Introduction: The Pastor is also known in the scriptures as Elder or Bishop. These are men called by God to preach the gospel and to lead, protect, and care for God’s people in a local church. God holds the local church near and dear to him and has given us pastors for this purpose.
The Pastor must:
Oversee the Church- Acts 20:28 “over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers”. The overseer is watchful and has responsible care of the local church. This involves guiding the direction of the church, making decisions with prayer and wisdom, and leading by example.Part of overseeing is ruling, that is governing, deciding, determining- I Timothy 5:17 “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine”. Part of overseeing is “taking care of the church of God” Ephesians 3:4-5.
Feed the Church- Preaching/Teaching- Acts 20:28 “to feed the church of God”. I Peter 5:2 “Feed the flock of God which is among you”. Preaching- II Timothy 4:2 “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine”. Teaching- I Timothy 3:2 a Bishop must be “apt to teach”. Jeremiah 3:15 “And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding”.
Protect the Church- Acts 20:29-31 “Therefore watch”. A pastor is to be watchful when it comes to wolves coming in and men arising from within. These are compromisers and worldlings. Grievous wolves will come in and they won’t spare the flock. They will teach false doctrine that will infiltrate the church. Matthew 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves”. Men will arise and speak perverse things to “draw away disciples after them”. Divisions, cliques, murmuring, grumbling, gripping, jealousy, and pride.Titus 1:7-9 “..that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers”. A gainsayer is one who contradicts or denies what is alleged, an opposer.
Perfect the Church- Ephesians 4:11-12 Men preach and teach the word of God and the saints are perfected by the Word of God. To be perfected is to be complete, whole, not lacking. It doesn’t mean to be sinless. This is how a person is perfected.
II Timothy 3:16-17: Doctrine- What is right. The teachings of the Word of God. Reproof- What is wrong. Correction- What to do when wrong is done. Instruction in Righteousness- How to do right.
Train the Church- Ephesians 4:12 “for the work of the ministry”. Ministries grow from a local church and are an extension of the local church. God uses Christians to be a part of a certain ministry that is specific to this local church. Some crawl, others walk, some run. There is a work in the ministry that must get accomplished and the Pastor is to equip the saints to do the work.Teaching, VBS, Nursing Home, visiting, passing out tracts and NT Bibles, giving to missions, praying for others, etc.
Edify the Church- To edify is to build up, to instruct, to teach. Ephesians 4:12 Every member makes up the body of Christ. As every individual member grows in these things and in their knowledge of Jesus Christ, the body is built up, it is edified. The whole counsel of God must be preached without apology- Acts 20:27 “For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.” Paul wasn’t holding back and avoiding anything that was in the Bible. The body of Christ needs to grow and mature as they sit under the teaching and preaching of the Word of God. Christians need to read the Bible, study the Bible, meditate in the Bible, learn the Bible, search the Scriptures. II Timothy 2:15 “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needed not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”.
Conclusion: The local church is important to God and the Pastor has a great responsibility to do these things so that the church can mature and grow as it should. God will do his part, I will do my part as Pastor, will you do your part?
Anchor Baptist Church 