Pastors! the Time Has Come: Let’s Take It!

By Pastor Leonard Roy Harris

We Are At War!
Satan declared war against the kingdom of God long ago. As we approach
the end-times of the last days he is stepping up these attacts. He is attacking
God's pastors, his sheep and the proclamation of the gospel. The author
challenges every pastor to look within their heart where Jesus lives as the
living word of God. He challenges them to build an intimate relationship
with him as he reveals himself in the bible the written word of God and in
their personal lives. Here are some additional challenges from the book:
We must fully cooperate with Jesus as he breaks us of our own will, ego and pride.
We must cooperate with Jesus as he works his love and power in us and through us
to care for, teach ,train and lead his sheep into the end-time gospel harvest.
We must spend much time in prayer, worship and fellowship with Jesus the living
word of God in the bible the written word of God. It is there where Jesus speaks
to us, builds our faith and gives us our daily instructions. Jesus is alive in us! He
wants to do his shepherding, training and warfare work through us!
Jesus is recruiting us as generals in his end-time army. The time has come to
transition out of a spiritual civilian lifestyle into the lifestyle of a spiritual soldier
We must recruit faithful and reliable men that we can help Jesus disciple and lead
into the great end-time harvest of souls with him.The time is short! The time is
now! Let's choose to take it with Jesus! 

 

 

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 28, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477122044

Pastor Leonard Roy Harris

The author has been a local church pastor for 39 years serving at the Grove Heights Baptist Church in Chicago, Illinois. He has also been a part-time correctional chaplain for 25 years serving at the nation’s largest community correctional center for federal prisoners operated by the Salvation Army in Chicago .He also served on a village gospel ministry team in Benin West Africa for 11 years. By God's grace he is still serving in these three ministries. Prior to this the author was a Juvenile Court probation officer for 5 years where the Lord led in the development of a gospel-discipleship and mentoring ministry to juvenile delinquents. He also served as director of a mission in the Cabrini Green Housing Projects for 5 years. As a youth he served with a youth ministry as a chaplain for 7 years and later as their adult camp speaker for 34 years. During those years many young people believed in and received Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Book preview

Copyright © 2012 by Pastor Leonard Roy Harris.

ISBN:          Softcover                                 978-1-4771-2203-7

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4771-2204-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

All scripture quotations are from the New International Version of the Bible.

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Contents

Self Off! Jesus On! Armor On!

The Power Of Pastoral Prayer

The Pastoral Prayers Of Paul

Jesus Is Speaking To You!

My Prayer For All Of Us As His Pastor-Helpers

We Must Be Broken And Dependent On God

Jesus Wants To Give Us His Deep Burden For The Lost!

Wanted! Pastors Empowered By The Holy Spirit

Jesus Reveals Himself To You!

The Compelling Love Of Christ!

The Precious Blood Of Jesus!

Am I A Servant Of The Gospel?

Having A Mind To Suffer Joyfully With Jesus!

Jesus Wants To Send You And His Sheep Into His Harvest

We Are Servants, Not Lords!

Pastors, We Are Generals In God’s Army!

I Choose To Join!

Let’s Not Fall Into Satan’s Trap

My Calling As God’s Man, As God’s Pastor-Helper, As God’s Discipleship-Helper, As A Soldier Of Jesus Christ

God’s Charge To Me

I Will Count The Costs And Make A Choice

An Alert To Us A Christ’s Pastors

A Final Word

A Snapshot And A Standard

His Evaluation Of You

Fellow Pastor… Please!

The Next Step

For those Pastors who want to be used by God in these last days for the glory of the Father.

This is a testimony of encouragement and challenge for you. I believe the Lord wants to set a spark, and blow it into a flame that will burn within us as his pastors. A fire set by God to let Jesus work his will in and through us. He makes winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants. Psalms 104:4

This testimony is written for the busy pastor who is on the go and may not have time to read many books. Hopefully you will catch the vision of this booklet quickly and move out with a new challenge, zeal and passion for the Lord, the saints and the lost.

This is a testimony borne out of years of pastoring and I hope it will be an encouragement to you. The lessons I have learned have been through on-the-job training with Jesus and believe me, I am still learning and growing. I learned a lot and am still learning through mistakes, blunders and the correction of Jesus.

I have been your fellow pastor for 36 years serving at the Grove Heights Baptist Church in Chicago, Illinois as senior pastor. I have also been a part-time correctional chaplain for 22 years at the nation’s largest community correctional center for federal prisoners operated by the Salvation Army in Chicago. I have also served as a village ministry team leader in Benin West Africa for 9 years. By God’s grace I am still serving him in these three ministries.

Prior to this I was a Juvenile Court probation officer for 5 years and also served as the director of a mission in the Cabrini Green Housing Projects for 5 years. As a youth I served with a youth ministry as chaplain for 7 years and as their summer camp adult speaker for 34 years.

Beginning as a teenager I was a door to door evangelist for 12 years and developed and led teams in gospel ministry in the housing projects and other neighborhoods of Chicago. I still do door to door as a pastor.

I am a biblical counselor and Christian writer of short booklets that can be quickly read. All of this has been by the grace of God. I mention this to explain where I am coming from with this testimony.

I have been married for 43 years and my wife and I have four daughters, five granddaughters, three grandsons and three son-in-laws

PREFACE

From My Heart

Jesus has placed us strategically in these end-times as his pastors. As our Commander-in-Chief he wants to raise us up as part of his end-time army to take this time for the Father. Do you recognize his end-time call on your life and ministry?

He is pulling us away from denominational, racial, sexual, cultural, economic and geographical differences to forge an army that is standing firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel Philippians 1:27b.

Jesus is examining our hearts and minds and lifestyle and pastoral ministry right now to see if we are conducting ourselves in a manner worthy of his gospel. If so we can be sure that though he is physically absent from us he is in us, with us, and through us spiritually and along with others forging his gospel army to advance his kingdom in the hearts of mankind Philippians 1:27a.

Jesus our Commander-in-Chief has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. In that authority he commands us to go and make disciples of all nations by preaching his gospel to them, baptizing them and teaching them to obey every command he has given by his grace. Jesus has promised to be with us in this great mission until the end of the age. We may be in those end times right now Matthew 28:18-20.

I know that the phrase building an army elicits images of attack, resistance, hatred, battle, violence, weapons, torture and death. However, God wages war differently than the world. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

God’s warfare is one of love for him and the sinner. We battle Satan for the souls of mankind in the righteousness, holiness, character, integrity, love and the awesome power, might and authority of Jesus Christ! Through us Jesus preaches a message that brings liberation from self, sin Satan and society.

I hope that this book will be an encouragement to you. I hope that Jesus will use it in your life to sharpen his ministry in and through you. I hope that you and the local church where you pastor will be used by Jesus in these last days in the fulfillment of the great commission with a great commandment heart. I hope that as you help Jesus pastor his sheep that as his disciples they will reach the lost who when saved will reach the lost who in turn reach the lost until the world has heard the gospel and Jesus can return!

Please Read the Scripture Verses!

It is very important that you read each scripture verse quoted in this testimony. This gives Jesus a chance to confirm and minister the truths presented here. I know that you are familiar with the scriptures but I am bringing out insights from a perspective that may be different from your current views.

Thanks,

Pastor Leonard Roy Harris

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I thank Jesus our Chief Shepherd who has chosen to work this testimony in my life and to share it with all of you.

I thank God for my precious wife Darlene who has been a valuable gift from God as a helper, counselor, and life companion. Her love, patience and support have made it possible for me to continue through the many rigors of marriage, family and pastoral life.

I thank God for our wonderful children and grandchildren as we watch him guide and shape their lives into his image. I thank God for their husbands and the fathers of our grandchildren who have been there for them and who all know the Lord.

My parents remain as an example to me of godly leadership and lifestyle. Their love, faith, support and success continues to encourage me in my faith walk. My father’s example and my mother’s prayers were used by God to bring me where I am today.

My sister who is also a Christian writer and servant of Christ is a source of encouragement and inspiration as she seeks to impact the world for Christ in all that she does. My brother and I have sharpened each other over the years to become the men God wants us to be. I also want to thank my late brother Charles who was a good big brother to me.

I want to thank the Grove Heights Baptist church family where I have served for 36 years. I thank them for their love, support and care. They have made it possible for me to pastor with joy. They have also been used to build my faith as Jesus has led us through hard times, struggles and challenges.

I want to thank the late pastor Hezekiah Brady Jr. who is my spiritual father and was also a Christian writer. Not only did he lead me to the Lord Jesus Christ but he set an example of faith in Jesus that has carried me through many storms.

I thank the Lord for my brothers and sisters in Nigeria and Benin West Africa. What a joy it has been to fellowship and serve the Lord together in gospel ministry!

Finally, I want to thank the Lord for the staff of the Salvation Army Correctional Center in Chicago. We have been like a family to one another. I want to thank all of the dear ex-offenders who have come to Jesus, continued in Jesus and gone on to serve him. I thank them for the rich fellowship we have shared with Jesus every Tuesday and Thursday evening. I thank the volunteers who have served the Lord with me in the gospel ministry at the Center as well.

SELF OFF! JESUS ON! ARMOR ON!

(Let’s Hit the Ground and Fight the Fight!)

Fellow pastor, I want to get right to the point as we start because the time is short. As you know we are in a tremendous spiritual warfare. As pastors we are on the frontlines. I know that you have experienced attacks and resistance from within and without the church and even within your own heart. For that reason let me say that we must be clothed in the life of Christ before we can be in this warfare. In ourselves we are no match for the onslaughts of Satan, but take courage; we can do all things even pastoring through Christ who gives us his strength Philippians 4:13. Jesus is our clothing for living and our armor for warfare. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. Galatians 4:27

We were clothed with Christ when we received him. It was at that time we were baptized into him by the Spirit of which water baptism is an outward sign. It is our choice now to put on the clothing of Jesus or the clothing of our flesh. Both are available.

Fellow pastor, "Let is put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave