Dwelling Place

Guest (Male): Following the spirit of God doesn't mean that everybody's happy all the time and we never have an incident. Following the spirit of God is also being obedient to what the Lord has said. The example given to us is in 1 Samuel chapter 15, where God told Saul to go and strike the enemies of Israel, and he did not do it. He did not obey the Lord, and Samuel rebuked him and said to obey is better than sacrifice.

There's some things God is calling you to do, and he's called you to do it, he's leading you by his Holy Spirit for you to do it, and you refuse to do it. You're sitting on it, you're procrastinating, but you're disobeying God; you're not following his spirit. To follow the spirit doesn't mean that God always just leads us in the love. Sometimes he leads us in the place of discipline toward other people.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to the Dwelling Place, a radio ministry for Pastor Al Pittman of Al Pittman Ministries. The purpose of this radio program is to encourage you, strengthen your walk with the Lord, and grow. To support this program financially or learn more about the ministry, visit us online at alpittmanministries.com. That's alpittmanministries.com. Thank you for partnering with us. Now, here's Pastor Al.

Al Pittman: The best choice. If you're taking notes, how can I finish in the spirit? Well, habitually make the best choice. Choosing in your life to take time, to make time to be in the Lord's presence will enable you to begin and to end in the spirit. I'm talking about prayer, time to be spent in God's presence. I know we're all busy and there's the tyranny of the urgent and all of that, but we must make time. I cannot afford to not pray. I must pray. I must seek the face of the Lord. I must spend time in his presence.

Lest we begin to rely upon our talent, our charisma, or methodology, or even our education, rather than the revelation and the illumination of the Holy Spirit in regards to Christ. If I want the revelation and illumination, the power of God manifested through my ministry, I have to spend time with God. There is no other way around this. As a disciple, it's not just for leaders in the church; it's for every believer to spend time with the Lord.

Of course, you know the story. Jesus wants us to make wise choices. In the story of Martha and Mary, Martha was upset with Mary because Mary was not helping her serve. Many of you know the story in Luke chapter 10, verses 41 to 42. The Bible says Jesus, speaking to Martha, said, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her." If you go to that scripture, underline "good part."

If you don't know the good part, if Jesus Christ is not the desire of your heart, if being in his presence is not what really gets your motor going, floats your boat, turns you on, or whatever, if that's not what's really happening for you, you're going to get in trouble. He is the good part. You know why? Because people in your churches will come and go. Too many times, we as Christians allow people to leave with our joy, to leave with the good part.

I've learned over the years that God has called us as leaders in the church to be holy mailmen or mail-women, just delivering the mail. That's what I do in my church. I just deliver the mail. "Thus saith the Lord." But he's also called us to be holy bus drivers. I had a pastor tell me this one time. He said, "I'm just the bus driver. Some people get on the bus, some people get off, but I keep driving the bus."

I love that because when you put your good part in the attendance, your good part is in that brother or that sister, your good part is people's accolades—be careful of that. People come up one Sunday and say, "Great message, Pastor Al. Oh, Pastor Al!" Then you start going, "Yeah, it's me, it's me." You do that fakey one-way and you know you want some of the credit. Then you think you're hot stuff, and the next Sunday they just walk by you and go, "See you later."

No accolades, "great try," whatever. Now you're all bummed out because your good part was in the appeasement or the praise of men, not in the Lord. I love what the Lord said: that part cannot be taken away from you. Whoever comes, whoever goes, whoever rejects you, whatever, go ahead, it doesn't matter. I'm going to obey God because that good part that he's given to me, that which really helps me and strengthens me, that power that I need to live for him, the joy of the Holy Spirit—that good part, you can't touch because I take time to be in his presence.

Get in his presence, get the good part, or you'll be looking in other places for the good part and you'll never find it. It'll always be temporary, and people will always let you down. Remember that scripture tells us in Proverbs 29:25: "The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe." Where's your trust? Is it in the senior pastor? Is it in the church board? No, it's in the Lord. He will never let you down.

Here's the second way in which I believe we can finish in the spirit, and that is to remember you don't have to fix it. I love that. You don't have to fix it. That's liberating for me. I've learned, and it's taken me a long time to figure this out, that every problem in the church and problem people in the church, I don't have to fix anybody. I just pray with them, I minister to them, but I don't have to fix you.

You ever been in a counseling session? People come in there, they've been living that way for 30 years, and now they want you, in half an hour, to fix my life. You're spitting out all the scriptures you can. I learned a long time ago: I don't have to fix you. I'm just going to send you to Jesus. It's liberating to know you don't have to fix people anymore. You don't have to fix the church. Jesus said the gates of hell will not prevail against my church. He builds the church.

It's liberating to know you don't have to fix it. Abraham and Sarah tried to fix it; they got Ishmael. David tried to fix a situation with Bathsheba; he was exposed and his child died. Joab tried to fix David's situation with Absalom, bringing him back to his father way too soon. Absalom still had a rebellious spirit and rebelled against his dad, trying to take over the kingdom. David—and this is where many of us go sometimes—tried to fix the Lord.

Tried to fix it. And what did Jesus say to him? Well, he rebuked him. He said, "Get behind me, Satan. You're an offense to me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men." Wow. I would have loved to have been a fly on a wall just to see Peter's face, just kind of bummed out. "Jesus called me Satan because he was mindful of the things of men and not the things of God."

Now, here's a question. How can I resist perfecting the ministry by the flesh when I have to deal with people who are often in the flesh? You ever wonder that? Well, let me give you the short answer. I really don't know, but here are five things I want to leave with you. That's why you've got to stay in the spirit. Because there's some of you dealing with people that are in the flesh. How do I deal with that?

How do I stop wanting to just perfect this person in the flesh by putting my hands around their neck and just choking the life out of them? Praise the Lord, now we can go on with the ministry! I want to perfect the church because I want to get rid of that person. We just want to take matters into our own hands. How do I keep from doing that, Pastor, when I'm dealing with people in the flesh?

Well, number one, you've got to walk in the spirit. You've got to remember that it's the Lord and all the other things we talked about. But here are five things I want to give to you that I've learned personally. Number one, remember the ministry is about people and not the machine of ministry. The ministry is about people and not the machine of ministry. If you cannot look at those people and love those people, then you should resign.

I've often told the story of how God told me that, spoke that to my heart when I first came up to pastor the church. I was preaching through 1 John, which is the book of love, but there was no love in my heart when I was preaching it because I was angry with people in the congregation. God spoke to my heart. He said, "If you can't love them, resign." I heard that as clear as it was. It was a strong impression on my heart: "If you can't love them, resign."

I learned to love people as you're preaching about God's love who are looking back at you like this. But I learned, because to love those who are staring back at you with disdain is to be like our Father. Jesus said to love those who love you, big whoop. But to love those who despise you, who use you, who hate you—now you're being like Daddy, your Father in heaven. So I had to learn to do that and realize that it's about people.

Now, that's one aspect. The other aspect is sometimes we get caught up in "the ministry's rocking and rolling, everything's going great, get that program going!" And we forget about the people. "So-and-so didn't show up. How come they didn't show up?" Well, their mother died, dummy. We just get so hyped up about ministry that we stop caring about people. Sometimes that guy had to walk out because he's got food poisoning or something happened. If it's all about me, I'm going to be mad at everybody who walks out when I'm preaching. "How dare you walk out when I'm preaching? I'm the voice of God!"

Get all offended and everything. Why? Because it's about you, it's not about the people. You don't know. There's times I've judged people, I'll be honest, I've judged people and thought, "How come they're not here?" "Well, Pastor Al, they're not here because the child got in a car accident and they're at the hospital." Then you feel like a real jerk. "Oh, that's why they're not here. Okay." Be careful. We're not just cutting people off at the knees. It's about people, not about the machine. Don't lose sight of that. 1 John 3:14: "We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death."

Here's the second thing I've learned, and that is make decisions apart from anxiety. Now, that's tricky. But we're to make decisions as leaders, as believers; we should make them apart from anxiety because if you're all full of anxiety, you're going to make bad decisions. A rule for me is kind of a 24-hour or 72-hour turnaround time. If there's things going on in the church, I'm convinced at that moment I need to make this decision because I just want to fire that person or something like that.

I realize that when I go back and I pray and seek God and get his heart on the matter, it totally changes. Or I come in the next day and it's like, "Wow, God, I was really off base." Sometimes use that as a guide for you: just give yourself 24 hours. Don't just jump up in anxiety and frustration and start ripping people's heads off. You're not in the spirit; you're only in the flesh. I love what Charles Stanley said. He used an acronym many of you are probably familiar with called HALT: never make a decision when you're hungry, angry, lonely, or tired. Amen. HALT: hungry, angry, lonely, or tired.

Philippians 4:6-7 says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." Don't be anxious about anything, but in everything, pray. "I don't want to pray, I just want to kill them!" But pray, with all supplications, your petitions to the Lord, with thanksgiving. "Lord, I just want to thank you for that person right now." No way! Yeah, with thanksgiving, making your requests known to God.

I've learned over the years to try not to make those decisions when you're full of anxiety because you're not in the spirit; more than likely, you're in the flesh. Then the third thing, number three: learn to forgive. Be ready to forgive. If you're going to be a senior pastor, if you're a pastor in pastoral ministry or a leader, you've got to be willing to forgive people the way you've been forgiven. If you're not, you're not going to make it.

You may stay in the ministry, but you're going to be the shell of a pastor or a shell of a minister. God will not be able to use you effectively because you have not learned to forgive like you've been forgiven. Luke chapter 17, Jesus said—and this is always curious to me because he was talking about forgiveness and he said, "It's impossible that offense will not come." Amen. How many of you go to a church where there's no offense?

"There's no offense in my church. No one ever does anything wrong." No, there's offense in every church. Jesus said it's impossible that offense will not come. It will come. When it comes, if your brother asks for forgiveness, forgive your brother. And every time he comes and asks for forgiveness, forgive him. And then the disciples say, "Well, Lord, how can we forgive? Lord, help us."

And Jesus said, "If you have the faith of a mustard seed, you can speak to that mulberry bush and have it pulled up from the root." That mulberry bush of offense that has roots down into the dirt, that's been there for years—it can be pulled up by its root and cast away from you. And then he goes on, if you read Luke 17, he says there's a servant who went out to work in the fields. And he worked hard, he was sweating, he came in all stinky and everything, and he's just hungry.

And the master of the house when he walked in said, "Go fix me something to eat, and then you can sit down and eat." Jesus said, "What should that servant's response be? His response ought to be this: 'I'm an unprofitable servant; I'm only doing what I'm supposed to do.'" What was the point? I always wondered. I never picked that up until a few years ago when I was reading that. "Lord, why would you go into this parable that doesn't mean anything, have anything to do with forgiveness?"

It has everything to do with forgiveness. Because the reality is Jesus was saying the master of the house was asking the servant to do something that he should do anyway because he's a servant. And if God asks you to forgive somebody, you ought to do it. Why? Because you're a servant. "God, I'm tired of forgiving those people! I've been laboring in the field all day long and I'm tired of those people and I'm just going to be mad." Hey, you're an unprofitable servant.

You need to do what the Master has told you to do. If he's the Master and you're the servant, then we have no right to complain but simply to obey as servants of the Most High God. We must be ready to forgive if we're going to lead people, if we're going to remain in the spirit. Here's the fourth thing to remember: remember you're jacked up also. Amen. Remember you're messed up too.

Always easy to point out the faults of other people, but remember you're messed up too. I love what it says in Ecclesiastes chapter 7, verses 21 to 22. Solomon writes, "Also, do not take to heart everything people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. For many times also, your own heart has known that even you have cursed others." It's so easy to take to heart what people say. "I can't believe they said that about me." But what have you been saying about them?

Solomon is saying you're doing the same thing. Remember, you're jacked up too. And the same grace extended to you, you need to extend to other people. You have not arrived. That keeps you in a place of humility. That keeps you from exalting yourself and thinking you're better than others. Number one, remember ministry is about people. Number two, remember to not make decisions or, rather, make decisions apart from anxiety.

Number three, be ready to forgive. Number four, remember you're messed up; you need grace too, lest you hear people gossiping about you and you think they're saying something they're not even saying. And lastly, and this is a little strong but it's so true: in order to continue in the spirit, we need to execute discipline when God has made it clear. I threw that in because of the very fact that sometimes we're asking God to lead us in the spirit and to give us a decision and guidance.

Sometimes God says that person that's on staff, it's time for them to go. Sometimes God says that person who's been working in the ministry, you've been gracious and merciful toward them, and all that's good, but because of their own stubbornness and pride, you need to ask them to step down for a while. Those are hard decisions; nobody wants to do that. But that's also a part of following the spirit of God.

Following the spirit of God doesn't mean that everybody's happy all the time and we never have an incident. Following the spirit of God is also being obedient to what the Lord has said. The example given to us is in 1 Samuel chapter 15, where God told Saul to go and strike the enemies of Israel and he did not do it, and he did not obey the Lord. Samuel rebuked him and said to obey is better than sacrifice.

There's some things God is calling you to do, and he's called you to do it, he's leading you by his Holy Spirit for you to do it, and you refuse to do it. You're sitting on it, you're procrastinating, but you're disobeying God; you're not following his spirit. To follow the spirit doesn't mean that God always just leads us in the love. Sometimes he leads us in the place of discipline toward other people.

Remember, the ministry is about people. It's about following the Lord, following his Holy Spirit. It's not always candy and nuts, as the old saying goes. If "ifs" and "buts" were candy and nuts, we'd all have a Merry Christmas—that was the saying. But sometimes God is telling you to do something that's not pleasant, but you need to walk in it. Obedience to the Lord.

Remember this: he who has begun a good work in you, he will also complete it. And the way he will complete it is by his Holy Spirit. Having begun in the spirit, my brothers and sisters in Christ, there's no other choice for us but to end in the spirit. To take heed to God's word, to not erect a new altar, but to put our trust fully in the Lord to the very end. He'll get it done no matter what you're facing.

That's what this whole conference has been about: trusting in the spirit of God, being led by the spirit of God, not by might or power but by his spirit. And God will complete what he has called you to do, but you've got to do it his way and not your own.

Guest (Male): Learn more about Pastor Al and his ministry by visiting alpittmanministries.com. Also consider supporting us financially. You can send a check to Al Pittman Ministries at PO Box 50584, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80949, or visit us online. Thank you for your prayers and your support. Your generosity keeps this radio ministry going. Lastly, we would love to hear from you. You can contact us by emailing info@alpittmanministries.com. That's info@alpittmanministries.com. We look forward to hearing from you. Again, thank you for joining us, and we'll see you next time on the Dwelling Place. God bless.

Guest (Male): Have you been wanting to hear Pastor Al teach live? Well, now's your chance. Join Pastor Al at Legacy of Faith Church in Denver, Colorado on Palm Sunday, March 29th. There, Pastor Al will be teaching a dynamic Palm Sunday message that you don't want to miss. Doors open at 9:15 AM, service begins at 10:30 AM. Head to legacyoffaithchurch.com to get directions or get more information. That's legacyoffaithchurch.com. We'll see you there.