In this audio message, Mala Chindongo discusses what our priorities are in our life. If it was your birthday, what would be your wish? He explains that as a pastor, it can be easy to get caught up in how big your congregation is and lose sight of the Gospel. He encourages his fellow pastors to keep Scripture central.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NKJV) - "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."

Thank you. I have a number of things I wanted to talk about as sort of to introduce a little message that I have. But, I'm just going to cut some of those things. I grew up in a family where some of the things probably that are obvious here, for example, a birthday, We're just never a big deal. And so talking about moms, on my birthday, I'll phone my mom and we'll start talking 10, 15 minutes.

I'm thinking she'll probably say, have a birthday son or something. I will talk and talk until the end, and I say, aren't you forgetting something? And my mom will be, hmm, I think that'll be all. And... And...

And... And... And... And... I'll say a second April today and she'll be, oh, happy birthday my son.

And that will be the end. Just birthdays were just never a big deal. Never celebrated birthdays. And part of our culture is that birthdays are actually a new thing. And so when we hear people celebrating birthdays, and people making birthdays a big deal and we even have a few people in our church that probably get a little bit offended if I don't mention their birthday on this typical Sunday and I addressed it recently I said please just forget it I will not talk about your birthday on a Sunday, you know.

And also just getting married to my wife Rachel, she grew up in a family where she grew up, she's from South Africa, and she grew up in a family where birthdays were a big deal, and so I make sure I don't miss and forget her birthday. By just learning some of these things, and when it's our daughter's birthday, and there will be things being done and we sit there and we sing and we do cakes and sometimes even say hey make a wish and she would make a wish. But sometimes as I've been thinking about all these things that we wish to have in our lives, I thought I would start by asking you what's your wish? Even as a pastor, what do you wish for in life? Just something for you, for us to think about.

What is our wish? What do we wish for? If it was your birthday today, we put a cake in front of you and we put those little candles and we asked you what's your wish? What would you say? Just think about it for a moment.

God has entrusted us with people and these are precious souls. These are people created in his own image. He's given them to us to shepherd, to look after them, to care for them, to guide them, to preach to them, to befriend them, and to fellowship with them. And even as you look at your congregations, what is your wish? Where we are ministering in Blanta in Malawi, and this is typical if you're in an African church, you probably every week will get a message or you'll meet a friend or a cousin, an uncle, an auntie, the questions they'll be asking you as a pastor is always, is the church growing?

And the reason why they ask is because there is sort of glory in having a big church. And most pastors are under pressure to take away the things that causes churches not to grow that fast. One of those things you take away is to take away Christ. Because Christ doesn't make churches to grow very fast. Other things do.

And I don't know whether what kind of temptations here but as I've been listening to a lot of conference messages coming out of the West. I can also see that there are maybe not similar temptations like ours that are causing pastors to take away Christ from their messages. Even within the reformed circles where we talk about being Christ-centered. And I've noticed that it's actually possible to be Christ-centered and not preach Christ. To talk about what I mean is to talk about Christ so much and being Christ-centered so much, but not preach Christ at all.

To be gospel-centered and the language to really sound so using terminologies like gospel-centered but don't preach the gospel at all. And I sit and I say okay so we attempted here to take away Christ because we want to see our churches grow big and we want to we made money is also one of the motivations is that people take away Christ from their preaching because they want to bring in more people means more money. And so we take away Christ and that's our temptation over there and I don't know what temptations are you're having here but I can hear messages and within the reformed circles even here in the States from good gospel where we've said we are gospel centered or we are Christ centered or we are but Christ is not being proclaimed And the gospel you listen to the messages especially I don't know most of the some of the preaching going on in many churches here but at least the conference messages that are broadcasted, I hear some of them and there is zero gospel. So I don't know what are the temptations here, but as pastors I want us to just encourage us that we need to have genuine wishes, things that a minister of Christ should wish for.

And I believe that the removal of Christ in our messages or the gospel in our messages is because maybe we have stopped loving him. When I'm in Africa and I see pastors stop preaching Christ because they want to grow churches is because the pastor has stopped loving Christ. It's really what makes us to give in to the pressure and stop preaching Christ because we have stopped preaching Christ. When we are loving Christ and we are growing in him, we are saving him out of love, even when the pressure comes, we will not deny him. We will stand, as Pastor Jeff was saying, we will stand and continue to preach Christ even in the midst of pressure even if the church is not growing in numbers as people might want to see it we will stand and continue to preach him and as I as I listen to conference messages some I'm not saying all of them some of them that I've been able to hear, that I've been saying they're Christ-centered and gospel-centered, when when they take away Christ from their sermons, my suspicion is that maybe they also have stopped loving him.

That's why they would give in to the pressure. But what should be our wish? Turn with me to Philippians chapter three. What do we wish for? What is our hope?

Philippians chapter three. And these are things that I have sort of wrestled with to even say here because I'm thinking you know you have to be, if you're going to say that you know pastors are slowly you know taking away Christ from their messages you have to really be careful and have evidence for it. But I would encourage you just listen to some of the recent conference messages in certain circles, you'll be amazed, you'll be amazed. Finally, brethren, rejoice in the Lord, for to me to write the same things to you is not tedious but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil wagers, beware of the mutilation for we are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.

Though I also might have confidence in the flesh, if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so. Circumcised the eighth day of the stork of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews concerning the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law blameless. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted laws for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things laws for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ the righteousness which is from God by faith. That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering, being conformed to his death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I've already attained or already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me." I want to just bring before you four wishes. What should ask pastors and everyone of us in here, what should we be wishing for? Paul says in verse 8, yet I count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish. Listen to his wish. That I may gain Christ.

That I may gain him. And this is not just a wish in terms of just wishful thinking, this is a hope that he has. Boy is speaking at this point as a believer, as an apostle, as a seasoned apostle. But he says that I may gain Christ. He's talking about his fullness.

Growing in Christ, growing in his love and his knowledge that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having my own righteousness. I appreciate it. I appreciate to hear him say those words. Not having my own righteousness, not preaching, not a big church, I don't know what other temptations are there, not a lot of money, not all the things that we fear, not even the things that people, things that causes people to praise us. He says not having my own righteousness, nothing I've done, Not even from the law.

And he says, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, the alien righteousness. Listen to his second wish. In verse 10 he says, that I may know him. At this point he would say, Paul, you know Jesus. He would say, yes, I know him.

But he would add and say, that I may know him, that I may continue to grow in Christ. Their knowledge I have is not enough. I want to continue growing in knowledge. Is this our wish? Is this what we wish for?

Since that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being confirmed to his death, I mean at this point, Fupo is in Philippi, he suffered already a lot of things. He's writing to them, he's been through a lot already. He says I want to know him. I want to know the power of his resurrection. Oh you've experienced the power of his resurrection as he has given you life as a believer.

What else is there to know? Paul understood that there was more to know. And then he says the fellowship of his sufferings. Apart from our Lord Jesus Christ, who else is qualified enough to talk about suffering than the Apostle Paul? I say it's my wish is that I would know Christ, the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death.

His third wish in verse 11 says if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. If we place a birthday cake in front of the apostle Paul and says, what's your wish? Paul would say that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Paul, you are a believer, you believe in election and predestination and you believe in all these things that you have been saved and once saved, always saved. You know you're going to heaven, you've been faithful in saving your God.

Paul says, I'm laboring. Paul says, I'm doing everything by the grace of God to ensure that I may attain. I want to be there, not as an enemy of God, but a friend of God. Our desire to grow in our service, in our love, in our knowledge for Christ, must be a growing desire. Our experience must be a growing experience.

Our fight against temptations and things that choke that passion, that desire, that journey we have in Christ, all of that must be a growing fight against those things. Here's his last wish. In verse 12 he says, not that I've already attained or I'm already perfected but I press on. I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Oh you admit that Jesus has also laid hold of you already, he's died already.

Why are you wasting your energy? Why are you wasting your time? Paul says no, I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Paul understood that the gospel had done something for him and in his life the gospel had changed him and transformed him and that Christ has secured him perfectly in his hands. Paul says I pray so and I don't believe Paul here is talking about just saving, he's talking about growing in grace.

This is more personal for him. This is not Paul saying I want to continue preaching and preach more and more. That's not what Paul is focusing on. Paul is talking about his own love for Christ. This is what the apostle wishes for.

As a pastor, What is your wish? We give you a piece of paper with the title, The Pastors Wish List, and put some numbers there. Well, what would you, what would you write? What would you say is your wish? Like Frank said, some of you are not pastors.

Maybe you desire to be a pastor someday. Maybe you will never be pastors. But if we put your name, say, John's Wish List, put some numbers for you to fill. What would you write? What would you write down?

It's good to think about, you know, Paul says, I wish, my wish that I may gain Christ, that I may know him, that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. This is Paul's wish list. What is the pastor's wish list? What is your wish list? You're not a pastor.

As a young man, what's, what's your wish list in life? Let's pray. Father, I pray that you would save our hearts from worldliness, oh Lord. That we may not shipwreck, oh God, the faith of your people because we desire to save our pride. Pray you would save us from a wish list that looks like it's been written in hell.

Help us oh Lord. Pray for my brothers here oh God that among the many pressures that they have, oh God, that may cause them, oh Lord, to turn down on Christ. Lord, you would sustain them, you would uphold them, You would strengthen them, you would keep their eyes fixed on Christ. And I pray that you would have mercy upon us up there in Africa, oh God, that we may not sell the gospel, that we may not give in, oh God, to plant churches just for a show. Pray you'd help us to remain faithful to Christ.

Pray for my brothers who are here who are not in ministry, maybe others desire to be in ministry, I pray that Lord you may bless them to desire holy things, to desire that which pleases you, O God. Above all this, O God, I pray that their desire will be Christ and Christ alone. Give us grace, O Lord. We pray all these in Jesus' name. Amen.