Thursday, March 22, 2012

???Pastor??? What Do Pastors Do With Their Time?


I was recently asked.  “What do pastors do with their time?”  This I can only answer for myself.     I believe everyone in the church should be using their gifts and abilities to fulfill the “one another” commands and their responsibility to the body of Christ.  Since many others work a full time job and then serve the church 5 to 10 hours after their work and outside of services, I try to do the same.  I put an average of 45-50 hours per week in outside of our regular service times.  The reason for this amount of time is that most people would consider 40 hours a full week of work.

I will share an “average” week; although, a normal or “average” week seems to happen very seldom.  According to Acts 6:4 the primary ministry of the pastor/elder is to be the “ministry of the Word and prayer”.   I spend about 4 hours of my “church time” praying and the following is a breakdown of my Word ministry.  As mentioned previously, I spend 8-10 hours each week preparing my Sunday AM sermon.  I don’t preach on Sunday evenings, but teach and often on a shorter topic or theme in further application of the Sunday morning sermon so I average 4-6 of prep for that time.   Our “First Word” ministry, which is a video blog, takes about 5 hours a week.  This is possible because we have other men who teach Sunday School and Wednesday night Bible Study.  I teach a weekly men’s Bible Study into which I put 3 hours  of preparation and attendance.  Planning for future teaching/preaching ministries averages 1-2 hours a week.  One area under the ministry of the word which varies greatly is counseling in person, by phone, and electronic media.  These primary areas of ministry take over 30 hours a week on a regular basis.

The rest of my week is taken up performing various other duties.  Meetings such as those with deacons and preparation for those meetings as well as  time with my assistant or other pastors takes around 2.5 hours each week.  Administrative,  maintenance, and secretarial type tasks such as computer maintenance, sermon uploads, mail, bulletin prep, e-mail , phone calls, cleaning, setting up, van care, and calendar/long-range planning all add up to about 12 hours a week on the average.  (A pastor who is expected to preach 3 or more sermons each week will need an office assistant or others to help in many of these areas to free him for more time in the Word.)  I am thankful for many volunteers who have helped to greatly reduce the time I need to spend on these areas each week. Visits with new contacts, shut-ins, church members, or the sick can take up many hours in the week.  When there is any serious medical need our main hospitals are 1-1.5 hours away so one visit can easily take 3-4 hours out of a week.

I have not yet mentioned that I try to do reading to improve on preaching and shepherding skills as well as current topics that are relevant to the church.   Having at least a minimal knowledge of current events and activities culturally, politically, and socially helps in relating to people and applying the scripture to those in our society so reading and information gathering is necessary here as well. 

Outside of “church time” I spend personal time in Bible study and prayer as well, but because of limited time/space I will save that topic for a later date.

Let me encourage you to be praying for and encouraging/assisting your pastor as he strives to shepherd the flock God has placed him with.

Sparks highlights 3-21-12


****Sparks Highlights****    We have seen the amazing attributes of our Savior Jesus – He is Holy, He is Powerful, He is our Provider, He is our Teacher, He is our Healer, AND He is also our Shepherd.    The Bible tells us that we are alike sheep who have gone astray and Luke Chapter 15 tells us that Jesus, our Good Shepherd cares enough for each and every one us that He will come to find His sheep that have gone astray – one of the many.   What a comforting thought that Jesus cares for each of us to consider us that much loved that He would come to find one of the many!  Psalm 23 tells us, too, that the Lord is our Shepherd and we shall not be in want as He supplies our very most needs – even before we know it.   If you know anything about sheep, it is that they are helpless animals that need to be led to food and shelter and need to be protected from other animals that hunt them.  So just like sheep, we need a leader for our lives and a protector from the evil one Satan – who the Bible says hunts for whomever he can devour.   Jesus is that leader for our lives, but in order for Him to lead, we have to surrender our wills to His – and we know so far we can trust Him as Savior because He is holy, powerful, a provider, a great teacher, a healer, and as a preview to next week’s lesson – the very Son of God as God proclaimed Him as such as the Way, the Truth and the Life.  And not only is He the Shepherd, but He is also proclaimed to be the spotless Lamb of God as He was the sacrificial lamb for our sins.  
You are welcome to join us anytime at Sparks!    You can also check out the AWANA program at           www.fbc.littletonil.org.    
Mrs. Jennifer Schroeder, Mr. Roger Fox, Mrs. Barb Stein.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

The Jewish Advantage


Romans 3:1–8 (ESV) 1Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. 3What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 4By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.” 5But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) 6By no means! For then how could God judge the world? 7But if through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? 8And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.

To better understand this passage we need to understand its context.  In chapter 1 verses 18 to 32 Paul was addressing a worldly individual possibly an atheist or agnostic definitely an idolater. The pious Jew looking on may have been tsking him or shaking his finger at him, had he been a Baptist he may have been saying Amen. But in chapter 2 Paul began to address this pious Jew or this religious person. He was rebuked for the fact that he had not responded to God's grace by repenting. He was challenged by the fact that though outwardly he appeared to be a Jew he was not circumcised of heart. If he would ever please God he had to be circumcised of heart by the Spirit.

Paul being a Jew understood the Jewish mindset he knew exactly what this pious Jew was thinking and in these verses in chapter 3 Paul begins to answer four arguments. The first of these questions was, "Is there an advantage to being a Jew?" Paul's answer was, " Yes, there are many advantages to being a Jew." The foremost advantage of being a Jew was that they were given the Scriptures. God had blessed them with his written word. It would be good to remember that Jesus said in Luke 12:48 and whomsoever much is given much shall be required."

The second argument Paul dealt with was whether or not the fact that some unbelievers would make God's faithfulness untrue. Paul replied that even though every man is a liar God is always truth. The third argument in this passage challenged Paul with the idea that man's unrighteousness would help display God's righteousness better. This is like the adage of today that says, “The end justifies the means”. God is always just as wrath in his judgment and he will judge the world in truth.  Therefore, we must choose to do right.

The final argument is similar with the idea of my life bringing glory to God because of God's truth. This is nothing more than antinomianism lawlessness. Paul's statement was that for these people,"Their condemnation is just."

Whether Jew or non-Jew we all stand accountable before a true God a righteous God holy God we will all give account for our actions for God will judge the truth and righteousness. I hope that you are ready to face Him face-to-face because you've placed your faith in the blood of Jesus Christ for salvation.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Be Authentic to Please God!


Romans 2:25–29 (ESV) 25For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. 26So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 27Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. 28For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.

In this passage Paul is continuing to challenge the Jew or piously religious on not relying on their “good works” to have a relationship with God.  The Jew thought that they simply were blessed by having the law and by being circumcised yet they were not submissive to God from the heart.

In contrast the individual who did obey the law would be considered as a “true Jew” one who was circumcised.  Their obedience in itself would bear light upon the rebellious heart and attitude of the physical Jew.

Paul further reveals that one cannot be a Jew simply by outward or physical actions, but they had to be one inwardly.  They needed to be circumcised of heart by the Spirit of God.

Although the outward Jew may have gotten much attention and applause from his fellow man, his life was not pleasing to God.  It was the one who was inwardly changed of heart that would be truly pleasing to God.  Yet, when these individuals live lives pleasing to God they seldom receive praise from man because their life of light begins to expose the darkness of others.

The man with the circumcised heart is the one who responds to the teaching of God’s Word and the conviction of the Holy Spirit by placing their faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ realizing that He is the only satisfactory payment for their sin.  It is this regenerating work of the Holy Spirit that brings to life repentance in the believer and allows an individual to truly please God.

Friday, March 16, 2012

???Pastor??? How long does it take to write a sermon?


How long does it take to write a sermon?  Simply answered,  it takes 8-10 hours depending on the text and what else is happening.  One person made the statement that writing a sermon is like writing a 10 page term paper.

But to help you understand why let me explain a little about what goes into preparing a sermon.    I believe the Bible to be God’s inspired Word and that it was given to us for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness.  Respectively the bible teaches us what is right, what is not right, how to get right, and how to stay right so that we might be mature and ready for every good work (II Tim. 3:16-17) 

Because of this belief my goal is to study a passage so that I can, to the best of my ability and with the help of the Holy Spirit, determine what  the original author was saying to the original recipients.  You may hear this referred to as the historical, grammatical or literal exegesis of Scripture.  Exegesis is trying to learn what God is telling us through the scripture, or pulling OUT of the meaning and intention of the Holy Spirit.  It tries to avoid making the scripture say something that it does not by reading INTO the passage one’s prior beliefs and prejudices which is isogesis. 

The first step in this process is observation.  I begin by printing the passage that I will be preaching from in a side by side format of five translations.  I read over these many times trying to get a basic understanding of the passage and asking these questions of the text:  who, what, when, where, why, and how?  This helps me to learn the context of the passage. That is how this passage fits historically, culturally, and with the rest of Scripture.  To further this process I try to study the meaning of the key words (words that are repeated or emphasized in the passage) from the original languages.  I use my computer and Logos Bible Study software for this and several other parts of this process.

From these observations I strive to determine what that meaning of this text was as given from the original writer to the original recipients.  This is called interpretation and there is only one correct interpretation of Scripture.  Because of this the question, “What does this passage mean to you?” is invalid.  God is not a God of confusion changing the meaning of Scripture from person to person.  The correct question is “What is God saying in this passage?”  As my father has often said, “There are many applications, but only one interpretation.”

Application is the next step in the process.  Taking God’s message and applying it to our culture and our individual lives.   I personally strive to be applying a passage in my life as I study it before I begin to think about how it will apply in the life of my congregation and others who hear it.  Failure for us to personalize scripture as we study makes our study a vain practice.

Once these steps are complete, I must then write the sermon.  I must decide how to best relate this information to others.  This will include an introduction with the purpose or theme, the body of the sermon which will help to explain the meaning of the passage, and application which may be spread throughout the sermon or described at the end.

I want to share a great book on the Bible Study process with you.  It is called “Living by the Book” and was written by Howard Henricks and his son, William D. Hendricks.

I also want to encourage you to pray for me and your pastor as we study the scriptures and strive to share with you God’s personal message(s) each week.
  
 I hope that you are weekly under the preaching of a faithful Bible expositor.

Sparks Highlight 3-13-12


****Sparks Highlights****    Besides showing us His Holiness, His Power, His Provision, His Wisdom/Teaching, Jesus is our Healer.  He is often referred to as the Great Physician.   Jesus, God Incarnate who is our Creator, also can heal all our sickness.  Crowds would often flock to Jesus to heal their sicknesses – blindness, deafness, muteness, lameness, leprosy, and years of bleeding.  His touch would heal them, His words would heal them.  But you know what our greatness sickness is?  Our sin.  Jesus is the Healer of our greatness sickness because He has taken the punishment of our sins upon Himself – that is the antidote, the medicine, for our sickness.    Each time Jesus would heal an infirmity, He would note that it was the person’s faith that would heal them – make them whole -, and then Jesus would challenge them to depart and sin no more.  See, each person’s problem was not just a sickness of body, but more the sickness of their sinful heart.  Jesus didn’t just take the time to heal their bodies – with doing that He showed His power as God, but more powerful than that, is when He told them their sins were forgiven them.  Only God – our Great Physician – can heal our sinful hearts.  But as Jesus said, it takes faith to accept Him as our healer, and a willingness to sin no more by giving Him our hearts.  Sure, after we put our faith in Him, we are not perfect in that we still sin, but at that point we should have the concern to confess that sin, and as the Bible tells us, He is faithful and just to forgive us that sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  We still need our Great Physician to heal our hearts then, too!
You are welcome to join us anytime at Sparks!    You can also check out the AWANA program at           www.fbc.littletonil.org.    
Mrs. Jennifer Schroeder, Mr. Roger Fox, Mrs. Barb Stein.