Posted by Ron Cook

Ron and his wife Rodetta have been married for 41 years. They have actively served the Lord together in ministry during the entire time and are co-founders of Care for Pastors. Ron ministers to hundreds of pastors annually through mentorship, counseling, and by phone. He has been a Pastor for 40 years and understands the stress of ministry, and wants to share his longevity in ministry with other pastors and help them finish well.

Posted by Ron Cook

Topics: For Pastors · Ministry Life

Where Success is Found (Part 2)

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Success in God’s eyes is based on faithfulness.

We are so prone to base success in ministry and life by some other skewed standard. “Okay I get it, success is being faithful, but my life has not turned out to be anything like I thought it would.”

Let me offer you some encouragement from the life of Paul:

Acts 20:22-23 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.”

“Wait a minute, I thought you were going to offer some encouragement, after faithful service this is what I have to look forward to? This is not fair.” But the truth of the matter is we were never promised life would be fair, and without hardships. Paul goes on to say in Acts 2:24 “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.”

Completion of the task given by Jesus is success in God’s eyes, nothing more and nothing less. Paul fine tunes the formula of faithfulness and success in Acts 20:28 “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.”

Those words so accurately describe the formula for success in ministry. When we faithfully implement these words we are successful in God’s eyes regardless of what the “experts” tell us.