EVERY NATION CHURCH BANGKOK PASTORS
Thank you for the privilege of letting me share with you today. I’ve only been here a few months and ENCB has definitely become my spiritual family. I’ve felt very welcome and at home here. I’ve also had the privilege of going to other Every Nation churches. Many of you know I also attend Grace Bangkok Church in the morning. And I’ve also visited Every Nation Church Macau. Last Easter Sunday I remember singing Mighty to Save at Fort Bonifacio Victory Christian Fellowship. I’m reminded we are church family as I ran into Joyce and Belle in Cambodia last week.
I am excited to be sharing with you today, but to be honest I also feel a little bit scared. Perhaps this story will give you a better idea of how I feel.
There was a wealthy Texas rancher who had a big party at his ranch. During the course of the party he brought all his guests out to his Olympic size swimming pool, where swimming around in the pool was a huge, man eating shark. The rich man went on to say, “To whoever can swim the length of the pool, and not get eaten by the shark, or course, I will give him the choice of 3 things. I will give him 1 million dollars in cash. Or I will give him the lovely hand of my daughter in marriage. Or I will give him my ranch.” No sooner had he finished speaking than he heard a splash at the other end of the pool. A man was swimming the length of the pool so fast, the shark didn’t even have time to notice. Taken aback by the man’s feat, the rancher helped him out of the pool. “That was amazing he said. Absolutely amazing. Would you like 1 million dollars in cash?” “No,” said the man, “I don’t want 1 million dollars in cash.” “Well would you like the hand of my daughter in marriage?” the rancher asked. “No sir,” he answered, “I don’t want to marry your daughter.” “Well that’s easy,” said the rancher. “You want my ranch.” “No,” said the man, “I don’t want your ranch.” Somewhat surprised by the man’s answers, the rancher finally asked him, “Well what is it you want?” The man replied, “I wanna know who pushed me in.”
I do feel like the man, but I am happy somebody pushed me in.
While we are doing the series, Spiritual Family, today is resurrection Sunday and I would be remiss not to say something about it. Let me share a verse with you.
1 Corinthians 15:14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
Let me put it this way. If there was no resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, there would be no reason for us to be here. Might as well tear down this sign with our mission statement. We might as well not even be here. Let’s all go to Pattaya.
But because Jesus rose from the dead, we have hope. I know many of us are still grieving the loss of our sister Aoy. But remember, when Jesus rose from the dead, He conquered our greatest enemy; death. If He can do that I think He can take care of our other problems.
Let me share with you an Easter greeting we often use in my country. I will say “He is risen.” I want you so say, “He is risen indeed.” Let’s try it.
He is risen.
He is risen indeed.
We have been doing the series, Spiritual Family. Today our message is on Pastors. What do you think of when you hear the word pastor? Let me give you some examples.
There was a young man who lived at home with his mother. One Sunday morning around 9AM he was still sleeping in bed. His mother finally told him he needs to get up. “Give me 3 reasons why I should get up,” he replied. “Well for one,” his mother answered, “today is Sunday and on Sunday we go to church. “Second,” she went on, church starts in 45 minutes. And third, you’re the pastor.”
What do you think a pastor is? And what does he do? Many pastors back in my country have been asked this question after their Sunday sermon. “What do you do with the rest of your time? I wish I had to work only 30 minutes a week.”
One well known writer said that, “Pastoring is one of the most difficult jobs in the world.” One of my seminary professors said that, “Being a pastor is one of the greatest privileges in life. To be there when someone is born into God’s family, standing by the bedside of a dying saint and praying with them, preaching a life changing sermon by God’s grace, it’s a blessing.”
We often hear this verse at EN so let’s look at it again for a minute.
Ephesians 4:11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,
12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
I’ve heard it said this way, a pastor is to marry, bury, preach, counsel, stuff envelopes, visit the sick, visit those in jail, evangelize and disciple. I know discipleship is big at EN.
Let me share with you 3 things a pastor needs to be and do. These did not originate with me, but I like them.
First a pastor needs to love God. Let’s look at Matthew 22:36-38.
Matthew 22:36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
37 Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' {37 Deut. 6:5}
38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
In this passage Jesus quotes from the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 6:5. Jesus was asked, what is the greatest commandment? The answer is, to be obedient to God in every aspect of your life.
Let me give you my translation of that verse, “Love Him with all you got.” Look at your neighbor and say, “Love Him with all you got.”
Now this might sound very simple, but it is easier to love other things more than God. For example, at pastors conferences I often hear pastors talk about how God is blessing their ministry. Now that’s great to hear, but often what happens is they end up loving their ministry more than God. It’s easy to do this especially if God is blessing. So a pastor needs to love God.
Second, He needs to love God’s word. I’ll share 2 Timothy 4:1-5.
2 Timothy 4:1 ¶ In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage-- with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
I know there’s a lot here. I don’t expect you to know everything that is here. But I do want us to understand the context of this verse and I’ll give you one thing to remember, and that is preach the word. A pastor needs to preach the word. Look at your neighbor and say, “Preach the word.” That is the motto of Dallas Theological Seminary. The church needs to be taught God’s word. Do you want to hear a word from God? The pastor needs to love God’s word. Preaching is a priority. Now that is not done in many places.
When I lived in Houston, Texas several years ago, I remember calling my pastor one morning. His secretary said he is having his devotions in the morning, and he does not take phone calls unless it is an emergency. I later found that he read through the whole Bible every month. Have you ever read through the whole Bible before? It paid off for this pastor. I never knew anyone else who knew the word of God better than he did. Every time you talked to him he would always take you back to God’s word. A pastor needs to love God’s word.
And last, but not least, a pastor needs to love God’s people. Let’s look at 1 Peter 5:1-4.
1 Peter 5:1 ¶ To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ's sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2 Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers-- not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.
You all know who Peter was? He was the one who denied his Lord. But he repented, and was put back into service. He became one of the pillars of the church. Once again I know there’s a lot here, but let me tell you what to remember; a pastor needs to shepherd’s God’s people. Look at your neighbor and say “shepherd God’s people.” A pastor needs to love God’s people. If he doesn’t the church will wither and die.
I am very thankful for the education I got at Dallas Theological Seminary. I learned a lot. I took 3 years of Greek, 2 years of Hebrew, I studied every book in the Bible, I had theology and courses on preaching and pastoral theology.
I am not proud of what I am about to tell you. But this is what you hear about most Dallas Seminary graduates. “He’s an excellent Bible expositor, but he’s not good with his people. He’s never here for us. He wants to study more than anything else.”
Most pastors think that’s their ministry; to study and preach. Aren’t you glad Pastor Jonas is not that kind of a pastor? He cares for us; that’s obvious. I think it’s safe to say, he is praying for us right now. I hope he’s praying especially with me being up here.
You might have heard this said; people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. A pastor who does not love his people should not be a pastor. If you’re thinking of being a pastor but don’t love your people you should not be a pastor. You’ll be frustrated with people always coming to you, and they’ll be frustrated because all you want to do is study. They’ll sense you don’t care for them.
You’ve heard of Rick Warren; he wrote The Purpose Driven Life. Warren says, “Don’t call yourself a pastor if all you do is study and speak. Pastoring is caring for and shepherding people one on one.
I am so thankful for the pastors God has brought in my life. When I became a Christian, I had lots of questions. I didn’t trust God. My pastor took me through the book of Philippians. Do you remember where Paul was when he wrote Philippians? He was in a prison cell.
I think of a former pastor when I was in seminary. For those of you who don’t know, I was raised Jewish. Jews do not believe in Jesus as the Messiah, so it was quite a shock when I believed in Jesus. But at least my family was supportive of me when I made the decision to go to seminary.
Mom had been to church with me on several occasions like our Christmas Eve service. So she had met my pastor and many of my friends. She was facing some very serious back surgery. I had talked with my pastor about this, but he did agree to come to the hospital and visit her before the surgery. This was on a Monday which is usually his day off; he goes and plays golf. He came to the hospital and read to her from Psalm 34 and he encouraged her to put her trust in the Lord; not only for her surgery, but also as her Saviour. Then he prayed for her.
Mom was very touched by that. After he left she told me how much that meant to her. She said the rabbis never come and do that.
I later joined another church. This church has over 5000 members. I remember when I was in town last year I dropped by my church after arriving in Dallas and went by my pastor’s office. He offered to buy me lunch the next day. I appreciate his taking the time out just for me. Oh yes, he has cancer.
What can we do for our pastor? 2 things. Let’s pray for Pastor Jonas. He prays for us, let’s do the same thing for him. And let’s encourage him. Think of some ways you can encourage him. For example, soon after I came here he asked me to sit on the front row. For whatever reason he asked me to sit on the front row. During the week of Prayer and Fasting, I learned how to work the PowerPoint. I liked doing it, and I offered to help do it on Sunday nights. I remember the first Sunday after Prayer and Fasting I was going to do it that night, but Pastor Jonas said, “I need you on the front row.” So I am happy to be on the front row to encourage him. Sorry Badette. And you can do it Irma.
These are just some things that come to mind when I think of a pastor. If you want to be a pastor someday ask yourself these questions. Do you love God? Do you love His word? And do you love His people? And let’s pray for and encourage our pastor. It will really help our spiritual family grow. Let’s pray.
He is risen.
He is risen indeed.
