God has richly blessed me in my life with so many friends, classmates, professors, pastors, and family members who are like-minded. And for that I am very grateful. I meet every other week with a couple of other pastors in the area and this is one event in my busy schedule that I treasure greatly.How true it is that God gives us like-minded soldiers who are also fighting this spiritual battle for the glory of Christ to be revealed to our world. God encourages me through these two men and the conversations we have (at Starbucks!), the prayer times in which we engage, and the struggles that we share. God is good and I praise Him for fellowship.
Some of the ways that I treasure this accountability and encouragement time with the men are as follows:
1. Pray for them regularly. I do pray for these men and I pray specifically for the requests that they voice when we meet together.
2. Long for the meeting. I find encouragement to keep pressing on through some of the hardships and struggles of ministry when I know that I will meet with my like-minded brothers in a week or so.
3. Hope in the battle. God grants me stamina as I recognize that there are other men fighting in this spiritual battle. There are other men—godly men!—who also have struggles in the ministry—from those outside and those within! I praise the Lord that together we endeavor to see the gospel of Christ go forth in LA that will glorify Christ. We all earnestly long to be used by God as humble, broken vessels for His ultimate glory and for His sovereign purposes to be carried out.
4. Sharpening of my theology. Yesterday we had a lengthy conversation about God's election to salvation and God's election to damnation (=double predestination). Is God glorified just as much in the eternal damnation of sinners as much as He is in the eternal salvation of sinners? Does God sovereignly choose individuals to go to eternal hell as He does to go to eternal heaven? Questions like these are good to ponder and I praise the LORD for biblically sound men who have a God-centered view of theology and a God-centered view of life to sharpen me in my theology.
1 Thessalonians 1:2-4 — 2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; 3 constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father, 4 knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you;
