All we like Shepherds have

gone astray
Finding a text was difficult, because there are so many to choose from: Micah 3: 5
As for the prophets who lead my people astray, if one feeds them they proclaim
‘peace’. Psalm 78:72 And David shepherded them with the integrity of his heart ,
and with skillful hands he led them. Ezekiel 34: 1 Son of Man, prophesy against the
Shepherds of Israel, …Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of
themselves. Should not the Shepherds take care of the flock? Philippians 2:20 I have
no one else like him who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. Romans 15.20 It
has always been my ambition to preach the Gospel where Christ was not known.
Acts 26 I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.

So what is your job description? I trust you have had a call, a

divine call to be a minister, a preacher of the Gospel. A mechanic
wants to fix cars, a doctor to heal people, a teacher to instruct
young students. But what is it that you want to do? We are now
part of the helping profession; we are among those who want to
help others, to fix the world, yes, to save it. Many do this for
money, and are well paid for their care. They are altruistic all the
way to the bank. But what of us, the ministers of the Gospel, the
great truths of God, what really is our motivation, what is our job
description?

2 Timothy 2 has a good description of what a minister is to be,

and our job description: Finding faithful men to give the message
of the Gospel so they may teach others also. Being a good soldier
and enduring hardness, being a Good athlete and following the
rules; Being a good farmer sowing and patiently waiting for the
harvest. But I want to focus on some of perils of the ministry.
Every day ministers fail in the ministry, they came perhaps thru
this seminary thru this church sitting where you sit today with all
the best intentions, with a divine call on their heart, with ambition
up the wazoo. But we have an enemy, an enemy that is very
crafty, but his tactics are pretty well written in stone, or might as
well be, because when you know the Lord for as long as I have,
you can see it a long ways off. Temptation, testing are two words
in English that refer to one word in Greek. We are to be tested,
tempted in lots of ways, and we need to learn how to deal with it.

A very prominent evangelist learned early in his career that there

were two evils that were to be avoided at all cost: the evil of
fornication and adultery and the evils of money and greed. Billy
Graham decided he would not let himself stumble on these sins
so he developed two rules to honor his God. One was never to be
alone with a woman not his wife. The second was to let someone
else set his salary and deal with the offering. These two rules
have meant that his ministry has not been marred with any
indiscretions, a word I detest. In actuality, he has preserved his
reputation as a man of God and God’s reputation. Indiscretions
seem so small and insignificant in comparison to the really
important things that happen in any day.

I cannot over emphasize the importance of your taking care of

your moral integrity. Some pastors will say that about their
family, that their family is really first, because if they preach their
heart out on Sundays, and win many to God thru their ministry
but lose their family they will feel like a failure. This is actually
part of the requirements for a deacons and elders. But even more
so is the taking care of the moral integrity of the heart of the
Pastor.

What is it that will tempt you? What would make you stray? Who
could tempt you to give it all up for whatever is more valuable at
the time, a woman, money, a house, friends? That will tell you
what kind of person you are more than anything?

Do you need illustrations? There are plenty. In places you would

never believe. You certainly have heard a few yourselves. There
was minister back in Wisconsin, conservative, Bible preaching
man, married who took up with a lady in the Church and when
presented with the option of leaving her of quitting the church, he
quit. He had had a long pastorate, and years to go before being
retired. It was a good medium size church, a couple hundred
attended, because he was very good.

But not in God’s eyes. You can be a really good Bible man, know
the scriptures but still fail. You can be a terrific preacher, good
from the pulpit, but have a secret sin that will eat the heart out of
your ministry. You can be real personable in one on one and help
people in real difficult trials of life, but still fail through
temptations that will cut you down to size. And we know we are
always tempted but why do some fall and others not. We are
living in very sexual times, the sexual revolution is now a state
institution. People kind of expect you to do it backwards, get
pregnant and then get married. But we are so advanced today
that getting married is less an option now, just shackin up is the
thing. The number of marriages had held steady for years now
while the population has kept on growing. It’s getting close to
40% of children who do not have a dad in the home. People are
living for the moment, for the thrill of the conquest, and you dear
minister to be, are in the cross hairs. That is quite a feather in
some ones hat.

I have another story of a minister who failed. Years ago I read a

book you may be familiar with, called Megatrends, which was part
of the attempt to predict the future based on what Christians
knew at the time. It was a great book. It was written by a Pastor
Paulk, who had written 6 or 7 others as well. He was also known
as the pastor of one of the largest churches in America, one of the
first of the megachurches. But the real story, the personal story of
his life is a tragedy. We can talk plainly about him because it is all
public record now. It wasn’t till later that we found out that he left
his first church because of a sexual liaison with one of the ladies
in the church. But he went on the bigger things, starting a church
that grew into the megachurch that he is known for. But the
‘improprieties’ continued and got worse. The church grew to be
over 12,000 members as well as the church plant. In ‘92 things
began to fall apart, women began to come forward. It finally
turned out that one of the preacher boys was in fact not a nephew
but a son of the Pastor.

I tell you this not to do anything but make this as plain as I can, to
underline it in red, to bulldoze a zone in your heart that tells you
that this is not what God has for you and you need to establish it
in your heart right now. That this is not about you, it is not about
your getting anything, but about you giving and letting the Lord
give you your prize as you compete in the spiritual Olympics that
God has for you, the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus.

How do you get to that place? Several points must be indelibly

written on your heart:

1. Any ambition you have, any future you see for yourself will
be destroyed by failing in sexual sin.
2. Your church where you pastor will be tarnished, perhaps
irreparably in the community by your transgressions, even if
you think they are private, they are not private. They will
come out.
3. The Gospel you wish to give to others will be destroyed in
some people’s minds, the Bible and all that you stand for will
be affected.
4. Your getting the impression that this is a pretty big thing?
That is the idea. As if that is not enough…
5. Jesus Himself, who died for you, will get some blame,
perhaps totally turning people in your church away from the
Lord. People will go to hell because you had to be the one
that took the bait, had a personal failure.

Because of this I want you to take a pledge right now to sooner

cut off your arm or leg before you commit a sexual sin. This needs
to be, especially in our times, when sexual perversion has
reached stupendous levels. On the internet the most looked for
word is guess….sex, and the next 5 are all the same story,
different stanza. Perhaps 50 % of all requests on the internet are
in this venue. And it is not just in the good ole US of A. Saudi
Arabia has a very high internet usage as well. Now because you
know this, it does not mean that you get back to the dorm and
check it out. We need to take the pledge to be the light in a dark
world, to be Jesus In skin, in the midst of a dark and doomed
world (Philippians 2.14).

II. Now may be that you realize even now that you may have
some bondages still in your heart involving sexual things. For it is
in heart that evil begins. Once it begins it is hard to get it out. Is
there a way that will help us do that, to get out lustful thoughts,
to actually get in charge of what goes into my mind and thought
process. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he, it says in Proverbs.
There are several books on this subject which I would
recommend. The Battlefield of the mind, is one that is good,
Also Understanding Male Temperament by Tim LaHaye which
has a new name now.

But there are several brief ways to help in this area. Very quickly,
Make no provision for the sin nature or the flesh. Don’t buy the
magazines, don’t get on the porn sights, and be careful about
watching., Everyman’s Battle is an indepth treatment from a
very practical stand point by men who have gotten caught by the
porn industry, sexual infatuation business. They talk about
bouncing with the eyes. If you read the book you will understand.
Do not let being caught in sin keep you from the victory that
Christ promises. Do not let the shame keep you from the remedy.
Every victory you have will help you in your ministry, because you
will be an overcomer (Revelation 2,3). Your integrity will begin to
lead you, so that you can lead others. You will have the pastors
heart, to bring our lost and wondering sheep back to the fold, and
once there to instruct them in the heart things that will make
them strong.