In the News – Pastors Preach Christ & Spiritual Sloth

I know today is not the normal day for In the News. However, time got away from me and I need a little more time to study before I publish my next article. Are you a pastor losing his drive to preach the gospel? Do you feel everyone needs to know your name? Then the first article is for you because Bob Pitman has the answers you need. Maybe you’re not a pastor, but are you preaching Jesus with your lifestyle? Are you spending time with God or are you a spiritual sloth?

So. Baptist Pastors Told to Preach Christ, Not Themselves

By Audrey Barrick

At the two-day pastors’ conference Bob Pitman, Dean of the Adrian Rogers Center for Biblical Preaching, told pastors to start preaching about Jesus Christ and not themselves. It wasn’t about them, their agendas, or their ability to climb the denominational ladder. It was about Jesus.

“It’s not important that they know our name. But it’s important that they know his name,” Pitman highlighted. He tells them to preach because (1) the false prophets are speaking, (2) of the mercy of God, and (3) people are truly lost without Christ.

I encourage you to read more of Pitman’s admonishment to pastors.

Hardworking Sloths: Disguising Spiritual Laziness

The lazy culprit behind our busyness.
Carolyn Arends

Carolyn Arends starts off with a lecture she was listening to by Eugene Peterson about pastors being susceptible to the sin of sloth. She felt pastors were overworked. But Peterson explained what he meant. He said, “Sloth is most often evidenced in busyness … in frantic running around, trying to be everything to everyone, and then having no time to listen or pray, no time to become the person who is doing these things.”

Peterson also said, “the pastor’s primary responsibility is to keep the community attentive to God.”

While his lecture was on pastors, Carolyn wrote how it applied to her and every other Christian’s life. We may want something new to get us where we need to be in the spirit, but there really is no shortcut. We are to take time with God in prayer, time studying the scriptures, and being attentive to what he is doing in the people around us.

She gives us a biblical example that shows us this has always been the case for wanting a shortcut. She gave the example of Saul being impatient and stepping outside of his normal duties to fulfill the duties of someone else. This action cost him his kingdom and anointing. However, in today’s society Saul would have probably gotten a raise for being a problem solver.

Carolyn’s response to this is that “God is not looking for leaders who take matters into their own hands. He values faithfulness over efficiency.”

Our job is to spend time with God, getting to know him better instead of being busy doing what we think he wants us to do. You can read more about spiritual sloth.

Do you find yourself too busy to pray? To study God’s word? To notice what’s going on around you? Are you looking for the latest 3-step way to God’s heart? What is keeping you busy?

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