Renew Your Passion for Ministry!
Shepherding God’s Flock Part 3
1 Peter 5:2b	5-19-2013
Summary: The ministry of the Word and prayer are the central part of the elders’ job. Fellowship is also important. The third title for elders is Overseer, which points to the administrative role. Elders are to be driven in ministry not by external pressure but by internal passion. This comes, in part, from understanding who the people are – God’s flock.
The Shepherd’s Tools
Review: The Ministry of the Word and Prayer
The Role of Fellowship
The Shepherd’s Responsibility: Oversight
Three Titles for One Office
Administration, Authority and Responsibility
Authority
Responsibility
The Shepherd’s Drive: Passion, not Pressure
Three Guidelines
Not External Pressure, But Internal Passion
Do Not Focus on the Difficulties
Solution: Restore Your Passion
Consider the Value of the Sheep
Conclusion
1:25 Questions
Appendix

1 Peter 5:1-10 Therefore to the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ's sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2 Shepherd God's flock that is under your care, overseeing--not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away. 
The Shepherd’s Tools
Review: The Ministry of the Word and Prayer
The central idea of this passage revolves around the only command in the whole section: shepherd the flock of God. The elders of the church are to shepherd (or if you prefer the Latin word - pastor) the flock. We found last time that shepherding involves feeding, protecting, leading, and nurturing. And all of that is done through the ministry of the Word and prayer. Those are the shepherd’s tools. When the Apostles’ duties became too time-consuming, they passed off some of those duties to others so that they would not have to neglect the ministry of the Word and prayer. As you get busier and busier as a leader in the church, you end up having to spread yourself thinner and thinner – there is no way around that. But two things that must never become thin are the ministry of the Word and prayer. We do not reduce our time spent in all areas proportionally to make room for increased work load. Everything else gets spread thinner, but we guard those two areas. I was given a book to help me with priorities and not overworking, and the author, who is a pastor, said he sets his schedule so that he is finished with his sermon by mid-day on Monday each week. He spends about four hours preparing his sermon. The whole rest of the week is other stuff. Why would we even need a pastor like that? You can study that much on your own. The reason pastors are paid is so they can devote their full time to the ministry of the Word and prayer. But because of the tyranny of the urgent, there is constant pressure to let everything else crowd out what is most important. It’s crucial that we resist that pressure.
The only qualification for a pastor that appears three different times in Scripture is "able to teach" (1 Ti.3:2, 2 Ti.2:24, Tit.1:9). There are three books in the Bible devoted to instructing pastors. We call them the pastoral epistles - 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus. I went through those three books and picked out each time Paul exhorted us pastors to do something. I found 30 - 30 times pastors are told to do something. Two were about setting a godly example. One was about treating people with respect. One about staying pure. One about avoiding arguments. And 25 about teaching and preaching. Ninety percent of what elders are instructed to do involves some form of teaching God’s Word. 
We are to shepherd the flock of God, and that is done through the ministry of the Word and prayer. It is not uncommon for churches to have two different kinds of elders: teaching elders and administrative elders. When you get a guy who seems like he would make a great leader in a lot of ways, but he is just not a teacher, there is a temptation to want to make him an elder. And so very often a church will just ignore the requirement that an elder must be able to teach, and invent this concept of a non-teaching administrative elder. The reason that does not work is because all administration in the church must be guided by the Word of God. You want your administrators and your teachers to be the same people, because in order to properly administrate the church a person must spend a great deal of time in the study of God’s Word.
I gave an example last week of parking lot lights. Right now the lot is too dark. In the wintertime people come for an evening service, and it is poorly lit. But the kind of lights we need are very expensive. Once we know the price, how do we determine whether it is worth it? What does the Bible say about parking lot lights? Plenty. One reason we have lights out there is for kindness. It is a safety issue. And the Bible says a whole lot about kindness, does it not? Picture someone who is elderly or injured or who has poor eyesight, and they have to walk across our very uneven parking lot in the dark. That puts them at risk of falling. What if a couple of the ladies get into a conversation in the parking lot after church and they are still there after everyone else has left? Two women alone in a dark parking lot - not the best situation for making people feel secure. 
Does God have a special love and care for the weak and vulnerable? Yes. Are there Scriptures that teach us to have that same love and care, and to show kindness? Of course. And how about passages that speak of hospitality - making people feel welcome? When you have folks coming over, don’t you turn on the porch light for them? How about passages that have to do with good stewardship? More light in the parking lots means less vandalism, less chance of break-ins, less chance of crime in general. On the other hand, what does Scripture teach about priorities? Of all the other areas of our ministry that need attention and money, how do we determine which is the higher priority? Scripture teaches that a worker is worthy of his wages. What if we have someone working here who is being underpaid? If it is a choice between the lights or following what God’s Word says about generous compensation for a pastor, which do we choose? And what does the Bible say about debt? Should we put $30,000 toward our mortgage so we can get out of debt sooner? There are passages of Scripture that point in all those directions. So how are we to determine which principle takes precedence in this situation? When you have to make decisions like that in the church, you can have people who are experts in finance, experts in parking lot safety, experts in salaries and human resources - but what good would all that be if they did not know which way the Word of God is guiding us? The whole point of every decision we ever make is to follow the will of God. So as much as possible you want the decision makers to also be the ones who have the most skill in interpreting and applying Scripture and who spend their full time studying Scripture. So the shepherding work of the elders is mainly a work of the ministry of the Word and prayer - applying the Word of God to the hearts of men and women.
The Role of Fellowship
Now - one last thought I would like to throw in before we move on in this passage. When it comes to shepherding the sheep, we do it mainly through Scripture and prayer, but there is another important way. Sheep are very social animals. They need to be in the group, and when a sheep is isolated it becomes stressed and agitated. Sheep do not do well in isolation. And God made us the same way. We are not designed to thrive in isolation. So much of the strength and refreshment and encouragement that God gives us, He gives us through the spiritual gifts of others in the church. So part of the shepherding role we have as leaders – part of the way we feed and protect and care for the flock, is by providing opportunities for fellowship. All those aspects of feeding that we talked about last week - giving strength and comfort and refreshment and all the rest - those are all things that God gives us through fellowship.
1 Samuel 23:16 Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
Hebrews 3:13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called "Today," so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds
I really believe part of the shepherding responsibility of the leaders of the church is to make sure that people have adequate opportunities for fellowship. That is mostly where the organization and administrative aspects of leadership come in. Nothing requires as much organization as trying to provide contexts where people can have fellowship. And then the work of making connections – introducing people to certain other people, helping people overcome their reluctance for fellowship, dealing with the infinite number of problems that arise in fellowship – that is all part of feeding the flock – making sure the people have what they need for spiritual health and life and growth. And so a very significant portion of our work involves the organization and administration of fellowship opportunities. 
The Shepherd’s Responsibility: Oversight
Okay - all of that to wrap up our discussion last week about the tools of shepherding. Now we are ready to move on to Peter’s next point.
1 Peter 5:2 Shepherd God's flock among you, serving as overseers
Three Titles for One Office
This is the third title now Peter has given for this same office. There are only two leadership offices Scripture gives us for church government: elders and deacons. But the office of elder has three different names: elder, shepherd, and overseer. If you are talking about Barak Obama from the perspective of his duties to command the military, you might call him Commander-in-Chief. If you are talking about him from the perspective of his responsibility to preside over the executive branch of government, you call him President. But they are not two different offices – they are two aspects of the same office held by the same person. And it is the same with church leaders. If you are talking about their role from the perspective of spiritual maturity, you call them elders. If you are thinking in terms of their responsibilities to feed and protect and lead and care for the flock, you call them shepherds (pastors). But what about this third term - overseer? We don’t use that term very much for some reason - even though in the New Testament, overseer is actually used more often than the word shepherd. 
Administration, Authority and Responsibility 
The Greek word is episkopos. Skopeo is to watch or see, and epi means over. So “overseer” is a very literal translation.
Authority
In the Old Testament this term was always used to describe a position of authority. Maybe that is why it has not caught on in our culture - because we live in a world that hates authority. And that cultural attitude leaks its way into the church. People love the idea of a shepherd - someone to give them food and protect and serve and all that. But overseer - people in our world are not crazy about terms that have any kind of authoritarian ring to them. But that is how the word was used.
Responsibility 
The main emphasis, however, is not so much the authority, but the responsibility that went with the authority. An overseer is the person who is held responsible for what takes place in the area under his oversight.  In the Old Testament that word is mostly used to describe commanders of thousands or hundreds in the military, or people who were responsible for some area in the Temple. Overseers set policies, held monies, paid wages, made appointments to office, etc. And that is the word the Holy Spirit chose to describe one aspect of the role of the elders in the church. The overseer in the first century church was considered a high, honorable office, and they were in charge of organization of community life in the church and management of the money and other resources. This term gathers in the administrative aspect of the position. Elders are not only to shepherd the flock and serve as examples; they are also called to take responsibility for the administrative aspects of church life. And again, this term always carries the idea of being held responsible. So if there is a church where administrative activity is being done by someone besides the elders - maybe a secretary or staff person or deacon or anyone else in the church, that’s fine, but the elders need to remember that whatever happens in that administrative activity is their responsibility. The elders are the ones who are going to be held accountable by God for what happens administratively and organizationally. 
The Shepherd’s Drive: Passion, not Pressure
Three Guidelines 
Okay, so now we have a full, well-rounded picture of the elders’ job description. They are to be spiritually mature and serve as examples. They are to shepherd the flock by feeding, leading, protecting, and nurturing. And they are to oversee and organize and administrate the activities and resources of the body. Now that Peter has made that clear, he is going to give us some guidelines for how to do it and how not to do it. There are some very common pitfalls that church leaders tend to fall into, so Peter is going to warn us about those - three of them in particular.
And all three have to do with motives. God is very concerned about what drives us as leaders. It is not enough to accomplish our job description. If we do exactly what God calls us to do, but we do it with the wrong attitude, that is worse than not even doing it.
Pay careful attention to these, because this section is very instructive for all of us in all our ministries. No matter what your ministry in the church is, these attitudes are essential. So let’s all apply these to our own ministries. We will only have time for the first one today.
Not External Pressure, But Internal Passion
2 Shepherd the flock of God ... serving as overseers, not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be
Not because you must – that is the first pitfall to avoid. Your Bible might say, not under compulsion. We are not to do the work under compulsion. 
“Wait a minute - what about Paul? Didn’t Paul say, I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! (1 Cor.9:16)?”
Yes - there is a good kind of compulsion and a bad kind. The good kind is internal and the bad kind is external. When Peter says not under compulsion but willingly, that word willingly refers to an inner compulsion - the good kind. We are to be like Paul - driven to do the work. But that drive must come from internal passion, not external pressure.
It is the same principle as when you give your offerings in worship. At Agape we put our gifts in the offering box during the praise time because giving to the Lord is part of our worship and expression of our joy in the Lord. In 2 Corinthians 9:7 we are told never to give reluctantly or under compulsion, because God loves a cheerful giver. When you give to the poor or you put your money in the offering box, do not do it because some external factor is pressuring you to give what you really do not want to give. Do not do it because you are trying to impress or please certain people. If you give that way - reluctantly, and your giving feels to you like a loss rather than gain, then it is ruined. That spoils it, because it says, “I treasure this money more than I treasure reward from God.” And that demeans God rather than glorifying Him. If the joy is not there, then that shows that the loss of the money touches your emotions more than the spiritual gain - which means money is worth more in your heart than God’s favor and reward, and that dishonors God. So even if you give ten million dollars - if it feels like loss to you instead of gain, it dishonors God. That is why God loves a cheerful giver.
And this is exactly the same principle. Do not give reluctantly because God loves cheerful givers, and do not serve as elders reluctantly because God loves cheerful elders. He loves elders who are driven from desire on the inside rather than from pressure from the outside. Look at the rest of the sentence.
2 ... because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be
Literally, according to God That means in harmony with God. God wants His under shepherds to serve out of an internal drive that comes from their love for the sheep. God loves the sheep. He wants only good things for them. And He promised shepherds after His own heart. And those of us who are elders in the church are to be the fulfillment of that promise. And so we must have the same heartbeat as God in our love for the sheep. If you do God’s work without God’s heart you are not doing God’s work. God loves a cheerful giver, and God loves a cheerful elder. And God loves a cheerful children’s worker and usher and greeter and deacon and ministry coordinator and musician and sound tech - whatever your ministry is, if your heart is in sync with God’s then you will be driven to do that ministry because of desires that match God’s desires. And so you will be glad to do it, rather than having to be pressured to do it.
Do Not Focus on the Difficulties
This is an important word for all of us in our ministries, but especially elders, because serving as an elder is a hard job. It involves a lot of sacrifice. We saw a couple weeks ago that elders in the church are to take the lead in suffering. Elders are usually the starting point for those who persecute the church. And beyond that, the elder role can be very discouraging because elders are where everyone goes with their complaints. So you hear constant complaining, and that can really wear on you. And beyond all that, it is just a lot of hard work. You have to do hard things - things no one else wants to do. You have to make some really hard phone calls, have some really uncomfortable meetings, you are on call 24/7, and the most heartbreaking crises and difficult problems in the church always come to you. And the work of teaching and preaching is hard. Imagine having a 6000 word research paper due every weekend of your life. And your livelihood is dependent on delivering it well. And the health and, in many cases, the eternal destiny of the souls of hundreds of people are dependent on the content. It is a lot of responsibility, and it takes a lot of time. Your family has to make sacrifices. There are a lot of meetings. If you become an elder you can pretty much kiss any hobbies you have goodbye. Especially if you are a lay elder. I don’t know how a man could work a full time job, do all he needs to do to be a good father and husband and home, and then fulfill the duties of shepherding the church, and still have hours per week left over for a hobby. It is very difficult for lay elders. And those of us on salary - shouldn’t we work just as hard as the lay elders?
Now, I don’t say any of that to make you feel sorry for the elders. What we get in return is worth far, far more than anything we give up. We will see that next week. So we definitely come out way ahead in the deal. But the rewards are very often deferred - many of them until Judgment Day. And so it is easy, as an elder, to forget about the rewards and just focus on the difficulty. And when that happens, pretty soon you lose your desire to do the job. You keep doing the work because you don’t want to disappoint anyone, or because you like being known as a leader, or because you want the power, or whatever – some external pressure is compelling you to keep going, but it is not love for the work.
Solution: Restore Your Passion
That is the problem Peter is addressing. We are forbidden to do this work out of an external pressure rather than an internal passion. 
“So what should I do if I get burned out and lose my internal passion?”
What is the solution for elder burnout? What does Peter tell them to do? Step down? No. He tells them to get their drive back. The solution is not to cease doing the work. The work needs to be done – that is why God called you to do it. So keep doing it. But if you are not driven by an internal passion, then declare a state of emergency in your spiritual life and do whatever it takes to get that passion back.
And again, this applies to any ministry. God wants every one of you to serve in ministry, and He requires that none of you serve out of compulsion from external pressure. But if you do not have that internal drive, the solution is not to drop out of ministry – it is to get the drive.
It is just like giving. God does not say, “If you don’t want to give, then stop giving altogether because God loves a non-giver.” He says, “Keep giving, but do it gladly because God loves a cheerful giver.” He loves a giver who gives generously because he is compelled from the inside by desire. And it is the same with ministry. 
So in your ministry, if you are burned out, or you never even got started in the first place because of a lack of drive, you are just mainly an observer in the church, not pouring yourself out in service to the body using your spiritual gifts, or if you are doing your ministry with a grudging, reluctant heart that wishes you didn’t have to do this work – if any of that is true of you, the Lord’s word to you is very clear: become eager for the work. Become so eager for the work that you do not need any external pressure to do it. You don’t need people cajoling you, you don’t need people reminding you, you don’t even need people inviting you or encouraging you to do it. You don’t need people thanking you, you don’t need people paying you, you don’t need people appreciating you or even recognizing what you are doing. You don’t need any external pressure because the internal passion drives you.
“How do I get there? I would love to have drive like that, but I can’t just flip a switch. How do I revive a desire that is on life support?”
Or “How do I generate desire and drive where it has never existed?”
I love the way our Chief Shepherd deals with us, because He does not just tell us what to do, but He requires that we like it. And then He goes on to teach us how to develop a heart that likes it. He does that because it is so important that all our service to Him be out of joy. So what can we learn about how to kindle the flames of desire and drive for ministry? Scripture teaches us many things along that line, but for now let’s just focus on what this particular passage teaches us. Peter gives us two great motivations that will help us gain a passion and an unstoppable internal drive for ministry. The first one is found in the way Peter describes this flock we are to serve.
Consider the Value of the Sheep
2 Shepherd God’s flock that is under your care
The first medicine that will cure the disease of burnout and low desire for ministry is to spend time thinking about who these sheep are that you are ministering to. (And again – this applies to everyone in every ministry because every ministry in the church is for the purpose of caring for the flock.) Think about whose flock this is. He does not say, “Pastors, make sure you shepherd your flock.” He says, “Shepherd My flock” – the flock of God.
One of the most important keys to being a good shepherd is understanding the value of the sheep to their Owner. After spending two years with the church in Ephesus, it was time for Paul to leave. So he gathered the elders together and gave them a final charge.
Acts 20:28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.
Why do you think Paul throws in that last part? He wants us to think about how valuable these people are to God. The Chief Shepherd who has commissioned us to care for this flock did not just get it at a garage sale.
Imagine you wanted to start up a farm, so you went to an auction to purchase some animals and you asked, “How much for those sheep?” At that moment a criminal is being crucified – flogged, beaten, mocked, then nailed to a cross and hung there until dead. And the seller points to that and says, “If you want these sheep, you will have to go through that – and worse. The price for these sheep is your life.” And Jesus said, “Sold!” He paid that astronomical price for some sheep, and then entrusted those priceless sheep to your care. What kind of impact should that make on how we do our ministry?
We think a lot about the cross when we are thinking about forgiveness of sins. But we should also think a lot about the cross when we think about ministry – especially leadership ministry. Do not think about your status in the eyes of others. Do not think mainly about your career. Do not focus on your hours or what you are doing compared to what others are doing. Don’t think about whether people are grateful. Think about the souls of the sheep. And think about what those souls cost the Lord Jesus Christ.
Imagine you were house-sitting for someone, and before he leaves he takes you into a special room and shows you his collection of rare plants. He says, “I cashed in my whole retirement investment and used that and all my life savings to buy these plants. I’ll be gone for about a year. I want you to literally guard these plants with your life.” Do you think you would wake up one day and say, “I’m not in the mood to water those plants – I’m sure they can survive another week or two”? No matter what your ministry is - if you are helping with children’s church or praying for your prayer group or planning an event – whatever your role is in contributing to the health of this flock, always keep in mind what this flock cost Him.
These people seated around you – they belong to the Lord and they did not come cheap. Even that person that just drives you crazy – that person who is an annoyance to you, or that person who seems unimportant to you. The person you do not like, or can’t get along with. That person who gossips about you or who causes you one headache after another. That person is a precious commodity that the Lord obtained at an astronomical price.
And for those of us charged with shepherding these big-ticket critters, the responsibility should land on us with such weight that we should be willing to suffer anything for the spiritual benefit of this flock. Richard Baxter spoke to this in a powerful way: “Shall we despise the blood of Christ? ... Oh, then, let us hear these arguments of Christ, whenever we feel ourselves grow dull and careless: ‘Did I die for these souls, and will you not look after them? Were they worth my blood, and are they not worth your labor? Did I come down from heaven to earth, "to seek and to save that which was lost;" and you will not go to the next door, or street, or village, to seek them? How small is your condescension and labor compared to mine! I debased myself to this, but it is your honor to be so employed. Have I done and suffered so much for their salvation, and was I willing to make you a fellow-worker with me, and will you refuse to do that little which lies upon thy hands?’ ” When we engage in ministry – especially leadership, we will never succeed unless we are in it for the sheep, rather than for ourselves.
Junk Food
Shepherds who are in it for themselves will do whatever it takes to get popular, and that will end up destroying the sheep because they will end up catering to their ungodly desires.
Jeremiah 5:31 The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. 
2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
You can win pastor of the year in the people’s eyes if you are willing to give people like that the junk food they are craving. And if your priority is money, or popularity with the congregation, or job security – eventually you will give in and begin, bit by bit, to compromise what you preach and teach in order to keep everyone happy with you. And the long term result of that will be that you will be popular, and the flock will be malnourished. But if you really love the sheep, you will give them that which you know will actually satisfy the appetite of their soul, which is God’s Word.
Consider Their Souls!
If you lack passion and drive for ministry, spend time thinking about the souls of the people. Forget about their faces – think about their souls. How valuable are those souls to Christ? And how vulnerable and at risk of harm are those souls? And how desperate for pure, spiritual milk? How desperate are they for the variety of grace that comes only through your spiritual gift?
When we get burned out a lot of times it is because we just think about what the work is costing us instead of why the work needs to be done. Instead of thinking, “Man, I’m dead tired, and now I have two more appointments this evening,” you think about the souls of the people. What kinds of things keep us from faithfulness and zeal in ministry? Fear? You are afraid of possible failure? Laziness? You cannot seem to get yourself off the couch and into the work? Selfishness? You are in it for popular applause and it is not happening? Pride? You are above doing this kind of labor? Apathy? You just don’t really care that much about ministry in the church?
Whatever it is that is causing your burnout or keeping you from even starting – whatever it is that is throwing cold water on the fires of your drive, the cure for that is to spend time thinking about the incalculable value of the souls of the people.
Conclusion
Take a minute to look around the room, and pick out about ten different people in this room – any ten. Look at them, and think past their faces and their bodies – think about their souls. You cannot see it, but it is here in this room. It is a very real entity. It is what animates their body. It is where all their love is located, all their desires, their faith. That soul will exist forever somewhere. And Jesus Christ who designed and created that soul, paid an infinite price to purchase it back when it was lost, so that soul could be forgiven and washed clean and He could bring that soul to be with Him in heaven forever. Those ten you looked at - if those were the only ten souls in this church, wouldn’t it be worth it even if you had to die in the process, wouldn’t it be worth it to do whatever God has called you to do to care for those souls? 
“But I don’t have anything to offer” – Baloney! You have a spiritual gift. That is a divine enablement from the Holy Spirit Himself that He has chosen to use to dispense grace to those souls through you. You have exactly what those souls need. All you have to do is carry out what God calls you to do in the church. You don’t have everything those souls need, but the church does. So if you care about those souls you will be passionate about whatever your role is in the overall work of the church. Elders, and future elders, if it was worth an infinite price to God, wouldn’t it also be worth any price for you?
And the rest of you, what price is it worth to you? In this church the way we have it set up, the best way to find an available ministry is through your prayer group leader. They have the list of open ministries, and they will be willing to work with you and the whole prayer group will pray with you week after week after week until you are finally able to discover what God is calling you to do. 
Maybe you volunteered and no one got back with you. You tried, but no one responded. And now you are tempted to say, “Fine, if they aren’t interested in my help, I just won’t do anything.” If we have stumbled on our end, don’t let that take your eyes of the value of the souls of the sheep. Look at those ten people. Consider what their souls are worth. Consider the value of all 400 of the souls in this church – and the others that are coming. And if you have to, go to your prayer group and take your leader by the lapel and say, “GET ME INTO A MINISTRY!!!” Don’t give up. Whatever obstacles you run into, as long as you have a pulse, pour yourself out for the work of the ministry so the body of Christ may be built up and obtain the whole measure of the fullness of the Christ to the glory of God the Father.

Benediction: Ephesians 3:17-19  I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. 

Application Questions
1.	What is it in your life that tends to create ministry “burnout” or that prevents you from engaging in ministry? What throws cold water on the fires of your drive for ministry?
2.	What could you do that would shift your attention away from that and on to the value of the souls of the people?

Appendix
Pastoral Exhortations:
	1 Timothy
4:6 - warn against false teaching
4:7 - train for godliness (through Sc. - 2 Ti.4:2 as opposed to human wisdom)
4:11 - command and teach Scripture
4:12, 6:11 - set a life example
4:13 - read Scripture, preach and teach
4:14 - develop his giftedness
4:15 - perseverance in sound doctrine
5:1,2 - treat people with respect

	2 Timothy
1:8 - Testify about the Lord boldly
1:13,14 - keep the pattern of sound teaching and guard it
2:3 - entrust the Gospel to other qualified teachers
2:14 - Keep reminding the people to persevere and warn against sin
2:15 - Be an approved workman (one who correctly handles the Word)
2:16 - avoid godless chatter
2:22 - stay pure
2:23 - don't argue and fight
2:23 - be able to teach
2:25 - gently instruct your opponents
3:14-17 - continue in the Scriptures
4:2 - preach the Word, correct, rebuke and encourage

	 Titus
1:13 - Rebuke false teachers
2:1 - Teach sound doctrine
2:2 - Teach the older men how to act
2:3 - Teach the older women how to act
2:6 - Teach the young men how to act
2:9 - Teach the slaves how to act
2:15 - Teach, rebuke and encourage with all authority
3:1 - Teach the people to be submissive
3:9 - avoid arguments