Do You Appreciate Your Pastor? - Paul Washer

Question: Some of the
people that follow

your ministry on the Internet,

they get kind of frustrated

with their own local pastor,

and they have this desire
for their local pastor

who's shepherding the same flock,

he preaches in the
same pulpit every Sunday,

he's going expositorily through a book,

and they want their
pastor's pulpit ministry

to look like your itinerant ministry

with the passion and the
zeal that you preach,

and they want their pastor

to basically be a copy of Paul Washer.

What advice would you give a young man

that's feeling that way?

Paul: They know not what they ask for.

Listen, sometimes I'll
walk out of a church

or I'm standing there with the pastor

and shaking people's hands
and they're walking by -

I have heard people come up to me

and say, "I've never
heard anything like that.

That was more truth than
I've heard in five years.

And man, I wish we could hear
preaching like that in this church."

And that's just the devil.

That is so wicked to say that to that man.

Or, they'll say, "we've never
heard these truths before."

Well, just let me share with you

something from when
I was a pastor in Peru.

When I was a pastor,

I learned that men did not learn things

because they heard it once.

If I was going to teach on a
certain doctrine or certain thing,

I would teach on it for months at a time.

And when I would finish teaching on it,

exhausting everything that I know,

I would teach on it,

I would invite godly Peruvian pastors

and godly missionaries

who I felt would be a great
blessing to the church -

I would have them come and
teach on the same subject.

And when the members would be walking

out of my church

and we'd be shaking their hands,

they'd look at that missionary and say,

"We've never heard anything
like that before in our life."

And that just goes to show you,

that's part of the itinerant ministry.

What I like to do in most
churches that I go to honestly,

when I go in,

I'm preaching almost the exact same thing

most of their preachers are preaching.

Now maybe in a different way,

but it more confirms their
ministry than anything else.

Another thing.

I was asked to preach for about 3 months

in a little tiny church

last year in Alabama.

And oh, I loved it. I loved it.

I kind of was their interim
pastor for 3 months.

And a bunch of the young
guys who heard me preach,

they came there.

Well, after about two weeks,

they went up to one of the
leaders in the church

and they said, "I have a question.

The leader said, "what?"

And the leader happens to be
a very good friend of mine.

They said, "Has Brother
Paul changed his ministry?

Has he compromised?

Is something going on in his life?"

And the man said, "Why?"

He goes, "Well, his
preaching is so different."

You see, that's because he's gone

from this itinerant preacher mode

to pastor mode -

to feeding sheep on a long term basis.

But I want to warn the pastors,

expository preaching -
preaching through a book -

if it's boring, you're not doing it right.

I mean, how can you preach

through the book of
Ephesians without zeal?

How can you do this without it
having an impact on people?

So, I want to look at it from both sides

because there are a lot
of pastors out there,

they're not feeding their sheep.

You know, here's the thing
I'd like to recommend.

Several years ago - many years ago -

Warren Wiersbe wrote a book,

"Walking With the Giants."

And in there, he's got all these

short one page,
page-and-a-half testimonies

of men and women of God

that have been used down through the ages.

And you know, I kept that book
by my study for so long.

You want to know why?

Pastor, listen to me.

When I would get where
I didn't want to pray -

I just wasn't motivated to pray -

I'd open up that "Walking With the Giants"

and I'd read about, I don't know,

Praying Hyde of India

or David Brainerd or something,

and it would jar me to want to pray.

Or, I'd sit there and it was Monday

and I wasn't ready to
take up the next sermon

for next week and I was
just kind of lethargic,

I would open up that book

and I'd read about Alexander MacLaren

who would spend sixty hours on one sermon.

And it would motivate me

to get back in that study.

A lot of people are saying
this because they're wrong,

but in a lot of ways
people are saying this

because it's right.

Pastors are not staying in
the study long enough

to come out and give their
people a word from God.

Question: There seems to be

a mentality today

that if you as a pastor

are not invited to be one
of the main speakers

or a keynote speaker

at one of these big conferences

where all the big names
are getting together,

then you're almost nothing.

What damage do you
think has been done today

to the lack of appreciation and respect

that should be given to the faithful,

even though unpopular local pastor?

Paul: We have grown up as a culture

that honors heroes, celebrities,

whether they're worthy or not,

we've got to make them
heroes or celebrities

because we just feel like we need them.

One of the things that's terrifying me

is there in reformed circles everywhere,

there is this circle of celebrities.

And in every big conference,

it's going to be those men.

Now, those men, I could name them,

I'm not worthy to carry their sandals.

They are honorable men.

And it's not the men themselves,

it's just that the reformed community

and a lot of young people,

they're looking to men now.

And many times, they're looking over here

to the person who writes the books

and the person who
preaches in the conference,

and they're not honoring the very man

who feeds them, prays for them,

intercedes for them,
visits them in the hospital.

You see, what we need to realize is this.

We just need to wait
till Jesus comes back.

And when He does,

we are going to be greatly surprised.

Greatly surprised.

You know, it's not tough to
preach in a conference.

Well, sometimes it is when
everybody's mad at you,

but it's not really tough to
preach in a conference.

Why? You're asked to
come to this conference.

Everybody wants to see you.

That's not difficult.

That doesn't demonstrate godliness.

What demonstrates godliness is the man

who ministers to God's people

and is hidden and is not recognized.

But when the Great Shepherd comes back,

he will be recognized.