“17 Now, gird up your loins and arise, and speak to them all which I command you. Do not be dismayed before them, or I will dismay you before them. 18 Now behold, I have made you today as a fortified city and as a pillar of iron and as walls of bronze against the whole land, to the kings of Judah, to its princes, to its priests and to the people of the land. 19 They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you,” declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 1:17-19 NASB
Many pastors today have followed the path of Jeroboam when God gave him the ten northern tribes of Israel to rule over. He panicked when he thought about them going to Jerusalem to worship God, so he set up two golden calves, one for the north and one in the south, and told them that these were their gods and that they need not journey to the south. He feared losing HIS CONGREGATION, so to speak, if he stuck by the whole revealed Word of God. You see, when we make a counterfeit way to God, He NEVER honors it.
Many today have compromised for fear that the numbers will cease to attend their churches. Pastor, our job is to be faithful to proclaim the whole message of God’s Word and leave the church growth in His hands. How many huge churches today have sprung up into thousands and all of a sudden collapsed? The Church belongs to God, not to us and this makes us His servants or stewards. It is required that these be found faithful. These are the churches that grow and remain strong even when they become large. I am thinking of a wonderful such church that is turning 25 in December. It is growing and solid in God’s Word.
If you choose to follow God and not man-made methods, you will find opposition along the way but you will NEVER be uprooted since it is God who supports you and the ministry you lead. My Messianic Rabbi friend and brother once explained the word faithful. He said that the Hebraic understanding of this is FULL OF FAITH. Doesn’t that say it all? Faith that is fully focused on God and His word, with a desire to lead people to HIM, not to ourselves.
May God bless and keep you as you stand and deliver His revealed word to HIS children.
For this story, read 2 Kings 12.