You & Your Pastor

 YOU AND YOUR PASTOR

Jer. 3:15

And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

Pastors: 

• Fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout or contention in their churches. 

• Four thousand new churches begin each year, but over seven thousand churches close. 

• Fifty percent of pastors' marriages will end in divorce. 

• Eighty percent of pastors and eighty-four percent of their spouses feel unqualified and discouraged in their role as pastors. 

• Fifty percent of pastors are so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living. 

• Eighty percent of seminary and Bible school graduates who enter the ministry will leave the ministry within the first five years. Ninety percent of pastors said their seminary or Bible school training did only a fair to poor job preparing them for ministry. 

• Eighty-five percent of pastors said their greatest problem is they are sick and tired of dealing with problem people, such as disgruntled elders, deacons, worship leaders, worship teams, board members, and associate pastors. Ninety percent said the hardest thing about ministry is dealing with uncooperative people. 

• Seventy percent of pastors feel grossly underpaid. 

• Ninety percent said the ministry was completely different than what they thought it would be before they entered the ministry. 

• Seventy percent felt God called them to pastoral ministry before their ministry began, but after three years of ministry, only fifty percent still felt called. 

Pastors' Wives: 

• Eighty percent of pastors' spouses feel their spouse is overworked. 

• Eighty percent of pastor' wives feel left out and unappreciated by the church members. 

• Eighty percent of pastors' spouses wish their spouse would choose another profession. 

• Eighty percent of pastors' wives feel pressured to do things and be something in the church that they are really not. 

• The majority of pastor's wives surveyed said that the most destructive event that has occurred in their marriage and family was the day they entered the ministry. 

Pastors' Marriages: 

• Seventy percent of pastors constantly fight depression. 

• Almost forty percent polled said they have had an extra-marital affair since beginning their ministry. 

Pastors' Children: 

• Eighty percent of adult children of pastors surveyed have had to seek professional help for depression. 

Pastors' Relationship With the Lord: 

• Seventy percent of pastors do not have a close friend, confidant, or mentor. 

• Ninety-five percent of pastors do not regularly pray with their spouses. 

• Eighty percent of pastors surveyed spend less than fifteen minutes a day in prayer. 

• Seventy percent said the only time they spend studying the Word is when they are preparing their sermons. 

1. YOU NEED A PASTOR

Matthew 9:35-38 

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest

No shepherd you faint- thrown down, torn, distressed, crushed, deeply wounded

No shepherd you are scattered

1. Sheep have two basic needs

1. Leadership

Numbers 27:16-17 

“Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, 17 who may go out before them and go in before them, who may lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep which have no shepherd

b. Protection- Covering, Anointing, Prayers, Council

2. YOUR PASTORS RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS YOU

1. Feed you God’s Word

1 Peter 5:1-2 KJV

The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: 2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind

John 21:15-17

So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My lambs.” 16 He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep

2. Take the Oversight

a. Serve as the Head

3. Pour Their life in the Leaders

2 Tim 2:22

And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also

Eph 4:11-12

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ

4. Be An Example to the Flock

1. Because sheep are led not driven

I Tim 4:12

Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity

5. Pray for the Flock

Exodus 18:18-19 

Both you and these people who are with you will surely wear yourselves out. For this thing is too much for you; you are not able to perform it by yourself. 19 Listen now to my voice; I will give you counsel, and God will be with you: Stand before God for the people, so that you may bring the difficulties to God

6. Love the Flock

I Corinthians 13

Love doesn't mean - never rebuke

3. WHAT YOU OWE YOUR PASTOR

1 Thess 5:12-14

And we urge you, brethren, to know those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.

1. Know Them

2. Esteem them very highly in Love

Your estimation of Him

3. Be at Peace among Yourselves

1 Thess 5:13

And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves

4. Understand He is a Man

John 1:6-8

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light

5. Honor Him

I Tim 5:17

Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine

- Financial Support 

- Encourage Him

- Pray for Him

-Coming to Service to Hear Him

- Submitting to and respecting delegated authority

- Listening when instructions are given

- Not talking about Him- Numbers 12:1-2

Authority can be abused- Do not submit to Abuse

Must respect office even if you can't  respect the person.