A Man of God
This past Sunday TFC celebrated the ordination of one of our men into pastoral ministry. We did this as a church that is self-consciously and intentionally committed to the historic doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. We believe that the Os Guiness answer to the question, "Who are the called?" is the right one: "Everyone. Everywhere. In everything." Every believer is called to a sacred role in the kingdom of God no matter who they are, where they are, or what they are doing.
In addition, every believer has direct access to God in prayer and confession and praise, needing no human priest to mediate between him or her and God. With Jesus as our high Priest, we need no other priest at all. Or more precisely, we all become priests who can go directly into the Holy of Holies, the very presence of God.
That said, there really are those men whom God calls to be a "man of God." These are those whose calling is to be set apart for the ministry of the Word and prayer. They really are ministers of the New Covenant, heralds of the gospel, leaders and rulers in the Church. They are men who are qualified by the sanctifying work of the Spirit and enabled by the gifting work of the Spirit to shepherd the flock of God over which the Holy Spirit has made them overseers. They are equippers of the saints, and defenders of the flock.
They are men of God who have a divine call on their lives to lay down their lives for the sheep entrusted to them.
Friends, pray for your pastors. Pray for their faithfulness and fruitfulness. Pray for their souls and families. Pray for their biblical fidelity and courage of speech. Pray for their joy and perseverance. Pray for them often that their labors would be blessed and their lives would be blameless.
And pray that with such a harvest ready to be brought in, God might send forth many more such men to gather in the fruit for the glory of His Name.
For the sake of this church I am grateful beyond words for the men of God we have: Tim, and Steve, and now Scott. I'm also thankful that more are making ready for this needed and noble work.
What a gift to the church!
In addition, every believer has direct access to God in prayer and confession and praise, needing no human priest to mediate between him or her and God. With Jesus as our high Priest, we need no other priest at all. Or more precisely, we all become priests who can go directly into the Holy of Holies, the very presence of God.
That said, there really are those men whom God calls to be a "man of God." These are those whose calling is to be set apart for the ministry of the Word and prayer. They really are ministers of the New Covenant, heralds of the gospel, leaders and rulers in the Church. They are men who are qualified by the sanctifying work of the Spirit and enabled by the gifting work of the Spirit to shepherd the flock of God over which the Holy Spirit has made them overseers. They are equippers of the saints, and defenders of the flock.
They are men of God who have a divine call on their lives to lay down their lives for the sheep entrusted to them.
Friends, pray for your pastors. Pray for their faithfulness and fruitfulness. Pray for their souls and families. Pray for their biblical fidelity and courage of speech. Pray for their joy and perseverance. Pray for them often that their labors would be blessed and their lives would be blameless.
And pray that with such a harvest ready to be brought in, God might send forth many more such men to gather in the fruit for the glory of His Name.
For the sake of this church I am grateful beyond words for the men of God we have: Tim, and Steve, and now Scott. I'm also thankful that more are making ready for this needed and noble work.
What a gift to the church!
Labels: Calling, Ordination, Pastoral ministry
posted by Tim Shorey at
12:30 AM
2 Comments:
Sunday was a wonderful day! I'm happy for Pastor Scott, for the pastoral team, and for the whole church. God is at work among us!
Amen, God is building his church and it shall prevail upon the gates of hell. Plucking men as it were, from the very flames. It is God's intention to continue his work of showing free grace to sinners, turning them, that they might be truly turned. What a gracious God we serve. And now he has given us a new voice of authority among us. A new shepherd to lead us into green pastures. A new compassionate helper. A new teacher and preacher. He has also given our Pastors a new Pastor. I celebrate with all of us in the goodness of our God to his people.
We, as a church, have an embarassment of riches in terms of godly, humble leaders. Now I encourage us all to remember the biblical axiom, "to whom much is given, much shall be required". What should our corporate response to God be in light of his abundance to us? I suggest that it begins with Tim's blog post today.
My thoughts......
JR
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