The Mandate for a Pastor

1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

These words start off 1 Timothy 4. Jim reminded me yesterday to remember that the book of Timothy is Paul's letter to a young pastor. We have to keep that in our heads to remember all the context properly. Helps with better understanding the letter. Thanks hun! :)

Young pastors, actually any pastor, can benefit from reading Paul's exhortations to Timothy. To be patiently ready to

• preach the word
• reprove
• rebuke
• exhort

This is what a pastor is to do. He teaches people as he preaches the word, as he reproves, rebukes and exhorts the people under his care. A pastor must always be ready to do this. And he must be willing to do some patiently and in a teaching manner.

A time will come when people won't want to hear what a pastor has to say (what God has to say) but will just want to follow people they choose, people that suit what they want to hear better. BUT regardless of that....the pastor is to ready to endure suffering, be sober-minded, and be ready to do the work they are called to .... the work of an evangelist, a person who will teach people who God is. Do the job you are called to.

Being married to a pastor... I know his job is tough.
People expect so much from him. They want and want and want. Sometimes that wanting wears him out mentally. It's a mental job more than a physical job. And that can be just exhausting. :) But I see him trying....trying hard to fulfill the mandate God has placed on his shoulders. That mandate to always to ready to preach God's word, to patiently teach God's people more about who God is. That's what he does.

He needs the encouragement more than anything else.

Let's encourage our pastors folks. Encourage them to keep on with the job that God has given them. Not demanding it, but encouraging it. Calling our pastors to stand up and do the job that God gave them...preach, teach, rebuke, exhort and reprove. That's their job. Let's help them do it.