Just as the apostle Paul endured hardship, so also pastors must face trials in their ministry with diligence, dedication and endurance, Al Jackson said in his Aug. 31 chapel message at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C.
Jackson, pastor of Lakeview Baptist Church in Auburn, used 2 Timothy 2:3-6 as the basis of his address to help Southeastern students better understand the high cost of effective ministry.
“There are only three types of churches in this world; there is the hard, harder and hardest,” he told students. Mixing his own experiences with the instructions given by Paul, Jackson compared ministry to soldiering, sports and farming, encouraging students to work constantly in order to cultivate growth in their churches.
In addition to laying out this job description for clergymen, Jackson reminded the audience that no matter what they are doing, all leader as Christians are “called to live in such a way that [they] are blameless in the sight of God.”
Although Jackson’s message portrayed a belief that “effective ministry exacts a high cost on a servant of God,” he urged students to work through the hardships in order to fulfill their ministry and glorify God. “Our ambition should be to please the Commander in Chief, the Lord Jesus,” Jackson said. “We are to give to Him single-minded devotedness in our service.”
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