How to Minister in God’s Strength
Supernatural Pastors — Message by John Piper I have three aims for this message. First , I want to impress upon you the fact that the pastoral ministry is supernatural. All of the distinctly Christian goals in your pastoral life are humanly impossible, and God alone is the decisive cause if those goals are attained. Second , I want to try to show how you go about life and ministry so that you become an instrument of God’s decisive work. How do you work so that he is the decisive worker? Third , I want to exult with you that God has designed the ministry this way so that he gets the glory through Jesus Christ in your ministry forever and ever. So, you could sum up these three aims like this: The Christian ministry is by God’s grace, through faith, for God’s glory. My text is 1 Peter 4:10–11. As I read it, look for those three realities. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, [let him speak]...