This is Connect with Skip Heitzig Weekend Edition. Thanks for joining us today. Here at Connect with Skip, we're passionate about helping you understand God's Word and discover how its truth applies to your everyday life through clear, practical Bible teaching. And if you'd like more biblical encouragement throughout your week, sign up for Pastor Skip's free weekly devotional. You'll receive biblical insight, teaching highlights, and helpful resources designed to keep you growing in your faith and connected to God's Word, all delivered right to your inbox.
It's free, and signing up only takes a moment. Go to connectwithskip.com and join the list today. That's connectwithskip.com. Before today's teaching, stay with us for a special invitation from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Have you ever dreamed of visiting Israel?
Leni and I want to invite you to join us for a life-changing journey through the land of the Bible in April of 2027. You can walk where Jesus walked. You can worship on the Sea of Galilee. You can celebrate baptisms at the Jordan River, and we're going to share communion at the empty tomb. You'll also have the option to attend the Epiphany.
Summit in Jerusalem, where I'll be speaking alongside of Joel Rosenberg, Greg Laurie, and Graham Lotts, Jack Graham, and more.
So, join us April fifth through April sixteenth. You can learn more today at connectwithSkip dot com slash Israel.
Now, let's dive into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Let me tell you a true story. There was a man who was among one of the passengers that was in a flight flying in different cities in California. They were in Sacramento. They landed in Sacramento, and there was a flight delay.
And the stewardess gets on the intercom and she says, "Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to be delayed in this airport for at least 45 minutes or more, and you have the freedom to get up and go into the terminal, and we'll re-embark after a period of time." Everybody gets up off, goes off the plane, except for one man. He stays seated. He was blind. His seeing eye dog was in the seat in front of him, underneath the seat. Evidently, the pilot of that flight knew the passenger.
He must have flown on the pilot's flight before. The pilot gets up, goes over to the man who's blind, and he calls him by name, Keith. He says, "We're going to be at this airport for about an hour. If you want, you can go out and come back." He goes, "No, I don't need. I'll stay seated.
But my dog would probably like to be walked." Pilot said, "No problem. I'll take care of it." Now, I want you to imagine. In your mind's eye, what would have been like to be a passenger in the terminal when your pilot comes out with a seeing-eye dog, right? And just to add a little bit of fun, the pilot even put his sunglasses on as he walked out into the terminal. What would you have thought?
That's what they thought. Their reaction: most of them went to the counter. To switch flights, some wanted to switch airlines altogether. Why? Why did they react that way?
It's simple. They had no desire to entrust their lives to a man who couldn't see to fly. Here's my point: men who don't love their wives. Or don't raise their children in a godly fashion, or don't know their Bibles, have no business flying God's plane filled with God's people. He has to see to fly the plane, so he needs his own personal relationship with the living, resurrected Christ.
You say, "Yeah, I know that. Everybody knows that." Really? A few years ago, I was stunned but delighted when one of the people who came forward at an altar call at a Christmas Eve service humbly told me that he had been an elder in a church for 25 years and never had a personal relationship with Jesus until that night. I was mystified but delighted. Better late than never.
A personal relationship with Christ. Here's the second: a practical gifting to serve Christ. Verse two, he says, "Shepherd the flock of God, which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly, nor as being lords over those entrusted to you." Notice the terms entrusted. It's as if God says, "I will entrust you. I trust you to take my flock." And be a steward over them, not being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
Here's the long and short of it: a shepherd must be called. There has to be a calling. I know that's a mystical kind of a term. Like, are you waiting around for a voice to be heard? How do you know if you have a calling?
It's pretty simple. There's always a gifting that accompanies the calling. You can tell if a person is called by the fruit. If a person's called to be an evangelist, guess what's going to happen? People are going to come to Christ.
Nobody comes to Christ and he says, "I'm an evangelist." Hmm.
Okay. I wonder about that. If you're gifted or called to be a teacher, you'll be gifted to be a teacher. People will be taught. They will grow in their walks.
So there will be an accompanying gift mix along with the calling. When Paul announced to the church of Ephesus those gifted individuals that had been given to the congregation, he said, "There are apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry." Would you notice a phrase found both in verse one and verse two? It's the phrase "among you." In verse one, he speaks to the elders who are among you. You being the flock. In verse two, he says, "Shepherd the flock which is among you." Now he speaks to shepherds who have the flock of God among them.
But the term "among you" is an important term of practical accountability. If you're gifted, others among you will recognize it. They will know it. They will ratify it. This is why seminary alone is not sufficient.
Hermeneutics and homiletics courses are fine, but they are not enough. You need more. You can teach techniques. You can't transmit gifting. Only God can do that.
Some people join ministry or want to be a leader in a group. Because they just want to be known as the leader, they want people to notice them. They want the plaudits of people. No wonder James used these words: "Let not many of you presume to be teachers, for you will receive the stricter judgment." You see, it's got to be given to you by the Lord, and when you're among people, they will recognize God's hand on you. Paul spoke to the Ephesian elders, and he said, "Take care of the flock of God, among whom the Holy Spirit has made you overseers." In other words, do not touch the ministry unless the Holy Spirit gives it to you.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the preacher of preachers, I consider him, said this: "All are not called to labor in word and in doctrine." Nor to be elders, or to exercise the gift of a bishop, nor should all aspire to such works, since the gifts necessary are nowhere promised to all. But those should addict themselves to such important engagements who feel, like the apostle, that they have received this ministry. No man may intrude into the sheepfold as an under shepherd; he must have an eye to the chief shepherd. And wait his beck and command. And if he does not so, but he rushes into the sacred office, the Lord will say of him and others like him, "I sent them not; neither did I command them.
Therefore, they shall not profit this people at all," saith the Lord, quoting Jeremiah twenty three. Has to be a practical gifting to serve Christ in two areas. Generally speaking, Peter brings up. There has to be a gifting to feed sheep, and a gifting to lead sheep. Look at the first one: to feed the sheep.
That's in the word shepherd, verse two. Shepherd the flock of God. The old King Jimmy says, "Feed the flock of God," because the term shepherd and the term feed were part and parcel of the same calling, the same nurturing. One of the primary callings of a shepherd is to feed sheep. Jesus, after the resurrection, asked Peter three times, "Do you love me?" Yes, Lord, I love you.
And Jesus said, "Feed my sheep." Sometimes translated, tend or care for, but feed my sheep. It's what shepherds do—they feed sheep. The Lord is my shepherd, David said. He leads me into green pastures. My shepherd provides me food.
One of the main tasks of a pastor. I see our position as being a spiritual chef. I remember coming home and sitting down for a meal, and sometimes I just start randomly eating things. I remember my mom saying, "I slave over a hot stove all day for you boys." I'll never forget that, and I think that's what I'm called to do. Slave over a stove of scripture that takes time to prepare a meal that is palatable and edifying and understandable, through which a person can grow.
Listen, a pastor worth listening to is one who has thought through the truth in the presence of the Holy Spirit, and that takes time. The words of Paul to Timothy were these: Be diligent, or in the old translation, study to show yourselves approved. A worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Be prepared, study hard. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig, Weekend Edition.
Every day, your support helps more people engage with God's Word and discover biblical truth they can apply to their lives. And this month, we'd love to thank you with two resources you can enjoy yourself or give to someone you love this Christmas. The Daily God Journal by Pastor Skip guides you through a year of Scripture, prayer, and deeper conversations with God. Plus, Christmas Under the Tree by Nate Heitzig is a beautifully illustrated story that points readers of all ages from Jesus's birth to the cross. Give a gift with eternal value while helping others encounter God's Word through connect with.
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Now let's return to today's teaching. I've always loved the story of the Native American man, an older man, who went to church one Sunday and heard his preacher. It was a Sunday when the preacher didn't study and prepare for the message, so he tried to cover up his lack of preparation by being bombastic and pounding the pulpit, and you know, speaking loudly and and and running back and forth and putting on a Pepperelli show. In fact, he was frothing and spitting and just moving around, and some people thought he he preached up a storm. That's what they said.
He preached up a storm. And they asked the old Native American gentleman afterwards, "What did you think of the sermon?" He said, "I have six words: high wind, big thunder, no rain. High wind, big thunder, but where's the rain? Where's the nourishment? Boy, he preached up a storm, but where's the rain?
This is why." God, speaking through Ezekiel the prophet, said, "Prophesy against my shepherds, for should not the shepherds feed the flocks?" Now I'm a real stickler about this, as some of you may anticipate and already know. I don't believe a pastor should just give bits and pieces of the Bible. A short series here and this, and a short mini-series on that. A little bit of the New Testament, a couple psalms, maybe a little Revelation. I believe you want to get strong sheep.
You teach them through books of the Bible, all of it. In fact, my favorite event of the whole week is my Wednesday night Bible study. I've often said if I have to give something up, it would be a weekend, not a Wednesday night. Because on Wednesday night I am able to go through a couple chapters of. We're in the book of Numbers right now, and we're we're plowing through a couple chapters at a time.
All of what God says in His Word. I know everybody doesn't like numbers. I don't. There's just some parts of the Scripture, even the part we're studying today. A lot of people in a series like this just sort of Skip over this.
You know, you speak about that at a pastors' conference. I look at it as this is a way to raise the level of accountability.
Now you know what you should expect of us on the pastoral team. But I never forget when my son was young and my wife placed on his plate at dinner time carrots and celery among other things. But this what he noticed: carrots were huge and celery, and he didn't want to eat either one of them. He wasn't really about to eat either one of them, but she was ingenious. She placed.
A plate of her brownies at the end of the table, which sounds sort of distracting. Like, well, you know, you're going to be looking at that. But the whole point is, you have to go through the carrots and celery to get to the brownies. You see, they're on that side of the table. You don't just get there.
You got to go through your food to get to that. The Bible says that in the last days, people will not endure sound doctrine. They will not endure carrots and celery.
So, what some leaders do, if they don't endure it, don't give it to them. But there is something about shepherds you ought to know. They do it every year in the Middle East. When it gets to be about this time of the year and it's really hot, and the surface grasses on the plateaus die, that's when the shepherd leads the sheep to different grasses in the ravines where it's dark. They're called wadis.
We'd call them arroyos, but sheep hate it. They don't like going down into dark places. They don't have good eyesight. But the shepherd knows that's where the greenest, most verdant food is down in the valley.
So he has to change things up and lead them down into the valley. They may not like it, but wait till you get there and see what you have to eat.
So that is the practical gifting to serve Christ, to feed the flock. Feed the flock. Second, he has to be gifted to lead the flock. You'll notice in verse two, it says, "Serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly, nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but as examples to the flock." See the word overseers. I told you what the word is.
Episkopos, episcopal, means bishop. Literally, it means somebody who sees over. Hence, the word overseer. It's somebody who looks over a group of people and sees what they need. Looks over a flock of sheep and looks out for them.
That's the idea of an overseer. He's gifted to lead them. He's to do it a few different ways. You'll notice it says not by compulsion but willingly. In other words, not because you have to, but because you want to.
A pastor should never say, "Oh, it's Sunday again, man! I can't wait to get here. It's such a joy, and it's something not you have to do. There's no room for laziness." On pastoral staff in any ministry at all. I remember asking Jay Vernon McGee.
I don't know if any of you remember Jay Vernon McGee. He's been in heaven a long time, but he came and spoke here before he went to heaven. And I interviewed him on the radio. And I know that he teaches, he taught, and still does through the whole Bible. And it's something that was a passion of mine.
So I asked him. I said, Doctor McGee. Why do you think more pastors don't teach from Genesis to Revelation? He didn't miss a beat and he didn't hesitate. He said in that southern drawl, "Because the lize." Those were his words.
The lize. Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, "If you plan to be lazy, there are plenty of avocations in which you will not be wanted. But above all, you are not wanted in the Christian ministry. For he who finds the ministry an easy life will find that it brings a hard death.
So it's a calling and it's a gifting to feed and to lead, because you want to." He further qualifies it not for dishonest gain. There were many false prophets that peppered the congregations in ancient times and were out just to get money out of people, but eagerly. I hope you never think. You know, I can't find a job anywhere else. I'm going to apply to the pastoral staff at Calvary.
You won't get far. A further qualification is in verse three. Nor as being lords. Over, you are an overseer, not an overlord. Not as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
The greatest sermon ever preached is an example sermon—sermon by example—and here is why: sheep cannot be driven; they have to be led. You lead sheep. You don't drive them. You lead them, and example is what goes the furthest. A leader is somebody who knows the way, goes the way, and then shows the way.
He leads by example. A personal relationship with Christ, a practical gifting to serve Christ, and three, a powerful desire to please Christ. That's the third and the last. Look at verse four. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.
One of the most beautiful titles of Jesus ever: the chief shepherd. I love that. He called himself the good shepherd. Peter heard that sermon, but here he says he's the greatest shepherd. He's the best shepherd.
He's the chief shepherd. We are just under shepherds, feeding his flock that he entrusted to us.
Now you'll you'll remember that up to this point, Peter is encouraging a suffering group of people, right? And one of the ways he encourages them is he says, "Hold on, it's tough now, but later on, when Jesus comes back, you're going to get a reward. The best is yet to come. Look toward the future. Look toward the." Goal of God's glory.
He says the same thing now to the pastors. Our motivation for ministry is to please Jesus Christ, and may I say, quite frankly, He's a lot easier to please than some people.
So, if if you get into the ministry and you try to just please people, you'll be like a dog chasing its tail. It will just never happen. Because as soon as you please someone, someone else won't like it.
So it's better to start when you start by pleasing the Lord Jesus Christ. Stuart Briscoe said something years ago; I'll never forget. He said, "Here's the qualifications of a pastor: He needs the mind of a scholar, he needs the heart of a child, and he needs the hide of a rhinoceros." You just plow through, and you want to please the Lord. There was a legend about an old shepherd. An old man was walking from village to village with a young boy and a donkey and a flock of sheep trailing behind.
He came to the first village, and he was walking next to the donkey. And the people of that village called him a fool when he could be riding. He's walking. He ought to be riding the donkey.
So to please the people, he got up on the donkey and he rode. He went to the second village, and the people of that village said. That he was cruel because he was letting a young child walk while he was riding the donkey.
So to please the people, he got off the donkey and put the young child on the donkey, and they went to the next village. When they got to the next village, they said that the boy was lazy and the older guy was helping him be lazy by letting him ride the donkey, the young boy, while he was walking. They should both be riding together.
So to please the people, the old man and the young boy were riding the donkey to the next village. When they got to the next village, the people of that village said, "Cruelty to donkeys! These donkeys supporting the weight of two human beings is horrible." The last time they saw the shepherd, he was walking down the road carrying the donkey to the next village to see what they would say. You get my point. Any kind of work, including ministry, especially, should be done to please the chief shepherd.
Ephesians six: not with eye service, nor as men pleasers, but as bond servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. And here's why: because in the end, you will not stand before any group of your peers; you will stand before one. The Chief Shepherd. Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we go, remember that your generosity helps more people discover the truth of God's Word and grow in their relationship with Jesus.
And this month, when you give fifty dollars or more, we'll thank you with two meaningful resources you can enjoy yourself or give this Christmas. The Daily God Journal will help you grow in Scripture and prayer throughout the coming year. Plus, Christmas Under the Tree is a beautifully illustrated story that points hearts toward Jesus from the cradle to the cross. Give a gift with eternal value while helping others encounter God's Word at ConnectWithGift.com/offer or by calling eight hundred nine two two eighteen eighty eight. We'll see you next time for more verse by verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig Weekend Edition.
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