The church is more than just a social club, or a partying joint. I know that today we like to talk about having a Holy Ghost Party, because some people in the World try to make believers feel that there is something they are missing by not attending their worldly parties where they drink liquor and mess up their lives. The truth of the matter is that there is no place as sweet as being in the presence of the Lord.
There are no drugs that can get you high enough, no liquor that can get you flying or drunk enough and give you a good feeling , like what you can and you will feel when you filled with the anointing of the Holy Spirit, when you enjoy the presence of God in worship.
In spite of all these things, the Church is more than a partying joint, it is actually, a training institution, a lecture house, a university that houses and disseminates the highest level of wisdom and knowledge.
The pastor/pastors and teachers, and the rest of the gifts to the body of Christ, become the lecturers, the mentors and the coaches of the Church, as well as other leaders, as the Lord wills- The Holy Ghost Himself being the chief coach.
However, there are some salient points that we need to emphasize here, so as to bring out the beauty of mentoring. What are the duties of a mentor, and what is the heart of a mentor supposed to be like?
Let us look into the highest authority in spiritual matters- Jeremiah chapter 3 and verse 15, then, chapter 23 and verse 4.
Jeremiah chapter3 and verse 15 says, “And I will give you pastors according to my heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding”.
Again in Jeremiah chapter 23 and verse 4 we read “And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking saith the Lord”.
These two verses bring out some very important facts about a good pastor, or mentor or teacher. However, there some other qualities that we cannot see now until we examine what the Bible has to say about the flock or the followers.
All the same from what we have read so far from the Bible, we can come to the following conclusions. First of all, a good Pastor must have a good heart like God; secondly a good Pastor must be a good teacher, because if he is going to feed God’s people with knowledge and understanding, he must himself be a reservoir of divine revelation.
Thirdly, a good Pastor must be a carrier and a distributor of the message of faith and hope, because that is the only way fear and despair, can be dispelled. Recently I heard of another successful international footballer who took his life. The first thing that came to my mind was: who knows whether he ever met the Lord Jesus, the second was whether he had a good pastor. People commit suicide when they feel that all hope is lost, and all hope is gone, but if you have a good pastor, he will tell you that you can always begin again and still achieve your goals because the God we serve is one with whom all things are possible.
Fourthly, a good pastor is one that has the knowledge and the anointing to prosper God’s people. We can see this in the last part of Jeremiah 23 and verse 4 which talks about God’s people not lacking any more. This implies that a good pastor should know how to guide God’s people under his care to become successful in their chosen careers. He should be able to help them to produce the wealth that God has already given them by Jesus Christ.
Talking again about the first point which is having a heart like God, the heart of God is full of love (unconditional), mercy, goodness, forgiveness, holiness and purity, justice, grace and so on. It is the good heart of God that makes him a healer, provider, helper, deliverer, and a giver that out gives everyone else and at all times. Therefore a true pastor will have these same qualities to some extent and will be able touch God’s people in diverse ways through them.
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