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PASTOR'S REPORT, April 17, 1979
levels -- in spite of the fac� that the brethren had been asked to make
certain financial sacrifices during the first part of this year in order
to thwart the illegal and ungodly attempted takeover of the very Work
of the Living God!
I would like to take this opportunity to say something which I feel
is important to all of God's ministers worldwide. How many of you minis
ters have really understood what Satan is doing -- or trying to do -- in
his attacks against this Work?
I am quite aware of the fact that the ministers of the WCG have, in
the main, performed very well during the numerous crises which this Work
has gone through. Most of you, like good soldiers of Jesus Christ, have
stood there, rock solid, as God's Church and His Work have repeatedly
been attacked. You have been unmovable.
Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong and all of us ministers here at Pasadena have
rejoiced to see the loyalty and stedfastness which the vast majority of
you ministers have exhibited. Thanks to God for that dedicated support
of loyalty to Him, to Jesus Christ, and to God's chosen apostle -- the
one through whom Christ raised up, and continues to direct, this mighty
Work.
But we all need to guard against the tendency to forget that God has
called each and every one of us in his ministry to a very high calling.
In fact, I know of no calling so high and so noble as that of being counted
worthy of being put into Christ's ministry. Let us consider Paul's admo
nition to a young man, Timothy, whom he had ordained into the ministry of
Jesus Christ:
"I charge thee...Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season...
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but
after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itch
ing ears....But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work
of an evangelist (or that of a pastor, elder or deacon), MAKE FULL PROOF
OF THY MINISTRY" {II Tim. 4:1-5).
All of us ministers need to keep our minds on the very high calling
which God has granted us. We should never look back -- never seek to go
back into the world.
Notice what Christ thinks of any man called into his ministry who
begins to look back -- who tries to get out of fulfilling his high calling.
"And He (Jesus) said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer
me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury
their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also
said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell,
which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having
put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of
God" (Luke 9: 59-62).
If a man comes to see that he is actually a "square peg
in
a round
hole," then he can have God's blessing if he leaves the ministry. He
should never have been in the ministry
in
the first place. But if God has
truly called one into the ministry, then he should faithfully, diligently
carry out that calling -- without ever looking back! Remember, how Jonah