What Every Church Should Expect of Their Pastor, and What Every Pastor Should Expect of His Church

Introduction

If you’ve ever had a job, you’ve likely had a job description that might or might not have actually described your true job. This week I found several people who described their job in 1 sentence and wanted to share a few with you.

I help people hate each other - Divorce Lawyer

I stand on a field and get yelled at for hours - Baseball Umpire

I repeatedly fix what you repeatedly break - IT Director

I copy and paste from the internet - College Student

I have people spend far more money than they expected - Building Inspector

I take numbers on pieces of paper, rearrange them, and put them on different pieces of paper - Tax Accountant

I shake hands and confidence after winning things - Politician

It’s always interesting to hear people describe what they do and what other people expect you to do. You’ve likely had this happen to you in some way or another, and it’s especially true as a pastor. What does a pastor do? Some say you work 1 day a week - that’s a frequent flyer. Some say that you preach, but some say that you preach too long and others say that you don’t preach long enough. Some say that you need to preach against sin but not hurt anyones feelings.

We all have job descriptions in the body of Christ - regardless of if you’re a pastor or someone in the pew, we all have a description of what God expects us to do. What could that be? What should a church expect of its pastor and what should a pastor expect of his church? What does Jesus expect of a pastor, and what does Jesus expect of His church? What does Jesus expect of me and what does Jesus expect of you? This is a serious question and the only place that we can find that answer is the Word of God. As we look to God’s Word we’re reminded of a wonderful truth that, “Each part of the body has work to do. We all participate in the project of building up the body in love.” How do we do this? By doing our part to the glory of God. This morning we’re going to look at the expectations of pastors and churches.

Now, this is a difficult text for any pastor to preach not because it’s less inspired or not effective or appropriate… but because we live in a world of sound bites and a world that is skeptical to authority, even inside the church. A world where some pastors have abused and bullied churches and where the trust of pastors is seemingly at an all-time low. So, why preach this text? Because I’m convinced from my radiator to my tailpipe that the Word of God is inspired, inerrant, authoritative, and sufficient and that God speaks through His Word and that this is the Word of the Lord that is still accurate and applicable today. Because our world and our church needs the full counsel of God’s Word. Because whenever you preach in a sequential exposition fashion more times than not, you can’t avoid tough texts that you or others might not like. This morning as we have our next to last message in Hebrews we’re diving into the leadership of the church. Why the church has pastors (plural), why every church needs pastors (plural), what pastors are called to do in the church, and how God’s plan for His church is better than anything we can come up with ourselves. Let’s read this text from Hebrews 13 together

Hebrews 13:17–19 CSB

17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, since they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. 18 Pray for us, for we are convinced that we have a clear conscience, wanting to conduct ourselves honorably in everything. 19 And I urge you all the more to pray that I may be restored to you very soon.

Obey and Pray. What must every Christian, pastor or layperson, do? Obey the Word of God and pray to the God of the Word. Our lives individually and corporately as a body must be marked by Obedience and Prayerfulness. We see churches faltering and so-called Christians apostatizing and we ask why is this happening? Because we are not obeying and we are not praying. May that never be the case for us at FBC Salem! May our lives be marked by faithfulness to the Word of God, even when faithfulness comes with a cost. Let’s pray.

What Every Pastor Must Do:

2 weeks ago we looked at Hebrews 13:7 and saw how we are called to remember faithful leaders of old who have spoken God’s truth to us. We remember these people and we thank God for them and their faithfulness to God’s Word. Some wonder, though, who exactly are these leaders? Our church is blessed to have many people who lead in different capacities. We have people who lead in specific ministries. We have people who teach Sunday school classes. We have people who are gifted by God with the gift of leadership and exercise that gift for His glory. Who are these leaders in verse 7 that we remember and who are these leaders that we obey in verse 17? Some might think that this is any person who leads within the church - a teacher, a deacon, a specific ministry area. Let’s consider the church for a minute - there are 2 offices within the church as we know from 1 Timothy 3. The office of Overseer and the office of Deacon. You’re probably thinking, that sounds Presbyterian, no, it’s just Bible. We see in the New Testament that there is a person, an Elder, who is sometimes referred to as an overseer and scarcely referred to as a pastor or shepherd. We could say that the person is an elder (leader) and functions as an overseer and pastors/shepherds his congregation. We call this person a pastor, but the reason why this person is a pastor is because it’s an office of leadership within the church and the person meets the Biblical qualifications. We have pastor and we have deacons. What is the purpose of a deacon? To serve. Not to rule or to teach, to serve. That’s straight Bible. In 1 Timothy 3 the qualifications of Elders and Deacons are eerily similar with one distinction, Elders must be able to teach and Deacons are not given this qualification. Every pastor must teach and preach the Word of God - it’s in the job description as given in God’s Word. So, who are these leaders that we are to obey? Those who speak God’s Word to you (verse 7) and those who keep watch over your souls and will give an account for this. Which office is that? Not deacon - this is the office of Pastor/Elder/Overseer as 1 Peter 5 says that this office is responsible to shepherd God’s flock. To keep watch over the flock. This leader is the office of pastor and we see in this opening verse instructions for both church members and pastors alike, so let’s start with 3 things that every pastor must do.

1) Watch Over The Flock

Every pastor is responsible to God to watch over the flock that God has entrusted to him. The literal word in the greek is “agrypneo” and this is the only place this shows up in the New Testament - it is a word that shows up a few times in the Old Testament in reference to being a watchman on the city walls. We see this in Ezekiel 33:6

Ezekiel 33:6 CSB

6 However, suppose the watchman sees the sword coming but doesn’t blow the trumpet, so that the people aren’t warned, and the sword comes and takes away their lives. Then they have been taken away because of their iniquity, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.’

The person watched on the walls for a couple of things and it wasn’t to get a sun tan on a nice and warm day! The person was up there to watch out for danger and to be responsible for the people under their protection. This person is to watch out for those that God has placed underneath their spiritual care. They are to be a watchman on the walls. This picture is also painted in Luke 2, as the shepherds might not have been watching on the walls but they were keeping watch over their sheep

Luke 2:8 CSB

8 In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock.

This is the same idea of what the pastor is called to do - to keep watch over the flock at night because there is danger out there. Calvin said that the pastor must have 2 voices: one for gathering the sheep and another for driving away wolves. This requires him to be watchful. The literal idea of watching carefully is synonymous with being sleepless or unwilling to sleep or to purposefully keep oneself awake. The weight of this spiritual responsibility literally kept these leaders awake. This week I surveyed a group of nearly 5,000 SBC pastors with this question: How many nights a week do you lose sleep due to a situation in the church that God has called you to pastor. Whether that be stress from ministry, a family struggling with a health or relationship situation, or a bigger problem at the congregation level - over 60% of pastors polled said that they lost sleep strictly over church related things at least 1x per week with the majority saying between 2 - 3 times a week. We all lose sleep at times over various things - sometimes silly things that we can’t get out of our head like how did that person do that thing that I saw when scrolling Facebook at 9pm! We lose sleep over family things and because of our kids that we love so much and friends and health and the list goes on. The pastor is a watcher of souls and this means that the pastor is one who willingly stays awake at night to care for his sheep!

Why would pastors do this? For several reasons - look at what follows this in verse 17, pastors will give an account over those souls. Can I be completely honest with you all? This is terrifying. Now, we all will give an account before God based on how we lived and how we used the time, talent, and treasure that God gave us, we all will be held accountable for those things. God has blessed us with all of these things and He expects a return on that investment. When January gets here, we’re going to start off with a sermon series on our church values and who we are as a church. As we get ready to enter 2024, I want to challenge all of us to take advantage of the time, talent, and treasure that the Lord has given to us! Make corporate worship a priority for you and your family on Sunday and Wednesday. Dive into the Word daily. Spend time in prayer as a family. Practice giving sacrificially - not just when it’s convenient and not out of frustration or compulsion. If we would just do what the Lord instructs Christians to do, our lives would never be the same! If you serve God with your time, talent, and treasure faithfully and abundantly and sacrificially, you will be a totally different person in a years time and this will be a completely different church this time next year! God will hold us accountable for just giving Him the scraps as we’re all tempted to do. But the pastor is in a unique position here according to the Word of God as one who will give an account not just for his actions, but for the souls that he shepherded. What does that mean at FBC Salem? It means this: Jesus Christ will hold me responsible for your spiritual wellbeing. This doesn’t mean that we all have responsibility in this life, we all do, but God has placed the pastor of the church in a position of authority and with increased responsibility comes increased accountability. With increased responsibility comes increased judgment. James 3:1 says this

James 3:1 CSB

1 Not many should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we will receive a stricter judgment.

Pastors are held accountable for their flock and will be judged by God to a higher standard because of His calling on their life. What should a church expect of its pastor? One who genuinely cares for the flock enough to understand the gravity of his calling and watch out for the flock. What does that look like? At times it means that you lose sleep. At times it means that you have to warn others about danger on the other side of the wall. Throughout Hebrews there has been encouragement after encouragement to endure and persevere - the pastor is called by God to aid in this process as he preaches and teaches the Word to the flock and warns against false teaching outside the flock. The church can expect the pastor to feed, protect, lead, love, sacrifice himself, and First, the pastor must watch over the flock. Second,

2) Conduct Themselves Honorably

The preacher of Hebrews notes in verse 18 that himself and his associates desire to conduct themselves honorably in everything. What does this have to do with the expectation that a church has for its pastor? Everything! The preacher of Hebrews is possibly in prison or had been in prison prior to the delivery of this sermon and there could have been questions concerning the validity of this message given this truth. We know from Paul’s writings and through the book of Acts that early Christians were routinely imprisoned for following Jesus Christ and preaching the Gospel. There is a cost to follow Jesus, after all! But, this does not give the Christian or the pastor the excuse to act in a dishonorable manner. If you look at Galatians 5 and 1 Timothy 3 as we’ll look in a few minutes, we see these expectations for all Christians and for pastors specifically in 1 Timothy 3. Over and over there are imperatives and instructions to live a certain way and not do certain things as a follower of Jesus Christ. Look at this text in 1 Timothy 3:1-7

1 Timothy 3:1–7 CSB

1 This saying is trustworthy: “If anyone aspires to be an overseer, he desires a noble work.” 2 An overseer, therefore, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, self-controlled, sensible, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not an excessive drinker, not a bully but gentle, not quarrelsome, not greedy. 4 He must manage his own household competently and have his children under control with all dignity. 5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of God’s church?) 6 He must not be a new convert, or he might become conceited and incur the same condemnation as the devil. 7 Furthermore, he must have a good reputation among outsiders, so that he does not fall into disgrace and the devil’s trap.

Do you see all of the character qualifications in this text? Above reproach, self-controlled, sensible, respectable, gentle, not quarrelsome, not greedy, good reputation. The only “gifting” qualification about pastors in this text is that they are able to teach and that phrasing is the same idea as preaching - pastors must teach and preach the Word… but that’s where some churches stop in this search. See, being good on stage or being able to sing or being able to stay up late and do youth lock-ins or being charismatic aren’t Biblical qualifications for pastoring… Regrettably, those are the things that many churches look for and once they find, they stop looking at the actual Biblical qualifications. It is necessary for pastors to conduct themselves honorably - to be above reproach. Let’s cut to the chase on the other side, though, your pastor will never be perfect. But when your pastor makes a mistake, which yours has done and will do because you’ve got a finite and sinful pastor, your pastor should model what it looks like to repent and ask forgiveness and seek reconciliation. A church must expect a pastor to conduct themselves honorably because this is what God’s Word instructs

Acts 20:28 CSB

28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.

Be on guard for self and for the flock. Oversee the flock and shepherd the flock. Model what it looks like to live a life of faith in Jesus - these are responsibilities for the pastor of a church. Third,

3) Pray For the Flock

We’ll see this more next week as we conclude Hebrews and see the closing benediction prayer in verses 20-25, but a pastor who is called by God to lead the people of God according to the Word of God requires the help of God. Any pastors who tries to tell you that they don’t need God’s help is either a liar or a lousy pastor. Pastors have the responsibility to care for the spiritual wellbeing of the church and this requires them to pray for the flock. One of my favorite times of our entire week is Wednesday night where we have the opportunity to pray for one another in our church family. We pray for our congregation, we pray for our community, we pray for situations that come up, we pray for loved ones, we pray for ministry opportunities. A prayerless church is a purposeless church. We are expected to pray to our God and every church should expect its pastor to lead in that charge. Our staff read a book by Mark Dever, lead pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington DC, a few months ago and it talked about the priority and practice of prayer in healthy churches. He shared a story from the late 20th century of services that broke out in England at Westminster Assembly where there were pastors who would lead the congregation in prayers that lasted, hold onto your seats, 2 hours! Dever shared that in previous generations, pastors would prepare for their prayers as much as they would prepare for their sermons! Can you imagine singing for 25 minutes, having a 45 minute sermon, and then having a time of prayer that lasted 2 hours!? Wild times! The point remains: The pastor is responsible to pray for his flock and it is an honor to get to do that with and for each of you!

Pastors are called to watch out for their flock, to conduct themselves honorably in leading their flock, and to pray for their flock. This is what every church can expect of its pastor. Let’s look at the other side of this equation

What Every Church Must Do:

Now that we have laid a solid foundation on what is expected of the leader of the church, the pastor/elder/overseer, as they are expected to lead their church according to the Word of God, not according to their own ideas or wisdom or intellect, but to lead based on God’s Word, now we transition to see what is expected of the church that has this type of pastoral leader. Again, this is a text that some pastors love to run to in order to wield this like a weapon against their congregation in order to gain approval and power, that’s not the heart of this text and that is not my heart whatsoever - I pray that you know that. This is God’s Word. This is a text that is inspired by Jesus and was important for this church 2,000 years ago and it remains important and inspired for us today. This is God’s way for His church. What should a pastor expect of his church?

1) Obey God-Given Leaders

The two instructions at the beginning of verse 17 are imperatives (obey and submit). Now, we already face a problem here, don’t we? What’s that problem? No one in our world likes to submit and everyone in our world likes to question why we should obey things. This is how we’re wired from a young age as our children love to ask the “Why?” question seemingly from the time that they can speak. We grow up and we continue to ask this question and understandably so as we want to know the basis behind our action and obedience. Why should we obey? When should we obey? How should we obey? These are questions that we ask in reference to this text.

Why do we obey God-given leaders? Because it’s the way that God designed His church to be. To have pastors/elders/overseers who teach and preach the Word and lead His people to fulfill their mission as a congregation. Why is the church expected to obey pastors/elders/overseers? Because that’s the way that God designed the church to function and operate.

When do we obey God-given leaders? Whenever they are teaching and preaching the Word of God. Caution tape here: There are some who will quote this in efforts to lead people down the path to destructive heresy. There are people who will say the following, “Touch not the Lord’s anointed” if you question what the pastor says then you’re in trouble. Have you heard the story of Jim Jones? The “preacher” who convinced 800 followers to drink poisoned kool-aid and they were killed? How does that happen? Whenever people obey everything that someone in authority says. It is perfectly good to ask the why question and follow that up with the when question. Why obey and submit? Because that’s God’s design for His church. When do we obey and submit? Whenever the pastor is teaching and preaching the Word. How do you know when that is happening? By you yourself looking at the Word of God and prayerfully seeking if what is being taught and preached is what the Word says.

Nothing makes my heart happier than whenever we get ready to open God’s Word together and we hear Bible pages turning - we’ll talk about this in a few minutes, but it’s true. It’s a blessing to hear more and more Bibles opening every week at this church and we want to be a Word-centered church in all that we do. The best thing that you can do is to open your Bible, follow along, and make sure that what is being taught is the Word of God as 2 Timothy 4:2 instructs all pastors to do: Simply Preach the Word. Look at how the Bereans did this in Acts 17:11

Acts 17:11 CSB

11 The people here were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, since they received the word with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

Whenever Paul preached Christ crucified from the Old Testament, the people there checked the Scriptures to make sure that it was true. This is what you have an obligation and responsibility to do! Now, we will get to territory where there can be a variety of interpretations of passages and still be faithful - we’re talking about eschatology during Sunday nights. Y’all, it’s impossible to be unanimous about anything in a Baptist Church other than having another potluck! You can be a dispy and we’ll probably get along fine, but don’t be expecting every single person to agree with you on tertiary doctrinal points. The point is to check what your leaders are saying and see if it is in Scripture and not man-made ideas and destructive heresy that goes against the Gospel.

How do we obey God-given leaders? By obeying the Word. By submitting to the pastors/elders/overseers that He has given our church as they teach and preach what the Word of God says. The preacher presupposes that these leaders are faithful to the Lord and faithful to the Word - when this is the case, the congregation is commanded to obey and to submit to the pastor. By honoring that pastor as 1 Timothy 5:17-18 tells us

1 Timothy 5:17–18 CSB

17 The elders who are good leaders are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. 18 For the Scripture says: Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain, and, The worker is worthy of his wages.

A healthy church that has godly leadership loves, honors, trusts, supports, and follows those leaders.

Some question, whoa whoa whoa, we’re Baptists and Baptists are congregational in the sense that the congregation votes on things. As Americans who love our individualism and Baptists who believe in the priesthood of all believers, we’re tempted to be skeptical and antagonistic to leadership. It is imperative that we look to the Scriptures to help us rather than looking to our society. We see this reminder in God’s Word to obey and submit to these leaders who keep watch over our souls. We trust in them. We thank God for them. As Michael Kruger, FF Bruce, Thomas Schreiner all share in their commentaries on this text, submitting to godly leaders is one way that the church submits to Christ. In other words, to fail to submit to godly leadership within the church that stands on the Gospel is to fail to submit to Christ. If we can’t submit to the leaders that God has given to us, leaders that love us, watch out for us, speak the truth of God’s Word to us, and care for us, if we can’t submit to them… we can’t say that we’ll submit to God just fine whenever we fail to submit to the people that God has placed in authority in our church. It doesn’t work that way. This is God’s design and it is His plan.

In 2019, less than 5 years ago, 4,500 churches closed their doors in the United States. There are some churches that do not preach Christ crucified and those churches need to close their doors and never open again because they are leading people astray and they are led by false teachers who disguise themselves under the pseudonym of pastor but they’re wolves. Still, there are thousands of churches who close their doors each year who have a story… Why do so many close? Studies have been done on this reality and there are many factors, but one that dominates the headlines is this: Sometimes the sheep bite and try to lead the shepherd. Whenever a shepherd teaches the Word faithfully, the Biblical picture is that the sheep are to follow and obey and submit in matters that pertain to Scripture. Your pastor isn’t perfect. I do not know everything nor will I ever claim to. Any pastor, myself or otherwise, has no authority to Lord over this church. This is absolutely true. And it’s also absolutely true that the congregation is to follow, trust in, and obey the pastors/elders/overseers that God gives to His church. There should be a natural inclination towards trusting in the leadership of the local church - not rejecting, bickering, gossiping, or undermining those leaders. For that person, for the church splitter, the town gossiper, the stealthy underminer, a reckoning is coming. Illustration of Spurgeon and the large and healthy looking tree branch that had broken off the tree and blocked the path but was rotten inside.

Warren Wiersbe, “When a servant of God is in the will of God, teaching the Word of God, the people of God should submit and obey.”

First, every pastor who stands on the Word of God should expect his congregation to follow godly leadership and to obey and submit, second, every pastor should expect his congregation to pray for him

2) Pray For Pastors

Notice what the preacher of Hebrews says in verses 18 and 19, pray specifically for these leaders and for this preacher to be restored to this church. Just as pastors are expected to pray for their flock, the congregation is expected to pray for its leaders. Paul routinely asked the churches that he helped to plant to pray for him, specifically. Why pray for your pastor? Because he keeps watch over your soul and wants to see you grow. Prayer puts wind in the sails of your pastor. As one pastor put it, “Pastors are not superheroes (ask my wife, she’ll confirm this), they are as frail as every other human and they constantly need God’s grace and your prayers.” Last month it was a blessing to read dozens and dozens of cards as Lindsey and I did in our living room at the end of Pastor Appreciation Month and so many of you said these words, “We love you and we appreciate your leadership. We pray for you daily.” Church, the number one way that you can encourage your pastor is to pray for him. The number one way that you can support your Sunday school teacher is to pray for him. We need God’s wisdom and direction and grace. Thank you for your prayers! This should be what we do in the body, isn’t it? We should be a people who pray for one another as Paul shares in Galatians 6:2.

Why Do These Things?

We’ve seen a lot here that churches should expect pastors to do and what pastors should expect their members to do… Maybe you’re here and thinking well why does any of this matter? This seems like a self-serving message coming from a pastor in the first place, maybe you think that I just randomly picked Hebrews 13:17 to be today’s topic and text, and maybe you think this is wildly inappropriate and taken out of context. Friend, that’s not true. We’ve walked through this book for 13 months off and on, this is where God led us today. And let’s take a look finally at why this matters at the end of verse 17.

1) We will all give an account to God and we want that to be a joyful time!

The preacher of Hebrews says that the pastor/elder/overseer will give an account for your soul and the soul of all entrusted to that person within the congregation. Why is the emphasis on obeying and submitting? So that this time of account would be done with joy and not grief. We know stories of churches that have split over genuinely substantial doctrinal differences and while that is sad, there are times where the Gospel is not proclaimed, heresy is brought in, or leaders do not fulfill their qualifications in 1 Timothy 3, and change must take place… But there are times where churches split for nothing more than preferences not being met. When tradition is placed above the text. Where pastors are not allowed to lead. This means that the pastor will give an account with grief, not with joy. That is unprofitable for the pastor, but it’s also unprofitable for the church! The churches that flourish are those who are led by godly pastors/elders/overseers who lead in accordance with Scripture and teach the Word faithfully to congregations eager to hear, obey, and submit to the Word of God. That church with godly leadership and supportive membership is the church that will profit and experience joy. When leaders minister faithfully and members follow cheerfully, it is to everyone’s advantage.

Kent Hughes shares that there are tens of thousands of churches that are not sailing well. Some have collapsed to the bottom of the sea, many are taking on dangerous water as we speak, some are seemingly stuck where they’re at in the storms of this life. How can ensure that our church and other churches continue to sail where God calls us to go? Obedience and Prayer. Every church should expect a pastor to obey Jesus Christ and to teach His Word faithfully from the pulpit and in public. Every church should expect a pastor to pray for his flock. Every pastor should expect his church to be obedient to what God’s Word says. To be respectful, supportive, team players. Every pastor should expect his church to be a people of prayer. FBC Salem family, let’s strive to be a congregation that stands unashamedly on the Word of God as we glorify God by proclaiming the Gospel, making disciples, loving God and others as He commands. Let’s fulfill this mission and succeed in this season that God has placed us in by making a dent in Dent County for the glory of God, one life at a time. What is our hope in the process? Jesus - He’s our only hope. We obey His Word. We share what He has done. We look to Him and we do things His way because He knows what is best for each one of us.

A Pastor’s greatest joy is found in his churches obedience to Christ - not in kind comments, although those can be greatly encouraging, but in living out the Word in your daily lives. Hungering for God’s Word. Sharing the Gospel. Making disciples. Serving in the church. Sacrificially giving to support the mission of this church. Obeying Christ and His Word provides wind to your pastor’s sails. Y’all know by now that your pastor won’t shy away from what the text says - If I’m not faithful to the text, nothing else I do matters. This week was a war in praying through how to preach this text in a way that is faithful to the text, applicable to our church, and not domineering as this passage can be weaponized quickly. Thank you for understanding the way that God has ordained His church to be led. That was a question I had early on when I came to this church - is this church pastor led or deacon led. Yes, the congregation approves, but God has ordained that every flock have a leader, or in fact, a plurality of leaders. Many churches get that wrong and thrust people into positions of leadership who do not meet the Biblical qualifications. Thank you for looking to Scripture to see that pastors are overseers and have an obligation to ensure that the ministry taking place in this church is done in accordance with God’s Word. Dr. Sheppard preached his last message here on that subject on October 10th, 2021. I remember listening to that message 2 years ago and I went back to listen to it this week. He shared this piece of wisdom that a pastor can’t always just say, so I’m just quoting Dr. Sheppard, WHAT DOES A PASTOR DO? “The pastor is not responsible to God for doing everything within the church. He is responsible and accountable to God in a manner in which no other member is. Everything that happens in this church, the pastor is responsible to God to ensure that it is done Biblically.” Kidz Choir, Celebration Choir, Camp Joy, Sunday School classes, Men’s/Women’s Ministry, Sunday morning service, Sunday night service, Wednesday night - the overseer is to ensure that everything that this church does do is pleasing to God, faithful to God’s Word and in our case, true to our statement of faith, the BFM 2000.

Maybe you’re here this morning and this whole church thing is new to you - let me tell you this, God designed His church to be a light into the darkness and He deserves healthy churches that do things His way. FBC Salem is a church that strives to stand on God’s Word in all that we do. We do this because God has the authority to tell us what to do and how to do it. Maybe you think that sounds outdated or strange, in our world it might seem that way! Here’s the truth: We are all separated from God and whenever we try to do things our own way, we’ll fail because we’re all broken because of our sin. The solution to this problem isn’t to try harder, it’s to submit to God, to repent from our sins and to trust fully in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. See, Jesus is the hope of FBC Salem. He is our chief shepherd that we follow. Jesus has given this church amazing pastors over the years, and Lord willing, He will continue to do so until He calls us all home. Every Pastor wants to see his flock grow spiritually and faithfully follow God’s Word! Jesus deserves healthy, Christ-Centered Churches! If you are here and you are searching for a church family that strives above all else to be obedient to Scripture, this is that home. We’re not perfect, but we want to do our absolute best to follow Scripture, definitely not society and not church strategies and traditions not founded in Scripture. If you are here and you’re apart of this family but you’re struggling with obedience, friend, repent and ask Jesus to help you. Seek reconciliation. My prayer for FBC Salem is that as we enter 2024, we would do so more unified as a body than ever before as we stand on Scripture to guide us through every situation that we face. This won’t be easy, but it’s what Jesus demands and it’s what Jesus deserves. Look to Jesus. Trust in Jesus. Obey Jesus.