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The Pastor's Piety

Pastors, "Be Holy." This is the cry that is blasting forth from the seminars here at the Shepherd's Conference @ Grace Community Church.

I just attended a seminar by Rick Holland (who is the man to the right in this photo) who did a seminar on "The Peril of Becoming Too Familiar With God." Sound like an oxymoron? Trust me, It can happen. In fact, trust the Biblical account:

Leviticus 10:1-3 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. 2 And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. 3 Then Moses said to Aaron, "It is what the LORD spoke, saying, 'By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.'" So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.

It is here in this account that Nadab and Abihu - on their inauguration in the priesthood offer strange fire before the Lord. Why? They were complacent. They were comfortable. They thought they could do what they wanted and still honor God. They introduced their own ideas and methodologies into their worship and spiritual leadership. God does NOT allow for this.

What do we as Pastors need to understand more than anything? Rick said:

"The priests’ personal holiness is to be the necessary application of his understanding of the holiness of God. "
and again...

"The big question is: it can be very dangerous to be around the things of God for a LONG PERIOD OF TIME (saturated w/ truth) can lead to a familiarity that is very unhealthy.”
Pastors, remember this:

"My God will be my people’s God;
The God I represent, will be the God they reverence;
The God that I may treat trivially will be the God they also treat trivially.
May we be those preachers that are so overcome and so overwhelmed by the holiness, awesomeness, terrifying judgment that is ready to be poured out on all the ungodly that we first live lives of holiness before an omniscient God, and secondly, that we preach the holiness of God which in turn was manifested with Christ on the cross. May we always preach the cross.
Pastor, "Be Holy."

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