How to Pray for Your Pastor

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ. Based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth, and I am not an apostle. Just think if I was an apostle. How cool would that be? That would really be cool.

I could be the authority in all kinds of church doctrine arguments. That'd be awesome. But anyway, since I'm not an apostle, and since I don't think apostles exist today, then I guess I'm just a pastor teacher, just a radio host, just a simple radio host.

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Praying Specifically for Your Pastor

What's the topic for today on No Compromise Radio, where we are always biblical, always provocative, always in that order? The topic today is praying for your pastors. Now I am a pastor, and so if you'd like to pray these things for me, that would be great.

But many of you do not call me your pastor, and so that's fine. Shame on you. It's sad that you're not in God's will. But that's just the way we go around here. But seriously, if you've got a pastor, I'd like you to pray for your pastor.

If you've got a Sunday school teacher, this is how I'd like to pray for your Sunday school teacher. If you have a favorite, I don't know, John MacArthur is your favorite preacher, then pray for John MacArthur.

We are going to be under the banner of 1 Thessalonians 5 .25 when Paul said, brethren, pray for us. So how can you pray for your pastor? It's important. Please bless our pastor in Jesus' name. That would be good, but what about some specific ones?

And then when God specifically answers, you can have specific praise. Elisha Yale was a pastor years ago, and he addressed someone who was being ordained for gospel ministry, and he said, my dear brother, it was but a few days ago that I was by the grave of a beloved Christian minister who had just finished his work and laid down his commission at the feet of Jesus.

In view of that grave, I would now address you in the name of Christ at your entrance upon the duties of the sacred office. Can you imagine? Isn't that cool? Here's one guy who's dead now. He says, in view of that grave, he said, of all the undertakings of men, none are more important than the work to which you are this day set apart and consecrated.

Its appointment is not of men, but of God. The investiture of the office is my human hands, but the office itself is of divine authority. The doctrines you are to teach are not the investigations of reason, but the dictates of inspiration.

The duties you are to enjoin are not the commands of men, but the laws of Jehovah. The threatenings you are to denounce are not the expressions of human displeasure, but the thunders of divine wrath. The promises you are to present for the encouragement of the convinced and the desponding are not the fancies of theoretic philanthropy or love for fellow man, but the overflowings of God's abounding goodness and mercy.

Your embassy is from God to men, from the wise and good ruler of the universe to a portion of his rebellious subjects. And the proposals that you are to make from his word are to the unalterable terms of life and death.

The results of your ministry are not to be the happiness or misery of empires and ages, but the happiness or misery of immortal beings forever.". End quote. Now that was a great message for a young pastor by Elisha Yale.

So why did I bring that here on how to pray for your pastors? This is a big responsibility. This is a solemn duty. It is important to pray for such a great job. People say, well, you should pray for your president because he has a lot of weight on his shoulders.

That is true, but it falls into a higher number of people that are going to be affected by the president and what he does or doesn't do. But the weight of the issues that a local pastor has on his shoulders, not on her shoulders, but on his shoulders, is much greater.

MacArthur said, Every minister of the gospel grows weary in the battle. People who pray faithfully for their pastors are like Aaron and Hur, who supported Moses' hands when fatigue made it impossible for him to continue.

So today on No Compromise Radio Ministry, maybe you grab yourself a little 3x5 card or you open up your Bible to the very back or you got to find a white page someplace and you are going to be exhorted by me to pray for your pastors.

You can get a little booklet by Gardner Spring called, A Plea to Pray for Pastors. If you'd like to do that, that would be great. He said, we cannot go to this sacred work, but we will follow you with our prayers.

Boldness in Preaching and Speaking the Word

And so the first way that you can pray for your pastor, our elders, our spiritual leader is pray that he would be bold, especially in his preaching. Ephesians 6 talks about that in verse 19. Paul said, And pray on my behalf that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel.

So now Paul, he's in prison and he knows that when he speaks, he wants to be bold and to open your mouth to speak is no big deal. But here the languages, the Greek language, just like when Jesus began to preach the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, opened mouth means in a common way of speaking, this is going to be a solemn thing.

This is going to be an important thing. The utterance that's going to come out of my mouth is now going to be valuable for you to hear. And so Paul says, pray that I would be bold. When does he pray that?

The very next verse, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that in proclaiming it, I may speak boldly, that I may speak fearlessly. I'm going to preach with frankness and boldness and openness. Now I don't know about you, but pastors need to be bold.

I don't know if you think that way, but the Bible does. Paul does. And I want to fall right in line. Time is short. You don't have many opportunities. And so the pastor need not be anything like the world, flowing along, don't want to ruffle any feathers, don't want to talk about things that I ought not to.

No, we have a message from God and we are heralds and we are to preach the Word. There are many places in the life of a pastor where he may be tempted to kind of fudge a little bit, to try to trim some corners a little bit.

You get invited for a baccalaureate and they say you're not supposed to say Jesus' name in your prayer. You say, well, you know, I can go there and be nice and influence people. Or maybe there's a Memorial Day parade, banquets and weddings, funerals with unbelievers around, ecumenical prayer services, ecumenical preaching things and counseling.

No, you need to preach the Word, the gospel of Christ Jesus, who saves alone, even when you have to actually offend people. You've got to preach the Word with boldness. These are the words of eternal life and eternal death, 2 Corinthians 2, for we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

So to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? The pastor needs to speak for God. The pastor needs boldness, because there's going to be opposition, surely.

First Thessalonians 2, but after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition. There have been many martyrs in the Christian faith.

And when Jesus' Word goes forth, you know, Satan is trying to be quickly there to scoop up the words and snatch it out of people's hearts. And we need boldness, and we need not just boldness that's humanly gained.

We need boldness given by God, the boldness from God, and boldness in our God, as 1 Thessalonians 2 talks about. There are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, and these men must be silenced.

Titus chapter 1, Paul, no, not Paul, but Jude said, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered for the saints, because certain people have snuck in unnoticed.

So on No Compromise Radio today, we're talking about praying for your pastors. It's an important position, and so I want to try to encourage you to pray for your pastors, and pray specifically. If it's, God please bless the pastor, then I like it, but I would love it if you'd pray, God give my pastor holy boldness from you.

Preaching as He Ought to Preach

Number two, pray for your pastor that he would preach as he should preach, as he ought to preach. Continuing the thought in Ephesians chapter 6, verse 20, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that in proclaiming it, I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak, as I ought to.

I should, I must. It's like Colossians 4, in order that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak. And today pastors are filled with all kinds of church growth strategies, getting audiences, filling buildings, trying to get the money.

Paul knew, Jeffrey Thomas said, that the superhuman demands which were daily made upon him called for nothing less than the impartation of supernatural strength, as I ought to. I don't want to backslide.

I don't want to capitulate. I don't want to say to myself, you know, I'm not going to preach, and I'm going to shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. No, I want to be the kind of man who preaches the word, and you ought to pray for your pastor, that that is exactly what he would do.

That the pastor, God, please help him not to add, not to alter, not to subtract from your word. Pastor, Lord, make our pastor not full of his opinions, not full of politics, not full of economics, not full of book reviews, not full of philosophical arguments and culture and science.

God, have him preach the word. John Stott said, no one has the liberty to invent our message, but only to communicate the word which God has spoken and has now committed to the church as a sacred trust.

God, have him preach the word. Have him preach the word, even though he has feet of clay, even though he's frail, even though he's weak, even though he's sinful. Lord, do not let my pastor fall in temptation and fall prey to attendance and buildings and cash and how many are you running and peddling the word of God and going by the way of deceit as 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 would talk about trickery and guile, trying to catch men like catching fish.

No, Lord, have him cut it straight. Have him care less about church growth. Have him care less about honoring the people. Have him with your glory in view. Don't let my pastor figure out whatever will work.

I'll do eternally relevant. Lord, protect him from that various from that deadly disease. Have him please you first, God. So today on No Compromise Radio, we're talking about how to pray for your pastors, how to pray for your pastor.

By the way, if you've got a pastor you don't like and he's godly and he's qualified and he's around, but you don't like him. Why don't you do this? This is an added one. This is a freebie. This is a footnote.

This is an appendix. Pray that his ministry would become so great that God would so bless him that tons of people would come. Tons of people would get saved and the other churches across the country would notice him and a bigger, better church would come along.

Not bigger. Not bigger is always better, but a bigger and better church would come along and scoop him up. How about that? Wouldn't that be Christian like? I think that would be great. Norman Wells said, May God help us to return to a gospel that glorifies God, antagonizes Satan, squelches sin, convicts sinners, produces repentance, routes false teachers, abolishes false religions, promotes sound doctrine, and brings about the miracle of regeneration that makes a hell-bound sinner into a new creature in Christ Jesus.

And for that, I say, Amen. And how would you like to do that without the Spirit of God's strength, without prayer, no, we need Aunt Sally. We need Grandma Smith. We need Deacon Jones. How about that? Deacon Jones, remember him?

San Diego? No, no, the Rams. Deacon Jones or the Rams? No, Deacon Jones or the Minnesota Vikings. That's it. Alan Page, Deacon Jones. I think maybe Deacon Jones did play for the Rams. I'm not sure. God, have my pastor speak the truth in love.

That's how he ought to do it. He ought to be bold, yes, but he ought to speak the truth and he ought to speak the truth in love, 1 Thessalonians 2, but we prove to be gentle among you as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children.

Having thus a fond affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our very lives because you had become very dear to us. And so that's the kind of attitude, that's the kind of tenor, exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children, 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 11.

Give him the words of a shepherd, an affectionate father, encouraging and imploring and exhorting. Give him a love of those to whom he preaches to, not just a love for the word of God. So how do you pray for your pastors?

Well, pray that they would speak boldly. Two, pray that they would speak as they ought to. Three, pray that God would open doors for the word that is preached, that he, God would open doors for the word preached by the pastor.

Open Doors for the Preached Word

All right, let's look at 2 Thessalonians 3, 1. Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified just as it did also with you. Pray that God would take the word preached by your frail, sinful pastor, and that he would, by the Spirit's convicting work, illuminating work, do some great ministry in the lives of many people.

Not because we're into church growth or we want lots of numbers. No, because it would give God great glory. We want our preaching to bear fruit. That's what we want. Of course we want God's glory, first of all.

But sometimes God's glory is manifest by sovereignly granting fruit through the preaching. Now, God's word never comes back void, and it'll either harden or it will soften. But we would like to have, wouldn't you like to have lots of baptisms at your church, lots of conversions, lots of people maturing, lots of better marriages?

Of course we would. Now, we're not doing it for those ultimate reasons, but through the preaching of the those who believe. And so we want the word of the Lord to spread rapidly and be glorified. It's happened before.

It could happen again. Not because your pastor's great, but because the word of God is great, because Jesus Christ is great. And when you preach the word, you're preaching Christ Jesus, the great, perfect, atoning sacrifice.

The great high priest who offered himself as a love gift for us because of the Father. So, how do you pray for your pastors? That's what we're talking about today on No Compromise Radio. You can write us at info at nocompromiseradio .com.

If you wouldn't mind, while I will not ask for money on the show, of course, you want to send money. There's a link there that you can send money. I think I was going to take that off, but who knows? Maybe we'll leave that on.

But that's another point. If you would like to pray for me, or may I say it this way, please pray for me. I would love for you to pray that I would be bold, that I would speak as I ought to, and that God's word would bear much fruit.

That's something that I'm not afraid to ask for, that you would pray for me. First, pray for your pastors. And if you have time for me to pray for Mike Abendroth, you pray for Mike Abendroth. Pray that I'd be faithful to preach the word.

Pray that God would give many doors of opportunity for the word to be proclaimed. There already have been opportunities for no-compromise radio ministry. And I am, in all honesty, very humbled by that because I never thought I would go anywhere.

I don't think anybody would ever ask me for a conference. I didn't think I would ever travel overseas to do any kind of ministry. I never thought I'd be a pastor, frankly. And so when there are opportunities, and even a new one here recently in November to minister to the gospel, to some pastors and some other folks, I'm just very, very thankful.

And so pray that there'd be a door wide open for ministry. First for your pastors, and then would you please pray for me? Pray also this one for me, as well as your pastor. Pray for your pastor that they will not, or he will not become prideful.

Pray that your pastor will be more concerned about faithfulness to the Lord than success and popularity. 1 Corinthians 8. Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge.

Knowledge makes arrogant, or puffs up, but love edifies. Pray that the pastor would be after God's glory only, that he'd be jealous for the glory of God. God, may my pastor, along with Jeremiah, say, along with the Lord who says, Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not a mighty man boast of his might.

Let not a rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts, boast of this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for I delight in these things, declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 9, verse 23 and 24. Now sometimes the way God keeps ministers humble is by having them suffer. They suffer in such a way that God keeps them humble. And so if your pastor is suffering, it's not necessarily because he's in sin.

That's not true. It could be because he's in sin, but you'll never know on earth. It could be because God is keeping him humble. It could be because he is having him walk in the steps of Christ. That is, the suffering servant has servants who suffer.

It could be part of the results of the fall because we live in a fallen world and sin is in this world. But I do find 1 Thessalonians 2 very insightful. For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea.

For you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins.

But wrath has come upon them to the utmost. When you pray for your pastor to be humble, you know that he is going to have issues in his life. And this is a great prayer because even the suffering that they go through can help them in this very area.

I think we'll do one last one. Pray that your pastor would be having wonderful fidelity to the Lord, his word, the pastor's wife, money, and the ministry. In other words, that the pastor would take heed lest he fall.

Now, when I used to hear stories about pastors falling to sexual immorality and sleeping with ladies in the congregation and stuff like that, I just couldn't really get it through my mind how they could possibly do that, throw everything away for minutes of pleasure.

And I still don't really understand. I just know that people get tempted all the time. And I know that we ought to make sure we look to ourselves because we can all be tempted. I don't want to try to deceive myself saying I'm above anything.

I love my wife and all my love is toward my wife and I'm very happy that we have a great marriage. But you ought to pray for your pastor. And if you are in my congregation listening to this, I hope you pray for me that I would be faithful.

I want to finish well. I don't want any scandals where people accuse me of things and then they actually stick because they're true. I'm always going to get accusations, but I don't want any that stick.

And so Galatians 6 .1 says, Brethren, even if a man is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness, each one looking to yourself, lest you too be tempted.

Bear one another's burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. And so when you have a pastor, it should cause you to say, my pastor is just a human.

My pastor is frail and sinful. The demands of ministry are very high. Lots of issues going on. And I ought to pray that he'd be faithful to the word, faithful to the Lord, faithful to his wife, faithful to the money that he is overseeing along with the other elders and faithful to his ministry.

Well, I don't know what else we have. Let me give you a couple more. Pray for your pastor's wisdom. That would be wonderful. Pray for wisdom. That's James chapter one. Pray that the pastor would have wisdom in making many decisions.

Pray that he'd have proper priorities. First things first versus the tyranny of the urgent and all the expectations. Oh, the last pastor did such and such. Pray that he'd have the ability to say no to things that are not in his priorities.

Pray that he'd have the ability to work harder and that he would have his family first before the ministry. There's lots of other things we could talk about. But in everything, give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus.

Pray for your pastor that he would be thankful. That would be the last request. So today on No Compromise Radio, we talked about praying for your pastor. I hope you pray for your pastor. A plea to pray for your pastor.

Gardner Spring. I don't know what his numbers are. Some of these may be the same thing. Some are different. But would you pray for your pastor? Why don't you do that right now? No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible-teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text. Please come and join us.

Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400. The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.