The short answer is that it identifies only two offices and categorically limits the pastoral office to qualified men. The basis of this limitation is not arbitrary but based on God’s design as it is revealed in Scripture.
Discerning God’s call is often a difficult, and prayer-filled, endeavor.
Credit for the success of any church plant is a zero-sum game.
If you pastor for long, you’re going to doubt your calling. Don’t waste this opportunity for maturity. Let it drive you to your knees.
If we’re honest, every Christian would rather have a faithful preacher who occasionally mumbles words and gets lost in his notes than a shallow, captivating one.
And like Paul, you may fervently and repeatedly pray for removal from your circumstances, but God will not change them due to a larger—and infinitely more glorious plan—that you do not see.
God’s servants will suffer, but he will not let them go. He is demonstrating his awesome power through their astonishing powerlessness.
It is painful to watch shepherds fleece the flock they are leading, and so what follows is written with an eye to those churches who may be suffering from the effects of a narcissistic pastor.
The orality of preaching makes it a more powerful medium than writing.
How easily younger ministers can assume that newer is better. Yet younger pastors need the perspective of those who’ve gone before us.
Scripture certainly gives warrant to have heroes, to study and emulate men and women of the faith whose lives are so marked by humble, courageous Christ-honoring character and grace-enabled skill in living the Christian life.
This pursuit of silence takes the care of your soul to another level, for it exposes how much you need noise, people, busyness, and distraction.
I seriously doubt that I will ever see someone else complete the exposition of the New Testament in such a thorough way to one local church ever again. But I hope you’d consider making it your goal.
Who will pastor the pastors? Who helps the pastors maintain steadiness in walking with Christ? Who sharpens them when dulled? Who cares for them when hurting?
Aaron’s book is one of those rare books that bears revisiting. Why? Because as a pastor—as a Christian—I need to be reminded that fruit-bearing is not optional; it’s at the heart of maturity and growth as a minister of the gospel.
There is far more at stake with the issue of self-promotion than whether you should use postcards or social media to tell people about your ministry. A heart bent on self-promotion will keep a person from believing in Jesus for salvation.
Ministry is plodding. Sometimes it’s falling forward. Sometimes your feet feel so heavy, you don’t think you can go another step. You just keep putting one foot in front of the other.
It’s tempting to think God, who created all things so quickly, might lead us through tribulation with greater haste. But he doesn’t. God tends to work slowly, then and now.
