WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP)–Priority, purpose and passion define a minister’s ministry, Randy White, pastor of First Baptist Church, Pampa, Texas, told a chapel audience at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
White was introduced by President Paige Patterson as “a man of biblical courage, one of the leaders in our conservative, Bible-believing, Christ-honoring movement in the state of Texas.”
Focusing his Feb. 20 message on Exodus 28 at the Wake Forest, N.C., campus, White said the first priority of the minister should be to minister unto the Lord, citing Exodus 28:1, which states, “Now take Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to Me as priest.”
“Sometimes we are ministers to whatever group that is under our watch,” White said, “and we forget that the heart of worship and the heart of ministry is Jesus.”
Ministering unto the Lord, both as “friend and servant,” begins with prayer and Bible study, he noted, citing Acts 6:4, which says, “… but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
White noted, “We minister to the Lord through the ministry of prayer and the Word as we make it a priority in our lives.”
He added, “I know how to minister to people. I know how to serve and help people, but my priority is to be a minister unto the Lord Jesus Christ and to God Almighty.”
Second, ministers should define their purpose toward man in ministry.
Just as Aaron in Exodus 28:3 bore the names of the sons of Israel on his shoulders as a memorial, so should ministers carry their members’ “names and needs before the Father” in prayer, White said.
Jesus set the example in John 17, White said, when the Savior said, “Father, I pray for these disciples, and not only for them, but for all who come after them.”
“[I]f my priority is to minister unto the Lord, then my purpose as it relates to my congregation is to carry their name and their need before God,” White said.
Third, the passion of ministry needs to be holiness, the Texas pastor said.
In Exodus 28:36, Aaron was instructed to make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it the words, “Holiness unto the Lord,” as a reminder to Aaron that his ministry was to be holy.
“If anyone is to be set apart, it is the minister of the gospel. … He is to be set apart in his duty” of declaring that holiness matters,” White said.
“You are set apart, young man and young woman, as you are called into a ministry of the gospel. You are set apart to that which God has called you to. You are to be different,” White said.
Urging students to not only be set apart in duty, White also pressed them to be set apart in lifestyle.
“A minister of the gospel can’t live like anyone else,” he said. “I believe ministers of the gospel should be the purest man in town; the cleanest, most prayed-up man in town.”
A minister must also be set apart in his anointing, White said.
“If I am called out to be a minister of the Lord, I ought to be more filled, more anointed in the power and spirit of God than anyone in my congregation because I am set apart as holy unto the Lord,” White said. “When people come into the presence of a minister, they should say, ‘Now, there is someone who has walked face-to-face with God.’
“I don’t believe the minister in any way should be set up on an ivory tower, far away from his people, but I do believe the minister can be set apart in his duty, lifestyle and anointing.”
White concluded his sermon encouraging the students to look at the biblical role of the minister, asking, “What has been your priority? Has it been to obey God or to obey man? Has it been service to the congregation or service to the Lord? Has it been to bless an individual or to bless God? What is your priority, passion and my purpose toward man?”
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(BP) photo posted in the BP Photo Library at http://www.bpnews.net. Photo title: RANDY WHITE.
