clcgh.org Building The Capacity Of Christian Leaders, Equipping The Saints For The Work Of Ministry, Redirecting Straying Christians To The Sound Knowledge Of Christ
EVERY CHRISTIAN needs to fellowship with a church and follow a pastor or pastors to be tended and fed with knowledge and understanding of God’s Word.
This helps the believer to achieve spiritual growth and be properly prepared for the work of the ministry.
But a Christian needs to choose a pastor he wants to follow very carefully. The main reason Peter and the other 11 apostles chose to follow Jesus Christ should guide every believer in his choice of a pastor to follow.
In John Chapter Six we read about many of Jesus’ disciples leaving Him after He finished preaching. Jesus then turned and said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?”
Peter said to Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? YOU HAVE THE WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6: 68- 69).
You can see that the words that convinced Peter and the other disciples to follow Jesus were not the words that promised them money to buy cars, build houses, pay school fees or marry.
Certainly, the things aforementioned are not evil; they are good things we all need in this life, but those disciples considered something greater and more important.
They were not persuaded by miracles but by the words of everlasting life. And Jesus Christ alone has these words. Thus Peter and his brothers would not leave the Lord Jesus Christ.
Their hearts were focused on eternal life alone. Their minds were saturated with eternal life. They followed Jesus Christ because of eternal life.
Eternal life was their motivation for enduring persecutions. So Peter answered Christ, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
This same principle should guide every Christian believer in his choice of a pastor. Follow a pastor mainly because he has been sent with words of eternal life, he preaches and teaches about eternal life.
In other words, follow a pastor who follows Jesus Christ, abides in the words of Jesus Christ and obeys the commands of Jesus Christ.
Words of eternal life are the most important a person must be given. That was why Peter and the other apostles decided to follow Jesus.
By James Quansah
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James Quansah is the Executive Director of Christ-Conscious Leadership Centre (CLC) and lead Pastor of End-Time Christ’s Commissioners (ECC), Kumasi, Ghana. James is also a journalist by profession. He is married with four children.
If Jesus Christ alone has the words of eternal life, then church members should be very careful the pastors they choose to follow.
Because these days, people like so called direction more than the word of eternal life. God bless man of God