Do Podcast Preachers Make My Pastor Irrelevant?

00:00:00.000 | [Music]

00:00:06.000 | It's no secret that many Christians find spiritual nourishment from prominent

00:00:09.560 | podcast preachers online, and I least of all would include you, Pastor John. So, how

00:00:14.600 | would you encourage these same Christians to also appreciate the role

00:00:17.800 | of their pastor or pastors that God has placed over them in their local churches?

00:00:23.400 | We ought to appreciate our local pastors, the ones we see every week and

00:00:31.320 | whose word we sit under week in and week out. We ought to see them as

00:00:37.040 | indispensable because God does not say in Scripture that he has given to the

00:00:43.600 | church podcasters. He says, "I have given shepherds and teachers, pastors and

00:00:51.600 | teachers." Ephesians 4 11, "He gave some apostles, prophets, evangelists, and

00:00:56.440 | pastors and teachers, and he gave them responsibility for particular flocks." So

00:01:06.160 | it says in 1 Peter, "Shepherd the flock of God that is among you." So a pastor is

00:01:11.880 | not responsible for a flock across the world or down the street. "Exercising

00:01:17.560 | oversight, not under compulsion but willingly, as God would have you, not for

00:01:22.760 | shameful gain but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge." So

00:01:29.080 | this is a picture that God has ordained for flocks to exist and shepherds to

00:01:35.320 | exist, and the shepherds have accountability for a particular flock,

00:01:39.480 | and the flock has responsibility to submit to a particular shepherd being

00:01:44.280 | examples to the flock. So there's a structure that no podcasting pastor can

00:01:50.280 | replace. This is something no podcaster can do, including me. The shepherds are

00:01:57.520 | given then an astonishing burden in Acts 20 28, "Pay careful attention to yourselves

00:02:04.600 | and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to all the

00:02:09.100 | flock," that's their flock, "to care for the church of God which he obtained with

00:02:14.160 | his own blood." That's just massive, what an incredible burden. "Take heed to all the

00:02:19.120 | flock," this is your flock, you are their shepherd, "watch over them, care for them,"

00:02:23.040 | and the counterpoint would be true, that all those sheep should know that's

00:02:27.080 | his responsibility, they should submit to that, they should want that, they should

00:02:30.800 | feel wonderfully gifted by being in a church where this is believed. And then

00:02:36.600 | he tells us, "Obey your leaders and submit to them for they are keeping watch over

00:02:42.160 | your souls," Hebrews 13 17. And he says, "Respect those who labor among you and

00:02:48.480 | are over in the Lord and admonish you and esteem them very highly in love

00:02:54.680 | because of their work," 1 Thessalonians 5 12 and 13. In other words, God has designed

00:03:02.320 | normal Christianity, vibrant, healthy, durable, culture-shaping, mission-advancing,

00:03:11.920 | justice-elevating, Christ-exalting Christianity to be a web of

00:03:16.960 | relationships in local churches led by faithful shepherds who care for the

00:03:22.760 | souls of their sheep. No online preacher can take the place on the ground of

00:03:29.360 | these shepherds. And here's just two more things that come to mind. What we

00:03:34.400 | should want from our pastor in his preaching is not mainly rhetorical or

00:03:40.360 | oratorical skill, but faithful explanation of God's Word and

00:03:47.680 | application to our lives, especially the life we're living together right here in

00:03:54.040 | this church and making an impact on our community. So value your pastor as the

00:04:00.880 | one who opens the word for you in your situation, in your community, in your web

00:04:06.200 | of relationships week in and week out. And the last thing perhaps would be

00:04:10.240 | the huge importance of corporate worship as a whole in the life of a believer.

00:04:19.240 | Gathering with God's people every week—gathering, not just putting on your

00:04:24.040 | headphones and listen to a worship song—gathering with God's people every week to

00:04:28.960 | exalt Christ together, hearing other people saying great things about Jesus

00:04:35.160 | that you love and that you cherish is the way God means for us to thrive in

00:04:40.720 | relation to him. And my understanding of preaching is that essential to that

00:04:48.880 | corporate exaltation, exaltation in God is expository exaltation. In other words,

00:04:57.560 | preaching is not an isolated moment of instruction like, "Oh now we just switched

00:05:03.480 | to class, now we just became a school on Sunday morning." No, no, no. This is a

00:05:08.700 | worship service. We are going vertical from beginning to end here, and we're

00:05:14.400 | connecting with God, and at this point we are leaning on this pastor to embed in

00:05:22.040 | this worship service an exaltation over the Word of God to draw us in and let us

00:05:29.680 | hear God speak and watch him, the pastor, exalt in proper responses to the Word of

00:05:37.440 | God that he's explaining in the message. Podcasters cannot do this. They can't be

00:05:45.000 | built into the corporate worship experience where preaching comes into

00:05:49.560 | its own as an encounter with the Living God. So I love podcasting. I think it has

00:05:55.480 | a place of appreciation and growth and learning along with all kinds of other

00:06:00.600 | things we do in the Christian life, but nothing can replace the church gathered

00:06:06.720 | and the community of believers under the leadership and care and

00:06:13.240 | love of shepherds who minister the Word to them and care for their souls. Yeah,

00:06:19.760 | thank you, Pastor John. And very closely related to this topic, see episodes

00:06:23.840 | number 94 and 103 in the Ask Pastor John archive, which is probably most easily

00:06:29.240 | found in the free Ask Pastor John apps for the iPhone and the Android. And be

00:06:33.200 | sure you update your app to get all the new features that make it really easy to

00:06:36.160 | search and browse all the episodes. We will return tomorrow with a follow-up

00:06:40.240 | question. So what are some ways to encourage your pastor? I'm your host Tony

00:06:44.440 | Rehnke. We'll see you tomorrow.

00:06:47.160 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

Do Podcast Preachers Make My Pastor Irrelevant?

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