July 10, 2009
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How to treat our Spiritual Father by Pastor Don Moore
1 Corinthians 4:14 I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you.
Fathers warn you.
1 Corinthians 4:15 For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.
Teacher/tutor
1 Corinthians 14:16-21 Therefore I urge you, imitate me. For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church. Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you. But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord wills, and I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?
There was an apostle on the inside looking at the way things really are. He was a true spiritual father, and not just a teacher, instructor, or giving information.
What if Pastor Don did not tell us the truth, not tell us what the Word of God really says?
How do we treat our spiritual father?
There are a whole lot of people who can teach you stuff, but that does not make you their child. Your spiritual father is chosen to give you a wake up call, and so that you can imitate him and learn so that you can grow closer. You may have your spiritual father 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, or 50 years. You don’t just listen to what your spiritual father says, but you imitate his life. Model yourself after him.
Your spiritual father will make your life part of his prayer life. He will visit you in the hospital, help you with your life issues, and will give you guidance. Your spiritual father does not just show up and preach the word and go home. For some pastors, prayer for their congregation is not an integral part of their life.
As Kenneth Hagin says, some do not have enough faith. That if faith was dynamite, they would not have enough faith to blow their nose.
Some can give information and knowledge, but they become puffed up. If a pastor tells you something that is not supported in the Word, then you have to choose whom to believe. Some move from one church to another and share what they learned at the first church, becoming puffed up with information. At least tell your new church where you got your information and have the courtesy to tell Pastor that you are leaving your former church.
God works in your life through spiritual fathers, and you know that this is where I need to be planted, serve and raised up. If the sheep are left out wandering they will get killed, the wolf, bear, and lion will eat some.
Your spiritual dad puts fresh meat (the Word) on the table.
We may watch TV personalities like Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, etc. and help support their ministries, but when you are down on your luck, when there is unlooked for trouble, when you need help they are not going to come to your house to help you. You cannot go up to Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar or any other TV evangelist and share your troubles with them and have them spend time helping you sort out your life.
We need to give respect to our spiritual dad.
We belong to Jesus, but Pastor Don is our Shepherd. Every 4 1/2 years the sheep wander off. People move around – and when they do they move in and out of churches. 74% of church growth is just people moving around. They will stay until the pastor stops feeding their flesh. If you are not serving, just pew sitting, the pastor may not stroke your flesh, and then the person wanders to another shepherd’s field. People need to serve the pasture where they are being fed.
If they choose to wander off, that is ok too, but they should at least have the courtesy to go up to their pastor and say, “I’m wandering off.” (Heather’s note, I have seen Pastor Don welcome back wandering sheep with love.) When we are in our Pastor’s fold, he will try to be a mega blessing to our lives.
If we go somewhere else and learn anything, we also have the responsibility to tell Pastor about it. Share it with Pastor Don. What if we have wandered off and picked up wrong theology or lies? Or if there is something fantastic that we learn somewhere else, we can share it with our pastor and all the sheep are blessed. Sometimes we can’t recognize Biblical error until we fall or are dying in our faith.
If you wander be sure that someone will tell Pastor Don that you are there. If you are learning good things, share it with him. Also, it is is not great if Pastor Don or your shepherd learns from another pastor that you are now at their church, instead of hearing it from you.
We are to imitate our pastor, see what he does, where he goes, how he lives, and begin to imitate him as you see how he walks with the Lord, and we can grow by imitating the good things that he does.
The problem that parents and pastors have is that while they treat their children the best that they can, they can never satisfy all of their needs. If a father, in the role of father, has done his best for the child, but if the child has it in his head that the father has neglected or abandoned him (even if it is not true), there is nothing that a father can do about that perception. You can’t treat all your kids the same. If in the confines of their mind they are unsatisfiable, there is nothing you can do.
Some preachers never preach good enough for you, will never be there enough.
What is a father?
How can we find out?
Pastor Don looked it up in the dictionary. A father is a man in relationship to a child or children born from his fertilization of an ovum.
God ordained fathers to penetrate into darkness and bring forth life. The seed does not go in there and stay, but emerges out of darkness into the light.
Adam, because of his sin, was denied the ability to have his son be the Messiah, for he failed to act in the role of head of his family, and protect his wife from the wiles of satan. In fact, when asked what happened, he blamed God – blamed the woman YOU gave me. So instead of the seed of a man producing the Messiah, it became the seed of a woman. God had to step in.
The next definition of father is a man who has continuous care of a child, especially by adoption. Adoption is a willful decision to step into the life of a child and see him/her brought up under continuous care. You have responsibility for the child.
There is no greater love than the love of the adoptive father who says, “I chose you.” God chose us for adoption. Most men run from responsibility.
America has permitted man to be cheated of their rights, rights to have a father or a husband in the life of the child. People wonder whose am I? Man needs to know whose is his.
When a man steps into fill the role of the father/son relationship, it shows that a woman is not sufficient to her self. We have a Heavenly Father and we need to belong to Him. Our culture is forcing people to have bad father relationships, and it causes many to not believe in Him. People change relationships like clothing. We need to be interconnected.
In the 60′s people were singing songs like “I am a rock, I am an island.” But songs like that are not the truth.
The next definition of father is progenitor, forefather, originator, designer, person who deserves special respect.
When dad speaks with purposeful design. Pastor Don’s son told us what his father often told him, “You are a Moore, you are made of the good stuff.” The setting is part of the origin and design. We need to speak possibilities, what the child is good at. Women are messed up if there is no designer (father) to speak possibilities into her life, planting the reality of how God designed her.
Many parents call their children stupid, ignorant, never amount to anything, and that has more impact on their lives.
The fourth definition is Christian theologian who is regarded as special and authoritative, religious, first person of the trinity, spiritual theologian.
The father is the spiritual head of the family. Mother’s can say, Let’s ask Daddy.”
Establish writings or speak into existence. Special authoritative possibilities or religious leader. You have authority.
Pastor Don has written a great book (which you can read at the following link) called Not Forsaken Healing the Father Wounds. These are for sale on In His Name Ministry site along with his other books, (two new). You can also view teachings and learn about resources available.
I think that it is very important to treat our spiritual fathers with respect, for they have sowed much in our lives and have blessed us so much.
Heather
