Author: Paul Tripp

There is only one unlimited Person in the universe; it’s the Lord. I have limits that God, in his sovereignty, has placed on me that I will never move beyond. Trying to work beyond your limits is spiritually unhealthy and will not produce good fruit. You can’t let the pressures of expectations or the volume of work cause you to act like you don’t have limits…Every time you accept something new, you have to ask: “What will I not do in order to do this?” If you are already busy and you add something new, there is something you will not be able to do. I don’t think pastors ask that question—they just think that somehow they’ll get more time and ability.

Pastor Hu Yongjie: Most Chinese pastors are solo ministers. Isolation and loneliness is very common. We know it’s unhealthy. Do you have any suggestions as to how to break through this situation?

Paul Tripp: No pastor lives up, above, or outside of the body of Christ. Christ is the head of his body; everything else is just body. A pastor is a man in the middle of his own sanctification. He needs the ministry of the body of Christ. You have to break down that wall of separation and be self-disclosing enough that people understand you need their comfort, encouragement, and insight as much as anybody else…No pastor is a grace graduate. All the graces that God has designed to come to the body of Christ, you need as well. You have to change the culture and the way people think about you so you can receive the ministry that your soul needs.