My commute to small group took almost an hour. While I sat in rush-hour traffic amid honking horns and angry drivers, I wanted to redeem the time. So I listened to sermons I found online or in apps. It was an edifying and wonderful privilege to experience the diverse gifts God has given to his servants in the broader church. How did I choose what to listen to? I’d scroll through each preacher’s sermon lists to find something I felt was relevant to my life that week or season. While there’s nothing wrong with picking out and listening to online sermons in this way, it’s odd that I was searching for specific and meaningful insight from pastors who weren’t involved in my life at all. After all, there was a better answer to my need: the pastors at my local church. A pastor who knows you well will preach sermons crafted specifically for his congregation. He’ll also care for your soul throughout the week. For this reason, local flocks should esteem their local pastors, and when you’re seeking to be fed spiritually, you should make receiving spiritual nourishment from your local shepherds’ hands your first priority. Bringing the Word to You What makes a sermon? A good sermon exposits God’s Word (2 Tim. 4:2) and seeks to proclaim Christ and his gospel to his people (1 Cor. 9:16; Col. 1:28). Yet preaching isn’t a generic task. Preachers must also apply God’s Word to their congregants’ lives. In my Presbyterian tradition, our Directory for Public Worship states that in preaching, ministers should “wisely make choice of such uses as, by his residence and conversing with his flock, he findeth most needful and seasonable; and, amongst these, such as may most draw their souls to Christ, the fountain of light, holiness, and comfort.” In other words, learning to apply Scripture to congregants’ lives and circumstances is one of the great privileges of preaching. Local flocks should esteem their local pastors, and when we’re seeking to be fed spiritually, we should make sitting under our local shepherds’ hands our first priority. Personal application, exhortation, and comfort in Christ best come from a preacher who knows and loves you—one who knows the sorrows of your heart, your losses, and your joys. Pastors sit with their congregants amid the grief of miscarriage, losing a job, relational conflict, anxiety, or depression, and in all these, they draw their flock’s eyes back to our perfect Savior. Your local pastors are in a unique position to think about how to speak into your situation and then to comfort you each week from the Word. Of course, God can use online sermon resources to encourage and grow your faith, but that’s not how God has ordained to administer to you the means of grace. Scripture exhorts us to love and respect our pastors because they feed us through their preaching and ministry (1 Thess. 5:12–13). Shepherd Who Knows Esteeming your pastor may seem odd. In a culture of celebrity pastors, it may even seem harmful to give affection and honor to a minister. Certainly, Christians are forbidden from identifying themselves as followers of particular pastors rather than of Christ (1 Cor. 3:3–9). Yet God’s Word guides believers to show appropriate respect for their ministers. Pastors shouldn’t be put on a pedestal, but they should have a healthy influence on their congregants’ lives in several key ways. One clear exhortation given to pastors and elders is to shepherd the flock God has given to them (1 Pet. 5:1–4). Like a shepherd with his sheep, a pastor must know his flock intimately to care for it well. In one scene from Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd, a herd of sheep break into a clover field, eat the harmful plants, and get bloated with gas. To save the sheep, the shepherd, Gabriel Oak, has to pierce each sheep in a precise place to relieve the gas but not harm its major organs. Because of Oak’s familiarity with his sheep (and his precision), he’s able to save his flock. Similarly, a minister must be familiar with his flock and precise in his treatments. He must know his people’s sin struggles, doubts, griefs, and hardships to precisely and effectively apply the gospel to their lives. If you have such a shepherd in your life, pray he’ll have wisdom to apply God’s Word well. Example Who Exercises Oversight In tandem with preaching and applying God’s Word as a shepherd, ministers are called to be examples of piety for their people. The author of Hebrews states, “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith” (13:7). To follow this instruction, Christians must be part of a local church where they can observe their pastors and elders (Titus 2:7; 1 Pet. 5:3). We may remember key lines from a favorite preacher, but if we’ve never met him, we aren’t able to imitate his life and observe him as an example of godliness in the way we can with a pastor who is nearby. A minister must know his people’s sin struggles, doubts, griefs, and hardships to precisely and effectively apply the gospel to their lives. Hebrews says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you” (v. 17). This command is tied to a wonderful arrangement: As we entrust ourselves to our leaders, they exercise a careful watch over our souls, and God holds them accountable for doing so. This high accountability and oversight requires a closeness that can only come from being a member of a local church with a pastor who can serve and love you personally. Imperfect Signpost As important as your pastor is for accountability, support, and shepherding, no pastor is perfect in a fallen world. Some weeks, your pastor’s sermons will be flat. Your shepherd’s counsel will sometimes come without precision, and his capacity to shepherd you well may fluctuate based on his human limitations. So while it’s important to esteem and prioritize your pastor, you must also remember he’s an undershepherd. Look from your local pastor to the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, and esteem and love him with all your heart. This Shepherd who died to save his people will never let his sheep down. He’ll always care for them (John 10:7–11). If you have a pastor who points you to the chief Shepherd through his preaching of the Word, in his counsel, and in conversation, thank him and encourage him in his labors. It will make his work a joy.