PASTOR TO PASTOR
PRAYERS FOR PASTORAL RENEWAL
What is our specific work? For what purpose are we raised up? The one reason for our church's life is that holiness may be preached and conserved in the earth. Any great continuous religious movement depends quite largely upon it preachers. Ordinary preachers cannot do this work. They must be men [and women] burning with holy fire, ... who have come to their Pentecost, who live under the anointing glory of the Holy Ghost, whose vision is so clear - looking through pure hearts - that God in Christ redeeming the world means salvation from all sin. ... who preach so that whatever their subject and whatever they say, people realize they are being led to the bosom of God, into the abundance of His life and fullness of His love.
There is no place in the Church of the Nazarene for ordinary preaching. It is
not learning nor eloquence nor education; it is only lofty thought with climaxes of intellectual power, but God speaking through His servant beseeching men to be reconciled to God. For him to preach anything less than the transforming fullness of God is to quit the heights and shut his eyes to the vision of God.
Phineas Bresee
With this charge in mind, I pray these prays for our pastors:
1. God sensitize and convict the hearts of our pastors to the threat of conscious or potential sin in their lives.
"Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. 5 . . . 7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap." I Timothy 3:2-7
"If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." I John 1:9
2. Father give every pastor a renewed understanding of your Holiness.
"But the LORD Almighty will be exalted by his justice, and the holy God will show himself holy by his righteousness." Isaiah 6:3
"Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?" Habakkuk 1:13
"Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders . . . Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." 9Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives forever and ever, 10the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives forever and ever. They lay their crowns
before the throne and say: 11 "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." Revelation 4:4-11
3. God, give us a renewed awareness that Holiness is your will and provision for all people... of all ages.
"And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way;" Isaiah 35:8
"It is God's will that you should be sanctified . . . 7For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you His Holy Spirit." I Thessalonians 4: 3, 7-8
4. Lord give unction to our pastors to encourage believers to seek the Holy
Life
"10 . . . God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.12Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 14Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Heb 12:10
5. Lord give each pastor a renewed understanding of the meaning of the Sanctified life.
"Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.l2May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. 13May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. I Thessalonians 3:10, 12-13
"May God himself the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it." I Thessalonians 5:23
6. Help our Pastors to preach that holiness is a transformational act of God's grace
"For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will
put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws." Ezekiel 36:24-27
7. Father I pray that every pastor will desperately seek the anointing presence and power of the Holy Spirit as they proclaim God's Word to their flock. Enable all Clergy will preach the Word of God with power, conviction and authority.
"You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows." Psalm 23:5
"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. . ." Isaiah 61:1
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.
1 John 2:20
As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit just as it has taught you, remain in him.
1 John 2:27
"Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness." Matthew 9:35
'As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near." Matthew 10:7
"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" Romans 10:14
MAKE THESE PRAYERS YOUR OWN
EXCELLENT ADVENTURES
We have most recently visited New Iberia (LA), Oxford (MS) and Oxford Hispanic, Sulphur (LA), Meridan Fitkins (MS) Revival, Moss Bluff Trinity (LA), Crowley First (LA), GracePointe (LA) Revival, Shreveport First (LA), Many (LA).
We look forward to visiting the following churches:
October 17/24 -- Vacation
October 31 -- Tupelo (MS)
November 7 -- Clarksdale (MS)
November 14 -- New Orleans First (LA)
November 21 -- Rosebloom (MS)
To schedule me please contact Pam. I would love to come to your church.
SPECIAL NOTES
Rev. Daniel Lowe of Many (LA) had an outstanding review.
Sulphur (LA) under the leadership of Rev. Ron Sherer celebrated their 75th anniversary on September 26th.
Cenchrea (LA) had over 150 in their recent homecoming service.
New Iberia (LA) is nearing completion of an addition to their building.
Rev. Marvin Bonner has accepted a call to pastor the Waynesboro Trinity Church. This is his second time to pastor the church.
Many churches are planning special Fall Festival events for their communities. Several churches are reporting outstanding revivals.
Open Churches: (MS) GraceWay, Meridian Northside
(LA) Kenner First
Important Prayer Requests:
Rev. David Kelly (Crystal Springs, MS) continues to face cancer treatments.
Rev. Steve Holtz (Cleveland First, MS) had recent back surgery.
Continue to pray for Rev. Mike Howard (Westlake, LA)who was in the hospital earlier this week. He is having a hard time and the doctors are having difficulty diagnosing his problem.
Rev. Alvin Clay (Laurel Bresee, MS) was recently hospitalized and needed to have two stints put in his heart.
Rev. Scott Howell (W. Monroe Faith) has had significant kidney damage as a result of earlier kidney stones. Pray that several things will work together to restore his kidney function.
The daughter of Rev. Jim and Darlene Norcross (Bossier, LA) is suffering with kidney stones.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT'S PRAYER MEETINGS (Prayer Tour)
We continue to have our DS Prayer Meetings in lieu of having the DS Tours. I have felt led to simply come to each area of the district(S) and have a night of prayer with pastors, associates, and spouses. These prayer times will last from 7-8:30 pm each evening and will include a brief video from Jim Cymbala followed by a significant time of praise and prayer. The remaining schedule is as follows:
October 26 -- Grenada
October 28 -- Gulf Coast Family
November 8 -- Houston Fellowship
November 9 -- McComb (LifePointe Community)
November 15 -- Jackson Emmanuel
I hope to see you there if you have not yet attended a prayer time.
Book I am Recommending: "Radical" by David Platt. This book was recommended to me by several friends, and it is well worth it. Platt, who pastors a mega Methodist church in Birmingham is calling the church to reevaluate its prosperity, consumerism, and selfish style and calling the church and the Christian back to an authentic discipleship characterized by the serious teachings of Jesus.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: "In a culture where bigger is always better and flashy is always more effective, Jesus beckons us to plainly, humbly, and quietly focus our lives on people." David Platt
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