A leading US evangelical seminary recently did a study on ministers who finished well, which meant that at every stage of ministry they kept moving forward and never fizzled out, never failed. Sadly, you and I know awesome people who can’t say they finished well. We still walk alongside them. But the people in this study started and finished well. They were highly successful. And what was discovered was that the greatest predictor of a minister’s success or failure is their relational circle.
The study continued, “With few exceptions, those who experienced success in ministry and finished well had a significant network of meaningful relationships that inspired, challenged, listened, pursued, developed, and held them accountable.” Isn’t that powerful? We need people. We need friends, mentors, and spiritual parents. They’re necessary for our successful walk and the strengthening of our faith.
You see, you sow and you reap. You’re there for people sometimes, and they are there for you at other times. Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, talked to Moses about that. He said in Exodus 18:14-22, “What are you really accomplishing here? Why are you trying to do all this alone…? This is not good! You’re going to wear yourself out—and the people too. This job is too heavy a burden for you to handle all by yourself. Now listen to me… Select from the people some capable, honest men who fear God… They will help you carry the load, making the task easier for you. If you follow this advice, and if God commands you to do so, then you will be able to endure the pressures, and all these people will go home in peace.”
One night, when my wife and I were young and in love, I remember talking on the phone with a friend about a situation for a long time. Tamara said to me, “Why don’t you talk to me about it?” I said, “Well, because you couldn’t do what he just did. You have your strengths; he has his.” He really helped me that night. We need people like that. We need friends, mentors, and spiritual parents. They’re different groups, and they challenge us and develop us in different ways. I received some of the worst investment advice I have ever received in my life from friends. We paid for that, and we still are a little bit! But that doesn’t mean they weren’t good friends. They just weren’t put in our lives to mentor us financially.
So today I want to share God’s recipe for next-level success because I want each of us to finish well like those in the group study.
Storms come to all. (1 Corinthians 10a)
In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul wrote, “I don’t want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud. They all passed through the sea. They all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and the sea.” Of course, the sea was the place of forgiveness. The cloud was the place of favor. “They all ate the same spiritual food. They drank from the same spiritual Rock. They drank from the One who accompanied them, which was Christ. Nevertheless, God wasn’t pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.” He goes on to say it was because they set their hearts on the wrong thing.
Now, here’s what’s interesting to me. We all go to Bible school. We all have formation. But trouble comes to everybody. I’ve had so many people think their lives would be better if they didn’t have any trouble. They think somehow that just because of who my father-in-law was that things worked out for me. Now, he played a critical role. But the Apostle Paul taught us that we need to have one Father and many mentors. And most of the mentors who’ve made the biggest difference in my life are people that I never even rubbed shoulders with. I just read their books. Back in the day, I listened to their cassettes, and then they turned into CDs, and now they’ve turned into webinars and podcasts. But they changed my life.
Storms come to everybody. Sometimes we think, Why am I facing so many challenges? But we can be encouraged that life is a fight. We’re in enemy territory. We can expect storms sometimes because we can’t go forward without a fight.
Hard comes to everybody. It’s hard to prepare your first sermon. It’s hard to deal with people. We’ve seen this in church over the years. It’s hard to lay your life down for people who break your heart. It’s hard to stand up to false influences, like Paul told Timothy he had to do. But my father-in-law taught us the work is worth the work, and the prize is worth the price.
God stands faithfully with all. (1 Corinthians 10b)
God wants to stand faithfully with everybody. He wants to stand with ministers. In Revelation, when John has come to the end of his life, what did Jesus tell him about spiritual leaders? “I hold them in my hand.” To me, the pastors are the messengers of the churches. They’re the stars, and God wants them loved. God wants people holding them dearly, as He does.
Nobody can be a spiritual father to everybody, but we can all be mentors or friends. We can be teachers. People will find their spiritual fathers and mothers as they walk through life, but God stands with us so faithfully through everything.
The biggest demonic attack we ever went through in the church hurt me so badly. Charles Swindoll said in one of his books to expect “hard.” Then he said there are times when you need to say to God, “God, You see what the enemy’s done. He’s such a genius, and there’s nothing I can say or do to overcome this trouble. So, I want You to know that I’m just going to commit it to Your hands, and I’m going to trust You to deliver me.” It reminded me of 2 Timothy 4:18, where Paul expressed that the Lord will rescue us from every evil attack and usher us into His heavenly kingdom. I studied the Greek on that passage, and it’s almost like God comes in with the tactical precision of a Navy Seal and rescues us from the attacks. His faithfulness is so great!
We’ve just celebrated our 36th anniversary at church. We’ve been in ministry a long time now, and I can attest to the fact that you’re going to deal with hard things a lot, but the Lord will be faithful—not sometimes but every single, solitary time.
If you start looking at trials this way, if you start saying, “Okay, trials happen to everybody. This is no different than what other people are experiencing out there, so I’m going to be somebody who expects the hard. I’m going to rejoice in the trials and have compassion on others going through them. I’m gonna be part of that Matthew 18 prayer community Jesus spoke of.” Then, if you say to yourself, “My faith is not going to be shaken in this trial. My maturity is going to grow, and I’m going to have some incredible memories with friends because we love each other in our imperfection—” that’s how you will go through the trials you face successfully. When you do that, God says, “I’ll supply you and make your next season more fruitful.” This is what the study from that evangelical seminary discovered and why they said that our relationships are so important.
God strengthens the obedient. (1 Corinthians 10c)
The most important thing in a trial to ask yourself is not, Is it solved yet?, but instead, Did I grow stronger today? Just go home every day and ask yourself, Did I live today well? Our mission is one day at a time. All we’re called to be is obedient to the voice of the Lord for the day we’re living.
My wife always says that when we’re facing dark times, it’s important to get quiet and just hear what the Lord would say. So many times, we want to run out and fix the situation. We want to do it in our own strength. Tamara and I are learning how to be quiet before the Lord. It takes time to be quiet. You know, Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I’m God.” In the midst of difficulty, that can be hard to do, but that’s when we need to do it most. That’s when God gives you the piece of wisdom you need to keep going in the right direction and not get into a bigger mess. He wants us to hear His voice, to be about the work He wants us to do in that season.
There were months of my life that my health suffered. Doctors thought I had Hepatitis C. They thought maybe it was cancer in a lymph node. My liver numbers were elevated. Tamara began to pray because we were going to India, and she didn’t want me to be sick while we were there. She prayed through the night. Over and over, God spoke to her that I had Lyme disease. I had been bitten by a deer tick and didn’t realize I had been infected. We told the doctor what God said to her, and he said, “I think she’s right!” Once the tests confirmed Lyme disease, he said, “Jim, your wife has a good prayer life!” He gave me medication, and my health improved. God helped us solve the issue!
In dark times, we need to expect storms, to expect “hard.” Let’s quit talking about people who fall like it never happens. It’s going to happen to someone somewhere. But let’s live with joy, and let’s live with compassion for those who need to start over. Let’s try to get everybody we can possibly get through the storm and into the destiny God has for them Let’s help people see what God wants them to have.
Pastor, whatever the enemy is up to in your life today, just ignore him. Get up, and give the day your best. And I promise you, God is going to take you places you never dreamed you could go.
We at Significant Church are blessed to be part of your journey. If you know a pastor or friend who’s going through a dark time, would you consider emailing us and letting us know? We want to personally invite them to the next two webinar because they are going to be so helpful. They’re going to help them find the relationships they need to succeed, to live well and finish well. Drop us a message at [email protected] so we can get those personal invites out to them. And we’ll look forward to seeing you at our next webinar!
This blog was created using content from the webinar Relationships We Need to Succeed.
