Mes: mayo 2016

  • Conferencia Familiar 2015 | Reseña biográfica de Isaac Backus I

    [two_third last=»yes» spacing=»yes» center_content=»no» hide_on_mobile=»no» background_color=»» background_image=»» background_repeat=»no-repeat» background_position=»left top» hover_type=»none» link=»» border_position=»all» border_size=»0px» border_color=»» border_style=»» padding=»» margin_top=»» margin_bottom=»» animation_type=»» animation_direction=»» animation_speed=»0.1″ animation_offset=»» class=»» id=»»][fusion_text]Reseña biográfica de Isaac Backus I[/fusion_text][separator style_type=»none» top_margin=»» bottom_margin=»» sep_color=»» border_size=»» icon=»» icon_circle=»» icon_circle_color=»» width=»» alignment=»» class=»» id=»»][accordian divider_line=»» class=»» id=»»][toggle title=»Vídeo» open=»no»][/toggle][toggle title=»Audio» open=»no»]

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  • 2015 Family Conference | Anxiety IV

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  • 2015 Family Conference | Anxiety III

    [two_third last=»yes» spacing=»yes» center_content=»no» hide_on_mobile=»no» background_color=»» background_image=»» background_repeat=»no-repeat» background_position=»left top» hover_type=»none» link=»» border_position=»all» border_size=»0px» border_color=»» border_style=»» padding=»» margin_top=»» margin_bottom=»» animation_type=»» animation_direction=»» animation_speed=»0.1″ animation_offset=»» class=»» id=»»][fusion_text]Anxiety III[/fusion_text][separator style_type=»none» top_margin=»» bottom_margin=»» sep_color=»» border_size=»» icon=»» icon_circle=»» icon_circle_color=»» width=»» alignment=»» class=»» id=»»][accordian divider_line=»» class=»» id=»»][toggle title=»Video» open=»no»][/toggle][toggle title=»Audio» open=»no»]

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  • 2015 Family Conference | Anxiety II

    [two_third last=»yes» spacing=»yes» center_content=»no» hide_on_mobile=»no» background_color=»» background_image=»» background_repeat=»no-repeat» background_position=»left top» hover_type=»none» link=»» border_position=»all» border_size=»0px» border_color=»» border_style=»» padding=»» margin_top=»» margin_bottom=»» animation_type=»» animation_direction=»» animation_speed=»0.1″ animation_offset=»» class=»» id=»»][fusion_text]Anxiety II[/fusion_text][separator style_type=»none» top_margin=»» bottom_margin=»» sep_color=»» border_size=»» icon=»» icon_circle=»» icon_circle_color=»» width=»» alignment=»» class=»» id=»»][accordian divider_line=»» class=»» id=»»][toggle title=»Video» open=»no»][/toggle][toggle title=»Audio» open=»no»]

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  • 2015 Family Conference | Anxiety I

    [two_third last=»no» spacing=»yes» center_content=»no» hide_on_mobile=»no» background_color=»» background_image=»» background_repeat=»no-repeat» background_position=»left top» hover_type=»none» link=»» border_position=»all» border_size=»0px» border_color=»» border_style=»» padding=»» margin_top=»» margin_bottom=»» animation_type=»» animation_direction=»» animation_speed=»0.1″ animation_offset=»» class=»» id=»»][fusion_text]Anxiety I[/fusion_text][separator style_type=»none» top_margin=»» bottom_margin=»» sep_color=»» border_size=»» icon=»» icon_circle=»» icon_circle_color=»» width=»» alignment=»» class=»» id=»»][accordian divider_line=»» class=»» id=»»][toggle title=»Video» open=»no»][/toggle][toggle title=»Audio» open=»no»]

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  • 2015 Family Conference | Guard Your Heart

    [two_third last=»yes» spacing=»yes» center_content=»no» hide_on_mobile=»no» background_color=»» background_image=»» background_repeat=»no-repeat» background_position=»left top» hover_type=»none» link=»» border_position=»all» border_size=»0px» border_color=»» border_style=»» padding=»» margin_top=»» margin_bottom=»» animation_type=»» animation_direction=»» animation_speed=»0.1″ animation_offset=»» class=»» id=»»][fusion_text]Guard Your Heart [/fusion_text][separator style_type=»none» top_margin=»» bottom_margin=»» sep_color=»» border_size=»» icon=»» icon_circle=»» icon_circle_color=»» width=»» alignment=»» class=»» id=»»][accordian divider_line=»» class=»» id=»»][toggle title=»Video» open=»no»][/toggle][toggle title=»Audio» open=»no»]

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  • 2015 Family Conference | Marital Love in the Midst of Suffering

    [two_third last=»yes» spacing=»yes» center_content=»no» hide_on_mobile=»no» background_color=»» background_image=»» background_repeat=»no-repeat» background_position=»left top» hover_type=»none» link=»» border_position=»all» border_size=»0px» border_color=»» border_style=»» padding=»» margin_top=»» margin_bottom=»» animation_type=»» animation_direction=»» animation_speed=»0.1″ animation_offset=»» class=»» id=»»][fusion_text]Marital Love in the Midst of Suffering[/fusion_text][separator style_type=»none» top_margin=»» bottom_margin=»» sep_color=»» border_size=»» icon=»» icon_circle=»» icon_circle_color=»» width=»» alignment=»» class=»» id=»»][accordian divider_line=»» class=»» id=»»][toggle title=»Video» open=»no»][/toggle][toggle title=»Audio» open=»no»]

    [dlaudio link=»https://www.conferenciapastoral.org/wp-content/uploads/Sermones/2015-08-Marital-love-in-the-midst-of-suffering-PBarker.mp3″]Download Audio[/dlaudio][/toggle][toggle title=»Texto» open=»no»]I bring greetings to you this morning, brethren, from Emmanuel Baptist Church in Coconut Creek, in Florida where my wife and I have been living for the past four or five years in retirement. (Pastor Piñero has brought me out of retirement this morning.)

    Thank you for your warm welcome and for inviting Mary and me to your family conference. We have many happy memories of family conferences with North Bergen, and we’re delighted to be back among you again this morning and honored to be invited to minister the Word of God to you today and during the conference.

    My subject has been given to me and here it is: marital love in the midst of suffering. I want to speak to you this morning in the Sunday School hour about suffering as married couples. I’m asking myself the question as I look upon you, how many of you have been married for ten or less years? Ten or less years? Only one—two, three, I’m sure there must be more than that. How many of you hope to be married soon? (Some honest men here, too.)

    My wife and I were married fifty-seven years ago and, surprisingly, in God’s kind providence, today is our wedding anniversary. So, today we’ve been married fifty-seven years, and it’s a joy to be able to celebrate it in your presence and to acknowledge God’s goodness to us over these many years.

    We emigrated to America twenty years after we were married (in England), and we had two daughters, Joy and Alison, who between them have blessed us with eight grandchildren; and now we are blessed with five great-grandchildren, but along with all these joyful events have come some trials and sufferings.

    Usually young married couples don’t think about suffering. In fact, the honey-moon hopefully lasts for quite a few years before they wake up to the reality that life is not all about a picnic.
    After fifty-seven years of marriage, I’ve come to realize that marriage is a kind of apprenticeship, a rich learning experience in which the trials of life play a significant part. In other words, marriage is a sanctifying blessing, a process in which we learn more and more about one another, but more especially about God’s dealings with us. In fact I’ve come to realize that life is all about a preparation for the life to come.

    Sometimes therein I think that after all we’ve been through, all we’ve learned about life, we just might be ready to start all over again and do it right, but starting over is not an option, I’m afraid.

    The truth is, you only get one shot at life and every minute counts, and so I hope this morning you will listen carefully as I take up the subject of marital love in the midst of suffering. I’ll be sharing with you some personal reflections by way of testimony along with some biblical perspectives on suffering.

    Now, Christians understand that monogamous marriage between a man and a woman was ordained by God and instituted as a creation ordinance.

    Read in your Bibles Genesis chapter 2 and verse 24, «Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wif,e and they shall become one flesh. These words come to us from the very beginning of creation when God made man and woman.»

    He made them to be husband and wife and they became one flesh. This, of course, was long before Moses was given the Ten Commandments by God and the New Testament testimony given to us by the apostle Paul speaks of marriage as a picture of the relationship between Christ and the church. So, it’s appropriate that we consider conjugal or marital love in connection with trials, difficulties and especially suffering.

    Now, why do I say that? Turn in your Bibles to Ephesians 5:28, «So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself,» and then, if you look up at verse twenty-five, «Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her.»

    Suffering is all about giving yourself up.

    These words that are spoken of concerning the Lord Jesus are very significant. Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.

    What does it mean to give yourself up for somebody? It means to suffer for them, to give your life for them. That’s just what Jesus did for His people, the church, and that is how husbands must understand their relationship to their wives, but notice that there’s suffering involved.

    Jesus suffered giving Himself up, suffering upon a cross for sinners like us, and so, we must think of marriage as something in which we give ourselves up, yes, even to suffering if needs be.
    Let me remind you of your wedding day, those of you here who are married. Let me speak to you wives, for example. Do you remember how the pastor asked you that all important question, will you love him, comfort him, honor him and keep him—and forsaking all others keep you only unto him so long as you both shall live, and you said?

    I will.

    It was a happy day, was it not? A day, a solemn day, but, a day for rejoicing as you made your vows to each other in the presence of Almighty God. You said words like this, «I take you to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, in sickness and in health, love and to cherish till death us do part.»

    Probably the last thing a young couple thinks of when they’re getting married is suffering, sickness, and death, and yet you did promise to love him and her both in sickness and in health.
    To those young married couples here this morning, I must tell you, sooner or later your love will be tested by sickness and suffering.

    I don’t want to be a party-pooper. I don’t want to put a downer on your happiness, but sooner or later you will experience some kind of suffering and you said, in sickness or in health, my promise stands.

    Many of you will be familiar with William Shakespeare. He said some interesting words and I want to recite them to you.

    «Love is not love,» he said, «which alters when it alteration finds, or bends with the remover to remove. Oh, no, it is an ever-fixed mark which looks on tempests and is never shaken.»

    The apostle Paul put it even more simply. When he wrote his letter to the Corinthians, he said, «Love bears all things. Love endures all things. Love never fails.»

    My wife and I made our vows to each other in August of 1958, possibly that was before some of you were even born. Thirty-nine years later, around the time of our fortieth wedding anniversary, she was diagnosed with cancer, Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, stage 2. We spent most of 1996 visiting hospitals for surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatment. It was for us a very, very difficult year. Every three weeks she would visit the clinic for another infusion of the chemo, and this would send her to her bed in sickness and in physical distress. She lost all her hair and had to wear a wig. At times I was so emotionally disturbed as I saw her suffering and thinking, «Will I lose my wife? Will she die?»

    I could hardly find words to pray, but I remember how one of the brethren, my good friend, came along side and asked me, «Brother, can I pray with you?» It meant so much to me, because I was finding it hard to pray.

    That was our first whirlwind of suffering. It was a whirlwind of suffering which we shared together. It’s hard, you know, to handle cancer alone, but together and by the grace of God we were brought through the storm; and we are so thankful to God that this morning we can be together still. Mary has been in remission ever since, and you were praying for her at the time.

    Three years ago, God brought another whirlwind of suffering into our lives. This time, it was my turn. A curious bone disease called Paget’s disease attacked my pelvis. At the same time, I sustained a fracture of the hip. By this time I was unable to walk and experiencing severe bodily pain due to the Paget’s disease, but the storm was not finished. The pain was so bad that I was unable even to get out of my bed. Mary was a wonderful help to me during this time, and once again we found the truth of God’s Word: two are better than one.

    Sleepless nights and the horrible side-effects of pain medication only added to the storm, but through it all, God never left me and various verses of the Scriptures strengthened me in the midst of my trial. Mary was always by my side helping me to dress each day and to get in and out of my Lazy-boy adjustable chair which is where I ate and slept for many months.

    Brethren from the church visited and prayed with me. By this time I could not even get into the car and go to church. At times I needed help even to stand up. I used a walking frame to get to the bathroom, and I watched the scales as I lost weight day by day. It was at this point that Mary began to wonder if she was soon to be a widow, and then the doctors discovered the other part of the storm. I had prostate cancer, stage four. It had metastasized throughout my bones. Was this to be the last straw that would end my life, I asked?

    There was no cure, no chemotherapy, no radiation treatment necessary: stage four eliminated all of those. The pain in my bones was excruciating, but a merciful God was at work hearing and answering prayer. The doctor’s prescribed hormone-suppression therapy using a small tablet to be taken by mouth daily, and, brethren, amazingly, within days the pain eased and soon was completely gone, and the storm ceased.

    God has been pleased to bless the prayers offered for me and the hormone suppression medication so that the cancer cells are no longer causing me bodily pain. I still have cancer. It’s still in stage four, but it is in check by the medication and by the grace of God.

    So, I’m able to stand before you this morning, and you’re all saying, well, you look perfectly healthy to me, but the truth of the matter is the man standing before you has cancer, stage four; and I only have one day at a time to live for His glory. I’m so glad to be with my friends at North Bergen this morning, and I tell you all this, brethren, not to gain your sympathy or to promote myself in any way, but to speak of how God brings His people through various trials to sanctify them.

    Suffering is part of life, and God’s purposes are to sanctify us through them, and He gives grace to bear the trials as He prepares us for heaven.

    Now, having shared with you some personal reflections, I want to consider with you some biblical perspectives on the trials of life.

    Job tells us that man is born of a woman, is few of days and full of trouble.

    Think of those words for a moment: man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. Job was a wise man, and we would be wise to heed his words. Moses could say, our lives are like the grass of the field, soon cut down (in Psalm 90). There’s a theme in the Bible, brethren, that I want you to notice, a theme that is so common and frequent that it almost defines the Christian life.

    Now, hear me well: there is in the Bible a theme that is so common that it almost defines the Christian life and it’s the theme of suffering.

    Think of Joseph: how he suffered at the hands of his brothers, and then at the hands of Potiphar his master, thrown into prison, suffering the loneliness of being falsely accused and imprisoned.

    Think of Job: suffering sickness and loss of property.

    Think of Stephen: suffering as he was stoned to death for his testimony to Jesus.

    Think of Paul: near beaten to death with rods five times, he received thirty-nine lashes of the whips. Three times he was shipwrecked, toil, hardships, hunger, sleepless nights—as you list them all, you realize, this man suffered—and of course, of course, our blessed Lord Himself suffered more than any man.

    Isaiah speaks of Him as the suffering servant, the Man of Sorrows who was wounded for our transgressions. No one suffered like our Lord.

    The theme of suffering, I say, is found everywhere in the Bible. Doubtless, I have no doubt that sitting here this morning there are not a few of you who can say, yes, Pastor, I am one of them, I am presently suffering.

    I want to suggest two things to you about suffering that I believe are biblical truths.

    Firstly, suffering is the result of sin, however—stay with me—however, when we suffer it is not that we are especially more sinful than our neighbor. Jesus was very clear on that point, turn with me to John chapter 9.

    John, chapter 9 and verse 1, «As Jesus passed by He saw a man who was blind from birth, and His disciples asked Him, saying, ‘Who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.’»

    We suffer because we are sinners living in a fallen world. Christians are not exempt from the trouble referred to by Job. It comes in many forms, pain and sorrow, suffering and death are real and personal and common. They are the experience of all men. They have a common origin: it’s due to our fallen nature.

    When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they were cast out of the Garden of Eden, and sorrow, pain, suffering and death came upon every man, and so, to quote Job, we are all of full days and full of trouble, and sometimes the trouble comes like a whirlwind of suffering which can take many forms. For example, millions today in Africa suffer from hunger. Many in Nepal suffer from the loss of all their possessions due to the recent earthquakes. War creates suffering as the millions of refugees from Syria and Iraq know only too well. We could go on listing the trouble spots of the world where suffering is the lot of many, many people. Here at home we may be called upon to face severe, providential trials over which we have no control like cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease or Down-Syndrome. We may be severely injured in a road accident, and it’s certain that we will all one day die. These severe providential trials bring with them physical and emotional suffering which all result from our sinful fallen nature, but are not necessarily due to any actual sinful actions on our part. Jesus told His disciples that the man born blind was blind, not because of any particular sins of the man or his parents, but that God might be glorified through his ultimate healing.

    Here then, is the profound purpose of God in all of our sufferings: that God may be glorified. So, suffering is to be expected because we live in a fallen, sinful world and all suffering is part of God’s sovereign purpose in our lives and has His glory as its ultimate end. So whatever suffering you may be enduring this morning, or may endure in the future, remember, God has purposes in it for His glory and our good.

    Secondly, suffering is intended by God for our sanctification, and marital love in the midst of suffering even more so, but equally, suffering helps to promote in us a very valuable grace, and it is the grace of God-centeredness and a longing for heaven.

    Our personal struggles with pain and with suffering should be considered in the light of Jesus’ suffering and death. When we think of our sufferings, we should think of His sufferings, but then, His resurrection from the dead and His ultimate glory. We need to keep in mind that we are pilgrims passing through this world on our way to heaven. If we’re Christians, our home is not here but there. What happens here is only temporary and fleeting.

    Two-hundred years ago on the island of Hispaniola, the African slaves suffered greatly as they worked in the sugar plantations. They were not sufficiently educated to be able to read the Bible, but they could sing Bible stories called Negro-spirituals. These songs contained the great events and truths of redemptive history, and they contained stories of the Bible as they sang their songs. They sang of their personal troubles, «Nobody knows the trouble I seen.» They sang about Jesus. «Steal away to Jesus,» they sang. They sang about heaven, «Swing low sweet chariot, comin’ for to carry me home.» Their sufferings were simply a reminder of heaven where there is no more pain and in many ways, their theology of suffering was more biblical than ours. They were suffering but anticipating the day when all the suffering would be over. They saw a connection between Jesus’ suffering and theirs. They understood that Jesus endured the cross, triumphed over death and the grave and was received up into glory, the glory of heaven.

    They understood that the secret of saving faith was simply trusting in Jesus. They understood that for the disciple of Jesus, suffering and death is followed by glory, just as it was for Jesus.

    So, suffering and pain are used to sanctify the believer and to draw him closer to Jesus as he anticipates heaven and glory. It gives him God-centered thinking, and, brethren, as I stand before you this morning, I urge you, especially the younger ones here, keep God in your thinking. See your circumstances in the context of God ordering your affairs. What for? His glory, and your ultimate glory as you join Him in the heavens.

    My own experience as I went through months of pain and weakness was to call upon my Savior, and I found Him very near to me.

    I’d find myself unable to sleep at night because of the pain and, as I prayed, the Lord brought to my mind verses from the Bible to comfort my soul, verses like, «Lo, I am with you always, I will never leave you.» «Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe you also in Me,» Jesus said. As I meditated on these themes, I would often fall asleep for a brief hour, and upon waking, those verses would still be with me, lifting my soul up to God and comforting me in my trials. God has purposes of good for us in our sufferings, to keep us thinking about Him and His Holy Word and His dear Son who died for us.

    My dear brethren, I have a simple question for you this morning as I draw my thoughts to a close, and here’s the question: does the prospect of you suffering as a Christian surprise you? Have I shocked you at all this morning into thinking that you, too, might have to face suffering? It shouldn’t surprise you, if you know your Bible. The Old Testament patriarchs experienced suffering, the Psalmists sang about suffering, the prophets prophesied it, our blessed Lord endured it, and the apostles all experienced it. All followed the same path, suffering before entering the glories of the kingdom of God. If you are seeking first the kingdom of God, remember, you may have to pass through suffering before you reach that kingdom. It’s vital that we see this thread that is part of the tapestry of redemptive history for all of God’s people.

    It’s sometime been said, I think, accurately, no cross, no glory.

    In Philippians chapter 3 and verse 8, the apostle spoke of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, and then in the same breath he says, for whose sake he had suffered the loss of all things. This is the apostle speaking. He says, «When I consider the surpassing value of knowing Christ, I gladly give up everything.» I would suffer the loss of all things. Suffering the loss of all things is to share in the Lord’s sufferings and become like Him in His death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. That will be glory.

    It’s like—for us, it’s like being one step behind Jesus who is now exalted to the glory of heaven. He has suffered humiliation, affliction, even death upon the cross, for us. He suffered for us in that way while He was here upon the earth. Notice carefully that Jesus’s suffering and humiliation was followed by His ascension to glory where He now sits glorified in heaven and one day returning in great glory for His church. Like Him—we must expect to share in His sufferings now, here upon the earth as we await our exaltation together with Him at His second coming in great glory. So, for the Christian, here’s the agenda: suffering now, glory later. How’s that suit you? Suffering now, glory later.

    Please turn with me to the second book of Corinthians chapter 4. Second Corinthians chapter 4, verse 16, «Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.»

    Keep your place, but turn back to Romans 8 and verse 18. Paul writing to the Roman church could say, «I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.»

    There it is. Paul can say, «I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed.»

    So, for the Christian, this slight momentary affliction—that is to say, the sufferings of this present time which are but for a moment, are preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. In these verses, we find the great apostle making a comparison between the sufferings of this life and the future glory in the world to come. He contrasts our few days of pain with our eternal happiness in the world to come. It’s like balances in the store, compare on the one side your sufferings and your pain now with, on the other side of the scales, eternal weight of glory to be revealed.

    What do you see on your scales? Do you see that the eternal weight of glory is so vast and so great, it’s not to be compared with the trifles of suffering in this life which are transitory and short-lived? We should remember that our light afflictions are, first of all, but for a moment. My pain, your pain is not going to last forever. It’s, our pain is slight. They are light afflictions. They are transitory. They are passing away. They are short-lived; they last but for a moment. Our sufferings, as we consider them, are not to be compared with the greatness of the glory of heaven. Keep that in mind as you pass through sufferings.

    We are to realize that our sufferings are preparing us for something: they are preparing us for heaven. They are working God’s purposes out in us for an eternal—an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

    Our sufferings, my brethren, have purpose.

    They are preparing us for glory. Do you ever think of your trials in that way? As we have seen, there is a definite connection between future glory and present sufferings. Our sufferings are preparing us, or working for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

    We need to have some more heavenly-mindedness about us. We need to be thinking about the wonder and glories of heaven and that these present trials are slight and passing away. Paul is saying that our present trials influence the future glory, so in all our afflictions, Paul would have us look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are unseen, for the things that are seen, he says, are temporal: your house, your car, your fine furnishings, they’re temporal. The things that are unseen, your soul, glory of heaven, are eternal.

    So, as I summarize things for you this morning, brethren, from my own experience, let’s learn that afflictions are sent by God to benefit us. You know, there’s a common phrase that I hear all too often: well, if you’ve got your health, you’ve got everything.

    Brethren, nothing could be so untrue as that.

    Afflictions are brought to us, even in our sicknesses, to strengthen the new man. Afflictions are intended to benefit the new man, not the flesh. The flesh is not so important as the new man is, and God is concerned to transform the inner man into Christ-likeness. It is our sanctification that Christ is concerned for. That’s the goal that God has in mind throughout all our trials: to make us more like Jesus and prepare us for the glory of heaven.

    Afflictions help prepare us for the world to come and the heavenly city above. Afflictions help to draw our hearts away from the love of the world to long for heaven, for that time when we shall be taken from this earthly scene of sin and sorrow, pain and sickness, into the glories of heaven.

    Afflictions humble us. Afflictions crush our pride.

    Afflictions awake in us a longing for heaven, seeking the things that are above where Christ is.

    So, this morning, my dear brethren of North Bergen, whom I love dearly, let’s put our present or future sufferings on one side of the weighing scales and on the other side put the eternal weight of glory. What do you see on your scales? Your sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is promised to all God’s people. The one vastly outweighs the other. One second spent in the glories of heaven will outweigh a lifetime of suffering.

    What are years of toil, sickness and poverty and persecution—even the martyr’s death—when weighed against the pleasures at God’s right hand for all eternity, forevermore? I would rather have one breath of heaven than lose my soul, and one breath of heaven will dispel the winds of sorrow and trial and suffering. One day in the Father’s house will be more than balancing out the years spent in this sin-cursed world.

    May God grant us the faith to anticipate and lay hold of the future and live in the present enjoyment of glory.

    Set your mind on things above, brethren, where Christ our Savior is. Keep the balances clear in your thinking. The trials of this life are not to be compared with the glory that’s to be revealed.

    Let’s pray.

    Our heavenly Father, we give you thanks for reminding us this morning that You are a sovereign God who orders all things well. We thank You that we can say we know that all things do work together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purposes. We pray that You would give us a God-centered way of thinking about our lives and help us to know and to believe that you are ordering all, even all our trials and sufferings to the end that You would be glorified, and so we pray for grace, the grace of saving, believing faith to trust you even when we cannot see. Help us to remember that faith is the substance of things hoped for, and concerns things unseen. Keep our eyes on the things that are above and not on the things that are below. Above all, keep us looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of Our Faith. We ask Your blessing upon us in His precious Name. Amen.

    © Copyright Frank Barker
    Si desea usar este material, escriba a Iglesia Bautista de North Bergen:
    5510 Tonnele Ave. North Bergen, NJ 07047
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  • 2016 Pastors’ Conference | Seek First the Kingdom of God: Your Number One Priority

    [two_third last=»no» spacing=»yes» center_content=»no» hide_on_mobile=»no» background_color=»» background_image=»» background_repeat=»no-repeat» background_position=»left top» hover_type=»none» link=»» border_position=»all» border_size=»0px» border_color=»» border_style=»» padding=»» margin_top=»» margin_bottom=»» animation_type=»» animation_direction=»» animation_speed=»0.1″ animation_offset=»» class=»» id=»»][fusion_text]Seek First the Kingdom of God: Your Number One Priority[/fusion_text][separator style_type=»none» top_margin=»» bottom_margin=»» sep_color=»» border_size=»» icon=»» icon_circle=»» icon_circle_color=»» width=»» alignment=»» class=»» id=»»][accordian divider_line=»» class=»» id=»»][toggle title=»Video» open=»no»][/toggle][toggle title=»Audio» open=»no»]

    [dlaudio link=»https://www.conferenciapastoral.org/wp-content/uploads/Sermones/2016-05-01-Seek-First-the-Kingdom-of-God-Jeff-Smith.mp3″]Download Audio[/dlaudio][/toggle][toggle title=»Text in English» open=»no»]I would like to begin by stating something that perhaps is obvious.

    There are economic woes in the world. There’s not enough work; there’s not enough pay. There are not so many promotions and jobs anymore. There are layoffs and there are longer working hours, but not more pay for the longer working hours. Expenses are rising no matter where you’re living in this world. Taxes are going up; rent is increasing. The cost of everything seems to be rising. It doesn’t matter what it is. Gasoline may be the exception at this point in time, but perhaps you need a new car, because your car has over 200,000 miles on it, and you realize, “I don’t have the money to buy a new car, or even a used car.” The washing machine breaks down, you don’t have money for that. Practical living needs are increasing. Your children are growing up; they need new clothing. There are the regular medical needs that you cannot ignore: the cost of medical insurance, or just paying for doctor’s visits.

    Perhaps you have questions about how you’re going to manage the university costs of your growing children when they’re ready to off to university. Or perhaps you’re wondering, “How will I care for my aging parents? How will I care for myself as I age, as my wife ages?” If you are unmarried, and some of you here today are not married, you may wonder how will you ever be able to afford to be married. How can you provide for a wife and a family? How will you ever be able to purchase a home whether you live in America, or one of the other countries represented here?

    Well, with any matter in this life, God’s Word the Bible is always relevant. It is always practical, and it is always totally sufficient to address all of your concerns, any of your questions, any and all of your difficulties here on this earth.

    In God’s Word we see that the Lord Jesus Christ, when He was on earth, was not insensitive or callous concerning practical, earthly matters. He still is not insensitive, though He is now in glory. The Lord Jesus Christ understood the pressures and the temptations, the trials and the difficulties that you face and that I face on a daily basis, and He spoke to the heart of such practical, earthly matters.

    He did so in Matthew 6. Our focus is going to be on verse 33 of Matthew 6. I’d like to read that particular verse. Please turn there. I’ll just read verse 33.

    “But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

    In this whole passage the word ‘worry’ or ‘anxious’ is used six times. The word ‘anxious’ in this passage means to fret, to be distracted with care, to have a divided heart, divided actually by fear, because of the trials and troubles around you.

    The Lord Jesus was clearly teaching His disciples a very important, practical life lesson. They were not to be sinfully anxious about how their earthly needs would be met each day. The Lord is specifically instructing us not to worry about our need for food, for clothing, and by implication we’re not to worry about obtaining any necessity in this life.

    The Lord used the example of the birds of the heavens and the lilies of the field to teach us that you have no rational reason to worry about having your daily needs met. They will be provided by God. God provides for the birds of the heavens. Jesus said they don’t farm, they don’t harvest crops. Therefore, God will provide for you. God provides gorgeous clothing for the flowers of the field, and therefore God will provide for you the clothing you need, the basic needs that you have.

    The Lord Jesus Christ wants you to remember that God is your heavenly Provider. He is the Creator. He is sustaining all things even right now, by the Word of His power. He is the Sovereign King over the whole universe, over all creation. Therefore, you have no need to worry, or fret, or be distracted about your earthly concerns and needs being met.

    You are instead to trust in God with all of your heart. Trusting in your sovereign God as Provider is one of God’s means of delivering you from sinful anxiety about the many needs of your life.

    Graciously, the Lord Jesus Christ gives us an additional reason, an additional antidote to prevent sinful worry about obtaining your earthly needs. That is there in verse 33. That verse teaches us in the context that when we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, we will actually be delivered from sinful anxiety and worry.

    I would like you to look at verse 33, and I would like you to see two main things. The first is a command given; the second is a promise annexed to that command.

    1) A command given.

    What is the command there in verse 33?

    1. The activity commanded.

    It is: seek. The command is very simple. “Seek the Kingdom of God.”

    Since the Lord commands us to seek, we should ask the question: what does He mean by this? Sometimes things are so obvious that we overlook their real meaning. Well, what does the Lord mean when He uses this specific word, this verb ‘seek the Kingdom of God’?

    It means to search for something. It means to strive for something. It is like the merchant seeking for good pearls that we read of in Matthew 13. It’s the same word. That merchant goes far and wide to find the best, most beautiful pearls. He wasn’t doing that in a lazy way; he wasn’t doing it in some haphazard way. He was diligently searching, seeking for the best pearls. That’s what Jesus says here in Matthew 6.

    More specifically, the Greek language makes it very clear that when the Lord Jesus Christ says in verse 33 to each one of us here, “Seek the Kingdom of God,” He was clearly commanding, not suggesting. He was commanding not just one of His disciples, but all of His disciples. He was commanding them to actively seek, as opposed to just sitting back and waiting for someone to do something to you. He was commanding them to continuously seek, not just once-in-a-while seeking, but continuously seeking.

    So, therefore, this seeking which Jesus is commanding us is to be wholehearted, not half-hearted. It is to be all-engaging. This seeking is to be energetic, not sluggish, not passive, not dull, but earnest. This seeking is to be persevering. You don’t start and then give up after you meet some difficulties. It is to be a constant, incessant seeking of the Kingdom.

    Let me give you an illustration of what is meant here.

    My eldest son Joshua, he’s now going to be 29, but when he was four he was with his mother in the grocery store and Joshua was standing next to the grocery cart. He was a very active, young boy. He was obedient, as well. His mother, my wife, turned to get something off the shelf. She turned and put it in the grocery cart, and there was no Joshua. She looks down the aisle and she sees no Joshua; she looks down the next aisle, she see no Joshua. So what did my wife do? “Oh, no problem.” She just went on shopping. Of course not! She didn’t scream or do something like that, but she told me about this, of course, when that happened. Her heart’s racing. She starts searching for Joshua. She leaves the cart there. She goes down this aisle; goes left, looks down the next aisle. No Joshua. Goes to the next aisle. No Joshua. The kid was fast. So she keeps searching. When she didn’t find him she didn’t give up, she didn’t stop. She searched for him until she found him.

    That’s what Jesus Christ is saying here. You are to seek the Kingdom of God earnestly, energetically, perseveringly, wholeheartedly. That’s the activity commanded.

    2. The object of our seeking.

    Secondly, the object of your seeking is not my son Joshua, it’s not beautiful pearls. Jesus says the object of your seeking here is the Kingdom and righteousness of God. To seek the Kingdom of God is to seek the righteousness of God. The Kingdom and righteousness of God are joined together inseparably in the Scriptures, like two sides of one coin. You cannot have the righteousness of God without the Kingdom of God; you cannot have the Kingdom of God without the righteousness of God.

    The Lord is using these two closely related words in order to highlight and emphasize the supreme value and loveliness of the object which you are to seek.

    Nothing, nothing can surpass the excellence and privilege of entering into and becoming a citizen of the righteous Kingdom of the Living God. It is a Kingdom which is not fully established yet, but it will be one day when the Lord returns. When the Kingdom of God is finally consummated at the return of Christ, it will be a Kingdom that is totally sinless. No sin in the Kingdom of God; a righteous Kingdom.

    There will be no sickness in the Kingdom of God. Some of you here probably are struggling with sicknesses and diseases. Some of you here may have already had cancer. Some of you may have other sicknesses like diabetes. Well, with the consummation of the age in the Kingdom of God there will be no sicknesses and no diseases. There will be no death, because there will be no sin. The Kingdom of God that you are to seek is a perfect Kingdom, without flaws, without problems. Presently, it is not perfect, but it is on its way to being totally perfect.

    The Kingdom of God will one day be a peaceful Kingdom, without any violence or disorder. All you have to do is look at the news media about what is going on in Syria, and it should break your heart when you read the reports about what’s going on in Syria. In the Kingdom of God there will be no more wars, there will be no more rumors of wars. There will be no more violence. There will be total peacefulness in the Kingdom of God. It is going to be a perfectly glorious Kingdom. It will be glorious because Jesus Christ will be there in all of His glory, and you as believers in Jesus Christ will be perfectly transformed, with resurrected, glorified bodies joined to undying, perfect, sinless souls. You yourself will be worshiping the glorious Lamb in the glorious Kingdom, and there will be no shame, no embarrassment, nothing to bring blush to your face.

    How different is the Kingdom of God compared to the United States of America! I travel to Hong Kong and China for the Christian ministry. I travel to Pakistan, and there are people in those countries who long to immigrate to America. Real Christians. They’d like to get out of Pakistan and they talk about America as though it is the Promised Land, but it is not the Promised Land. Neither is Costa Rica; neither is Argentina; neither is Puerto Rico; neither is the Dominican Republic; neither is the Canary Islands; neither is any of your countries represented.

    The Kingdom that you are to seek is not an earthly kingdom. It is the Kingdom of God. How are you to do that?

    Well, first of all, you must personally do that. In other words, you cannot do that for someone sitting next to you in the pew here. You can’t do it for your children; your children can’t do it for you; you can’t do it for your spouse. You are personally to seek the Kingdom of God! That’s what Jesus Christ is saying to every single person sitting in this room.

    It’s not Jeff Smith saying this to you. It’s the Word of God saying this to you: you are to personally seek the Kingdom of God. How do you do that? You begin by turning away from your sins and turning to Christ. He’s not physically present, of course, but you cry out to Him. He’s in glory. You ask Him to forgive you for your real sins that you really have committed. You should start naming them, and if you don’t know what your sins are you should be saying, “Lord, I don’t even know what my sins are. Show me what my sins are.”

    That’s how you begin to seek the Kingdom of God: by personally entering in through repentance of your sin and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. To seek the Kingdom and righteousness of God is to hear the gospel command to repent and believe, and to act. It is to not sit there and say, “Well, I don’t really feel anything. I don’t feel great conviction of sin.” No. You don’t wait.

    If you were told by a doctor that you have cancer, somehow he realized that, you didn’t know it, but now he tells you that. You’re not going to sit back and say, “Well, let’s see. Maybe I’ll check that out after my summer vacation. Maybe I’ll to the doctor at the end of the year.” You would start acting! That’s what you have to do today, whether you’re young or old. You have to act upon the command to repent and believe. That is how you personally seek the Kingdom of God.

    Once you have entered the Kingdom of God—which is the case for many of you here—you must continue to seek the Kingdom of God. It’s not something you do once. Repentance is not something you do once. Believing in Jesus is not something you do once. It’s a daily activity: seeking the Kingdom of God. You are to make your calling and election sure.

    Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, if you’re a genuine Christian but at times you struggle, “Has the Lord truly forgiven me?” you are to continue to personally seek the Kingdom by going to the Word of God, by going to God in prayer, by going to Jesus Christ and saying, “Lord, I want to know, not just in my head but in my experience, I want to know that You love me, that I am fully forgiven, that I am cleansed in the blood of Christ. I want to know it!” That’s how you seek the Kingdom of God. You have to make time to do that, and God graciously will answer your cries.

    So you continue to personally seek the Kingdom of God, and you continue, as Christians, to do that by submitting to the will of God revealed in the Word of God. As a matter of biblical principle you obey the commands of the King who has saved you, because it’s a Kingdom. It’s not America. It’s not a democracy. It’s not like England, a socialistic country. It’s not Russia or China, a communist country, but it is a Kingdom. The King expects you, as His disciples, to obey Him. As you obey Him from the heart, sincerely, you are now continuing to personally seek the Kingdom of God.

    Furthermore, you are to seek the Kingdom of God comprehensively. You are to seek the Kingdom of God in every area of your life. God’s Word, God’s Law should regulate, control your thinking, your motives and attitudes, your speaking, your behavior, your life.

    Look at Matthew 5, you can just glance at it: the Sermon on the Mount. The citizens of God’s Kingdom have a consciousness of their spiritual poverty. They are not proud and arrogant, but they are clothed with humility.

    When you comprehensively seek the Kingdom of God, you will be saying, “Lord, forgive me for my sin of arrogance and pride. I was defensive with my wife when my wife said something to me and pointed out a sin in my life, and I got defensive internally and with my words.” That’s sinful, stinking pride, and if you’re going to seek the Kingdom of God continuously and comprehensively, you will then say to the Lord and to your wife, “Please forgive me for my sinful pride and the way I responded to you with my words.” You’ll say that to God through Christ; you’ll say it to your wife. That is part of seeking the Kingdom of God comprehensively.

    In Matthew 5, the Sermon of the Mount, the Lord says, “Don’t murder with your words.” Don’t gossip; don’t slander. As you prayerfully work to see the Kingdom established in the hearts and lives of others near at hand, far away, you are still seeking the Kingdom and righteousness of God. Speaking and living the gospel before your neighbors; speaking and living the gospel before your fellow church members; speaking and living the gospel before your unconverted friends. In all of these ways you will be comprehensively and personally seeking the Kingdom of God.

    So in verse 33 the activity commanded is: seek. The object of your seeking is: the Kingdom and righteousness of God. Thirdly, notice the priority of our seeking the Kingdom of God.

    3. The priority of our seeking.

    Notice in verse 33 what Jesus said. He said, “But seek ye first the Kingdom of God.” If you are a Christian here this applies to you, whether you’re a pastor or not a pastor. If you’re a pastor this applies to you; if you’re not a pastor but you’re a Christian, this applies to you. Your first priority, your primary priority, your most important priority in your life is to seek the Kingdom and righteousness of God before and above everything else.

    You are to do this every day of your life, as a Christian, from the moment you wake up in the morning until the moment that you put your head on the pillow at night. You are to seek first the Kingdom and righteousness of God in every stage of your life if you are a Christian. It doesn’t matter whether you are young and unmarried, or whether you are an elderly saint in your nineties.

    You are to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness regardless of your circumstances in life. You may be rich; you may be poor. You may have a job; you may have no job. You may have a disease like cancer; you may be very healthy. You may have numerous trials with unconverted children; you may have every child in your family truly converted to Christ. You may have difficulties at work, a boss who is obnoxious day in and day out and falsely accuses you; you may have a very peaceable living situation. But it doesn’t matter what your life circumstances are, whether joyous or happy; whether prosperous or impoverished. Christ, His Kingdom, His Church, the local church, your soul’s prosperity, spiritually, the well-being of your wife and children, the salvation of the lost, all of those realities are bound up in the Kingdom of God, and that is what you are to seek first; number one priority in your heart and life, every single day, regardless of your circumstances.

    You’re not to be seeking first food, drink, and clothing. It’s the very point Jesus is making here in Matthew 6. You’re not to be thinking, “I need to get rich.” That should not be your number one priority. “I want ease. I want to get rich so I can have an easy life, I can have a big home, I can have two cars, I can have all the food I want, I can have a comfortable life. That’s what I need; that’s what I want. Then I’ll be happy.” No, you will not. That is not seeking first the Kingdom of God. If that is your number one priority, that’s not what God says, what Christ says should be your number one priority.

    Neither, dear pastors, should you be seeking fame. It’s a very sad reality that there are men who profess to be Christians—some no doubt are, others no doubt are not real Christians—who are in the ministry and they’re in the ministry because they actually want to be famous. They want to be well-known; they want to be like John MacArthur; they want to be like John Piper; they want to be like Al Mohler.

    First of all, that should not be in you heart and mind at all if you are a pastor, but my point from this passage is that’s not the way you should be thinking as a pastor. “I would like to have prominence. I would like to have people reading my blog. I would like to have people going to my website. I would like my church getting bigger and bigger.” Well, of course we want to see the pews of our church filled with sinners. We want to see people saved! But seeking first the Kingdom of God means you will not be thinking about your reputation, you will not be thinking about your blog, you will not be thinking about your name, you will not be thinking about your fame, you will not be thinking about those things.

    Young men and women here, what are you seeking first? Fun? Pleasure? Using the Internet? Pornography? Are you seeking elicit sexual pleasures first? Happiness? Entertainment? Movies?

    What does Jesus say? “All these things the Gentiles seek after them.” In other words, the pagans, the unbelievers, the unconverted, that’s what they’re seeking after. Fun. Ease. Money. Pleasure. Movies. Entertainment. That’s what they’re seeking, and Jesus is saying, “Don’t be like the pagan, unconverted people all around you.” That’s not what they need; that’s not what you need. Rather, seek first the Kingdom of God and the righteousness of God. That must be your number one priority.

    To do that requires some thinking, some planning, time, diligence, and perseverance. You must be reading your Bible every day. So, I’m asking every single person in this room—I don’t care if you’re a pastor or not a pastor, I don’t care if you’re young or old—I’m asking all of you to answer this question: did you seek first the Kingdom of God this morning by reading your Bible when you were all alone? Or did you say, “Well, today is going to be very busy. We’ve got lots of activities at the church building. I don’t have time to read my Bible this morning.” That’s not seeking first the Kingdom of God.

    The personal study of God’s Word must be non negotiable every day. If you’re sick, I’m sure if you’re throwing up you’re not going to be able to read your Bible. I understand that, but if you’re healthy that should be non negotiable. That’s part of seeking first the Kingdom of God.

    Did you pray today? Did you pray not only for yourself, but for others today? Are you, as a husband, leading your wife and family in family worship every day? That may be after dinner, that may be another time of the day. Are you doing that? That’s part of seeking first the Kingdom of God!

    Are you nurturing your children with one-on-one conversations, fathers? Are you nurturing your sons and daughters, feeding them with instruction from the Word of God, showing them Jesus Christ the Saviour from the Word of God, showing them Jesus Christ from your personal living, as well? Can your children say of you fathers, “My dad, whatever he is, he’s a real man of God, a real Christian”? That’s part of seeking first the Kingdom of God!

    What about faithful attendance at all the services of the local church on the Lord’s Day? How can professing Christians say, “I’m seeking first the Kingdom of God,” and their local church has three services on the Lord’s Day, and they only attend one? I know some professing Christians who do that. How can that be seeking first the Kingdom of God? Some individuals say, “Well, you know, the Lord knows. I mean really, just going to church doesn’t make you a Christian.” To which I respond: why don’t you want to be with other Christians? Why don’t you want to, with those Christians, worship God? Why don’t you want to, with those Christians, hear the Word of God not once, twice, but three times each Sunday? Something’s wrong. That’s not seeking first the Kingdom of God!

    When you’re in church it’s not enough just to sit in the pew and bolt out the door when the church service is over. Do you interact with the other brothers and sisters in this church? Do you ask them: how are you doing spiritually? What are your trials this week? How can I pray for you for next week? How can I encourage you with the Word of God? Here’s my needs. Please pray for me. That is called showing love one to another. That’s exhorting one another day by day in the church. That is part of seeking first the Kingdom of God.

    Well, moving on. In verse 33 we’ve seen the activity commanded: you’re to seek; the object: the Kingdom and righteousness of God; the priority: to seek that first. Notice now, very briefly: a promised annexed.

    2) A promise annexed.

    What does Jesus say there in verse 33? He says as you seek first the Kingdom and righteousness of God all of these things, what He’s just mentioned in the chapter, shall be added unto you. Food and clothing and shelter shall be yours. As you focus your primary energies on seeking God’s Kingdom in your life, your heavenly Father promises that He will provide all of your necessary things on earth. As He cares for the birds of the heavens, the flowers of the field, the Lord will care for you as you seek first the Kingdom of God.

    Now, of course, the Lord is not saying here that you should never go to work. He’s not saying that. There are other Scripture passages that clearly teach us that we are to labor with our hands, so He’s not saying that. But when you are doing what this passage teaches you to do, what I’ve proclaimed, God has promised that He will provide for all your earthly needs.

    Quite a few years ago—I’m giving an illustration to underscore this reality of God’s faithfulness—I was in the secular business world. My wife and I had just purchased the home in which we still live. We had been in that home for about five months. Our son Joshua, who I mentioned before, was adopted. He came unexpectedly to us. So we weren’t planning, but it just happened. We got this infant through adoption. My wife had to stop her outside secular employment because we now had a new baby, we now had a new house. The work in which I was involved was sales of medical equipment, and a man in the company sinfully, wickedly, deviously did things to steal away all the business. My income went to zero. The sales I had done, for which I should’ve gotten paid commission, vanished because of what this man did. So, I had a wife at home, a baby, a house with a mortgage, a job but no income. No money.

    Now, I’m not saying this so that you can admire Jeff Smith. I’m saying this to show you that first of all, what I’m telling you to do by the grace of God I have done. Secondly, to magnify the truth of God’s Word, because I proved the truth of this passage. Thirdly, to magnify the grace of my Saviour Jesus Christ. Your attention should not be, “Jeff Smith, oh he’s wonderful!” No. Jesus Christ is wonderful.

    I worked like crazy to earn income every month. I said to my wife, and my wife agreed, “We are still going to tithe, give 10 percent as a minimum of our gross income to the church, Trinity Baptist Church. I was not an elder in the church, not a pastor at that point in time. We both agreed. There were weeks when we had no money to buy groceries, but we still tithed. We scratched by paying the monthly mortgage. We had to juggle many things. The weeks we didn’t have groceries we prayed. We made sure we had food for Joshua, our baby son, but we didn’t have much else. We proved the truth of this text as we sought first the Kingdom of God, the righteousness of God. God faithfully provided money through my work for the mortgage, for Joshua’s needs, for tithing, for the basic electricity bill. Some weeks, as I said, it was tough, virtually no groceries, but we survived.

    You say, “Well, Jesus said everything will be given to you.” Yeah, everything you really, truly need. We did get enough to make it through those weeks. That went on for about two years, until I gradually, by God’s grace, got up to a higher level.

    So brethren, part of the problem with Americans—I don’t know about it in the Spanish countries represented here—but professing Christians in America are careless, sloppy Christians, wordly-minded so-called Christians; not really seeking first the Kingdom and righteousness of God. That is not what America needs. America does not need more professing Christians who are worldly-minded, who are more interested in entertainment, movies, and the Internet than they are the Word of God, more interested in the latest fads of the way you should cut your hair or wear your clothing or the colors of your clothing.

    Am I saying it’s wrong to dress nicely? No, I’m not saying that. I’m just saying: what are your priorities? If I was able to follow you around without you knowing it for the last month, what would I have observed about your priorities in life? How do you spend your time? How do you spend your free time?

    It is not wrong to watch baseball on TV. I love baseball. I’m not a soccer or football fan, sorry, but I’m not saying it’s wrong to watch that on TV. It’s wrong to watch it on Sunday, the Lord’s Day. I’m not saying you can’t have recreation.

    I’m asking you individually, whether young or old, married or not, whether you’re a pastor or not: what are your priorities? How do you spend your time? If I followed you around for the last month would I see a man or a woman who without fail, by the grace of God, is getting up early, getting the Bible, sitting down, taking in God’s Word, seeking God in prayer, earnest about it, wanting communion with your Saviour, your Living Saviour? He is alive. He is not dead in the tomb in Palestine!

    How are you spending your time? Are you wasting time on a blog? Am I condemning all blogs? No. Am I condemning just using the Internet? No, but I’m asking you: how are you spending your time? I said to Pastor Martin—he’s staying in my home—I said, “I don’t have time for blogs.” Again, I’m not condemning Christian blogs, but I’m just saying I don’t have time for blogs. I’m a slow reader. I would rather be reading John Owen than a blog; I would rather be reading John Calvin—and I am reading John Owen and John Calvin. I would rather be reading them than a blog!

    Do I think that modern, Christian men have nothing to offer? No, I don’t think that. I’ve read books by Edward Donnelly, books by Albert N. Martin; I’ve read books by John MacArthur; I’ve read books by modern men. I’m just saying: how about the Bible?

    You young guys, you find time for basketball probably, you find time for football, for soccer, for baseball. Fine, but are you making time to read your Bibles, to seek God in prayer? This is not glamorous. This is not complex. This is very straightforward, but are you doing it?

    That’s what America needs. We need godly men, young men, godly women, young women, who are not fooling around with Christ and the Bible and Christianity, who are not interested in being worldly! You will not win unconverted pagans to Jesus Christ by being like unconverted pagans. You won’t! So, are you seeking first the Kingdom of God?

    Verse 33 is actually an application by Jesus Christ of the first of the ten commandments. The first of the ten commandments is: you shall have no other gods before Me. That’s what Jesus is saying here. “Seek first the Kingdom of God”; “You shall have no other gods before Me.”

    You see, the Lord Jesus Christ knows and understands us better than we do. We think very highly of ourselves, sadly. We think we know ourselves well, and to some extent we of course know ourselves. But Jesus understands us, as our Creator, better than we do. The Lord Jesus knows that when your priorities are out of whack, you are usually manufacturing an idol or idols. When your priorities are out of whack something or someone has replaced, to some degree, the Living God in your heart, as a professing Christian. Now, we would never admit that, usually. If someone were to confront you and say, “Do you think maybe you’ve made that activity a bit of an idol?” “Oh, I don’t have any idols!” We would usually kind of get defensive, but you see, the Lord Jesus Christ wants your heart. If the Lord Jesus Christ has your heart He will have your will, He will have your life, and that’s what He wants. He wants Himself to be first and supreme in your heart and life and affections.

    Why does He want that? Because He wants you to know His love and His grace. You say, “Well yeah, but He’s God.” Yes. He’s your Creator God, and He wants you to know experientially His love and grace. If you’re manufacturing idols in your heart and life you will not be experiencing His love and grace. Jesus knows that if He doesn’t fully have your heart He does not fully have you, and you are probably manufacturing idols.

    When you seek first the Kingdom of God personally, comprehensively, in every circumstance of life, when you are seeking first the Kingdom of God in your Bible reading, in your prayer time, in your family, in your local church, when you are doing that the Lord Jesus Christ will indeed draw near to you and cause you to know His grace and love.

    Pastors, are you seeking first the Kingdom of God when you prepare your sermons, when you preach your sermons? Do you think about how the hearts of your people will be drawn to Christ, or do you think about how the hearts of your people will be drawn to you, the preacher? It should not be, “Let me say this, because that will get their attention and they’ll think, ‘Pastor Smith, boy he really is so knowledgable about the Bible.’ ‘Oh Pastor Piñero, boy he really had a lot of insight in that matter.’ ‘Oh Pastor Martinez, he’s so eloquent.’” When you’re preparing your sermons, are you thinking about how you can impress your people? You should not be thinking that way.

    You’re not seeking first the Kingdom of God if you’re thinking about, “How can I impress the people? How can I get their attention to me? How can I have them praise me?” Your people should thank you for your labors as a pastor, as a preacher. They should, and that should humble you when they do. It’s right that they come to you, “Thank you, pastor, for that sermon. God used it to feed my soul.” That’s right for them to do that, but you should not be preparing sermons to get attention to yourself. You should not be preaching sermons to get attention to yourself. If you use an illustration, like I did earlier tonight, you should be saying, “I’m not saying this to put myself up on a pedestal.” When you say that you need to mean that!

    Pastors, are you seeking first the Kingdom of God when you’re counseling a married couple in your church, and that particular married couple is having problems? Are you faithful to God and His Word with that couple sitting before you? Are you seeking first the Kingdom of God by speaking the truth to the husband, in love, speaking the truth to the wife, in love, showing no partiality. Not favoring the man, because he’s a man; not favoring the woman, because she’s happens to be a weaker vessel, but seeking to get the truth and the facts about their marriage problems, and judging righteously and graciously and firmly, boldly and faithfully applying God’s truth to husband and wife. Not being concerned with what they will say later on when you leave; not being concerned with their perhaps frowning face, unhappiness with you because you are being faithful.

    You see, seeking first the Kingdom of God means that when you are dealing with a husband and wife in your church who have marital problems, you are gonna be faithful first of all to the Living God and to His Word, the Bible, and to their souls. You’re not going to be thinking about the consequences. You’re not going to be thinking, “Well, I say this and I know it’s the truth, but then he might get really angry. He might leave the church.” That’s not seeking first the Kingdom of God!

    You need to remember the words of John the Baptist, dear pastor, in every situation in life as a pastor, whether publically standing in the pulpit, or in a household with two members of your church. What did John the Baptist say?

    Referring to Jesus he said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

    You want to point people publically and privately to the Living Lord Jesus Christ, not to yourself, but to the Living Lord Jesus Christ.

    Pastors, are you going to seek first the Kingdom of God when you’ve learned there are some people who are disaffected, and you go to them seeking to be faithful, you’re prayerfully, faithfully hoping to change their thinking, but it’s not working? Are you going to continue to be faithful publically and privately, even though those disaffected people are there? And then they leave the church, and others follow them. Are you going to continue to seek first the Kingdom of God? If the pews in your church, instead of you having a hundred people, whatever the attendance is, drops to fifty, are you still going to preach the same, biblical gospel? Or are you going to start to change it to attract more people in, because you just lost fifty. No.

    Your church is not your church. This church is not Pastor Piñero’s church, it’s not Pastor Martinez’ church, the church where I labor is not my church; it’s the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are not at liberty to change the message; you’re not at liberty to not seek first the Kingdom of God.

    Well, how are you going to succeed, whether you’re a pastor or not a pastor, in doing all of this, seeking first the Kingdom of God? If you are like me you have insecurities. Yes, I have insecurities. All you have to do is ask my wife. She says I have a lot of them. You have insecurities; I have insecurities. You have fears; I have fears. Left to myself I am very weak. Left to myself I’d be a coward. You have to go back again and again to various Scripture verses, and one that I do is, “I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me.” I can seek first, you can seek first the Kingdom of God, because Jesus Christ will give you strength.

    You need to remember that, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32.) The Apostle Paul didn’t say, “How shall He not with Him freely give us some things”; he says, “He will freely give us all things.”

    So when you, as a pastor, feel the reality of your insecurities, your weaknesses, your fears, all of your inadequacies, you see your sins as well, you need to remember: “Jesus Christ will give me the strength I need.” You need to remember that God did not spare the Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore, “He will with Christ give me freely all things that I need as a pastor, as man, as a husband, as a father, to seek first the Kingdom of God.”

    If the people in our churches were truly seeking first the Kingdom of God, I believe the Living God would really revolutionize our churches. They would be more Christ-like in so many ways, and we would have, by God’s grace, more of an impact upon our world around us.

    We need to seek first the Kingdom of God. We need to not let all of the cries around us, all of the demands for our attention to push us or squeeze us so that we do not seek first the Kingdom of God. We need to seek first the Kingdom of God and the righteousness of God.

    In the hour of death, if your priority in this life was aligned with the priority of Matthew 6:33, you will then, by God’s grace, have assurance and comfort from your Saviour, and that is what you should also want. In the hour of death, to be even hearing your Saviour say to you, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord.” Only Christ can do that for us. We need to pray that He would.

    Let’s close now in prayer.

    Our gracious God and our heavenly Father, please forgive us for the many times when we in our hearts and even in our practice have not wholeheartedly sought first Your Kingdom and Your righteousness. We thank you that the blood of Jesus Christ Your Son, our Saviour, cleanses us from all sin. We pray, our God, that You would make Your people—in this church, Your people in the churches represented by the pastors that are here—that You would make Your people to be a people who are continually seeking first the Kingdom and righteousness of God in the little things of life, as well as in the big issues of life; whether young or old; whether a new Christian or a Christian of many decades. Lord, our God, come and by Your grace, by Your Holy Spirit, with the Word of God work a mighty work in the churches of Jesus Christ in the Spanish-speaking world, and here in America as well. We ask for these mercies again pleading the merits and the blood of Jesus Christ alone. Amen.

    © Copyright | Derechos Reservados[/toggle][/accordian][/two_third][one_third last=»yes» spacing=»yes» center_content=»no» hide_on_mobile=»no» background_color=»» background_image=»» background_repeat=»no-repeat» background_position=»left top» hover_type=»none» link=»» border_position=»all» border_size=»0px» border_color=»» border_style=»» padding=»» margin_top=»» margin_bottom=»» animation_type=»» animation_direction=»» animation_speed=»0.1″ animation_offset=»» class=»» id=»»][/one_third]

  • 2016 Pastors’ Conference | Shepherding of Jesus Christ Over the Pastors

    [two_third last=»yes» spacing=»yes» center_content=»no» hide_on_mobile=»no» background_color=»» background_image=»» background_repeat=»no-repeat» background_position=»left top» hover_type=»none» link=»» border_position=»all» border_size=»0px» border_color=»» border_style=»» padding=»» margin_top=»» margin_bottom=»» animation_type=»» animation_direction=»» animation_speed=»0.1″ animation_offset=»» class=»» id=»»][fusion_text]Shepherding of Jesus Christ Over the Pastors[/fusion_text][separator style_type=»none» top_margin=»» bottom_margin=»» sep_color=»» border_size=»» icon=»» icon_circle=»» icon_circle_color=»» width=»» alignment=»» class=»» id=»»][accordian divider_line=»» class=»» id=»»][toggle title=»Video» open=»no»][/toggle][toggle title=»Audio» open=»no»]

    [dlaudio link=»https://www.conferenciapastoral.org/wp-content/uploads/Sermones/2016-05-03-Shepherding-of-Jesus-Christ-Over-the-Pastors-Gordon-Cook.mp3″]Download Audio[/dlaudio][/toggle][toggle title=»Text in English» open=»no»]Well, it’s a delight to be here brethren and to have the privilege to minister the Word of God. Thank you, Pastor Piñero and Pastor Martinez, for the invite. I was thinking I probably have three obstacles to overcome here: number one, I have to preach after Pastor Martin, number two, after Pastor Piñero, and number three, after lunch. So they’ve set me up for a fall here. But I’ll love them anyways.

    Turn in your Bibles please to probably one of the most familiar places in all of Scripture to most of us, if not all of us: Psalm 23.

    A Psalm of David, Verse 1:

    “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me besides still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord, forever.”

    Let’s again look to the Lord:

    Father, we again are thankful that we can come here with hope and expectation because we worship a true and living God. We worship a Christ who conquered the grave and who ascended into Heaven, and even now intercedes on our behalf. We thank you that we have a great, High Priest. One who understands our weaknesses and our infirmities. So Lord we cry to you afresh, with faith. Come by your spirit. Give strength to our weak bodies and even our weak souls. We pray this in Christ’s name. Amen.

    If I asked you to open up your wallet and to look at those dollar bills, you might have a five, maybe a twenty dollar bill, even some of you might have a fifty or a hundred. If you looked at them very carefully, I’m sure you would see that some of them are crisp and bright in color, they’ve been newly printed. But there are others in your wallet, I’m sure, where the edges are bent and maybe you even have one or two that are taped together with scotch tape; they are soiled with fingerprints and they have even lost their color.

    Well, as Christians and certainly as pastors we can say something is similar to when we pick up our Bibles, look at our Bibles, read our Bibles. There are portions of our Bibles that look very fresh, sort of like a new dollar bill, hardly been touched. There are sections that we don’t read all that much. When’s the last time that you gave a serious study of the book of Leviticus? I’m sure there are those genealogies that most of us sort of run over quickly and don’t look at for a very long period of time, but there are places in our bibles that are dogeared. They look like an old, tattered dollar bill.

    Where are some of the familiar places that we as pastors, or the people of God, go? Certainly the Old Testament Psalms. We go to the Psalms in critical times. How many times have you gone to Psalms 51, when you’ve been brought under a conviction of sin? There are those great, penitential Psalms that are soiled with our fingerprints, the fingerprints of a true penitent. Sometimes we struggle with injustice, persecution of the godly.

    Psalm 43, “Vindicate me O God, plead my cause, rescue me from deceitful and wicked men.”

    Maybe you have found Psalm 73 a place where you go quite frequently. That’s where God seems to be blessing the wicked more than the godly. And we can struggle, can’t we?, with discontent and even envy. Asaph said, “My feet almost slipped.” So, again, a place where we might go quite frequently.

    Then there are those Psalms of lament. They are wet with tears. Psalm 6, for example, “I’m weary with my groaning. All night I waste away because of my grief.” If you want some help when it comes to your prayer life, there are those Psalms that are prayer Psalms. They are marked by fervency and desperate praying.

    Then there are those happy Psalms, singing Psalms, not a hint of sadness. They begin and they end on a note of praise and thanksgiving. Psalm 135; Psalm 136. But we all have our favorite Psalms, our dogeared Psalms.

    I would guess that the Psalm that is most dogeared, for most of us, is Psalm 23. How many times as a pastor have you used that Psalm when you’ve sat beside a sick bed of a loved one? Maybe at a funeral service? You could say Psalm 23 is a pastoral favorite. Spurgeon called it “a pearl of Psalms.” Alexander Maclaren said it has dried many tears for thousands and thousands of years, for millions and millions of Christians.

    Now, I want to us to look at this Psalm, as pastors, because we need it ourselves and we can go to this Psalm in a way that other people can’t. We can use two different lenses. We can use the lens of the shepherd and we can also use—we should use—the lens of a sheep. We are pastors, but we are sheep.

    Certainly we can come to Psalm 23 and learn from the Pastor of pastors. You know that Jesus is the fulfillment of this Psalm. He is the great Shepherd, “I am the good shepherd.” He’s captured in Psalm 23, but again don’t forget that we are sheep. We all need the Pastor. I want to look at the Pastor of pastors, Jesus Christ, by taking three camera shots, using Psalm 23.

    Number one: the intimacy with the Shepherd; number two: the identity of the Shepherd; and number three: the sufficiency of the Shepherd. So let’s look at Psalm 23 through these three camera shots.

    Number one: the intimacy with the Shepherd. The Bible, I’m sure you know, is sort of like a picture book. It’s full of pictures. It’s not a literal photo album. It doesn’t actually have photographs, but it does have figures of speech, similes. It does have graphic visuals, and no doubt the greatest of the visuals in our Bibles are pictures of God Himself. God reaches down into our world, into our physical world, and He describes Himself under familiar images. For example: bread, rock, fire, water. God describes Himself under graphics of people or of relationships. God even puts Himself under the figure of a mother. He puts Himself under the figure of a friend and certainly a father. God also puts Himself under vocational or occupational graphics. A judge, a farmer and a shepherd. That’s what we have here. We have a picture of God under this image, this graphic, visual of a Shepherd. “The Lord is my Shepherd.”

    Now, we don’t think about shepherds, at least not in terms of everyday life. When’s the last time you met a real, live shepherd? You probably don’t have any shepherds sitting on your pews. You have engineers, doctors, nurses, maybe a farmer, but not a shepherd. But in biblical times, shepherds were a dime, a dozen. I went to Australia last year and I was told kind of to excite me. “When you get to Australia, you’re going to see kangaroos galore, you’re gonna see more kangaroos than people.” Well, first couple of weeks, I think I only saw one kangaroo, but I also went to New Zealand a few years ago and I was told something very similar, that there is more sheep than people in New Zealand. It didn’t take me all that long to figure out that was true. I saw sheep everywhere.

    In terms of Old Testament Palestine and New Testament Palestine, that’s what you would’ve seen. You would’ve seen sheep and shepherds everywhere. When you open up the New Testament, think of Luke, chapter 2, you’re staring in the face of shepherds and sheep. They were everywhere present. Now think again of the men in our Bible, even the patriarchs, who were shepherds. Moses was a shepherd, Jacob was a shepherd, and the person who wrote Psalm 23 was a shepherd. David did some shepherding activity. Again who better to tell us about a Shepherd than a shepherd? If you wanted to learn how to play quarterback, who better to tell you than a Tom Brady or a Peyton Manning? You wouldn’t want to learn how to play quarterback from a seven year old guy on the, you know, little league football team. David is a shepherd and he’s going to teach us about the true Shepherd.

    But David’s not just a shepherd. David’s a sheep. That’s really what’s happening here. This is a talking sheep. He’s talking about the Shepherd. He knows from his own life, his own life experience, what it means to be a sheep. David’s gone astray. Sheep go astray. I really believe that you could make an argument that David writes Psalm 23 at the backend of his life. He’s gone through a lot of trials; he’s faced a lot of dangers. The man has battle scars. The man has wounds. Apart from Job, who’s suffered more in the bible, in the Old Testament, than David?

    Just read the Psalm. You can go way back to his early life. You remember he is running from King Saul for a number of years. He’s a fugitive from the law when he becomes King. He stands on battlefields. David has slain his ten thousands. He was a man of war. You cannot get on a battlefield without being exposed to a lot of human suffering. On a personal, domestic level, David was a man who knew a lot of pain. He was betrayed by his son Absalom. Betrayal is one of the most painful of life experiences. Most pastors get betrayed, sooner or later. It’s almost inevitable. If you’re going to share in the sufferings of Christ, you have to go through that experience.

    I’ve been preaching through the life of Samson, and it never struck me that Samson really does, in terms of all the judges, typify Christ better than any of the other judges. I mean, he’s a kind of a rotten kind of a judge. He’s got a lot of significant moral weakness and failure, but he does typify Christ, even in the way his birth announcement is given. Think, he’s even handed over to the Philistines by the tribe of Judah. That was betrayal. He was betrayed by two of those Philistine women. Now, he was pretty foolish to get involved with them in the first place, but Samson knew at a deep level what it meant to be betrayed. Again, we as pastors will know that as well.

    But going back to David—David also experienced intense hostility. You, again, read to the Psalms and he mentions his enemies over and over again. And what pastor has not come under attack by members of your congregation? Sometimes congregations can hold secret meetings and write vicious letters and emails. Here in Psalm 23, David even mentions his enemies, verse 5, “…in the presence of my enemies.” Now some think that that’s a change of figure or image. It’s possible, but his enemies are still there. David knew from his own experience. When men go through significant trials, we all know that there are dangers there, aren’t there? Dangers of becoming embittered and angry. Even our relationship with God can suffer, when we go through trials. We begin to question God’s goodness. We begin to question God’s sovereignty but David. It’s obvious from Psalm 23, again if it’s written at the backend of his life, he never lost confidence with God.

    This is a Psalm where he begins on this note of faith, this bold declaration, “The Lord is my shepherd.” My shepherd! He starts off with a personal pronoun, notice, my. He’s not looking at the Shepherd from a distance; he’s not looking at the shepherd with suspicion or with a frown on his face; his heart hasn’t become cold or chilled with bitterness. No, personal pronouns run through the whole Psalm. It’s intensely personal. “He leads me. He restores my soul.” Even David, notice, when he finds himself in that deep valley, the valley of the shadow of death, notice what he says, things become even more intimate, more personal, you can say. He’s no longer talking about the Shepherd, he’s talking to the Shepherd. He’s talking to the Shepherd! “You”! He’s looking in the face of the Shepherd. “You are with me.” “You are with me.”

    One of the wonderful things about trials is—I think it was Dr. Carlson—I’ve quoted this quite a few times over the number of years, “Trials will either make you better or bitter.” Better or bitter. I’ve said to people, I put it this way, to folk who are in the midst of suffering, “These sufferings will do one of two things for you, my friend, they will either drive you away from Christ and his people or drive you into the arms of Christ and his people.”

    Something else you’ll note here in Psalm 23 that makes this Psalm throb with intimacy and affection: most English translations don’t give us a word for a literal rendering of that first verse, notice what it says here, “The Lord is my shepherd.” You know what the literal translation would be? “Yahweh is my shepherd.” No definite article. “Yahweh is my shepherd.” ‘The Lord’ is a title, not a name. Sort of like the president, Mr. President. That’s a title. That’s not his personal name.

    Dale Ralph Davis, in his commentary on the Psalms says, “Sometimes you even hear husbands talking about their wives in a bit of a cold, detached way. ‘The wife went shopping, instead of, ‘My wife, Susie or Mary, went shopping.’” David doesn’t say the Lord, but Yahweh. He’s using that covenant name for God. Yahweh—it’s His distinctive name. He’s my Shepherd. Again, we need to remind ourselves of that, don’t we? As pastors, we have a Shepherd. The greatest of all shepherds. Not someone who we suggest imitate, we have to imitate Him, but someone we need to depend upon, but someone we can know intimately and personally. He’s not a standoffish Shepherd. He’s not simply someone you know about, but you can know Him better than you can know anybody else.

    That brings us to our second consideration. We’ve looked at the intimacy with the Shepherd, but secondly note this from the Psalm 23: the identity of the Shepherd.

    “Yahweh is my shepherd.” Well, who’s Yahweh? Well, probably the best place to start when trying to understand who’s Yahweh is Exodus, Chapter 3. God even gives an explanation back there in Exodus 3 as to what ‘Yahweh’ means. You remember what happens there in Exodus 3? Moses has that encounter with God, through that theophany of the burning bush. Moses at the time is a human shepherd. Remember he’s been shepherding for about 40 years of the backend of a Midian desert, but there is this spectacular revelation, sort of like an explosion, in a desert, that’s what happens there and God appears to Moses by way of a burning bush. He lets Moses know that, “I am the great I am.” He lets Moses know how big He is. Remember Moses is going to be given a pretty significant God-assignment. He’s going to have to stand before the most powerful, human person in the world, the Egyptian Pharaoh, and say, “Let my people go.” Who’s up for that kind of a job assignment? It sounds almost like a suicide mission. How can he go? Well, he goes if he believes in who God is. He’s Yahweh. He’s Yahweh.

    “I am the God your father, the God of Abraham, the God of the Isaac, the God of Jacob. I’m a covenant-making God. I’m a God who keeps his promises. You can trust me Moses. Literally, I am who I am. I am the being one. I am the self-existent one. I am the one, true, living God.”

    If you want to know who Yahweh is, you just have to continue to read your Bible, from Exodus 3 forward. You follow that word Yahweh and you’ll come away saying again and again, “Great is the Lord, great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised.” Nothing small about Him.

    Think of Isaiah, the prophet, and how he gives a wonderful description of Yahweh in Isaiah, chapter 40, verse 12 and following. Remember what he says there? “Behold Him,” and it’s almost like the prophet, Isaiah, throws down the gauntlet and says, “I challenge anything, I challenge anybody, I’ll put my God up against anybody, the greatest powers, the greatest forces, the greatest of the living creatures and there’s no comparison.”

    Talk about the nations of the world. What are they like to this God Yahweh? Well, nothing. Little drops in the bucket. Dust on a scale. He talks about the inhabitants of the earth. He says they are like grasshoppers. Flying into Newark yesterday, we flew over a football field. I could see the little grasshoppers running the football field. They looked like little ants. All the inhabitants of the earth are like grasshoppers. Even the great ones, the princes, and the kings, the Hitlers, the Stalins, the Pharaohs and all those Roman emperors, and Neros, He makes them nothing. He raises them up and brings them down. “Look at the stars in the heavens,” says Isaiah. You can feel pretty small can’t you when you stand under a canopy of stars. There are what 100 to 400 billion stars at our Milky Way alone, and God knows them all by name; that’s our great Yahweh.

    Again, if you track that word Yahweh, through the songs of David, there at least 73 songs written by David and he loves to talk about Yahweh and tell us how great He is. Psalm 8, he tells us that Yahweh made everything and then He—it’s almost like he’s flabbergasted, yet Yahweh is mindful of man. In that Psalm 139, remember how David celebrates those two Omni attributes of God.? His omnipresence. No matter where I go, He’s there. I can ascend and descend; doesn’t matter how high I go, how low I go, Yahweh is there, that’s how great He is. He knows everything. He knows everything about me. When I sit down; when I stand up. What I’m about to say, even before I say it. What I had for breakfast, for lunch and supper. He knows how many, if any, sugars I put in my coffee, and how many creams. He knows how many calories you guys had today—shame on you. He knows everything. He knows everything; you can’t hide from him. That’s when we get ourselves into trouble. That’s when the sheep, including us, get ourselves into trouble, but we think we can play games with God. We can play a Jonah, right? And run. You can’t run from God anymore you can run from air.

    David thought he could play games. He thought he could play hide and seek games with God until Nathan showed up on his doorstep and said, “Thou art the man!” Even here in Psalm 23, David acknowledges His omnipresence, verse 4,

    “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

    The worst of the worst of places, you’re there. This valley of the shadow of death, that say, a figure, on the graphic for intense suffering. It’s found in the book of Job several times. Our sheep will eventually go through deep, dark valleys, but as pastors, I’ll make a distinction here. Pastors, often experience a higher degree of suffering. I don’t think you can really be an effective pastor if you don’t suffer at a deep level. You’re to come along as sheep, and you’re to weep with those who weep, and you’re to minister to them, and you’re to know them. And it’s often only by our own suffering do we learn what it means to suffer. You can’t learn it at a pastor’s conference. You can’t learn it by hearing a sermon or a theological lecture. No, we have to go into the valleys ourselves. If you’re a pastor, you probably know this as well: a lot of our suffering is lonely suffering. You can tell the Shepherd about it, but it’s probably not wise to tell everybody in your congregation about it. Silent suffering, that’s part of being like the Lamb; He opened not His mouth. The suffering can have a negative effect upon all of us, we all know that, I’m sure. Sufferings can devastate you. Sufferings can shatter you. I have a book in my duffle bag there, in my briefcase I brought along, I purchased a few months ago. It’s titled, Shattered Shepherd: Finding Hope in the Midst of Ministry Disaster. Your whole, life work could go down the tubes with one, major crisis in a church. Pastors can get hurt pretty badly in the course of ministry.

    Pastors can get depressed. Our good friend, Spurgeon, suffered with chronic depression, and a lot of it had to do with the pressures and challenges of the ministry. At the backend of what was called the Downgrade Controversy, you know what he said? “This is killing me! This is killing me!” I think he died within a couple of years, Pastors can commit suicide. I’ve even heard of pastors who have gone that route, sometimes in the midst of fighting deep depression. There are dark valleys, but look here, that’s why this Psalm is such a comfort to pastors and to sheep, because the Shepherd is there with you. “You are with me.” Yahweh is everywhere present; and this isn’t just the kind of God who comes when you cry out in a kind of emergency 911 call. No, this Shepherd is with us, not only in the critical moments of our lives, but He’s always on-call, twenty-four-seven. He’s always guarding, always watching, always caring. He’s always involved in our everyday lives. The tenses of Psalm 23 are all present tenses, not past, not future, but present tense verbs.

    The intimacy with the Shepherd: He’s my Shepherd. The identity of the Shepherd: Yahweh, the great, “I am,” and then thirdly: the sufficiency of the Shepherd.

    The Christian life is a life of faith, and what are the essential elements of faith? Well, the reformed doctrine and the reformed confessions tell us quite clearly the three constituent elements of faith. What are they? Well, certainly knowledge, you cannot believe on someone you don’t know. You have to have knowledge. Conviction and there’s trust. We are called to live a life of faith! We are called to live a life whereby we trust in God, but here’s the question: can you trust Him? In Psalm 23, it says, you can trust Him. You can trust Yahweh. You can trust your Shepherd. That’s one of the reasons why David puts God under the figure of a shepherd. To help us trust Him. And he wants us to know why you can trust Him. We all have problems with trust. I think that’s why we see more people, at least that’s why I think we are seeing more people come through our doors, in Canton, Michigan, and they’re quite comfortable to sit on pews, in the morning, they don’t want to come back in the evening, because they don’t want to commit themselves. I think some of that is a problem of trust, not all of it, but some of it’s trust. They’ve lost trust. Some of them are broken and some of them are bruised. Some of them have gone through broken marriages. We live in a divorce culture. We live in a culture now that tells us there’s no moral absolutes. A postmodern culture. If there’s no absolutes, who can you trust? Who can you trust? Who can you believe? You can trust in the Shepherd.

    There are three great shepherding activities or constants that David wants us to know here concerning the Good Shepherd and why He’s always a Shepherd and why as sheep we always need Him. You never, ever, ever outgrow your need of a shepherd. We never graduate from the pasture. We never come to a level of maturity or independence where we can sort of say, “Well, I’m on my own now.” You can do that. Your children can do that, can’t they? When they get married they’re on their own, they’re independent, but you’re sheep. You’re always dependent.

    That book by Timothy Witmer, it was recommended at one of the Pastors’ Conferences years ago at Trinity, but this is the point he makes. Listen to what he says, he says, “The shepherding metaphor is not only comprehensive with respect with the nature of the care received, but also with respect to the extent.” This is one of the most important distinctions between the metaphor of a father and that of a shepherd. Children grow up and become less dependent upon the earthly father though the relationship continues. Sheep on the other hand are always completely dependent upon their shepherd. They never outgrow their need for the shepherd to care for them. You always need a shepherd.

    Again, if we lose that identity marker, that we are sheep, we’re in trouble. We’re in trouble. Why are so many pastors stumbling, and falling, and leaving the ministry today? I think a large degree is that they forgot who they are. They’ve forgotten they’re sheep. They’ve forgotten they’re sheep. You will not always be a pastor, right? You’re going to have to retire sometime, but you’ll always be a sheep. You never get to retire. You’re always going to be a sheep. You never outgrow your sheepness. No matter how long you’ve pastored, no matter how many people you’ve pastored, how long you’ve been in the ministry, you’re still a sheep! One of the reasons why God, in His wisdom, has given us a parallelity of elders—which is the norm in the Bible, it’s the standard. Why does He give us parallelity? Because He knows we all need shepherding.

    Even on the human level. I don’t know where I would be today if I were not privileged and blessed with a parallelity of elders, right from the get go. I’ve been there almost thirty years. I’ve always, always, always had another elder. Even if you don’t have another elder, hopefully you cultivate relationships with pastors who know you and you can share your own life struggles with them. We all need shepherds. Even on a human level. We all need shepherds. Here’s the great Shepherd, however, He’s the perfect one. And why again can we trust Him? And what does He do that should assure us that He’s trustworthy?

    Well, there are three things, as I said: number one, he feeds the sheep, “He makes me to lie down in green pastures.” Although the image there might be more the emphasis not so much upon what He gives you by way of food but He takes you into green pastures and you lie down, it’s rest. Sheep have in their DNA fear. They’re very fearful creatures, but He takes care of sheep in such a way that they can actually lie down. Sheep have a trouble lying down. You take care of them. That’s sort of the picture there, but go on in that Psalm, he does mention the table. Again, the image there might change, but he talks, it might be the image of a host but whatever the case might be, there still the feeding element, the presence of food. He’s taking care of that, and we come back to what we do as pastors. That’s certainly where we can imitate the perfect Pastor, Jesus. That’s our primary responsibility as we’ve heard even throughout the day and, I’m sure, yesterday.

    We are to preach the Word, “Labour in the word and doctrine.” If you’re not preaching the word then you’re not being a shepherd. You’re not being a shepherd. If you’re called to be the preacher, you are to preach the word. That’s the most important element of pastoral ministry. You can’t be a good shepherd if you don’t preach and teach the word. But it’s not just preaching the Word; you’re a sheep. You need to feed upon the Word for your own soul. You need to be fed by the Shepherd. You need to have personal time with God. Whatever you want to call them, devotional times, whatever, but you need to have time with God.

    Psalm 1, “The blessed man meditates on the word day and night.” That’s crucial to maintaining a faithful, pastoral ministry. I often listen to other men’s sermons to feed my own soul, but we need spiritual nourishment or our own souls will dry up and shrivel. Why do men drift away from the gospel? Why do men lose their first love? Well at some point they’ve stopped following the Shepherd into the green pastures. They’ve stopped feeding their soul upon the manna of the word.

    One of the greatest dangers I think it is for me, my friends, I’ll be honest here, is to approach my Bible academically or vocationally. I’m having my devotions, every morning, I try to have my devotions and then I find myself, I’m constructing sermon outlines. I almost have to punch myself and say, “Stop it! Read because your soul needs food. It’s not a time to prepare a sermon; it’s a time to feed your soul!” Again, we’ve forgotten that we are sheep. We need a Good Shepherd. He’s a Shepherd, a Good Shepherd we can trust because He feeds our souls, He leads us into green pastures.

    He’s a Good shepherd because, well, that’s the second thing, He feeds us, but He also leads us. He leads His people. He guides them. Notice that’s the emphasis in verse two and three, twice, repeat, that tells us it’s pretty important: “He leads me beside the still waters. He leads me in paths of righteousness.” Notice He leads them. Shepherds don’t drag them. Sheep follow the master. They hear the voice of the Shepherd. He doesn’t have to drag them. He doesn’t have to drive them. He doesn’t have to force them.

    There’s a story told about a group of tourists in Israel, and they were informed by their Israeli guide that shepherds always lead a flock and that you’ll always see a shepherd in front of a flock. You’ll never see a shepherd driving sheep from behind. Apparently, a short time later, they came across this so-called shepherd who was walking behind the flock of sheep and the tourist approached the tourist guide, they pointed, “What’s this guy doing? You just told us,” and the tourist guide was a little perplexed and he said, “Well, let me get out and talk to the guy,” and he gets out, talks to the guy, comes back and says, “That’s not a shepherd, that’s a butcher, he’s gotta slaughter the sheep.”

    Shepherds lead, sheep follow, and notice where He leads us. He leads us along paths of righteousness. This Shepherd is concerned about holiness, and you can understand why, right? He’s the Good Shepherd. There’s an ethical connotation to that word ‘good.’ He’s a Good Shepherd, or He’s the Holy One. He’s the thrice Holy One. He sent His son Jesus to make us holy, and holiness is our responsibility. All the sheep are called to be holy. There’s no one who is a sheep, who sits on a pew, who can exempt himself from the commands to be holy in all manner of life. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments,” and sheep are to display holiness, we are to exemplify it. That’s why there’s such an emphasis on character. I think Pastor Piñero reminded us. Not on gift. One qualification, with regard to gift: apt to teach. It’s all upon character. A lot of self-discipline and self-control issues there when you look at qualifications. Not given to wine, that’s a man who’s self-disciplined. Can you preach? As every pastor needs to be a preacher, again, if he’s not a lay elder, that should be his primary calling: preach the word; but are you holy? Are you holy? Remember what Murray M’Cheyne said, that Scottish Presbyterian, “The greatest need of my people is my holiness.” The Shepherd wants us to be holy. That’s why He guides us along the straight and narrow paths of holiness. And to be a holy man, you need to have a solid grip of the Shepherd’s belt.

    I’ve been going to the Pastor’s Conference up in Montville, New Jersey, for about thirty years and you know, if you might have been there, that they take photographs of the pastors who were there and they send those photographs to you so you can have them. Quite a lineup, over thirty years, of all these photographs. From time to time, I’ve gone back to them, I’ve looked at them, and then sometimes there is a real joy because I know there’s men there who have passed away but they finished the race well. Dr. Robert Martin, our dear brother, who ministered to us, what, a couple of years here at the conference. I had the privilege of being at his funeral. I think we could all say, that brother finished well. He was a faithful man right up until the end. You could look at those photographs and say there’s another one who’s made it to Heaven, safe and sound, but there are men in those photographs who aren’t there. Today, I don’t know where they are spiritually. Some of them had to step down in disgrace because of adulterous relationships. When I look at those photographs and realize there’s men who were once in the ministry who are no longer in the ministry because of scandalous sin, I remind myself that I’m vulnerable. I don’t look at them and say, “Oh, how could you?” I say, “Boy, buck for the face of God!” I’m a sheep too. I’m a sheep too. I need to be walking in holiness. I need to constantly look to my Shepherd. He’s a faithful Shepherd. There’s nothing wrong with His faithfulness, the problem is the sheep. But we need His constant care. We need His comprehensive care.

    We need Him to feed us; we need Him to guide us, and the third thing we can say from Psalm 23 in terms of His care, His all sufficiency: He protects us.

    Remember when David stood before King Saul and argued as to why he was able to step on a battlefield and take on Goliath? He made reference to his past shepherding activities. He said, “I took on lions, and wolves, and bears. I protected the sheep.” That’s what a shepherd does. A shepherd protects the sheep, and here in Psalm 23, we see that as well. You could argue that from verse 5, again. That could be a change of metaphors, but if you don’t want to use verse 5, you can certainly use verse 4. He has a rod and a staff. They were to guide but also to protect, especially when the sheep go through the valley. These valleys, were deep and dark. What would often happen is that animals, ferocious animals, beasts, would hide themselves in the crevices and the crags of those rocky cliffs or those ravines, and so when sheep would go through, those animals would pounce on them. It was a sheep’s worst nightmare. So you get a sense from this picture here that the sheep is all alone. Suffering times can be very vulnerable times, can’t they? Again, as I mentioned earlier, pastors can suffer in some of the deepest ways: Crushing grief, a lot of disappointment, things we hope for were not realized. We see our own sheep, who we pastor, going astray. That brings tremendous grief. We experience suffering from within our own families. Pressures can be upon our own wives and even our own children. Lots of expectations.

    I read recently that a question survey was put out and asked the average congregation, “What should a pastor be doing with his time?” and here were the list of activities, quite extensive: sermon prep, outreach, evangelism, counseling, administrative tasks, visiting the sick, community involvement, denominational engagement, church meeting, worship service. The average amount of time that the church members expected the pastor to give were 114 hours a week; that’s the expectation. A ministry can have it’s toll, can’t it? Upon your own physical well-being, your own spiritual well-being, your family.

    Sometimes the expectations other people have drive pastors to the neglect of their own families, and that’s why we need to put on a safeguard, don’t we? We are first called to be husbands and fathers, but we need protection. We need protection. The devil is out to get us, every one of us, and the longer you’ve been in the ministry, I think it’s true, the more you have to lose. The more people know you, the more people trust you; the more devastation if you fall.

    So the devil, he goes after all pastors, but I do think he begins to mark out those who have been in the ministry a little longer, and the longer they are, the more intense he becomes in his more aggressive he becomes, he attacks them. He clips their reputation. So we need the Good Shepherd, don’t we? He takes care of his sheep. You can trust Him. He leads the sheep. He protects the sheep.

    I’m sure you men have come to this pastor’s conference to be reminded that you are pastors. If you come back tomorrow and I get an opportunity to preach again, I would preach what your responsibilities are as a pastor. I’d take that 1 Peter passage. This is what your job description is. So you are a shepherd, but you’re also a sheep. Don’t forget you’re a sheep. You have a high calling, a wonderful calling. Is there any greater calling than a shepherd, a pastor? I hope we can all leave in terms of what we’ve heard from the other men. What it means to be a shepherd, a better shepherd, a more faithful shepherd. I hope we can leave trusting in the Shepherd and wanting to imitate the Good Shepherd more and more, but also to rely upon the Good Shepherd because we are sheep.

    I will be fifty-nine at the end of this month. You know, Pastor Martin tells you how old he is, I can tell you how old I am. The two things that have been impressed upon me more and more as I’ve got older, been in the ministry longer, are the—I’m going to be honest—are my own weaknesses and vulnerabilities. My own weaknesses and vulnerabilities. That hymn that we sing— “My prone is to wonder my Lord, I feel it, I feel it.” Things can get scary at times, especially, again, when you look around and you see more and more men dropping like flies and you find another fallen soldier, another wounded soldier. And, again, I have often prayed, “Lord, help me, keep me, protect me.” But that’s one thing that’s come to my mind, more of my own frailty, my own weakness, but I also think more of Jesus Christ. In my greater sense, my dependency upon Him. His great faithfulness; and I’m more thankful for His shepherding care.

    The backend of this Psalm is a wonderful note, verse 6, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

    There’s a day coming when we will be with Him, when we will see Him in His full glory and majesty and beauty. We’ll be able to tell Him face-to-face, “Thank you Jesus! Not just for dying for us, for shedding your blood for us. I thank you not only for your blood and your righteousness, your perfect righteousness, but thank you for taking care of me, for feeding me, for guiding me, and protecting me. I wouldn’t be here in glory, if you were not a Good Shepherd.”

    Psalm 23, my pastor friends, is a Psalm tailored-made for you, because you are a shepherd; but it’s also tailor-made for you, and for me, because you are a sheep. May God help us to be faithful shepherds and faithful sheep.

    Let’s pray.

    Father, in heaven, again, we thank you for your word, for it’s clarity, for its relevancy, for its sufficiency, for its authority. Press it upon our hearts and minds. Lord, help us all to be more diligent, more faithful in our callings. And we pray this in Christ’s name. Amen.

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  • 2016 Pastors’ Conference | Marks of a Ministry that Honors God

    [two_third last=»no» spacing=»yes» center_content=»no» hide_on_mobile=»no» background_color=»» background_image=»» background_repeat=»no-repeat» background_position=»left top» hover_type=»none» link=»» border_position=»all» border_size=»0px» border_color=»» border_style=»» padding=»» margin_top=»» margin_bottom=»» animation_type=»» animation_direction=»» animation_speed=»0.1″ animation_offset=»» class=»» id=»»][fusion_text]Marks of a Ministry that Honors God[/fusion_text][separator style_type=»none» top_margin=»» bottom_margin=»» sep_color=»» border_size=»» icon=»» icon_circle=»» icon_circle_color=»» width=»» alignment=»» class=»» id=»»][accordian divider_line=»» class=»» id=»»][toggle title=»Video» open=»no»][/toggle][toggle title=»Audio» open=»no»]

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