Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, & mind! Christian, husband, papa of four, servant of Flathead Valley Baptist Church in Kalispell, MT
Kalispell, MT
Joined July 2013
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What a blessing in my life that God would call me to be a pastor! What a privilege it is to lead a group of God's people! 🐏🐏
My prayer is that God would call more young men (maybe even middle-aged men or older) into the ministry and they would be attentive to His voice.
Benefits of pastoring a local, New Testament, Bible-believing church:
1. I GET to do what God called/commanded me to do. This brings peace to one's soul. Even in the trying times.
2. I GET to pray for/with people all the time. Just this morning, I had the privilege to pray for/with a dear church member regarding some pressing questions he had in his life.
3. I GET to spend large amounts of time studying God's word. The Bible becomes more and more precious to me each and every year. I echo Spurgeon's sentiments here: "Nobody ever outgrows Scripture; the Book widens and deepens with our years."
4. I GET to love people. This can be trying at times. However, it is part of the two greatest commandments found in the Bible (love God supremely and thy neighbor as thyself). Obeying God's command to love people brings a satisfaction like no other.
5. I GET a front row seat in seeing God change lives. What an amazing glimpse a pastor gets into the life-changing work of the Holy Spirit in His people! There is probably no other role in which a person gets such a close up view of this process.
6. I GET to see people make a choice to follow God or forsake God. This is both exhilirating and disheartening. A man that has a true pastor's heart will not be lethargic in this regard. He will cheer on those who take steps forward in following God and he will shed tears on behalf of those who walk away from God.
7. I GET to encourage people to do what God would have them do. I get the privilege of speaking life-giving words on God's behalf, with God's direction, from God's Book every week of my life. From the pulpit. In personal conversations. To fellow church leaders.
I don't HAVE to pastor God's people. I GET to pastor God's people!
"Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name."
-Psalm 103:1
Knowing how to walk this fine line will make or break you in life (especially in ministry)...
Samuel Chadwick wisely said: "If successful, don't crow; if defeated, don't croak." p. 194
Be careful who you follow as a leader. If they exhibit the characteristics below, they may be someone who commands a following, but they are not a godly leader.
💯 🎯
"A domineering manner, an unbridled ambition, an offensive strut, a tyrant's talk - no attitude could be less fit for one who claims to be a servant of the Son of God." p.55
-J. Oswald Sanders in Spiritual Leadership
Josh Miller retweeted
If you are married and want to stay faithful, please stay far away from ...
1 - Your ex or exes.
2 - Anyone you have been intimate with in the past.
3 - Anyone who likes you or is crushing on you.
4 - Anyone you are crushing on or who is your spec.
5 - Anyone who has attempted or is attempting to sleep with you.
6 - Anyone who flirts with you, whether playfully or seriously.
7 - Anyone you wouldn't feel comfortable talking to in front of your spouse.
8 - Anyone you find yourself hiding chats, calls, or meetings with.
9 -Anyone you daydream about romantically or sexually. You shouldn't be daydreaming about anyone apart from your spouse in the first place
10 - Anyone who tries to convince you that your marriage is a mistake.
11 - Anyone you have to lie to your spouse about seeing or talking to.
12 - Anyone who makes you compare them to your spouse in a "better" way.
13 - Anyone you have had emotional or sexual tension with before.
14 -Anyone who uses physical touch as a way of connecting with you.
15 -Anyone you would be embarrassed to introduce to your spouse because of the nature of your connection.
Faithfulness is not just about avoiding the act of cheating; it is about guarding your heart long before you are ever tempted.
The boundaries you set today are the walls that protect your marriage tomorrow.
Cheating does not start in the bedroom; it starts in the heart.
Protect your heart, and you will protect your marriage.
"A proud man despises his own failures, but a humble man sees his past sins as monuments of God's compassion."
-B.J. Stagner
I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude.
Psalm 109:30
Josh Miller retweeted
Don't Be Spouse #2.
SPOUSE 1: Let’s improve our marriage.
SPOUSE 2: I thought our marriage was fine.
(later)
SPOUSE 1: Let’s go on a marriage retreat.
SPOUSE 2: Nah, those might be weird.
(later)
SPOUSE 1: Can we start going on a weekly date?
SPOUSE 2: That’s going to cost a lot of money.
(later)
SPOUSE 1: Let’s go to a marriage workshop.
SPOUSE 2: I’m afraid they’ll make things worse, not better.
(later)
SPOUSE 1: I’d love for us to get some marriage counseling just to make sure we’re on the right track.
SPOUSE 2: I’m not seeing a shrink.
(later)
SPOUSE 1: Would you read a marriage book or listen to a marriage podcast with me?
SPOUSE 2: I don’t have time for that.
(later)
SPOUSE 1: I think I’m done in this marriage. I’ve been the only one trying for years and now I’m just giving up. I out.
SPOUSE 2: Okay, I'm sorry, NOW I’m ready now to start any of the things you brought up in the past.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Sadly, we meet Spouse 2’s all the time. They waited until it's over to realize the value of their marriage and to start wanting to fix things.
DON’T be a Spouse #2.
Josh Miller retweeted
10 WAYS TO DESTROY A GOOD MARRIAGE:
1 - Let the friendship die.
2 - Stop seeing your spouse's needs as important.
3 - Ignore problems that need to be addressed.
4 - Lose the romance.
5 - Put your relationship on the back burner.
6 - Withhold sexual intimacy for long periods of time.
7 - Take your spouse for granted.
8 - Make time for everything except your marriage.
9 - Stop talking and communicating.
10 - Never make time for quality time or date nights together.
Make your marriage a top priority in your life.
God continues to work His work of salvation in the hearts of those who turn to Him.
What a King! 👑
Psalm 74:12
For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
Josh Miller retweeted
Once you've been around someone for a while, you can tell whether they love the Lord or not. Meyer on this:
The face of Moses shone: and did not his heart and life shine also? Could it have been otherwise? Linen in which the housewife has laid rosemary and lavender will smell fragrantly; ordinary iron placed near a magnet becomes magnetic; those that are in king’s courts catch a refined and courteous mien; the friend of wise men gets wisdom; the members of a closely-knit family contract by association some tiny gesture, a peculiarity which betrays their oneness. It is proverbial how on the faces of an aged couple there is seen a strong resemblance, so that each reflects the other. And it is impossible for us to be much with God without becoming godly, i.e., Godlike.
-F.B. Meyer (1847-1929), Moses
May this ever be my testimony.
My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.
-Psalm 63:8
We don't always see this at the outset, but it's true.
"It is a kindness from the Lord to be brought to the end of yourself."
-Awake, My Soul
AN HONOR TO PASTOR
It's a privilege to pastor the people who will fill these chairs tomorrow. Pastoring involves the following (but is not limited to) when it comes to the people that God brings our way:
➡️To love them.
➡️To pray for and with them.
➡️To preach to them.
➡️To teach them.
➡️To weep with them.
➡️To warn them.
➡️To laugh with them.
➡️To rejoice with them.
➡️To watch them grow.
➡️To watch them stumble.
➡️To encourage them to not give up.
➡️To cheer them forward.
➡️To stand firm even when they don't understand.
➡️To lead them.
➡️To be gentle with those who are young in the faith.
➡️To prod those who need prodding.
➡️To counsel them.
➡️To walk alongside of them during dark days.
➡️To explain Scripture to them.
➡️To pass on a love of God's word to them.
➡️To share a godly spirit in the work, not an angry spirit.
➡️To lift high Jesus Christ.
➡️To minimize one's own name.
➡️To spend and be spent.
➡️To die to both criticism and praise.
➡️To listen to them.
"Lord, although I might get tired IN the work, may I never tire OF the work. Help me to love these people, YOUR people, the way they should be loved."
If you are a wounded individual, be careful with your heart and your words.
"Wounded people often find someone else to blame."
-quote from May/June Dwell devotional
🎵🎶
O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free,
Rolling as a mighty ocean
In its fullness over me. Underneath me, all around me,
Is the current of thy love;
Leading onward, leading homeward
To thy glorious rest above.
-S. Trevor Francis
It's an interesting verse when the Psalmist asks God to "Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness." Psalm 119:36
Why does he do this? He knows the wickedness of his own heart. This is an excellent prayer to pray unto God and reminds me of part of an old poem written in the 7th century by one named Rabanus Maurus.
Create anew, our wills control,
Subdue the rebel in our soul;
Chase from our minds the subtle foe,
And peace, the fruit of faith, bestow;
And, lest again we go astray,
Protect and guide us in the way.