14 May What Happened in Thessalonica | Part 7 “Pastors and People” | All Locations

Announcements:

Reminder:  Please check your planning center profiles for requests to join and also remove members from the list that no longer attend as well as add members not listed. Thank you.

PLEASE PLAN ACCORDINGLY:

PLEASE NOTE: THERE WILL BE NO GUIDE FOR THE WEEK OF MEMORIAL DAY WEEK – ENJOY SOME ‘FREE TIME’ WITH YOUR GROUP!  

FIRST TUESDAY IS TUESDAY JUNE 6 SO THERE IS NO GUIDE THAT WEEK.

LEADERS: WE HAVE CHANGED UP THE DISCOVER CLASS WHICH USED TO BE GROWTH TRACK AND ARE ASKING ALL LEADERS TO RE-TAKE THIS A SOME POINT.  BELOW IS THE CLASS SCHEDULE:

FIRST WEEKEND: DISCOVER

SECONE WEEKEND: NO CLASSES

THIRD WEEKEND: CONNECT

FOURTH WEEKEND: BAPTISM

ALL CLASSES ARE AFTER FIRST SERVICE ON SUNDAYS

NEW: Embrace Grace Baby Shower, please see Kathleen Buckely who is the Action Group Leader if you  or your group would like to purchase a gift from the registry for one of the 3  ladies (Blooms).  She has the Baby Registry info – also I have posted the info to the the Face Book Life Group Leader Group.  

ALL CLASSES ARE AFTER FIRST SERVICE ON SUNDAYS

IMPORTANT***** Please add

Go to your email, add no-reply@churchcenter.com to your contacts (PLEASE ASK ME IF YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND) THANKS!

no-reply@churchcenter.com to your email contacts so that you do not miss an email from Planning Center and have your members add it as well.  This will ensure you do not miss a member request or any emails that come from the Planning Center site.

All announcements and the Waters Event Calendar can be found at:  waterschurch.org/events)

Location Text Alerts:

*********************

Key Verse: 1 Thessalonians 5

Pastors and People

God is our Father and the Church is our mother.  The Church gives birth to new believers every time we gather. God is moving and that is why we honor and celebrate the Church.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 (ESV)

After Paul had talked about the glorious return of Jesus he now talks about how we should honor our pastors until Jesus does return.  We should be fans of pastors.  It is true that many people may have been hurt by pastors, but our misery can become our ministry.

New Testament Terms for Church Leaders:

“Poimen” – SHEPHERD/PASTOR

“Episkopos” – OVERSEER/BISHOP

“Presbyteros” – ELDER

All three of these terms are interchangeable in the Biblical text.  None are above either of the other.  A pastor is an elder, an overseer, bishop, and shepherd all in one.  They are to direct where the sheep go.  An overseer sees the whole flock of God.  Pastors see what we, the church, will never see.  God gives us overseers so that as a whole, we go together where God leads us. Elders are older in the faith, they have been where we are.

1 Timothy 3:2-7 (ESV)

These are high qualifications.  These are Christian qualifications.  Pastors must live what they preach and because of this, it is hard to find good pastors.

Q. How can the presence of pastors, overseers, and elders benefit the church as a whole? In what ways can their experience and guidance contribute to the spiritual growth and unity of the congregation?

What do Church Leaders do?

1. Leaders in the church WORK (LABOR) among the people. 

Our elders and pastors work and labor. Many hours go into preparing a message.  It is a lot of work but it is a labor of love.  Not only does our pastor prepare for the weekend, but also the Deep End Podcast, the Deep Dive and even 10 Questions.  This is for us, so we can be informed.  He spends time in prayer, reading, studying, and researching for our benefit.

There are also pastoral care laborers among us.  They deal with he muck and mire of life.  We don’t usually go to our pastor when we are on top of a mountain but in a valley.  It is a heavy burden and can be very emotionally draining.  Even life group leaders take on some of this burden.

1 Thessalonians 5:12 (ESV); 1 Thessalonians 2:9 (ESV); 1 Thessalonians 3:2 (ESV) 1 Timothy 4:10 (ESV)

It is a challenge to deal with people’s spiritual development.  Our pastors pray for us.  The devil is after us.  They know we are going through the valley and prayers are offered up for us by our leaders and we are never alone in the local church!

Q. What are some challenges pastors face in their role and how can the congregation support them?

2. Leaders in the church TAKE CHARGE of people.

They don’t take charge of our life but the spiritual life of our community.  Our church is a praying church.  We pray every First Tuesday from 6-7.  We pray before services start.  We have a prayer team, we have people who pray during our services while the pastor preaches.  We are a preaching church and we are shaped by scripture.  We don’t appease culture.  We are a praising church.  We praise the Lord and make our worship about Jesus and not about us.  Pastors have to filter our worship songs to make sure we have a very Christ centered  and Christ exalted experience.

Galatians 1:1 (ESV)

Pastors have to worry about what Jesus says, not what people say.

Q.  Pastors cannot afford to appease the congregation but we are shaped by scripture, why is it important for a church to have this kind of focus?

3. Leaders INSTRUCT and WARN the People.

1 Thessalonians 5:12 (ESV)

Admonish: means to warn someone about the destructive consequences of his or her actions.  Life group leaders, elders and pastors warn us about the destructive consequences of our actions.  We can think that the destructive actions we do are fine but  they will only lead us to disaster.

Proverbs 14:12 (ESV)

Jesus uses pastors to pull us out of disaster.

Proverbs 1:7 (ESV)

Those who come to church and hear the Word of God but don’t agree and then think ‘who are they to tell me how to live’, are fools God says.  We can wreck our lives, but pastors warn us and we will do well to listen.

Q. How can we, as members of our church community, develop a willingness to listen to the warnings and guidance of our pastors and leaders?

OR

Q. What are some practical steps we can take to ensure that we are open to feedback and willing to make changes in our lives when needed?

4. The people RESPECT spiritual leaders.

We need to respect the men working hard over our souls.  We need to respect them even if we don’t agree.

1 Thessalonians 5:13 (ESV)

There are many televsion programs that disparage Christians leaders or make fun of Christianity, we need to turn them off.  It is constant and it is getting into our kids ears and minds.  We need to guard our house.  Our house should be a spiritual retreat that does not let the nonsense in.

Q. In what ways can the people in our congregation show respect and love for our spiritual leaders?

5. The people LOVE their spiritual leaders.

1 Thessalonians 5:13 (ESV)

We must love our pastors and leaders.

6.  The people FOLLOW their spiritual leaders and it results in PEACE.

We are family.  We are brothers and sisters.  We may fight, argue, and get mad but God gives us parents so they can resolve the tension.  Moms and dads resolve tension that is what pastors do for the church.  When the pastors do their job and we do ours, it brings peace.

Hebrews 13:17 (ESV)

There is a reason we need to listen to Christian leadership, it is not for our destruction but the wisdom in our elders and leaders keeps us from hurting ourselves.  We need forgiving, gracious, God fearing, Gospel preaching families.  Our pastors are accountable to God and it is a scary thing.  We bring joy to our pastors and leaders when we don’t groan.

1 Corinthians 16:2 (ESV)

Q. Why is it important for people to follow their spiritual leaders, and how does it bring peace within the church community?

*******************

PRAY FOR REALLY BIG THINGS

REALLY BIG THINGS CHALLENGE:  support what God is doing through Waters Church and save to give.  Dec 8th is the initial offering and Feb 18 will be the final offering.  We passed out Impacting our Future cards, if you did not get one,  please ask your leader and we will get them to you to help you begin to save for these very important Really Big Things!

• As Woonie expands, we are looking for a new location
• As AB expands, were looking for a new location
• We are opening up a new church in SC at Travelers Rest
• We are opening up a new church in Tennessee
• We are opening up a  Christian school in NA – Grades 1 – 6