It takes a while to know if we have done anything worthwhile.

Something To Think About, Preaching:

I have the privilege this week, and next, to speak to a group of budding preachers.  It is intended to be what Paul did for Timothy and Titus.  In preparing--and it is very much an ongoing process.--one of the things I'm doing is putting together a list of--with apologies to Solomon--"Proverbs for Preachers."  Probably the wise king of Israel used parchment to record his Proverbs.  I'm using PowerPoint.  Here is one:     As my pastor during my teen years used to remind us. Pastors*  are just like the rest of us.  When they get up in the morning, they put their pants on one leg at a time."   As such, the sticks and stones of criticism often hurts, sometimes the pain is bone deep.   Often, I deserve the criticism that I receive, in fact I probably deserve more than I get.  Being human, nothing I do is faultless.  To use a term that has grown common in the internet era, I'm "just saying."  It seems like mistakes are recognized and consequences brought to bear much quicker than successes. I've known preachers who were fired, or hounded out of their ministry.  Leaving aside for a moment whether the termination was justified,  the time from the offence to the final showdown was pretty brief.  I've known other pastors who faithfully labored year after year, and only found out a long time after--a very long time--that they had had any success at all.  I figure some faithful servants won't know until they hear that "Well done," from the Chief Pastor. This is not a plea for folk to go out and be nice to their pastor, certainly not to this one.  (Though if you want to be nice to the one who ministers to you and your family, I sure won't stop you.)  This is really addressed to pastors and anyone who does anything in service to our Lord, and that group is much bigger than those who have a role like mine.  We just need to know how things work.  Isaiah, Jeremiah, "others" (Hebrews 11:35-38)  were treated horribly.  Note what Hebrews 11:38 says, "They were too good for this world."  Even our Lord was a "Man of Sorrows." Serving the Lord for immediate gratification is a sure route to frustration, and probably worse.  It is a task that needs to be motivated by faith, faith in the one Who is faithful, and that ministry needs to be conducted faithfully.  I put that picture on the slide because it is a reminder of that need to be faithful.  the guys at the table with me are guys in whom I was privileged to invest.  Later, I came to see some of the fruit of that investment.  The true accounting will take place later still.    For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day. (2 Timothy 1:12)    It's STTA.