Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah . . . has conquered . . . Revelation 5:5
But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . Galatians 6:14
You have been very angry with your Anointed One. Psalm 89:38
For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:2
Let the motto upon your whole ministry be - "Christ is All!" - Cotton Mather

Friday, April 20, 2012

When Christ Is All For The Pastor

If Christ is all to a pastor of any church, he will not be jealous of the Gospel growth and success of other churches, but he will pray with as much passion and zeal for other churches and ministries as he prays for his own. He might pray . . .
Oh Father, please cause all the churches around me that preach the Gospel faithfully to grow to overflowing and become mega-churches like the church in Acts where thousands were added to their number in one day!

Please grant the faithful pastors around me to increase in influence for Jesus! Grant them to write the best-selling books that make much of Jesus, save sinners, edify the church, and glorify God! Please make these other pastors great like you made your servant Abraham great so that, like Abraham, they might be a blessing to the nations!

Please grant me to find as much joy in these other church's Gospel success as if it were my own Gospel success! May their Gospel success only serve to increase my joy in Jesus and in the triumph of the Gospel in this world!

Oh Father, please do all this because, above all, I want Christ to be all in all in the world! May His name become great in the world, and if that happens through others and not me, then all praise be to You - just make Your name great through any and all lawful means! May Christ increase, and may I decrease! Please simply cause me to be faithful to all that You've called me to do!

Thank you, oh Father, for the faithful mega-church pastors and best-selling Christ-exalting authors! Thank you for the Charles Spurgeon's, John Piper's, John MacArthur's, R. C. Sproul's, Mark Driscoll's, David Platt's, and Matt Chandler's! Make more of them oh God, and spread the fame of Your great name through them! You are a Mega God! And You deserve for all peoples everywhere to bow down and worship You! Fill all Your churches to overflowing and save sinners by the billions!

Please do it for Jesus' sake and for His glory! Amen!

2 comments:

LilyAmongThorns said...

When Christ is all for the pastor...this is good. Thank you for posting. I have really enjoyed a lot of posts and wasn't planning to comment, but I must on this because I sometimes feel such negative feelings against a "mega-church", but that doesn't meant that they or wrong and Not blessed by our God!!
I like how you said He is a mega-God...and oh how true that is...just cause my church is small doesn't mean He doesnt bless the mega-churches out there!!

Joseph Randall said...

Hello Lily,

Thanks for your encouraging words. I'm so glad you found this prayer helpful. I need if for my jealous heart at times :)

I'm curious, how did you find the blog?

Joseph