Monday, January 22, 2007

Monday Pastoral Thoughts

I had an opportunity recently to serve on a credentialling team which was responsible to examine a local pastor seeking a ministerial license. I love this kind of stuff. It's a joy to see and hear from those who God is calling to the ministry.

As we began, the chair of the council, Dave Sotelo, shared this great quote from John Calvin reminding us all of our call to ministry and all that involves. . .

Let the pastors boldly dare all things
by the Word of God,
of which they are constituted administrators.
Let them constrain all the power, glory,
and excellence of the world
to give place to and to obey
the divine majesty of this Word.
Let them enjoin everyone by it,
from the highest to the lowest.
Let them edify the body of Christ.
Let them devastate Satan's reign.
Let them pasture the sheep, kill the wolves,
instruct and exhort the rebellious.
Let them bind and loose,
thunder and lightening, if necessary,
but let them do all according to the Word of God.
Amen!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

These are right and true responsibilities for those who will stand before God and give an accounting for how they shepherded their appointed flock. We who follow have an equally daunting command to obey; to be faithful in prayer for those in leadership (and their families) and to give to their work, as the worker is worthy of his support. We all need to offer support for Tim and Al and Steve and Ken. They are standing on the bow of the ship and get the roughest of the water as the ship moves along.

Anonymous said...

I like that a lot. My favorite phrase is "Let them devastate Satan's reign." That's awesome! Fight the good fight!

BTW, is Blogger still buggy? You titled your post "Monday Pastoral Thoughts." But it's listed as being posted on Thursday...???