pastor appreciation

¹⁷Obey your leaders and be subject to them. For they watch over you, as if to render an account of your souls. So then, may they do this with joy, and not with grief. Otherwise, it would not be as helpful to you.

¹⁵And I will give you pastors according to my own heart. And they will feed you with knowledge and doctrine.

¹⁷Let priests who lead well be held worthy of twice the honor, especially those who labor in the Word and in doctrine.

¹²And we ask you, brothers, to recognize those who labor among you, and who preside over you in the Lord, and who admonish you, ¹³so that you may consider them with an abundance of charity, for the sake of their work. Be at peace with them.

²that you should preach the word urgently, in season and out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke, with all patience and doctrine.

⁷Remember your leaders, who have spoken the Word of God to you, whose faith you imitate, by observing the goal of their way of life:

¹⁴So, too, has the Lord ordained that those who announce the Gospel should live by the Gospel.

³remembering your work of faith, and hardship, and charity, and enduring hope, in our Lord Jesus Christ, before God our Father.

¹⁴Then in what way will those who have not believed in him call upon him? Or in what way will those who have not heard of him believe in him? And in what way will they hear of him without preaching?

²³The steps of a man will be directed by the Lord, and he will choose his way.

¹¹And the same one granted that some would be Apostles, and some Prophets, yet truly others evangelists, and others pastors and teachers,

¹Paul and Sylvanus and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians, in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ²Grace and peace to you. We give thanks to God always for all of you, keeping the memory of you in our prayers without ceasing, ³remembering your work of faith, and hardship, and charity, and enduring hope, in our Lord Jesus Christ, before God our Father. ⁴For we know, brothers, beloved of God, of your election. ⁵For our Gospel has not been among you in word alone, but also in virtue, and in the Holy Spirit, and with a great fullness, in the same manner as you know we have acted among you for your sake. ⁶And so, you became imitators of us and of the Lord, accepting the Word in the midst of great tribulation, but with the joy of the Holy Spirit.

⁷How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger and the preacher of peace! Announcing good and preaching peace, they are saying to Zion, “Your God will reign!”

²⁴‘May the Lord bless you and keep you. ²⁵May the Lord reveal his face to you and take pity on you. ²⁶May the Lord turn his countenance toward you and grant peace to you.’