Be a encourager

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We have to humble ourselves and know that God is God and we are not.

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Thank You

The Vine prays that you were touched by the Holy Spirit. I prayed before I started this weeks blog and this is the message that was laid on my heart.

With the news of David leaving, which is a great blessing to him and Nancy. My thoughts went to CC. I know CC is happy for David and will miss him very much. David and Nancy have been walking and serving God for many years. In this time of their life God has Blessed them greatly. Staying true to God has it's wonderous rewards. Selling their house in one day, enough money to live on at this time of their lives and close to his Mother. These are the blessings of our Great God. I have found my way to be happy for them and not stuck here in the flesh.

I was crying boo hoo and wondering about the changes that were to come. You know I love order. I finally got hold of myself and like a V8 moment knew My God was an awesome God. How wonderful this opportunity is for them and for us. Things change everyday, growing is a part of life. Our church is full of wonderful people and we must prepare the way for more people. With that being said.

Prayer warriors and members what a chance we have to stand with our pastor in this time of change. Showing the community what a praying church is like.

SPIRIT filled, Bible based, praying, praying and praying.

I began to look for material for encouragement. This is not directed at any one person. Although I have been told if hearing the truth makes you feel uncomfortable, you may under conviction of the Holy Spirit. This message is for me, so I will learn and grow as a christian. I found this information interesting and I will contuine to pray on it. I pray that you will be blessed and know how fortunate we are to have this pastor.

CC is a wonderful man of God and he has a true vision for our church.

How to encourage our Pastor

Take your own spiritual growth seriously.
"Nice sermon pastor" maybe "you're a good pastor" would be wonderful words for him to hear. Our pastor does not like a lot of compliments, but we could give them to him anyway. Pastors usually go into ministry to see the Gospel grow. If we keep it to ourselves, can they see our growth. A great encouragement to a pastor is to see his congregation spiritually grow.

Give our best to the church, not the leftovers.
The church is the most volunteerish of volunteer organizations in the world. There really are no consequences for those who give half-hearted service at the church. If you give have hearted service at work, you get demoted or fired. Demotion from God's house, well it could get hot. Give half-hearted at the church and nothing happens.

When push comes to shove, it is almost always the church that gets the shove. Expecting people to be at the church every day, is to much, but expecting church members to be in church every Sunday unless they are ill or traveling is reasonable. It is not to much to expect people to be involved in at least one extra ministry. To often it is the church activity that gets the shaft when something else comes up . Not so gently used equipment and or slightly broken toys that your kids have discarded, ask yourself is that encouragement? Does God see this? There are those that bring in the new toy, just because. The new vacuum , food for the needy and so on without any fan fair or expection. Now that is encouragement. The object is to give your best, what ever that might be. What can one person do? All that they can.

"Remind him that you are for him"

One of the best ways to remind him you are on his side is to tell him at a time when nothing is really at stake, when there is nothing you really want from him and no agenda you are pushing. Don't use encouragement as a means of furthering an agenda. There are very few persons really out to get the pastor, but unfortunately one negative person often carries more weight than ten positive people. So, simply remind him that you are for him.

Find out his "love language"

Okay that probably sounds "non redneck". The point is to find out what he likes. Books, fishing trips, restaurant gift certificates or a conferences he might want to attend. Blue Bell ice cream works too. A gift of love if you will. This is really simple. Having a good talk about the love of Christ or history is always a good one too.The little things can make the difference between a good day and a great day.

"Be fair"

This is multifaceted. Keeping social situations socially, days off in a 24/7/365 ministry, taking care of him and his family. These are each very important areas. Pastors day off, he needs that down time too. Not always do our troubles and events take a day off, but pastor needs that time. We can think of a time when we just hated to answer the phone or even when the kids were young and they demanded all of our attention. Well there are 150 of us or so. Hair pulling time. Social times need to try to remain social. Not always does church business need to be discussed. Now God needs to remain in thoses times. It is fun to laugh and see the humor of it all. We are blessed that our pastor has a great heart for humor. His head sure does turn red when he is having a good joke. It is fun to watch.

There are a lot of demands on a pastor, now think of his spouse. Sometimes people will take their frustrations out on the family, in particular. As hard as it is to be a spouse at any given time, only imagine the spotlight on the spouse of a pastor. Anything that they might do or say is highly scrutinized. Pedestals are hard to balance on, try it. A great deal of love, acceptence and understanding is the blessing to give our pastor and his family.

Pray for him

Ah yes, of course we are to say that, right? Ultimately, only God can meet our pastors needs. He has to keep himself firmly attached to God. Pastors are only human and a sense of security in his relationship with Christ and the church will booster his confidence greatly. A side effect of praying for our pastor is what prayer does for us. You can not stay at odds or hold a grudge against someone you pray for. Emphasize the word "for," sometimes when we say we are praying for someone we are really praying against them. Meaning we pray for what we want from the situation, not what is best for him and our church. Prayer for his welfare, prayer for the fulfillment of his hopes and dreams, prayer for his great success, now that is a praying church. Our pastor is a symbols of us as church body. If we are fractured and drown hearted , that is a direct link to our prayers or lack there of. This is where we can make a tremdous difference, the many lives.

Here lies the point about praying for our pastor. When we pray for someone God gives us a soft spot for them in our heart. Even when at odds, if you pray for them , somehow you are able to come alongside them and encourage them. Love is the greatest commandment. Furthering the gospel of Christ depends on the church to grow in order to reach the people.

And I believe that is the ultimate goal of any congregation.

Praying for the leadership of our church results in what is best for the church and is one of the most important procedures in the how to manual.

Love one another, Pray for one another, Encourage everyone.

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