The Blessing Of A Pastor - Rev. Michael McGuire

unto the edifying of itself and love and verse 1 says and he gave some pastors and so I'm going to talk to you tonight on this thought the blessing of a pastor the blessing of a pastor you may be seated so pastors are in this in this portion of scripture are set to are for the perfecting or the equipping of the saints that they may do the work of the ministry that the body of Christ might be edified first off in this portion of scripture it says that he gave he gave so you could say that a pastor is a gift that God gave one of the things that determines the great value or holding a gift and great esteem would be the one who is giving it to you that's one of the things if a random man walks up to a lady that he does not know and he gives her an engagement ring uh it probably isn't held to the highest esteem or um greatest value to her I guess that depends on if the diamonds are real then then you might hold it to a great esteem but if a a man who um completes the answer to this woman's prayers to God someone who she has been dating and she's fallen in love with and and she knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that that he loves her in return and and they've shared these intimate desires and visions and thoughts and and what they want to do in the ministry together and they they've seriously discussed marriage and uh that she wants to spend the rest of her life with him and if if he came with that wedding ring as a covenant and a token of the promise that he's about to make her that gift I think that that gift will probably have greater value and that gift will be held to a higher esteem because of the Gift Giver God gave the church a pastor a precious gift the church didn't give itself this gift the church didn't give itself a pastor no the one who loves us the one who knew us before we were born the one who died for us the one who who loves us more than any any other he saw fit to bless his church and gift his church with a pastor a Shepherd that follows his lead are you thankful for that today the ministry of a pastor is one of the fivefold Ministries gifts to the church and the Hebrew word ra which is translated Pastor or pastors and the Book of Jeremiah is also translated Shepherd herdsmen keeper elsewhere in the Old Testament there's also a Greek word in Ephesians that's translated pastors it's also translated Shepherds elsewhere in the New Testament these words show that a pastor is a Shepherd one who tends or herds flocks that is feeding and guiding and supervising them and we know that throughout the Bible this this concept of shepherding is all throughout the Bible as with all Ministries Jesus Christ is a pastor's Supreme example John 10 says he is the Good Shepherd John 13 Hebrews 13 20 says he's the great Shepherd first Peter 5 and 4 says he's the chief Shepherd first Peter 2 and 25 says he's the shepherd and the bishop of our souls Psalm 23 says the Lord is my shepherd Jesus is the great Shepherd he is the is The Shepherd of all the Sheep but Jesus has given the body of Christ under Shepherds a pastor is an Under Shepherd a pastor as a shepherd of God's sheep in this local body this is what I love about a pastor he is called of God and equipped of God to Shepherd and to Pastor a flock in John 10 Jesus is a patterned Shepherd for pastors to emulate and I'm going to read this it's a lengthy portion it should be on the screen John 10 and 1.

verily verily I say unto you he that entereth not by the door and to the sheep hold but climeth up some other way the same as a thief and a robber but he that entereth in by the door is The Shepherd of the sheep to him the Porter openeth and the sheep hear his voice and he called his own Sheep by name and leadeth them out and when he put forth his own sheep he goeth before them and the Sheep follow him for they know his voice and a stranger they will not follow but they will flee from him for they know not the voice of strangers this Parable Jesus spake unto them but they understood not what things which were he's spaking to them verse 7 then said Jesus unto them again verily verily I say unto you I am the door of the Sheep I am the door by me if any man enter in he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture the thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and destroy Jesus said I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly I am the Good Shepherd the Good Shepherd giveth his life for the Sheep but he that is in hireling and not the shepherd whose own the Sheep are not seeth the wolf coming and he leaveth the sheep and fleeth and the Wolf catcheth them and scattereth the Sheep the hireling fleith because he is in hiring and careth not for the Sheep I am the Good Shepherd he said and I know my sheep and am known of mine as the father knoweth me even so I know the father and I lay down my life for the sheep and other sheep I have which are not of this fold them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one fold and one Shepherd and John chapter 9 the previous chapter before this portion of scripture we wrote G we we read Jesus had healed a blind man that had that was born blind from his mother's womb and he healed him at the Feast of lights and because of his testimony this man had been excommunicated from the Jewish Sheepfold cast out by false Shepherds now Jesus the Good Shepherd comes and brings him into his fold and then John 10 arises out of this this background and why Jesus is talking about the shepherd Jesus is the Good Shepherd who gives his life for the Sheep all other shepherds in the Bible as we talked about earlier are under Shepherds that pointed to the shepherd under Shepherds who point to the shepherd the Israelites were God's sheep but Jesus spoke of other sheep that would come into the flock the Sheepfold would still be one fold but these are Gentiles added to the church and these are others others is what we call them around here that will be added to the flock this church wasn't meant just to stay this size with this amount of people but we are to welcome other sheep into this fold and The Under Shepherd is welcome welcoming them into this fold there are several enemies of the sheep mentioned in John chapter 10 that we just read in verse 5 it talks about the stranger whose voice the Sheep do not recognize so they wander away verse 1 9-10 it talks about the thief who steals from the flock by craftiness 1 9-10 also talks about the robber who steals from the flock by violent force and then there is the hireling in verse 12 and 13 who leads the flock only for pay and flees when the wolf comes he's not in it for the Sheep the hireling isn't in it for the flock he's there to get his paycheck and then if something bad happens he's out of here and then it talks about the fifth one and verse 12 and 13 The Wolf who devours and scatters the flock talking about the wolf did you know that the phrase a wolf and sheep's clothing originally came from the lips of Jesus in Matthew chapter 7 and verse 15 it says beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ravening wolves pastors Shepherds guard against the enemy of the Sheep true pastors Shepherds will defend against the attack of the adversary the thief the robber and the Wolf seek to do harm to the flock they purpose to steal from the flock to scatter or cause disunity and Division and when there is no Unity and when there is no unity and when there is division the Sheep are easy targets for the wolf the enemy and he is able to devour when there is no Unity so nothing more would that wolf like to do to come in and start stirring some things up in the church but the pastor the shepherd is looking for that and watching for that so that doesn't happen in a local church that's why the pastor will step in and guard against that division for the safety of the entire flock there is a lot of responsibility on a pastor the pastor the shepherd works for the chief Shepherd now I wrote a job description for you Pastor Brad here I don't know maybe this is we'll add to it or I went down this list in all honesty I went down this list and I thought I I'm not nervous to speak this list because when I thought about that man of God I'll make every check on this box on this job description and I'll let you do the same or you can think about it come tell me don't tell him if you don't agree okay Mattel Bishop actually it'll set you straight all right pastoral Ministry is a shepherding Ministry and you can easily recognize a real Shepherd a pastor will be one whose voice the Sheep recognized through a spiritual sense aren't you thankful for a pastor that can speak to you in a spiritual sense a pastor will be sensitive to the Sheep sit where they sit and identify with them a pastor will call his Sheep by name having personal contact with them a pastor will lead the Sheep into fresh pastures of the word which he searches out check on all of these a pastor goes before the Sheep as a leader and they are happy to follow him they know he will not lead them astray because he leads by example an attitude word and lifestyle a pastor leads the sheep with love not with force or cruelty they naturally return this love a pastor is willing to lay down his life for the protection of the Sheep and let me tell you something if you want to get a pastor riled up watch someone or something start messing with the Sheep that Pastor isn't going to go for that because God has has placed this anointing in this calling on his life to Shepherd these people and when division or division tries to come in he's anointed he's the anointed man of God that sees it even before we see it and says no that's not going to happen the wolf is not going to come in and stir that up we're going to stand against that a pastor is willing to stay with the Sheep when he sees the wolf coming a pastor is always on alert for other sheep to bring them into the fold a PR a pastor recognizes that there is one fold and that his flock is just another part of that fold and a great example of this is when we have our pre-service meetings in there our pastor always leads us to pray for all of the surrounding churches around us why because it's not just about Apostolic Pentecostal church I'm thankful that we have this church but there are a lot of other churches that are doing the work of God that are part of this flock that God is blessing and so we pray for them on Sunday mornings thank you Pastor Brad for leading Us in that a pastor recognizes that the Sheep are not his but they belong to the chief Shepherd a pastor ministers healing to the flock seeking out the lost and binding up the broken a pastor uses the rod correction and the staff direction to lead his sheep and I'll say that my former Pastor I've experienced both the rod and the staff I thank God for it thank you Bishop a pastor protects the sheep from their enemies a pastor will be opposed by false Shepherds and the Sheep will have to discern the truth thank you Pastor Brad for checking every one of those boxes and every one of those listen those lists just add responsibilities before God so the sheep have certain responsibilities also sheep must recognize their need of a Shepherd who is God appointed and God anointed there is a saying that stuck with me and I'm sure that many of you have heard this saying it says some people desire a pastor and others are just looking or want or settle with a preacher someone a pastor and someone a preacher a preacher preaches the word of God to them but there is no submission to his authority here's the difference the problem is when there is no submission you lose the benefit of the submission of the shepherd the protection and the leading if we're not submitted to the man of God to the pastor to the shepherd then then we lose all the benefits that's that's flowing down from him to the Sheep a pastor preaches the word also but the Sheep follow him because the Bible says they know his voice they trust his voice they submit to his Spiritual Authority and therefore they have all the benefits of the shepherd and his god-given role so talking about the Sheep's responsibilities they must recognize their need of a Shepherd that is God anointed and got appointed they must recognize their need of a Sheepfold a local congregation the word translated fold in scripture means hedged or fence Place pasture lamb home restrained Place we've got to have each other and we've got to have this place called The Church sheep must learn to obey the shepherd's voice and to flee from strange voices and I'll put this in here be careful who you let speak into your life and into your spirit I'll walk a little farther here if it goes against the man of God that he's placed in your life you better flee and run from it be careful who you let speak into your life she must be willing to follow Shepherd as he follows the chief Shepherd sheep must learn to graze with the flock they must be able to come together in unity you know what the greatest igniter of of the fire of Revival is I believe that it's Unity when we're working together when we're getting along when we're doing the work of God and there's no division so I guess you could flip that around and say do you know what the what stops Revival this Unity division people arguing and coming against each other our responsibility as sheep in the flock of the great Shepherd is to come along and get along together stand that we don't maybe not all have the same viewpoints we might not all have the same personalities thank God but we should still get along and we should still have one purpose and that's to lift up the King of Kings and the Lord of lords that's to serve him with everything that we have our heart our mind our soul and our strength and to do the work of God together I don't know why I'm stuck on this tonight hey don't fight with your brother or your sister we're in this thing together let's do the work of God together let's do ministry together let's live for God together she must always remember that they are different than another animal any other animal without a Shepherd they will wander astray and cannot find their way home we need a Shepherd speaking the word of God and keeping us on track God didn't just give the church the Sheep a pastor or a Shepherd because well that's a good idea he did it because it's a necessity the Bible says that where there is no vision the people perish God blessed and gifted this church with a pastor to lead them with the vision that he has for the church do you believe that will you thank God for that we've got a pastor that is leading us according to the vision that God has given him at the coming of the chief Shepherd All Nations will be gathered before him he will divide them as a Shepherd does the sheep and his goats goats in the Bible were characterized by their stench their stubbornness and basically worthlessness sheep on the other hand were valuable for their milk and their wool and their skin and their sacrifice in the temple and I thought about this none of you preachers steal this but I'm going to preach are you a goat or a sheep one of these days are you a goat or a sheep Amber don't think don't think about it you know the five foolish virgins the unprofitable servant and goats in Matthew 25 are not unsaved because they did not know but because they did not heed they did not listen they did not follow we need a Shepherd that we can follow and that can lead we need to be submitted and follow his voice and here's Bible you ready for Bible Hebrews chapter 13 and 17 obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you obedience and submission is very important to God Genesis chapter 46 and verse 33 says and it shall come to pass when Pharaoh shall call you and shall say what is your occupation that ye shall say the servant's trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now both we and also our fathers that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen this is what I want to look at for every Shepherd is an Abomination unto the Egyptians now I I searched that out and studied that out I'm not going to go into all of that but I do think that it's interesting to note that the shepherding Ministry was an Abomination to the Egyptians just like the Pastoral Ministry is offensive to a Godless world today if you go and you talk to somebody that doesn't go to church that isn't involved in church and you tell them that there is a pastor at your local church and you are submitted to him and you are obedient to him because you trust him as the man of God in your life maybe not everyone but I imagine a good amount of those people will look at you and go you are nuts you are crazy what do you mean you're submitted to to a man I think one of the reasons is is we as human beings have this inside of us where where we like to be the head honcho we like to be in charge we like to call the shots we want to decide what path we're going to take and we want to be in charge of our own destiny but when we are a part of the flock of Jesus Christ we are sheep and there is a shepherd and we listen to his voice as he leads the Sheep I don't know about you but I want to be submitted to the man of God in my life as I taught several weeks ago and I taught this to the youth last week it is God's plan for his people to be submitted to the authority that he has placed in our lives this is how I've thought of uh the concept of submission more recently God never planned for us to walk this life alone or without help yes he's the Good Shepherd and yes we follow him and yes we do hear his voice and we do follow him as sheep we do that the Good Shepherd but he has placed a Shepherd Under Shepherd a a pastor in our life to help guide us down the right path when we have that leader in our life to affirm our decisions and to give direction it gives us extra confidence that we are headed in the right direction probably earlier in my years this that word submission and I still think it's kind of a tone or a word that people don't really like that word submission because it seems like well they're Superior and and they're an authority over me and and they're going to tell me what to do I'm not looking at submission that way anymore submission is God's plan and when we are submitted the man of God comes along or woman of God comes along in our life and helps us and guides us so I want to be submitted to the man of God what a blessing and a gift that God has given the church called a pastor we have been blessed with great pastoral leadership at this church brother branding our founding Pastor was a man of God a Visionary he loved the sheep and and he would fight off the wolves I didn't know him personally of course but I was talking to Tim Brady this this week just this week and and he says that brother Branning was like a father to him but he was a pastor to him and he said and and I'll be he'll probably watch this tomorrow he's in bed right now I think but he said he said Michael and I could hear him it was on the phone and and he started crying tears started running down his eyes he said Michael he locked me in that closet because he loved me and I thought you know I thought about that for a minute you know I chuckled it but I've been thinking about that all week brother Brandon did that and instead of Tim Brady going I can't believe he did that I mean I wouldn't recommend doing that Pastor Brad the day and the age but I thought about that he could he could have been bitter about that he could have been mad about that he could have never talked to brother Branning I guess he could have stopped going to that church although his mom probably would have never let him do that but when he talked to me today or this week about that he said he did that because he loved me he felt love from that Pastor don't get any ideas brother Winfred black as part of the upci served the organization in various roles he he spoke at many national conferences Global Mission speaker even the president of Gateway College which we call Ocean college now he was on the upcis general board served as the district in many capacities children's ministry director youth president District secretary District district superintendent and he served as pastor of Apostolic Pentecostal church and from what I understand he was a lover of souls he loved people we were blessed with great leadership brother Lewis green served as pastor and I understand that he knew the word of God and taught the anointed word of God and then our Bishop pastured for 40 years and has been my pastor all of my life he's held many positions in our district and organization but Bishop I believe the most important position that you've held as pastor of Apostolic Pentecostal Church I feel that way anyways Bishop it appeared that you had a Clear Vision for this church and you led us and I am thankful for the job but that job isn't complete yet your job's not done yet you may not serve as pastor but your role as Bishop is still God appointed and God anointed and I'm thankful that our pastor has you to come alongside him and help him and we honor you tonight over the years it's been so refreshing to meet with men of God and talk about the direction that God is leading me personally they've stood by me and affirmed the direction that I have felt and after those meetings I have walked away and the word that I wrote down this week was safe when I walked away from those meetings with men of God I felt safe because I'm not leaning on my own understanding safe because I'm not relying on my own wisdom or my own Direction and my own feelings but men of God have come alongside to direct and Lead Me our pastor that is what he does he comes alongside us to lead and direct and to help us now there have also been times I've met with Bishop as he was my pastor for the last 35 years and he has had to fine-tune my direction this is for somebody here today there will be times in your life when your direction needs some fine tuning I implore you to be open and sensitive to the voice of God and the man of God that speaks into your life to help you the role of a Shepherd is not um I don't believe it's it's like someone ruling over us like a slave driver but as a safety net that gives Godly counsel to help direct and guide us I don't know I almost wasn't going to say this but it's out now I don't know that we will always agree 100 of the time because we're humans or it's Humanity I mean look at Paul and the Bible there was there was disagreements there I don't know that that you will always agree with every single thing but this is what I do know God will honor submission and obedience to the Shepherd that he has placed in your life it is easy to follow and submit to leadership in our life that are spiritual and for the last 40 years we've had a man of God that followed after the voice of God love the sheep that God placed in his care and he would fight off the enemy as a Good Shepherd would do and one thing that I will always come back to after meeting with him Bishop as he has a walk with God speaks to him he has been God anointed and God appointed and I thank God for you can we give our Bishop a hand I'm coming to a close if you'll play I told the youth this last week and I want to underline this tonight our pastor Pastor Brad Delong is God anointed and God appointed fellow peers ministers and pastors have asked me how our transition has gone and how the pastor is doing and maybe some of you have had that question too and this has been my reply Brad Delong is the man of God called by God to lead Apostolic Pentecostal Church I told the youth last week without a doubt in my mind he is the man that God has called to lead this church Pastor I stand behind you I support you you know when this I said earlier it's easy to follow and submit to leadership that is spiritual one of the main words that I think about when I think about Brad Delong that's that's a spiritual man all go on he prays he intercedes he loves this church in this flock he loves the future flock Souls that will make their way here and this short time as he served as Pastor he's walked through some valleys with me as a friend and as pastor now I've seen the hand of God on his life and without a doubt I know that he loves this church what I've saw is and I guess I've known this but what I've saw is that when God anoints and appoints the man of God there is a special anointing that comes upon him there is Godly wisdom and knowledge there is a a special connection I believe this there is a special connection to God God speaks to him about the flock and I am so thankful I am so thankful that God has given us the gift and the blessing of a pastor if you agree with that would you stand to your feet would you lift your hands and would you thank God that he saw fit to give us a pastor Lord we thank you we thank you we know that there are many things that you could have done with your church but you have chose to give us a pastor you've chose to give us somebody that walks with you and talks with you to help lead and guide and give direction thank you God thank you God I'm ready to celebrate this weekend as he's installed as pastor of Apostolic Pentecostal church and there'll be celebration and there'll be prayer and a lot of different things that are going on one thing we know the Good Shepherd Chief Shepherd as all-knowing and he places the right pastor and the right shepherd with the right flock he appoints them and anoints them and we have seen in this church in our history that same thing happening and we've seen it in this present day what a blessing and what a gift God has given the church would you come up here Pastor Delong and and pastored along I don't know I know you're going to be getting a lot of prayer this week and weekend okay I don't want some of you men and women to come in here and we're going to have a great weekend but we're going to pray that God's anointing in his hand would be would you come now that God's anointing in his hand would be upon this couple our pastor and that he would use them and guide them direct them and bless them let's do that right now I know that there's an anointing and I pray that there would be a special anointing and a special blessing their lives God knowledge guidance and direction as they leave your church thank you God for your hand that's upon them I pray that you blessing upon them in the name of Jesus we pray we thank you God for what you're doing at this church let us Follow the Leader the Shepherd that you put the place we want to listen to your voice thank you foreign