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Dear Brother; Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! It has been a while since I last wrote you. God has been saying much in that time, but I’ve been a little slow in writing down what he says. This is now the second letter of this type I am writing, and I hope it is as much a blessing to you as the reports I heard of the first one was. There’s an old chorus that talks about keeping our eyes upon Jesus. This is not only a good idea, it is imperative! As soon as we take our eyes off of the Lord, we will sink, just like Peter did. God has called His people to walk on the water with Him (another old chorus). We can’t accomplish this by any other means than His Holy Spirit upholding us. Just as a child looks at his parent when he is learning to walk, so must we look to the father when we are learning to walk on the water. If anything else enters our sight, we will surely fall. Don’t look to the people, don’t look to the circumstances, just look to the father. The brochure enclosed with this letter is intended to be a tool for you. Many people leave their church every week, for some petty reason, and go to find another. The counsel in this brochure is the same counsel we’ve given people in person, and has prevented some from leaving their church. Please use the brochure however you see fit. One pastor I know is putting it in his welcome packet. This will not only prevent people from quitting another church to join his, but tell people coming into his church where he stands, long before they think about leaving it. We will continue to pray for your church. If you have any specific prayer requests, be sure to contact us, so that we can know how to pray. Until we see you again, be blessed in the Lord, and in His goodness and grace. In Jesus’ precious name, Rev. Rich Murphy p.s. The space on the cover of the brochure was left there for your church name, address, and phone.
As ministers, we are in the position of the Old Testament priests, ministering from the Lord to the people, and from the people unto the Lord. We must know the heart of the Lord, in order to see and understand what it is that He desires to say to His people. On the other hand, we must know the heart of the people, to understand where they are in their receiving from the Lord. Especially as a pastor, God has given you a heart for the people. You are concerned about where they are and what they are doing, much like a parent is with a child. Occasionally, there comes a time when we feel that the people aren’t ready for what the Lord wants to say. Or, we know that the people will be upset by what the Lord is trying to get over to them. That’s okay, I’ve found that most people are upset by the truth, especially when it hits them where they live. Until people are “shaken up” by the truth of God’s word, they never go forward in their walk with Him. Let’s look at salvation for example. Until a person is shaken up by the problem of their own sin nature, they usually aren’t ready to receive Jesus into their lives. Unfortunately, without continued shaking, we never seem to move forward in our Christian growth. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6 When Jesus said this, the people understood Him to be equating himself with the temple. The entrance into the courtyard was called “the way,” the entrance to the holy place was called “the truth,” and the veil covering the entrance was called “the life.” He was painting a very clear picture of being the only way to get to God the Father. That statement shook up the people. In fact, it shook them up so much that they wanted to kill Him. Yet, He is the only path to salvation. Let’s look at this scripture another way. Jesus equates Himself with both truth and life. Or, He equates both truth and life with Himself. Having Him in our lives should bring both truth and life. Of course, He can only bring these into our lives if we allow Him to. We have the power to stop anything He wants to do for us, strictly by our will. If we want to bring life to the people of God, we must bring truth to them. We must bring whatever truth God gives us for them, without worrying about their acceptance of it. Quite often, the truths that end up hurting them the most will be the ones that bring with them the most healing, and the most life. Just as the surgeon’s scalpel will hurt, so will the two edged sword hurt when it is used in our lives. I have met some pastors who preach God’s word, without worrying about whether or not the people like them. I have also met some pastors who are so concerned with the people, that they “tickle their ears” instead of preaching the truth. Then there are the vast majority that fall somewhere in between. These pastors preach God’s uncompromised Word. But first, they soften the message. They want to get the truth to their people, but don’t want to hurt them too much in the process. Why don’t they want to hurt the people? Usually, they’re trying to keep the people from leaving. Ouch! That’s not exactly the best reason. Granted, none of us want people to turn their back on the Lord. But, getting upset at a minister isn’t the same thing. Jesus said: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. (16) So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” Revelations 3:15-16 If someone is going to leave because you preach the truth, then they’re obviously not totally sold out to the Lord. Since God is going to spew them out of His mouth anyway, it doesn’t whether they leave the church or not. It seems to me that it’s more important to get them on fire for Jesus than it is to keep them in church. You see, we’ve catered to people’s desires too much. Jesus is returning for a bride that’s on fire for Him, not lukewarm! If all we do is tickle their ears, they’ll never grow, never mature, and never be of any use to God! God has called the five-fold ministry for: “the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:” Ephesians 4:12 The word “perfecting” here can also be translated as “maturing.” Notice what happens after they are perfected...God puts them to work. God can’t make use of babies, and that’s what most of the Body of Christ is. You know something? Maturing and being on fire go together. Someone who isn’t on fire isn’t going to mature. So, shaking up the body is incredibly important to making god’s people become what He wants them to be. We now get to the touchy subject of money. When we upset people, and they leave the church, it can affect our pocketbooks. That one reason does more to prevent many ministers from preaching the truth. I have made the mistake of looking to God’s people for provision. One Wednesday evening, we stopped in at a church for their mid-week service. We were low on cash, so I was thinking that if they asked us to minister, we would get an offering. However, the Holy Spirit brought me up short on that. He reminded me that we were to look to God for our provision, and not the people. Our ministry was to be independent of receiving an offering. God wanted us to minister for Him, and look to Him for our financial provision. Fortunately, I repented quickly. God did end up having us minister that night, and the church gave us a love offering. However, I’m sure that wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t repented. Quite often people say they are “living by faith” when they mean that they are believing that you’ll give to them. That’s not God’s way. God wants us to look only to Him for provision. Give whatever God has given you to give, and don’t worry about how it might affect the people’s giving. God is our provider, not the people. As long as we do what He says, we can count on Him to provide. It is only when we stop looking to Him that we need to start looking to the people as our provider. |
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Copyright © 1998 by Richard A. Murphy, Maranatha Life All rights reserved.
23 June 1998
