Let's put the pastor in his place. There is a scripture in the Bible that clearly tells us what it is. Paul the apostle said, "Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth. Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy . . ." (2 Cor. 1:23-24).

Can anything be clearer than that? What is the pastor's place--or the evangelist's and Bible teacher's place? Is it to "have dominion over your faith"? To tell you what you can believe and what you cannot believe? To tell you what books you can read and what ones you cannot read? To tell you where you can go to church and where you cannot go to church? No! "Not for that we have dominion over your faith" because we don't. God has called us to be "helpers of your joy."

What a difference. What a positive, beautiful, refreshing difference! God has called pastors to open up the curtains and let the sun shine in. He has called us to tell you about His love, His mercy and His goodness. He wants us to tell you that a gold mine is waiting for you in the Person of Jesus Christ--spiritual gold that will last throughout eternity! God has called pastors to be "helpers of your joy."

And that is what I want to do with all my heart. If something is hindering your joy, something oppressing you, keeping you in the darkness; if something is holding you to the past where you are so guilty and remorseful, then I want to tell you about God's pardon and His readiness and willingness to help you right now. If you are afraid, then I want to talk to you about God's Eternal Ever Presence. If something is troubling you, something bothering your soul, your mind, your heart, then, as a pastor or an evangelist or a Bible teacher, we are called to come into your life with a sword. And that sword is the Word of God.

Not to thrust that sword through you so you will be guilty and condemned; not to beat you with it until you are weak on your knees and crying and you don't know which way to turn. No. To deliver you from the powers of darkness, from those specters of fear that haunt your life; to deliver you from guilt, trouble, turmoil and frustration. This is what we are called to do. And the weapon we have is the Word of God. That word is so powerful it can transform your life. It can set you totally free from anything that stands between you and the delivering power of God.

The Bible teaches that if you are a child of the Light you are called to "believe in the light" "while ye have light" (John 12:36). Let me tell you about the man who wrote that well-known hymn: "There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel's veins; and sinners, plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains." Now, the man who wrote that hymn certainly must be aware of his identity in Christ; he must know who he is as a child of God. It must be a firmly settled issue that his sins are forgiven. Right? Wrong! That man died in a mental hospital, absolutely positive that he was damned to hell! His name was William Cowper. He had the Light but he didn't believe in it. He was so introspective, so oppressed by his own nature, that he didn't dare believe in the Light.

Now God has made you some promises about peace and pardon. He has made you some promises about His Presence in your life. If you will dare to pick up your Bible and receive those promises as God's word to you, they can transform you and make you a different person. But if you have to receive God's word and all your communication from God filtered through another person, you will never understand how to take one of God's promises and clutch it to your own life. You will never see it come to pass, because you will never be sure enough of your identity to believe that it is God's word actually directed to you.

You can be like William Cowper. You can have the Light but not believe in it; you can have the promise but not stand on it; you can understand the words but have none of the music. Or . . . you can let no man stand between you and God; you can refuse to be oppressed by introspection; you can turn around, come out of that shell and go toward God. You can trust Him and actually believe that what He said, He said to you.

When He said, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Mat. 11:28), believe that He was talking to you. When He said, ". . . him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37), believe that He was saying that to you. The Bible says, "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1); and ". . . the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). Believe that those verses are directed to you.

I used to read about a man in the funny papers who walked around with a cloud over his head and bad things happened everywhere he went. Do you ever feel like that? I have. Think about this: God's Presence is with you to help your joy, to take away the cloud that is over your life. He can come and blow away that cloud and give you joy; He can put a smile on your face.

Did you know the Bible teaches that "a merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones" (Prov. 17:22)? Spiritually speaking, what happens when your bones are dried up? You can't stand erect; you can't face the burdens of the day; you can't carry any loads; you can't even walk right. God wants you to "be of good cheer," and He doesn't want you to have dried bones. He wants you to have--believe it or not--what the Bible calls fat bones. The Bible says, "The Lord shall . . . make fat thy bones" (Isa. 58:11). That just speaks of inner strength, of having backbone; and all that inner strength and backbone--that joy I am talking about--comes when you have a wonderful, conscious awareness of God's Presence in your life. When you know that He is with you everywhere you go, and you know He is in your mind and your heart. He is beside you: "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world" (Mat. 28:20).

God actually wants you joyful! God wants the Bible and those who preach the Bible to come into your life as "helpers of your joy." And that is the pastor's place.