[b]Pastoral Ministry: Sheep Are Led[/b]
[i]by A.W. Tozer[/i]

Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our
Maker. For he is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and
the sheep of His hand.
--Psalm 95:6-7

Cattle are driven; sheep are led; and our Lord compares His people to
sheep, not to cattle.

It is especially important that Christian ministers know the law of
the leader--that he can lead others only as far as he himself has
gone....

The minister must experience what he would teach or he will find
himself in the impossible position of trying to drive sheep. For
this reason he should seek to cultivate his own heart before he
attempts to preach to the hearts of others....

If he tries to bring them into a heart knowledge of truth which he
has not actually experienced he will surely fail. In his frustration
he may attempt to drive them; and scarcely anything is so
disheartening as the sight of a vexed and confused shepherd using
the lash on his bewildered flock in a vain attempt to persuade them
to go on beyond the point to which he himself has attained....

The law of the leader tells us who are preachers that it is better
to cultivate our souls than our voices. It is better to polish our
hearts than our pulpit manners, though if the first has been done
well and successfully it may be profitable for us to do the second.
We cannot take our people beyond where we ourselves have been, and
it thus becomes vitally important that we be men of God in the last
and highest sense of that term. The Price of Neglect, 151-153.

"Lord, today let me stop, step off the busy treadmill, and look to
the condition of my soul. Help me to listen to You and be
spiritually nurtured, to have my soul cultivated by You in silence
and solitude. Amen."

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SI Moderator - Greg Gordon