Charge to the Pastors

Amen.

Amen.

Well, what a day it's gonna be here today.

It really is.

Special service.

We have so many sweet guests here.

The Wright family.

Can we welcome the Wright family?

So good to have them, everyone and the parrots.

It's just a joy.

It really is.

And Keith Brown, we go back from the moment we started, CCW, 10 years over 10, well, right at 10 years ago.

And he's here with a little award for us at the end of the service.

And Rick, the new DOM camp, would have been here, but he had a pastor in the region that got sick and he had to go fill in.

And that's something I'll probably be helping them do in the future.

They need a pastor somewhere to go preach.

I think I know somebody that might can handle that job, but uh it's it really is a very special day.

Special day for me because uh as I've been telling you, and this has been such a sweet transition with Rick, and uh we planned this, actually, we planned this years ago, that God would allow us to do this.

So this has been a God ordained, God plan from the very beginning.

This is not something we just dreamed up.

We and David um uh Wilson, who he and I started the church together 10 years ago, we planned this transition like this.

And uh, as John uh Reynolds is here, we were just talking on the phone.

He said, Pastor, he said, Dr.

Lovett, this is the way it should be.

I agree.

And I said that for years, and God's allowed me to do it.

And I thank you, Father.

Well, the first thing on the agenda in this installation service is I'm gonna call up Pastor Rick Wright, because in an installation service, it's it's very similar to an ordination service, except he didn't have to go through the ordination exam.

Now that's brutal if it's done right.

Mine was three and a half hours with the chairman of the Bible department, Dr.

Woodrow Crow from Back to the Bible Hour.

Let me tell you, young preachers, let me warn you right now, if you're gonna get someone to lead your ordination council, don't let the chairman of the Bible department be him.

Amen.

But Rick, it's such an honor today, and one of the first things in the installation service is for the candidate that really, and the purpose is for a young pastor that's taking his first real pastorate.

That's what it's designed for.

And even though he's been in the ministry 16 years as a youth pastor, uh, this is his first pastorate.

And hopefully it'll be his last pastor, and he can do what I did.

Amen.

Amen.

That's the way Dr.

Falwell trained us.

And uh so what I need for you to do is to give us, I don't need you to preach now.

That's that all right, but what I do need you to do is tell us about the call God gave you to the ministry.

Oh no, we're in trouble.

Remember if I go Yes, he told me.

Well, it I'm very overwhelmed, church, um, and want to thank you, church.

Uh, this is way more than I I anticipated, and I cannot believe that so many people traveled here.

Um and and I am full and filled.

Um but I was think as I was thinking about all this, if you don't know church, these four rows are all family and and mostly family that traveled, but um I want to say I I love my Savior, and I can't get over the fact that he would love me enough to die for me and want to use me on this earth.

Um, but my story of calling, Pastor, is a story of God's sovereignty.

The word I kept coming to is sovereignty, and the word means he's completely and totally in control.

Uh and the world we live in today needs to know that.

That we have a God that's in control.

And so I have a couple of thoughts on that.

This is one thing.

Somebody spoke to me one time and said, Have you ever seen a turtle on a fence post?

That's a weird idea.

Um they said, This is what you know if you do see a turtle on a fence post, that turtle didn't get there by itself.

Somebody had to pick it up and put it on that fence post.

And that's what I feel like my calling is.

I don't know how I got here, really.

I've never written a resume in my whole life.

God knows my address, and I've just said yes to him, and I'm and this is the truth.

The only thing that I remember hating in high school and in college was public speaking.

This is what God has done in my life.

And I wanted to give you a verse, I'm not going to preach, but this verse explains as I jump into it.

Colossians says, For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible, invisible, thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities, by him.

All things were created through him and for him.

He is before all things and he holds all things together.

So it's God's sovereignty.

My story is a story of God's sovereignty, and I want to point out just a couple of things in my history to help with that.

Number one, my mother said yes to Jesus in a revival, and not long after my father said yes to Jesus, um, and his life was changed.

Um, my sister had a lot to do with that.

And because that happened, the life that they were living, my life would have been totally different.

I know that it would have been totally different had they not said yes to Jesus when they did.

And so when I look at it, I see sovereignty.

God said, This is going to change and how it impacted my life.

Only God knows how many ways that that impacted my life.

And so God had a call in that.

And you today, church, are here not by any coincidence.

It's by him, through him, and for him.

God saved me as a nine-year-old boy.

I knelt at my mom's bedside, and I didn't know there was a call in my life immediately.

But what I saw immediately after that, mom took me over to my cousin's house, my aunt's house, and I had a group of cousins, maybe some of their friends, and I said, You guys need to come in this room.

I said, I just got saved.

I was going to go to hell.

You all are going to hell.

And I don't want you to go there.

So you need to do what I just did with my mom.

And so, ever since then, when I found out that I could go to heaven, I wanted people to go with me.

Um and so God taught me how to serve with my dad in bus ministry.

Dad, I still remember the spiel.

So in bus ministry, we would go visiting to people on Saturdays, every Saturday, with this group of men.

And we'd go to a house, and my dad would go, I'm Rick Sr.

This is Rick Jr.

We're here from Fairwinds Baptist Church.

Want to know if anybody tomorrow morning would like to ride the Sunday school bus.

We'll be by at 8:30 a.m.

and we'll beep, beep, toot the horn on the way in.

And so for seven or eight years, I visited.

Pastor Danny loves visitation.

It was no big deal to me to start visiting when I got here.

It was a part of that way that God was working on me.

But as many people do as a teenager, um, I tried to just run away.

It became about me, through me, and for me.

I tried to get away from God.

And I thought that I had earned the right to do whatever everyone else was doing.

I mean, guys, I'm a teenager, right?

I had the right to experience everything else, and God kept grabbing me by the back of my shirt every time I did something wrong.

He put me out.

I never got away with anything.

And then I used to look at it like, why am I so bad at doing wrong?

And when I found out, when I look at it now, is God's sovereignty.

He had a plan, and he kept pulling me away because I would have jumped that fence and hit the other side if I could have.

And so God had sovereign plans.

And my senior year of high school, I went to camp, and I went to camp for two very good reasons.

Girls were going, and it was going to be fun.

And I left camp with a surrender.

I told God at camp, I'm done with the game.

I'll do what you want.

I don't know what that means.

I came home from that camp.

There was one college postcard sitting on my dresser, Tennessee Temple University, and I said, God, if you want me to do this, I'll do it.

And I prayed, and it was not a decision for education, I have to be honest.

I was plenty fine without another test.

But I looked at that thing and I prayed to her and I said, God, I know I have to do this spiritually to be better.

And so God pruned me through those years.

And I want you to understand part of my story, my calling.

At the same time, he was working on a beautiful young woman named Heather Martin, sovereignly, just putting her in places and things together in her life.

And I gotta tell you, she was the most beautiful girl on campus.

And God said, look at this guy.

Just like that.

He did.

He picked her from Liberty University, and I gotta tell you, Liberty is the most beautiful college campus on earth, and he put her in the ghetto in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where she could find a wretch like me.

But in seriousness, Heather has been through everything with me.

She cooks constantly, she hosts constantly, she counsels girls.

She's witnessed and visited with me and loved me and walked through the hardest and best times of my life.

She prays for you and she asks about you.

And so when you voted for me a few weeks ago as pastor, I need you to know that you got a team.

That's right.

That's right.

I would have never had the ministry or calling I had if she wasn't by my side.

And God sovereignly went like this and pulled us from different places and different paths.

So God after that, we uh got married, and I went to Middletown Baptist Church interning before we got married, and uh I still didn't know that I was supposed to be a pastor.

I went there with a degree, uh, three years of degree in psychology, and I was studying youth ministry as a minor because it would be fun to play dodgeball with kids at church.

And so I went and did that internship, and I went thinking we made this plan.

I was gonna mentor troubled youth that rode the bus during church time.

For them, that was a good babysitter, and for me, I was counseling.

And so, um, but I had little clue of what was gonna happen that summer.

I met with John Reynolds, and um what happened that summer was by him, for him, and through him.

I fell in love with the ministry.

God began to whisper things in my ear that summer that I had never thought or felt.

And Heather had one thing she said to me about our times at Tennessee Temple.

I'll do anything God wants me to do.

I'll be a missionary, I'll do anything.

I will do anything but be a pastor's wife.

And you should have seen the look on her face when I was at a Christmas gathering and I was explaining to Papa, her grandfather, and I wasn't that loud, but she heard me from across the room saying, I feel like God's calling me into the ministry.

To him, I was getting a big smile, and her, she goes, and um watching God sovereignly work and walk us through all of that is amazing.

But God called us then to Calvary Baptist Church uh under John Reynolds' leadership, where we served uh every day and had the funnest ten years.

Uh John and I are the closest of friends, and what I learned in my leader there was this man is so genuine.

I know he reads his Bible every day, I know that he prays every day, um, and I want to be close to Jesus like this man.

And so um, and I believe this was man, I was getting choked up.

Two of our students were leading worship on stage here this morning.

And you gotta know I didn't know any of these people were coming other than my family, some of my family.

And I believe, Pastor, that for a small town, for a small time, we experienced a revival of God in our youth ministry.

And it was an incredible time to be a part of something like that.

Um but in 2014, and I'm almost done.

Don't don't in 2014, God began to stir in my heart something different that I hadn't felt before.

And it kind of happened through the affirmation of people.

But my pastor from Middletown, Pastor Ed Lasso, came to a missions conference and he had this talk with me.

He said, You know, Rick, last time I heard you preach, you've come a long way.

And have you thought any more about pastoring?

And I was like, I love to preach, but I don't like adults.

And everybody I said that to up to that point would laugh at me.

Well, you're right where you need to be.

Pastor Lasco looked me in my eyes and he says, Well, Rick, we do what God calls us to do, and we don't worry about those details, do we?

I was like, What?

You're supposed to laugh.

So, January of 15, Heather comes to me after going to a Bible study fellowship, and she says, Rick, we've been studying, and I just want you to know if God should call us to move, I will be by your side.

And I'm like, Okay.

Things are going great.

Okay, thank you.

John asked me, never before in the history of being at that church 10 years, had John asked me to preach for a whole Wednesday night adult series.

Okay?

Never.

I mean, I might have preached four times up to that point.

I'm kidding.

I'm kidding.

But he he did that, and then after I finished the series, he pulled me into his office and he says, I want you to know if God should call you to something, I don't I don't want to hold you back.

I'm your friend and I want to serve with you forever, he said.

But if God should call you, I don't want to hold you back.

And I thought again, okay, what are these people doing to me?

March of the same year, Pastor Danny and Susan are booked for a conference at our church.

And I get conversating with him, and I said, Our teenagers come and run a vacation Bible school.

It's a missions trip for them, and we'll come to every house in the area and bring gospel tracts and we'll invite them to.

I said, I would love to do that in 2016, because 2015 I already had one booked.

And he said, Yes, we need that.

We need it in 15, though, in a couple of months.

And so he said, pray about it, and I did the Baptist thing and said, sure, I'll pray about it.

Well, I did, and I feel like God said to me, Don't miss the opportunity.

What I thought that meant was I'm gonna go and watch a 58-year-old church planner, which is crazy.

And I'm gonna figure out what they're doing because I know God's stirring in me.

And what God meant in that was He was moving me and my wife.

I had a conversation with Pastor Danny, and I went upstairs, and we've always said, I don't have a resume.

God knows my address.

And so we've always said, if God should call, it's what he's gonna do.

We'll pray when that comes, but never any other time.

And so that happened.

I went upstairs and I said, Heather, we've got something to pray about.

And she immediately started to cry and said, We're moving to Chelsea, aren't we?

And I said, No, I said, we just have something to pray for.

She said, No, I know how God works.

We're moving.

But I have to say, church, here I've been mentored by someone who's treated me as a son in the faith.

And I have learned and grown, and I am so in love with this body of people.

Um you're more than a church, and um my calling pastor on my ordination says that I'm called to the gospel ministry, and the good news, churches, is that Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead.

And I get to be the turtle on a fence post.

I don't know how, but I praise him.

The last thing I'll say is it's by him, through him, and for him.

I love you.

All right.

Well, I wanted to open by saying um I'm absolutely honored to be here today.

Um, this was not in the plans.

Um I Rick was a little hesitant to ask me because um I know that he knew my responsibilities there in Indiana.

And then Doc called me, and um they didn't know each other had talked to me, and um I was a little hesitant, and uh and then uh of course when Doc says something to do something, then I just do it.

So um, but I am certainly absolutely honored to be here today.

Um Rick is very much um as close to me as is a brother, he really is.

He he has been um it's been so awesome uh from the time that I was introduced to him uh there in the church lobby by his parents and uh bringing him in.

And there's three words, I guess, that would define our journey together.

It started with an internship, and uh really uh his goal was to really figure out whether the Lord wanted him in ministry or not.

My goal was to get him to do all the things that I did not want to do.

And I did.

I he he he did all the things, and he's got some tremendous gifts.

I tell you, I saw Rick grow in the Lord, I saw him grow in leadership, I saw him learn to love people, and uh really did a great job with teenagers.

But there is one thing you need to know that you are never to let Rick Wright ever do.

Do not let him on this platform during the music.

I was preaching one Sunday at our church, and we had tremendous musicians, and every single one of them had to leave that day early, or they were on vacation or whatever, and there was Rick, and I said, Hey Rick, have you ever like led a like a closing song or anything like that?

And he said, uh, no.

I said, Would you?

He said, Yeah.

And uh it was an invitational song, one song, all there was to it.

We only had a piano playing.

She plays through the whole song, the first verse.

Rick never starts singing.

She plays through it a second time.

Rick still doesn't start singing.

Finally, she started for him and It all worked out.

So, but um, no, he grew in that.

So as we were getting ready to go to Indiana, uh, I knew if the Lord was going to open the door uh for a student ministry pastor, Rick was my guy.

Um, and um we developed a partnership there, and I gotta tell you, um our friendship grew from there, and you are getting a tremendous pastor, you really are, but you are getting an equally tremendous pastor's wife.

Heather is a treasure, and I gotta tell you, um, and I'm not sure he wants me to say this, but I got the mic right now, but um um they got trained by the best.

Uh, Dr.

and Mrs.

Lovett have poured into them as they did to Michelle and I while we were at college.

And there's no there's no better at doing this than them two.

I'm telling you that um it was an honor from a distance, me more from a distance, and Michelle more from a distance, but Rick and Heather have have learned and got trained firsthand of what ministry is all about.

And they are ready.

They are ready, and God's gonna do a great work through them.

Um, you know, the scripture says in 1 Timothy 3 1, this is a faithful saying, if a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.

So when Rick got to Connorsville, Indiana, and he didn't say this, but I'm going to numerous times he would tell me, and he I heard him say often he didn't really like adults.

And here's here's the thing, Rick.

You have been a student ministry pastor for 16 years, and everyone loves a student ministry pastor.

And then you become a senior pastor.

And they love you.

This church is a special church and they love you, but it is not it is not like being a student ministry pastor, and I know that you've been a part of that this last year, but here in the next few weeks you're gonna find out.

It's gonna be awesome.

Um but he would say to me numerous times, I'd say, Rick, I I really see I see you're growing in your leadership, and maybe the Lord has something.

I don't want you to go.

I really don't.

I try to keep him like a secret.

Um that's one reason I didn't, it wasn't because he wasn't good at preaching.

I mean, you know he how good he is.

I just didn't want someone to find him.

And uh if I had to do it over again, I would have never sent him to Alabama.

But um, but he would always say, um, he would always say, you know, I really feel like I'm gonna be a youth pastor for life.

Bless his heart.

And um, but here was the deal.

Here's how I knew.

I would love to give you a spiritual answer.

But somewhere along the line, his all-nighters for youth ministry became part nighters, and then half nighters, and then no nighters.

And then he came down to Alabama, and Rick shared the story there.

And uh one of the hard, I'll tell you, and I have some people from our church here, and they know this, they've seen this, uh, and there's people in my church that know this, and I'm not ashamed of this.

One of the hardest days in ministry I've ever had was the day that his truck pulled out of Connorsville, Indiana.

It really was.

And um, it was difficult, it was a new era, it was a new age, and um I knew that we would be friends for life, and um and um but it was a very difficult time uh for us in transitioning through that, and we got through it.

And Rick always teases me in the moment.

Now, here's the deal when I I was on vacation and I come back from vacation.

While I'm on vacation, Rick says, Hey, when you get back, we need to talk.

And I looked at my wife, I said, I think Rick's leaving.

She's saying, He's not leaving, he's gonna be here forever, you know.

And and uh I came back from vacation.

I didn't want to, I don't want to ruin your vacation, and then he shared that with me.

But it says, He that desires the uh uh um the Bible says in 2 Timothy, uh 1 Timothy 3 1, this is a faithful saying, he if a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.

And I'm not gonna be much longer, but I wanted to share some thoughts with you, Rick, that have been on my heart.

Last year, God graced me with the opportunity of preaching through the books of 1 and 2 Timothy.

And I had some other thoughts, but um I was talking to Doc on the phone and I overheard Miss Lovett say, John should share from 1 Timothy, and and I I thought, hey, that's a good good idea.

So uh my thoughts changed.

Um but um but I do want to share this with you, and I really feel the Lord gave some things to me that I'd want you to know, as Paul shared with Timothy.

Acts 4 13.

This was not the first Timothy, but I think this is the most important.

This is what I've seen I saw in Dr.

Falwell, I saw it in Dr.

Love It, and I've seen it in anyone that has served for with length in ministry.

And we know this is not a sprint, it's a marathon.

And um in Acts 4.13, the Bible says they realized that they had been with Jesus.

Really, the most important thing in the midst of all this, there's a lot of practicality, but one of the most important things is that this church knows that you and you prove every day to this people that you shepherd the real value of spending time with Jesus.

And you've seen it in this man and I've seen you get exposed to it.

We had an evangelist that came to our church and he kept disappearing when it came time to preach.

And I said, Rick, you got one job, you stay with this evangelist.

And he disappeared right before he was going to preach, and it was time to introduce him.

I said, Rick, you gotta go find him.

So Rick takes off, he goes looking for the evangelist, and I'm stalling.

I'm like, I'm not gonna sing or anything, but I'm like up front, and I'm just talking about how good God is and how much we love Jesus, and I had gone through everything I knew to say.

Rick goes and he finds this evangelist in the north end of the building in the bathroom, on his face in the restroom, and Rick goes up to him, and I'll not say his name, but he says to his name, and Rick was a lot more, a lot less bold than he said, uh sir, you know, it's time for you to preach.

He turns around, grabs Rick by the neck, and pulls him down to the bathroom floor, and they began to pray together.

Rick knows what it means to meet with Jesus.

And I really believe, I really want you to know that he's gonna, I really believe, Rick, you're gonna prove every day the worth and value in that.

1 Timothy 1 18, Paul says to Timothy, uh, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may be waged the good warfare.

Stay steadfast in doctrine.

I know as this church grows and it's gonna grow, I've already been invited back, by the way, so I'm not preaching, but I'm looking forward to coming back uh sometime in the future as well.

But I'm telling you, it is very easy.

And Rick, honestly, one thing that transitioned my preaching ministry was when I got more serious about staying true to the word of God than using cute illustrations and making people happy.

Stay steadfast and stay sound in doctrine.

1 Timothy 2 1, Bible Paul says to Timothy, and he wanted Timothy to know these things.

He says, I exhort, first of all, that supplications, prayer intercessions, giving of thanks be made for all men.

And you know this, Rick, but pray or practice daily persistence in prayer.

So important.

I really believe that a part of the foundation of becoming a force for the early church was built upon family, a church family that included and prioritized prayer.

And I've seen I've seen this in you.

I know it's not gonna be a problem, but Rick, uh, don't let, as God does great things, don't let that be on the back burner.

Because it will ruin the ministry.

It absolutely will.

1 Timothy 3, we see the qualifications of pastoring.

I just say to you today, embrace the expectations set forth in pursuit of being a pastor, that first and foremost, and some days it will be the only thing that pleases God.

Because there's great people here.

I have learned to love them, and Alabama's a great place to be and to live.

But I'm telling you right now, Rick, just steward and decide today that even if it doesn't make everybody happy, I'm gonna make God happy.

I'm gonna please God.

A couple more thoughts.

1 Timothy 4 1.

Scripture says now that the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.

And then he says in 2 Timothy 4.2, to preach the word, be ready in the season out of season, convince, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and teaching to passionately, Rick, preach and proclaim truth, even in testing times.

And and I have a 16-year-old son that is leaning toward going into ministry now, and I have said this to him.

I'm gonna say it to you, Rick.

I believe the toughest days of being a pastor are still ahead.

I really are.

I really believe that in my heart.

And it's not it's not gonna be easy, it's gonna be testing times, and we're gonna be tempted to withhold truth, and we're gonna be tempted to compromise, and we're gonna be tempted to bow down to politics and all that stuff, but I'm I'm encouraging and I'm urging you to stay true to the Word of God, passionately preaching the Word of God, as I know you will.

In 1 Timothy 5, he he and I'll not read the whole text, but it we see the truth there to be faithful and friendly to many who have been forgotten.

I had a church member, in fact, it was Micah Kelly's dad that said to me one time, the way we treat people matters.

And I want you to know, Rick, there are many in this community in our world that are forgotten.

And chapter 5 deals with the widows and the elders of the church, and but but especially those that are forgotten.

And then 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 20 says this.

1 Timothy 6:20

He says, Oh Timothy, listen to this, guard what was committed to your trust.

It took two things to make this transition so special, and I mean what I said.

A lot of churches would love to do what is taking place here, but not many do it.

It took tremendous humility from your from Dr.

Lovett, Mrs.

Lovett.

And it also took a lot of patience from Rick and Heather, but it also takes a lot of love from a church family.

And Dr.

Lovett, Rick, has entrusted you, but more important than him, God is in this is this this doesn't belong to you.

My dad's a pastor, been a pastor of the same church for 40 plus years, and I I try to call him weekly, and he often reminds me.

Um, how many of you know your preachers sometimes get a little frustrated?

Right?

And he says, John, aren't you thankful the church don't belong to you?

It belongs to God.

And God trusts you, He's entrusting you with this flock.

But here's the truth there, that God trusts, and I think about the Old Testament with Moses.

The Bible says in Numbers 12, 7, describing Moses, he is faithful in all my house, is what the scripture says.

God, Rick, has trusted Moses with much, and he was committed with what God entrusted.

To stay committed every day to the things that God has entrusted to you.

And I know that God's going to use you to do a great work.

I close with one or two or seven final thoughts.

Seven minutes, seven minutes before you're up.

Um, no, this is this is so good, it was so good not to share.

And I kind of shared it with you, but you didn't make comment about it, so I thought I'd read it publicly to you.

I sent a text to you this week, but Andrew Hebert wrote this, and it was a little devotional written about the secret to being a successful pastor.

I want you to listen to this because I really believe it's for our time.

He wrote this many many modern-day pastors cut a different image than the biblical picture of a local church shepherd.

He wrote, We are dreamers, visionaries, catalysts, ambitious, thought leaders, influencers, motivators, and change agents.

Much time is spent crafting and sustaining our image, broadening our reach, and extending our platform.

However, poor in spirit, mourning, humble, these words aren't used so much.

In many circles, the image of what a pastor is or does looks nothing like the picture that Jesus paints for his disciples of the character of the Marks, uh citizens of his kingdom.

He went on to add that poor in spirit, broken, humble, hungry, sympathetic, poor, reconciling, enduring, these are not the words that describe the typical picture of the modern-day successful American pastor, but these are the words that Jesus said would characterize the lives of his twelve disciples, the men who would leave the church after he ascended to heaven, that ultimately I add would change the world.

And I really believe, Rick, that's where it's at.

If I could say anything to you, I wish I could say I got those right, I don't.

Unfortunately, I have leaned toward the other, but I'm here to tell you right now that if you stay true to what God expects of you, you'll not go wrong.

I close with this charge, Joshua 1 9.

Have I not commanded you, be strong and of good courage, be not afraid nor be dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with you whithersoever thou goest.

Love you, Rick.

Oh my, my, my, my, my.

I told you he had to be here.

But he didn't tell you, that I'd gone preaching at his church at least once every three or four years for years, especially Rick.

That's how we met.

Well, how Rick met me, because John was one of my students at Liberty.

And so uh after Rick came here, John wouldn't talk with me for a month.

I'd call him and he wouldn't call me back.

And he never would do that.

But uh I said, well, I don't think I'll ever go back to Calvary again, but uh but no, we he realized as I did, it was of God and praise the Lord.

Well, it's my job now to give the charge to the pastor and pastors, but also to the church.

So if you have your Bibles, turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 5.

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

There's only one place to go, and it's the charge to the pastor or pastors, any pastor.

That includes me, that includes John, of the importance God gives to the under-shepherds.

He's the chief shepherd.

Can I get an amen?

But we are the undershepherds, men that are called to the ministry by God.

Not by man, but by God.

And I used to tell young men all the time, they'd say, How do you know if you're called to the ministry?

You know what I'd tell them?

You try to do everything else you can except the ministry.

I really believe that with all my heart.

And I did.

I ran for two and a half years.

I was a policeman, I was a fireman, I was trying to do everything else and working with young people in the summer until God got a hold of my heart.

So, once you get called of God, it is a special calling.

Let me tell you how special it is.

Out of the five crowns that we as Christians will receive at the beam of judgment seat one day, by the Lord Himself, there's one specific crown called the shepherd's crown that are given to pastors.

Now that's pretty important, folks.

And this is what I want you to see in the first four verses of 1 Peter, chapter 5.

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

And it says Well, I gotta get to 1 Peter, though.

Hang on.

The elders which are among you, I exhort who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.

That first verse is packed.

First of all, we see Peter's given some instructions here for pastor pastors of churches, and the word elders there is the presbuteras, is the Greek word there, in the text, which is translated from the word from which we get the word presbyterion.

It was originally used for those older in age, but eventually came to represent an official in a church, which is often called the pastor.

So, first of all, we see the exhorter.

Look at verse 1.

Peter first of all introduces himself before he gives the charge to the pastor, and saying, What I'm about to tell you is not just something that God has given me, but it's what I have lived.

I myself am called by God to be a shepherd.

And he goes on and he tells us his position.

I'm an elder, he says, which means fellow elder.

And then notice he says, I not only was I an elder, I was a witness of the suffering of Christ.

Now that puts a pretty big star over Peter.

What he's literally saying, he's saying, what I'm about to tell you, I know to be a fact, because I was trained myself by the chief shepherd.

I meant, how would you like to have been trained?

Rick, I had the privilege of training you, John.

I had the privilege of training you, but what if you'd had the privilege to be trained by Jesus?

Hello?

Sign me up.

Really?

Oh yeah.

I want the glory.

Let me tell you what he comes before the glory.

The suffering.

Hello?

Look at what he says.

Now he in 2 Peter 116, he uses the word witness later in the second epistle.

And he was speaking of observing the suffering of Christ.

And then he says, look at his partaking.

I was the in verse one, I was the partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.

The glory of Christ comes after the suffering for Christ.

So as John alluded, Rick, it won't all be glory.

Right now you're on your honeymoon, and I hope you have a long honeymoon.

Because I had a long honeymoon.

I've had a 10-year honeymoon.

It's been the sweetest church I've ever been a part of.

And it was a church that God had gave me the desires of my heart, even though I didn't know it, because I I kept telling Susan after I'd be in all the churches and preaching for 20 years.

And I said, you know, I know I'm too old to start a church.

That was a wrong statement to me.

But if I could ever start a church after being in all these churches, I really believe there's a pattern that the New Testament gives on how we could really be a New Testament church.

And John, this is as close to a New Testament church that I've ever been a part of.

So you are something affiliated with something very special.

I'm telling you.

And so, then after that, after he gives his credentials and tells them, hey, listen, it's not all glory.

It's going to be suffering before the glory.

Then he says, But now get ready.

That was the exhorter in your outline.

Number two, look at the exhortation, verses two through four.

Let's start with verse two.

Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind.

Now notice what he says.

First of all, under this exhortation, we have the assignment.

I want to give you four things.

Rick, four things.

And church, this is for you too.

The assignment in the exhortation, look at what he says.

Oh, this is good.

The first exhortation has to do with the pastor's assignment of duty.

He says, your duty, your main duty, is to feed the flock of God which is among you.

And I don't care whatever you do, that is foremost the most important thing you can do.

That's why in the New Testament, in Acts chapter 6, they chose deacons as servants to come serve along by the elders so that they could give themselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word of God.

Acts 6 · chapter mention

Acts 6.4.

And one thing my precious wife will tell you, I've been for 40 plus years diligent to the Word of the Living God, memorizing and memorizing and memorizing, putting the Word of God in my heart so that I could feed the people.

And then, notice the second thing he says.

I thought that was very interesting.

Seventeen times as shepherd and one as pastor in Ephesians 4, 11.

So it really motivates and encourages the position of shepherding.

Now notice the second thing.

Not only must we feed, he said the word, but management.

Look at the second thing, taking the oversight thereof.

The pastor is also to rule and manage the church.

As a shepherd, he guides the sheep, he protects the sheep.

He cares for the sheep.

Bill Gother had three pictures when I went to his Bill Gother seminar back in the early days.

Bill Gother was very popular.

Very, he did the characters sketches and three things.

He had these three big pictures, and I got them now, they're in storage.

But as soon as we get to a place other than apartment, back into the cabin, I'm going to put those three posters back up.

It had a shepherd, and it had a shepherd with a staff, John, leading the sheep.

Then it had that shepherd with that same rod, shepherd's rod, drawn back, fighting off the wolves.

And then it had the third picture of that shepherd sitting down on a rock with that sheep, coming there and putting the salve and taking care of the wounds of that sheep.

Taking care of the sheep.

He fights for the sheep.

And then he takes care of the sheep.

Listen to me.

You've heard this time and time again from me when I was teaching the pastors.

You want to be a great shepherd?

Well, follow the example of the chief shepherd.

It was very simple.

He did two things.

Two things as a chief shepherd, he did.

He spent number one, time with the father.

And the second thing he did, he spent time with his leaders, the disciples, and the people.

That was his ministry.

And that's your ministry.

It must be your ministry.

It must.

And then we see not only the assignment.

Let's look at the other thing.

We see the attitude.

Look at what he says.

The attitude in the exhortation.

Verse 2.

Motivation is important when God evaluates our work.

Very important.

And here Peter deals with the motivation.

And look at these three motivations.

First, he says, not by constraint.

In other words, Shepard, listen to me.

No service for God is acceptable if there is not a willing heart.

You've got to be willing.

Listen, the ministry, and I'm not saying this, but I can say it because I'm a veteran in it.

I'm telling you, it's the hardest thing you'll ever do.

But it's the most rewarding thing you'll ever do.

And he says, you gotta have a heart because as those suffering times and those attack times come, your heart gets heavy, your heart gets burdened, your heart, listen, gets broken.

And then he says, secondly, not for covetousness.

You don't do this for money.

Thank God this church has always taken good care of its pastor.

Amen.

And church, you always need to take care of your pastors.

Because it's not, we're not here to get rich, but you ought to take care of them.

But at the same time, pastors are not to use their position to manipulate people to get prosperity.

Amen.

We've seen a bunch of that.

And it seems like that's what the news always glorifies.

And I'll tell you something else.

I used to tell John this too in my pastoral class.

You lead in the area of giving to this church.

You are always ought to be one of the top givers in this church.

Always.

Always.

We've always tried to do that.

And you don't do that by an amount, you do that by what God tells you to give.

Can I get an amen?

If you really believe what God says, folks, thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for he gives thee power to get wealth.

Then my soul, you just do and give what he says, and he's going to give it back to you.

And hey, he always gives back with a lot of good interest.

Hello?

We are where we are today.

Hey, God is so taking care of us, but we're here not because of our abilities, but we're here because of our giving hearts.

He'll never leave you out there alone.

And then notice what he says.

Oh, I love this one.

Neither is being lords over God's heritage.

You can't be a dictator.

That's why you have a council.

Falwell taught us, you remember this.

He'd say, the preacher is never to be a, hey, he's to be the head tater, but not a dictator.

And you've got a great council.

Oh, we have chosen the godly men to be around our pastors.

And then notice the third thing.

Simon, the attitude, and then he said, the archetype.

In other words, verse 3, being an example to the flock.

The word translated examples here comes from the word tupas.

And really what it means is that pastors are to be an example to the members of the congregation.

That's exactly what he talks about.

And one of the greatest examples of that, I want you to turn with me to Ezra chapter 7.

Ezra 7 · chapter mention

I want you to see this example.

In Ezra chapter 7 in the Old Testament, verse 10, one verse, here's the example.

Ezra 7 · chapter mention

And I love this.

I love this example.

One of my favorite verses.

Ezra prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach in Israel statues and judgments.

And I thought to myself, what a tremendous progression and construction of this verse.

And I had never realized it for a long time after studying this verse and teaching pastors, studying and reading and exergetically going through the verses that just like we're doing right now in 1 Peter 5, 1 through 4.

But this structure in this one verse was structured in the proper order.

That shows you how my God is such an ordering God.

Because you can't do the last principle in this verse if the first one's not right.

Now some try.

But look at it, first of all.

And he's this is talking about his walk.

He's got, look at what he said.

Number one, Rick, this is to you.

I want you to write it down.

You've got to have a prepared heart.

Look at what he says.

Right there.

The first statement and verse 10.

Ezra had a prepared heart.

John made reference to that.

If your heart's not right, you can't preach right.

Can I get an amen?

If your heart's not right, you can't love right.

If your heart's not right, you can't care right.

You can't protect right.

You've got to have a heart for the sheep, whether they love you or not.

You have a love for God, you have a love for people.

You can't have a heart full of love for God and not love people.

That doesn't compute.

If you have a heart for God, you have a heart for people.

That's our proposition verse here.

And then the second thing he said to seek the law of the Lord.

You got to have a passion for the Word of God.

You got to have a passion for this book.

You got to eat it, live it, preach it, share it.

Jesus is awesome.

When I play pickleball, especially in tournaments, first thing I do with everybody I play with, I introduce myself as Pastor D.

And the first thing that, are you a real pastor?

Well, yeah, I'm a real pastor.

And then I say, look, Jesus is awesome.

And then I say, can we pray?

And I got to preaching in the last tournament I played in before I even got to play the game because the other guy started saying, But tell me what, didn't that Bible say you need to go preach the gospel to every creature?

And so he should have never said that.

For the next five minutes, I preached with us four standing there and the referees looking at us like they're crazy.

But you got to have a passion.

I mean, you you start me, I'm gone.

And both of those guys, you saw what I had to do.

I mean, they'll kept preaching.

But you gotta have a passion.

Notice the third thing.

You gotta have a passion for the book, study the book, but then look at the third thing.

This is awesome.

Then you gotta do it.

You live out your Christianity in front of your congregation.

One of my greatest desires when I was at Liberty training pastors, and I've been a pastor at Open Door, Tennessee Temple, and now here, is to be a living testimony to you.

Not perfect, no one's perfect, but to live what I preach.

And that's what I want on my tombstone, that my dad from my kids live the word.

Then I want Jesus also.

And then the last thing.

Are you right?

Now, I mean, are you ready?

Watch this.

If you got the prepared heart, if you've got the passion for the word, and you're practicing, that's the third thing, the word.

Look, now you're prepared to preach the word.

Wow.

That's good.

That's good, folks.

That's real good.

Which then brings me to the last thing: the assignment, the attitude, the archer type, and then there is the reward.

Look at the reward, verse 4.

The reward of being a faithful pastor is a great one.

Look at the first.

There's two things.

First of all, look at the description of the award.

When the chief shepherd, whoo! Jesus himself, shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

Wow! Look at that.

The award is great because it comes from heaven.

The chief shepherd himself.

And then look at the duration.

Fadeth not away.

I was thinking about this.

I've won a lot of trophies and awards in my life.

But they tarnish, they rust.

Some of them even rot.

But the award right here that comes from heaven will never lose its luster.

It will shine for an eternity.

One day, Rick.

One day, church.

And by the way, church, the exhortation to you is to follow the lead of that shepherd that God places you over.

That's why this church will always be a pastor-led, council-led church.

Because that's the scriptural way to do it.

Always.

And I've told Rick that.

Always.

God doesn't call a congregation, he calls a man of God to lead that congregation.

And any of you that are in business knows you gotta have a leader.

If you don't, you're gonna have chaos.

Can I get an amen?

And you'll know if it's of God.

Your spirit will bear witness all the time.

Amen.

I'm telling you.

One day every knee's gonna bow and every tongue's gonna confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Now let me tell you, as we get ready to pray over Rick and Heather, listen to this.

Not only will you one day, Rick, can you imagine, when you're bowing before the Lord, and he's saying those famous precious words.

Hey Rick.

Hey John.

And I'll probably beat you both.

Hey, Pastor D.

Hey, Pastor Danny.

I don't think he's gonna call me Pastor.

He might, because it's an honor.

But I do think he'll call me Shepherd.

I think he'll say, Shepherd, you've been faithful in the little things.

You've been so good and faithful to me.

I want to make you rule over many things up here.

Come with me.

Every day I wake up and I say, Lord, let me be pleasing to you.

And there's a lot of days I'm not.

I know I'm not.

Because I'm in the flesh a lot.

Well, not a lot, I hope.

Don't ask my wife, though, please.

But one thing I know.

I love him with all my heart.

And I love you with all my heart.

I really do.

I love people.

And that's a true ship.

Regardless of what happens.

But now listen to me.

There's another crayon called the Soul Winner's Craig.

That all of you, all of us, get a chance to win.

And that's telling people about Jesus.

That's giving the gospel.

That's telling you everywhere you go, giving them a track, telling them Jesus is awesome.

And then one day you will be able to receive that crown.

And we will receive the soul winners' crown, but the shepherds and shepherds crown.

And then you know what we get to do with it?

We get to cast it Revelation 4.10 at Jesus' feet.

Amen.

But before you can win a soul winner's crown, you gotta know Jesus.

So my question this morning, if you're here this morning and if you were to die right now, would you go to heaven?

Some of you, there's about four that I know going.

They went, woo! Let me ask you, are you sure you're safe this morning?

Because if you're not, I want every head bow, every eye closed.