Having dealt with the issue of stolen content we must now move on to the weightier and more personal matter of our ministerial responsibility. Before we begin, I must admonish you to remove the self and the carnal excuses about ourselves and our ministry. Remember, open rebuke is better than secret love and the father always corrects those whom he loves. It is neither my desire nor the heart of God to either browbeat or sugarcoat the situation. Most of you did not start out spiritually where you are now. The declension has been subtle so as to deceive you into thinking this is just the way things are now. Pain, disappointment, sheep bite, discouragement, a seeming lack of success, watching others promoted by nepotism, politics and false though popular teachings has diminished us spiritually.
Slowly we have developed a veneer or a callous of protection over our hearts trying to prevent pain for ourselves and our families. To be healed and restored we must recognize it, repent of it and return to our first love Jesus, his people and true ministry. We must remove the callous before we apply the oil. Remember when pleasing God and growing closer and more yielded to him every day was tantamount in our lives, before career management, merchandising the gift or how to grow your church took over?
When it comes to worship, we are to be an example to the saints. David taught us to “magnify the Lord with me,” not for me and he led the throng into the sanctuary, not hiding in his office or out glad-handing in the foyer. First Kings Chapter 8: 10 – 11 teaches us that when the priest came out of the holy place the glory filled the sanctuary. Why don’t you try coming out of your prayer closet to the sanctuary and see if the same would happen for you? We ministers are hidden amongst the stuff and totally entangled with the affairs of this life. The title Bishop, Pastor or supreme leader should not have brought you to the place that you do not desire to worship and feel that it was your responsibility. People must be led into the presence of God not driven to perform for you. Scolding or ignoring the problem will not lead us there. Show them how to worship; stop making excuses. When you first started out no one had to ask you to worship; it flowed out of your wonder and joy and his worth. You are not too cool or important to worship publicly, but it is hard to express public affection for a person you haven’t been affectionate with in private.
Your authority as a minister does not come as a result of your church, your denomination, or your mama giving you papers and calling you to preach. Your authority is based in the character of Jesus Christ. He said all authority in heaven and earth is given unto him. As my character gives way to the development of his character in me, nothing or no one can stand before him.
This matter of sporadic anointing is very scary to me. One of the most frightening verses in the Bible is Judges Chapter 13: 25 “and the spirit of the Lord began to move Sampson at times, once in a while.” Growing up in church like I did, as well as many of you, we became accustomed to hearing about what a great service we had two weeks ago. Why not every time we gather? John 14: 16 teaches us that the comforter abides forever. First John Chapter 2: 27 teaches just the anointing is to be continual. Second Kings Chapter 4:6 teaches us that as long as there was on another vessel that was empty the oil kept flowing. The flow of the anointing is given in response to desire and need. When self-satisfaction supersedes our emptiness, the anointing will dry up. Quite simply, no empty vessels– no oil. The cry of a hungry child causes the breast of a mother to lactate. The anointing flows from El Shaddai, the many breasted one, at the cry of a hungry needy child of God. Our “once in a while” anointing cost Sampson to wind up blind, bound, and a buffoon laughed at by the world his last act of ministry was an act of vengeance. When will we learn that without him we can do nothing? As long as you believe that you can preach, teach or sing without the anointing you will.
If your singing or preaching is not burning in you, it cannot warm the hearts of the congregation. Passion is not emotionalism, Suppressed emotions are not a sign of maturity or self-control. Your cultural excuses nor the one you love most, I’m just not emotional, for the most part is a lie that we have told ourselves and we are comfortable with to excuse our lack of passion. Your pseudo-intellectualism is not an excuse. Stop letting your degree get in the way of your temperature.
When was the last time you spoke with tongues, shouted, danced, raised your hands or clapped, not because you thought about it, but because you were so full you thought you would explode without a release?
There was a time when ministers and our people wept openly over the lost, over sin in the congregation and the lack of God’s presence. Today we either don’t care enough to cry over the lost or we believe everyone is saved. Sin is so readily accepted in our churches that we have forgotten that Jesus came to set us free from sin not to sin.
Please do not give me watered down excuses incorporating Scripture such as where two or three are gathered in my name there I am in the midst or God inhabits the praises of his people or God is omnipresent. We have all been in church many times where there were more than three; we sang the three chords, did the Australian hop for an hour and God was nowhere to be found. The manifest presence of God is tangible, undeniable and I for one cannot live without it. The problem is a lack of love. John chapter 14: 21 teaches us that love will demand a manifestation and receive one.
The tv or the internet is not the altar. Pastor/song leader hot bread is required in the holy place. Our response stimuli method of ministry is a failure. Chord changes, fast music, keywords to evoke emotional response are damning three generations of people too boringly redundant “no change” church services and lifestyles.
A fresh word whether in song or sermon supersedes your time in staff meetings, preparation on the internet, or just parroting the latest fad. I recently was told of a very large church in the Atlanta area where the pastor was being asked, when is the last time God interrupted your service. His answer horrified me he said and I quote” I wouldn’t be comfortable after all the preparation my staff has done to have them interrupted.” Don’t worry; it’ll never happen.
Pastors and worship leaders attending seminars, symposiums, and meetings will never replace time spent in brutal honesty in your prayer closet. Tell him that you are depressed, depleted and discouraged and you need a fresh filling with the Holy Ghost. Many pastors and church leaders make up any excuse to keep from being alone with God and dealing with themselves, their families, the church boss and all the problems associated with ministry. But for the sake of all that is shallow and superficial, let us please remain positive.
For twenty-six years, I have traveled the length of this country preaching in very large to very small churches. One of the first things I realized is that pleasing God is not very high on the agenda. Most leaders do what causes the least amount of stir in the parsonage, in the pew and in their personal lives. They do what they want to do and what they are comfortable with to suit their personality.
If God’s presence does not accompany our effort, then God did not accept our effort. Fire will always fall on an accepted sacrifice. The father does not want to take part in your church; he wants to take over, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. The more he is allowed to be Lord, the more liberty we will have. His manifest presence is never the same and never boring. Stop making excuses and apologies for what he wants to do.
Vance Havner said, “Preachers have given up their place of honor by being one of the boys. God never called you to be one of the boys; he called to lead the boys.”
The reason we have stopped anointing with oil by the elders is to take the pressure off the elders for their lack of faith and the fact that we see so very little result.
In our modern society today to say you believe in casting out devils sounds extreme and silly, but it is more necessary today than ever before. How many more excuses are we going to make for bad behavior, rage, lust and divisiveness? Are we afraid we will wind up like the sons of Sceva? Don’t confront what you can’t conquer.
Do you know the difference between the church boss and the devil? If you resist the devil he will flee from you; if you resist the church boss he will try to have you removed. It is doubtful that most churches or ministers have ever administered church discipline or even know how. While our ultimate goal in discipline is forgiveness and restoration, we cannot overlook true repentance, that is, we are not afraid to say I’m sorry openly.
Whatever happened to fivefold ministry and why am I shocked that you have removed at least three of the five offices? Pastors, you cannot keep three of the five offices out of your church and expect to equip the saints or perfect the saints. You’re just not that good. Bringing in other pastors or other voices to back your plan, strengthen your hand or “say exactly what I say,” is detrimental to you and your church. We must have restoration of all five offices to accomplish the work of God in this present age.
We must return to the apostle’s doctrine and the apostle’s practice to have apostolic power, zeal, and results.
Robert D. Pilgrim
