Ministering: Pastor Chinedu Aduba.
(Pastor’s Appreciation Day)
Text: Genesis 12:1-4.
” 1 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. 4 So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.” KJV.
Answering God’s Call
To answer a call from God is a great responsibility. It involves leaving your “comfort zone” into the “unknown”. God never calls anyone into demotion but into greater heights. His call is a great honor because it literally is working in “the office of the Most High”. God called Abraham to get out of his kindred (place of comfort) into a land He would show him. God called Abraham in order to make him great and also make him a generational blessing to all the families of the earth. This kind of blessing in Gen. 12:1-4 is the definition of dominion. Dominion is a trans-generational blessing. This is God’s reward for all who heed His call.
Pastoring is Shepherding
It was God and not man that called our pastor to shepherd His people. We are celebrating today because he not only heeded God’s call but as remained faithful and fruitful to the call. We are the fruits and living epistles of his silent labor of shepherding. Shepherding is not a lazy man’s Job. A shepherd is a person who protects, guides, nourishes, and cares for the total well-being of the flock. Shepherds keep the mid-night watch to prevent wolves from destroying the sheep.
The shepherd always goes ahead of his flock and sets the right example for the sheep to follow – this and many more are what our pastor has been doing for over two decades. His sacrifices (intercessions, fasting, etc.) is why some of us are where we are today. He has not ceased to feed us with the undiluted word of God, while also giving himself wholly first to God and then to the call to shepherd us. He is a faithful husband and family man, and has demonstrated exemplary virtues in the raising of all his children in the ways of the Lord.
What are Our Responsibilities as flock?
There are certain responsibilities God expects of us as flocks – We need to be praying for him and his family. God promised to bless whoever blesses Abraham. We need to always appreciate him continually, because he watches over our souls. We need to be lifting-up his hand and make the burden of ministry light for him (like Aaron and Hur did to Moses). We should also be ministering of our material substance to him as a token of our appreciation. We should spoil him with gratitude, prayers and sowing into his life. As we do all these, we will live in dominion all the days of our lives.
God Bless You!
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