is definitely a time we need to minister to people, but there is also a time in which we need to fellowship with the wise, we need to not associate with the foolish.

If you hang around the wrong people for a long time, it will corrupt you. Happy Caldwell, once, at a pastor’s conference I was at, asked everyone, would you carry a poisonous snake in your pocket, hoping it would change? The answer is no, and we should not be fellowshipping with immoral people – even if you think you would change them. If they want to change, they know where you are!

When the hand wrote on the wall in the wild, evil, Babylonian party, Daniel was not at the party, he was at home with the Lord. But they knew who to call and called him!

Every pastor reading this has had a lady tell them they are planning to marry a non-Christian man (or a man who is just casual about the things of God) and you have said as kindly as you could to maybe think twice about it, and you were told “I will change him when we get married”, and you know that will never happen. It’s the same when you hang around a crowd of sinners hoping to change them. It won’t happen like that.

Selah.

Just for the Pastors 19: Learn the Power of Withdrawal

For the last month in our Dagenham church, I have been teaching about powers that every Christian has – the power to perceive, the power to give, the power to prepare and the power to receive God’s Word.

But today, I want to talk about a super-power that is available to every pastor. If you use this superpower, you will free up time, you will bring life to your congregation, peace to your soul and strength in life.

I call this the power of withdrawal, and this power is given to us by Paul in the second letter to the Thessalonians. Before you read this Scripture, remind yourself that you are a Bible believer, and if you read something in the Scripture you will believe it, receive it, declare it and do it.


In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. (2 Thess. 3.6 NIV)

Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us. (2 Thess. 3.6 KJV)

Now we command you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother or sister who leads a disorderly life and not one in accordance with the tradition which you received from us. (2 Thess. 3.6 NASB)

As you can see, Paul’s instruction is clear – if someone is living a disorderly life, is idle, disruptive, and out of order with what you are doing in the church, you are supposed to withdraw from that Christian and keep away from them.

There is so much pain in many pastor’s lives because they ignore this Scripture and think they are better and smarter than Paul, and ignore his wise advice. Let me tell you, after planting eleven churches, running a family of churches, I know Paul’s advice is wise. Withdraw yourself from those who are out of order! It’s a superpower that will honestly lift your life and the life of your churches to a whole new level.

The Word of God says you should not even have lunch with people in sexual immorality (1 Cor 5.11). This is talking about Christians, not the world, otherwise you would never be able to have lunch with non-Christians ever! At this point someone might say, but that might make them feel outcast or shame. That’s the point! Now, if someone is new to the faith, and growing, you can minister to them and tell them the truth of God’s Word. If they continue to walk in their path of immorality and are out of order, you are to withdraw.

If someone is misbehaving around you, playing up, causing strife in the church, you have no obligation to come running when they call! Notice the NIV calls these people idle, which means they are doing nothing. Because they are doing nothing, they have the time to be disruptive.

None of you would carry a poisonous scorpion around in their pocket, so why are we as pastors going out of our way to spend time with and associate with scorpion people? It’s often an overconfidence that we will change their minds – no you won’t. It is the same principle as the young girl who is dating a non-Christian expecting she will change him, but it won’t happen that way.

Later Paul tells us not to hate these people as enemies, but warn them as brothers. When they ask, why have you withdrawn from me pastor? You have to in love tell them that until they stop being idle, stop being disruptive, stop being out of order, you have nothing to say to them.

I have found a strange thing that often these disruptive people will leave the church and you are no longer their pastor, but they will want to suddenly be your mate, they want to go out for dinner, to text you banal platitudes and be friends. But you were never called to be their friend and you are not their peer, you are just coming down to a lower level and spending time with a rebel. It won’t end well. You might feel very kind and loving, but that is not what is going on. You are ignoring God’s principles and it will not end well. We are not to fellowship with the idle, the disruptive and those whose lives are out of order as if there is nothing wrong. If you do, there will be no holiness in your church, no fear of the Lord, you will no longer have the time to minister to those you are called to, the sheep that hear your voice.

Discussing this in 1 Cor. 5, Paul says in v.13 that it is on us as pastors to “put away the evil from among you”. That is a quote from Deut. 24.7 and it refers in the Old Testament to capital punishment. Now Paul knows that we are under grace and do not stone people to death for their sin or disruptions, but let us be clear – the covenant of grace does not mean close your eyes when people are sinning, especially when it disrupts church and hurts other Christians.

This is not being judgmental, this is being godly. We are not playing judge and jury of someone’s life out of some personal fiat – we are pastors keeping the church clean. Go and ask for wisdom and outline the situation to a more experienced pastor if you need to, but if the church does not through the pastoral leaders, put the evil out, and if pastors we do not withdraw from those people Paul has told us to withdraw from, the church will never succeed in its kingdom mission.

Just for the Pastors 18: Help Stop Others Stumbling

9 But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble. 10 For if others see you—with your “superior knowledge”—eating in the temple of an idol, won’t they be encouraged to violate their conscience by eating food that has been offered to an idol? 11 So because of your superior knowledge, a weak believer[b] for whom Christ died will be destroyed. 12 And when you sin against other believers[c] by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, you are sinning against Christ. 13 So if what I eat causes another believer to sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live—for I don’t want to cause another believer to stumble. (1 Cor. 8.9-13 NLT)

Paul says here, and rather clearly, that if someone around you does not have the faith or clarity of conscience to be able to eat the food you are eating, then do not eat it in front of them. Go without. You never want to be in a position where you have the burden of causing someone else to stumble and miss it.

Paul said I don’t want to cause another believer to stumble. In Romans 14.13 he says “decide never to put a stumbling block in the way of a brother”. It means never do something that gets in the way of someone growing in Christ.

So, what is that talking about. Firstly, you have to be doing something that isn’t wrong. The context is that some Christians are stronger than others. And those that are stronger – and hopefully as the pastors we are among some of the strongest saints in the church – must treat those who are weaker with dignity and compassion.

Often weaker Christians see things as wrong that are not wrong. When I first became a Christian, in Scotland, there were some Christians in the church that believed that playing cards was wrong. It’s obviously not, but they believed it was. They believed that to play cards was inherently sinful. So, I would never suggest playing cards with those people or I would become a stumbling block. Today, some of the biggest stumbling blocks in the church are alcohol, eating meat, TV, films, computer games, certain styles of clothing, certain types of music. So, if they upset someone, just cut it out of your life when they are around. Play cards in your house if you like it, but not in the church, not in their house! I hope you can see this is not deceptive, it is wise.

I recently took some pastors out for dinner and we all had a meal of a certain animal, and I told the pastors not to put this on social media because I know some people in our church would have been stumbling over that. This is what I am talking about.

The stumbling block is you doing something that isn’t wrong, but because someone else is grieved by it. In Romans 14.15 Paul says if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are not walking in love by your eating. So, it’s not a mature Christian that goes “well, you can eat that, but I can’t, but we are both free in Christ”, this is the weaker Christian that is really cut by it. They are really upset. When that happens you have become the stumbling block.

Now, there are some people who will say they are upset by anything just to control you, and so you need to learn wisdom and discernment. But if someone is genuinely upset, you must not be their stumbling block. It might not be wrong for you to, it does not distract from your walk with Christ at all, but it might be an upset to others.

What will happen is that the weaker brother will copy you – not out of revelation but because you are the pastor – and as they copy you they will sin against their own conscience. They haven’t been persuaded from the Word, they are just copying you, and that’s not enough to resist guilt and condemnation after doing it.

You are strong enough to step over this issue, but they stumble over it and fall. Romans 14.23 says if you eat doubting, you will be condemned as you eat. They will go away feeling guilty for what they did and their fellowship with God will be damaged, and it is on you as the pastor for causing them to stumble. Do not do that!

Just for the Pastors 17: Base It All on Jesus!

Everything you do should be based on Jesus. Want to start an outreach ministry? Go and sit down and read the gospels and look at how Jesus did it. Want to operate in signs and wonders? Go and sit down and read the gospels and look at how Jesus did it. Want to gather a crowd? Go and sit down and read the gospels and look at how Jesus did it. Need to deal with someone in your church having problems? Go and sit down and read the gospels and look at how Jesus did it. Dealing with sickness? Go and sit down and read the gospels and look at how Jesus did it. Dealing with someone who has a demon? Go and sit down and read the gospels and look at how Jesus did it.

Just for the Pastors 16: Shepherds Don’t Go Out Drinking with the Sheep

When I was a youth pastor, I was leading a youth camp with my wife, and we found out one of the young teenage girls was self-harming. We called her parents and they took her home. She was livid at us and screamed at us “I thought you were supposed to be my friends”. I said “you have many friends, but we are your pastors”. Sometimes pastors try and be the friends of their church members, and it doesn’t always end well.

I am not saying be unfriendly, I am not saying hide yourself away, fly in and preach and fly out. There is a ditch on both sides of the road here – you are supposed to be the pastor, you are supposed to command some honour and respect, but you are not supposed to be nasty, mean, selfish and foolish. You do not say “you better respect me or else” – but you live in a way that brings respect. People in your church have loads of friends, but you are the one who feeds them, teaches them, preaches to them, brings life and power and the gifts to them, ministers to them, equips them, lifts them, and pastors them.

You cannot go around everyone’s house just to have dinner with them or a nice cup of tea. It does not work – they will sit there and tell you everything wrong with you, your wife and the whole church. They will tell you all the things you should be doing. There is a distance that needs maintained.

You know the pastor does not have to stand around after church and shake everyone’s hand. Let me tell you a secret – no one at the end of the church wants to shake your hand and say thank you for that awesome, wonderful, glorious message. They want to go home and eat their lunch The people who will queue to meet you on Sunday are much more likely to preach to you than thank you for preaching to them.

Of course as a pastor, you fellowship with your congregation, you bless them – but your ministry is not measured by how well you visit people and have tea with them, it is measured by how well you preach, teach and equip them to minister. It is measured by the good food you feed them.

I have noticed the ones that want your one-to-one time the most are the people who are not with the church programme. They are not regular in attendance, they are not at the conferences, they are not in small groups, they do not tithe, they turn up late, they don’t listen during the sermon, they are simply not involved. They mistakenly see the role of the pastor as their friend, as someone to get in the pit with them and feel sorry for them. I have had people expect me to find them a job, stop them feeling lonely, even fix their washing machine. But these people are the same people who will not allow me to teach them how win in life, will miss church because they are tired, and “don’t do small groups” as if that dismisses everything.

We need to ensure that we do not let the people determine our job description, we have to let the Word determine that, and our job is not dress up as a sheep and make them like us, our job is to lead people to green pastures and still waters, and prepare a feast for them in the presence of their enemies, and ensure their cup is running over. That’s what you do.

Just for the Pastors 15: God Before People

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.