GOD EXPECTS PASTORS TO FEED THEMSELVES & THEIR PEOPLE
(This blog is a word-for-word transcript of the first session in all my pastors’ conferences in India. In the first blog we say God expects pastors to use their own unique spiritual gifts and not try to be like other pastors. This is blog 2 in this series.)
- FEED YOURSELVES AND YOUR PEOPLE. God expects us to feed ourselves and then feed our people. If we are to grow spiritually we need to know His word. How many of you ate food today? How many of you ate food yesterday? And the day before that? Two or three times each day? Why do you each so often? What if you wouldn’t eat? Your body needs nourishment to be strong and healthy. Your spirit needs nourishment to be strong and healthy as well. What does God give us to nourish our spirit? His Bible!
Do you read your Bible every day? As pastors God expects us to know His Bible. It teaches us to know Him better and grow spiritually. It shows us how He wants us to lead our people. It is very important for us to nourish our spirit. The Bible is our tool. Men who work have tools. Farmers have tools, doctors have tools, carpenters have tools. The better a man can use his tools the better he can do his work. The better we know God’s Word the better we can pastor. We learn the Bible to feed our spirit and we use it to feed our people.
One of the most important things a shepherd does is to make sure the sheep have good food and water. If they don’t have these what happens to the sheep? They need to be fed to produce wool and more sheep. Making sure they are fed is a very important part of a shepherd’s job. Are your people growing and reproducing other sheep? God expects us to feed his sheep. When Jesus talked to Peter after His resurrection He told him something 3 times. What did He tell Peter? “Feed my sheep.” Three times He told him that because it was that important. If we want to hear God say “Well done good and faithful servant” we must feed His sheep.
Feeding the sheep means to teach them God’s Word. Some pastors are so busy during the week they don’t take time to prepare a sermon. They get up on Sunday and read a few Bible verses. Then they close their Bible and talk to the people. They tell the people the same thing they have already told them before. The people only hear their words, not words from the Bible. Is that feeding the sheep?
How many of you have a wife who is a good cook? She makes food you like to eat? What if you came home hungry and wanted to eat, but she didn’t make any food? What if she tells you she has been busy and didn’t have time to make food. But here is some old food from yesterday, you can eat it. Then the next meal she does the same thing, and the meal after that. Would you like that? Why not? That’s not a good way to feed you, is it? Is that the way you feed your people? You give them the same old thing without preparing something new? They won’t like that anymore than you do, and they won’t grow.
You need to feed them like you want your wife to feed you. She plans ahead what she is going to make for you. She puts in a lot of work so it is fresh and nourishing. She makes it so it tastes good and gives you good health. That’s what you need to do when you feed your people. When Paul preached he would take a passage of scripture and explain it to the people. Then he would apply it to their needs. Ezra did the same thing.
You need to start early in the week to prepare your sermon. Pick a book you would like to teach the people and start studying it. Read the first verse and think about it. Pray and ask God to help you understand what it means. You can look up references in your Bible or use a commentary. Write down what He is teaching you. Then pray and ask God to show you how this applies to your life. Write that down as well. When you are done with one verse go on to the next verse and do the same thing. Then when Sunday comes you use your notes to teach the people what the first verse means. You tell them how it applies to them. You can use stories or examples from the Bible or life to explain it. Then you do the same with the next verse. Don’t do too many verses in a sermon. It is better to do a few verses well than try to do too many. The next Sunday you do the same thing with the next verses. In this way they will be learning God’s Word. You will be teaching God’s words, not just your words. The people will learn new things, not just the same thing over and over. It will give them something to think about and practice during the week. They will grow spiritually.
When you do this you will be feeding your people. They will grow and become more like Jesus. You must teach them what the Bible says about sin and salvation. We need to know God’s Word to protect our sheep from false teaching. Some will say you have to do certain things to earn salvation, or to keep your salvation. But we know salvation is just by grace. Others say if you have enough faith God will give you all the money you want or heal everyone. But the Bible doesn’t say any of those things. You must know God’s word so you can protect your people. You need to protect your people from sin also. We need to warn them in love when we see in happening.
God expects pastors to feed their sheep. This is a very important responsibility God gives to us. Every church must train and disciple the people who come. Knowing God’s Word is the only way have victory over sin and Satan. It is the only way people can grow in their faith.
Now these things I am giving you to do take more time. Learning the Bible and preparing sermons takes time. Praying and spending time with God takes time. Pastors are very busy, so where do we get time to do these things? God gives us 7 days in a week, 24 hours in a day. He doesn’t give us 25 hours of things to do in 24 hours. He doesn’t give us more to do in a day than He gives us time to do it. If we don’t have enough time to do the things God expects, we must be doing things He doesn’t expect. Let’s talk about what some of those things are next. (Continued in the next blog)
2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.
How much time do you put into Bible study and sermon preparation each week?
Are you satisfied with your understanding of the Bible and the sermons you preach? What can you do to improve?
cto Rev. Dr. JERRY SCHMOYER
Christian Training Organization
Jerry@ChristianTrainingOrganization.org
(India Outreach, Spiritual Warfare, Family Ministries, Counseling)
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