D.L. Moody’s Word To Pastors About The Word

July 18, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Pleasure & ProfitAs I read D.L. Moody’s book Pleasure & Profit In Bible Study, I noticed several of his comments were directed to pastors.

In my humble opinion, the pastor needs to be the “Bible Student In Chief” of his or her congregation. The pastor’s love for God’s Word will create a hunger in the congregation to study this amazing Book!

You can read my full book review of Pleasure & Profit by clicking here. Below are some of the words to us pastors from this book.

“Oh! let every minister tell the truth, though he preach himself out of his pulpit. … If the Bible only has a chance to speak for itself, it will interest the people.” 

“Give the people the Word of God. Some men only use the Bible as a text book. They get a text and away they go. They go up in a balloon and talk about astronomy, and then go down and give you a little geology, and next Sunday they go on in the same way, and then they wonder why it is people do not read their Bibles.”

“It a good thing for a minister to have the reputation of feeding his people. … People can get along without your theories and opinions, ‘Thus saith the Lord’—that is what we want.”

“Christ did not have a short-hand reporter to go around with Him to write out and print His sermons, and yet the people remembered them. Never mind about finished sentences and rounded periods, but give your attention to making your sermons clear so that they stick. Use bait that your hearers will like.”

“It is a thing to weep over that we have got thousands and thousands of church members who are good for nothing towards extending the Kingdom of God. They understand bazaars, and fairs, and sewing-circles; but when you ask them to sit down and show a man or woman the way into God’s kingdom, they say: ‘Oh, I am not able to do that. Let the deacons do it, or some one else.’ It is all wrong.” 

Pastor, how is your personal Bible study time? Is it invigorating, or humdrum? We’ve got to get immersed in the Word so that we can encourage our congregations to do likewise.

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Bold Pastors

June 27, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

A.W. TozerI want to be this kind of pastor that A.W. Tozer describes! What about you, my dear pastor?

“The Church at this moment needs men, the right kind of men, bold men…. We languish for men who feel themselves expendable in the warfare of the soul, who cannot be frightened by threats of death because they have already died to the allurements of this world. Such men will be free from the compulsions that control weaker men. They will not be forced to do things by the squeeze of circumstances; their only compulsion will come from within—or from above. This kind of freedom is necessary if we are to have prophets in our pulpits again instead of mascots. These free men will serve God and mankind from motives too high to be understood by the rank and file of religious retainers who today shuttle in and out of the sanctuary. They will make no decisions out of fear, take no course out of a desire to please, accept no service for financial considerations, perform no religious act out of mere custom; nor will they allow themselves to be influenced by the love of publicity or the desire for reputation.” —A.W. Tozer

What stood out to you in this quote?

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Pulling Up To The Table

June 20, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Jim Cymbala“To every preacher and every singer, God will someday ask, ‘Did you bring people to where the action could be found… at the throne of grace? If you just entertained them, if you just tickled their ears and gave them a warm, fuzzy moment, woe to you. At the throne of grace, I could have changed their lives.’ God has chosen prayer as His channel of blessing. He has spread a table for us with every kind of wisdom, grace and strength because He knows exactly what we need. But the only way we can get it is to pull up to the table and taste and see that the Lord is good. Pulling up to that table is called the prayer of faith.” —Jim Cymbala

Pastor, are you pulling up to the table enough? Is prayer a priority in your personal life? Is it a priority in your church?

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The Precursor Of A Blessing

June 13, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

R.A. TorreyPastor, please carefully read this words from R.A. Torrey…

“There are many ministers who are missing the fullness of power God has for them, simply because they are not willing to admit the lack there has been all these years in their ministry. It is indeed a humiliating thing to confess, but that humiliating confession would be the precursor of a marvelous blessing. But there are not a few who, in their unwillingness to make this wholesome confession, are casting about for some ingenious device or exegesis to get around the plain and simple meaning of God’s Word, and thus they are cheating themselves of the fullness of the Spirit’s power that God is so eager to bestow upon them. And furthermore, they are imperiling the eternal interests of the souls that are dependent upon their ministrations, that might be won for Christ if they had the power of the Holy Spirit which they might have.” —R.A. Torrey

It is indeed a humiliating thing to admit that we have fallen short in our ministry. But as Torrey says, this momentary humbling can lead to an extraordinary outpouring of God’s blessing.

We can lose our pride now, or we can lose our pride later when we stand before God.

The choice is up to you and me…

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In Desperate Need Of A Physician

March 7, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

Here’s a really simple statement: You cannot give what you do not have. Even if I really want to give my friend the $20 he is asking for, I can’t give it to him if my wallet is empty. And yet pastors are guilty of trying to do this spiritually frequently.

Somehow we’ve forgotten that Peter denied Jesus, that Paul persecuted Christians and called himself the chief of sinners, that James at one time thought Jesus was out of His mind. We hold these men up as “saints” and “perfect” pastors. But all of these men knew that they were were in desperate need of The Physician who could restore them and fill them for service.

Pastor, do you feel the need to look “perfect” to your congregation? Are you leery of ever mentioning any of your shortcomings? Do you think you have to have what everyone else needs? Do you think you have to answer every call?

Read carefully these words from A.W. Tozer—

Tozer

“Human nature being what it is, the man of God may soon adopt an air of constant piety and try to appear what the public thinks he is. The fixed smile and hollow tones of the professional cleric are too well known to require further mention. All this show of godliness, by the squeeze of circumstances and through no fault of the man himself, may become a front behind which the man hides, a plaintive, secretly discouraged and lonely soul. Here is no hypocrisy, no intentional double living, no actual desire to deceive. The man has been mastered by the circumstances. He has been made the keeper of other people’s vineyards but his own vineyard has not been kept. So many demands have been made upon him that they have long ago exhausted his supply. He has been compelled to minister to others while he himself is in desperate need of a physician.” (emphasis added)

My dear pastor, please drop the pretense: you are not super-human.

  • It’s okay to say “no” to another request so you can spend time at home.
  • It’s important to make the time to “keep your own vineyard”—read the Bible for you (not for sermon prep), spend time with your spouse and children, get a good night’s rest, take a vacation.
  • You need to find a friend who can hold you accountable, and listen to your struggles, and pray for you.
  • You must take all the time you need to get filled up with God’s presence, to meet with The Physician of your soul.

Remember: you cannot give what you do not have. So make sure you’ve got it before you try to give it!

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A Perilous Profession

January 3, 2014 — Craig T. Owens

My dear fellow pastor, please be on guard! Be careful to remain physically fit, spiritually full, emotionally strong, and mentally stimulated. Keep your relationships healthy and guard against the attacks of the enemy.

Heed these wise words of A.W. Tozer—

A.W. Tozer“Yet the ministry is one of the most perilous of professions. The devil hates the Spirit-filled minister with an intensity second only to that which he feels for Christ Himself. The source of this hatred is not difficult to discover. An effective, Christ-like minister is a constant embarrassment to the devil, a threat to his dominion, a rebuttal of his best arguments and a dogged reminder of his coming overthrow. No wonder he hates him. satan knows that the downfall of a prophet of God is a strategic victory for him, so he rests not day or night devising hidden snares and deadfalls for the ministry. Perhaps a better figure would be the poison dart that only paralyzes its victim, for I think that satan has little interest in killing the preacher outright. An ineffective, half-alive minister is a better advertisement for hell than a good man dead. So the preacher’s dangers are likely to be spiritual rather than physical, though sometimes the enemy works through bodily weaknesses to get to the preacher’s soul.”

What do you do to keep yourself healthy and on-guard?

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Caring For Your Soul

October 4, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

Thomas a Kempis“The spiritual man puts the care of his soul before all else; and whoever diligently attends to his own affairs is ready to keep silence about others. You will never become interior and devout unless you refrain from criticism of others, and pay attention to yourself. If you are wholly intent on God and yourself, you will be little affected by anything outside this.” —Thomas á Kempis

My dear pastor, by the very nature of our position we are constantly giving out. We are ministering to the needs of others and it is physically, spiritually, emotionally and intellectually draining.

It’s a pretty simple statement: You cannot give what you do not have. You have physical, spiritual, emotional and intellectual limits.

So some simple questions for you to ponder this weekend:

  • What are you doing to care for your own soul?
  • How are you replenishing yourself?
  • After you have emptied yourself in ministry, how are you being re-filled?

If you’d like to share some thoughts in the comments, please feel free to do so.

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Don’t Give Up!

September 20, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

My dear pastor, I know the ministry can seem to be unrewarding at times. Maybe you’re even wondering if all of your labors are even making a difference. Hear this loud and clear: Your ministry is making an eternal difference … Don’t give up!

Let these encouraging words from Charles Spurgeon sink into your heart:

C.H. SpurgeonPutting our hand to this plough and looking back will prove that we were unworthy of the kingdom. If there be a hundred reasons for giving up your work of faith, there are fifty thousand for going on with it. Though there are many arguments for fainting, there are far more arguments for persevering. Though we might be weary, and do sometimes feel so, let us wait upon the Lord and renew our strength, and we shall mount up with wings as eagles, forget our weariness, and be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might….

As the rain climbs not up to the skies, and the snow flakes never take to themselves wings to rise to heaven, so neither shall the word of God return unto Him void, but it shall accomplish that which He pleases. We have not spent our strength in vain. Not a verse taught to a little girl, nor a text dropped into the ear of a careless boy, nor an earnest warning given to an obdurate young sinner, nor a loving farewell to one of the senior girls, shall be without some result or other to the glory of God. And, taking it all together as a mass, though this handful of seed may be eaten of the birds, and that other seed may die on the hard rock, yet, as a whole, the seed shall spring up in sufficient abundance to plentifully reward the sower and the giver of the seed. We know that our labor is not in vain in the Lord. (emphasis added)

Keep preaching God’s Word: it IS making a difference.

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No Presumptions

February 15, 2013 — Craig T. Owens
George Mueller

George Mueller

I’m a planner. I like to plan out my personal schedule. I also like to plan out my preaching schedule. Near the end of each calendar year, I spend an extended time in prayer asking God to show me what He would like me to share with my congregation in the upcoming new year.

By no means should this override being Spirit-directed in the moment. I need to remain sensitive to the “course corrections” that the Holy Spirit wants me to make, but I also think planning ahead is using His wisdom as well.

As I approach each week’s message preparation time, there is a temptation to just stick with the plan, no matter what. After all, I know what I’ve prayerfully planned, so I can just get down to the business of crafting a sermon, right?

This wise counsel from George Mueller—a pastor that was preeminent in prayer—helps me to check my impulses…

“Rather than presuming to know what is best for the hearers, I ask the Lord to graciously teach me the subject I should speak about.”

My prayer goes something like this: “Lord, You know I will be speaking this Sunday; You know each person who is going to attend our service this week; You know exactly what they have been going through and what they are about to go through; You know exactly what they need to hear this week, so speak those words to me now.”

How arrogant for me to say, “Lord, here’s my sermon. Please bless it.”

Instead I need to pray, “Lord, what message will you bless? Please speak those words to me.”

Pastor, please don’t presume to know what is best for your congregation, but ask the One who truly knows to give you His timely word.

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The Pastor & Prayer

January 11, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

E.M. BoundsMy fellow pastor, please consider these wise words from E.M. Bounds—

“No one having any knowledge of the existing facts, will deny the comparative lack of expository preaching in the pulpit effort of today. And none, we should, at least, imagine, will do other than lament the lack. Topical preaching, polemical preaching, historical preaching, and other forms of sermonic output have, one supposes, their rightful and opportune uses. But expository preaching—the prayerful expounding of the Word of God is preaching that is preaching—pulpit effort par excellence. For its successful accomplishment, however, a preacher needs must be a man of prayer. For every hour spent in his study-chair, he will have to spend two upon his knees.”

I believe God will be honored if we spend twice as much time praying our sermons as we do preparing our sermons. 

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