Kindly teach the flock.
You are called to shepherd and feed them.
Don't entertain them.
Stop flattering them.
Teach them sir. Please.
They don't need a coach. They need a spiritual parent. One who grooms them not merely for the purpose of a championship event or a job, but for life and eternity.
They will listen.
Don't underestimate their capability for comprehension. There is a fascinating characteristic about truth: it sets free.
So every bondage of ignorance, superficiality, or lackadaisical attitudes they've previously developed will be broken when the truth is introduced to them.
They don't need a motivational speech.
They don't need another palliative sermon. They don't need your advice.
They need doctrine.
They need truth.
They need undiluted Jesus.
They need the Word...All of it.
Like a proper regimen of an antibiotic to cure what ails and has infected their spirits and souls.
They need to understand systematic theology. Your pulpit should be a seminary. Not everyone can afford the time or money to go to one for a certificate in order to know God. And you can't leave them to secular seminaries like San Francisco where they're taught "Beyoncé and the Hebrew bible" rather than Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
They already come to you weekly...
Teach them proper theology on the character of God. Angels, Christology, Ecclesiology, the study of the church, Eschatology, the study of the end times. Teach them pneumatology, the study of the Holy Spirit, instruct them on Hamartiology, the study of sin, and then Soteriology, the study of salvation and how Jesus Christ has revolutionized all of creation by His sacrifice.
Go even a step further and teach them Israelology so their misunderstandings about the covenants between God and Israel, and Jesus and the Church are clarified, and the false doctrine of replacement theology can be dispelled along with all the new-age lies accompanying it in modern-day ecumenism.
This is your job description sir. This is the reason your wives stay home and raise the children when you travel to go "minister" the word. This is why God relieved you from your day job in some instances to carry out this vital work of the kingdom. God availed you of your 9-5, 7-7, or 11-7 gigs so you can bring people into the kingdom of God, not dance around serious issues with motivational speeches devoid of the power of the understanding of God's word.
The volume of the book is written of Jesus! That's what He told us! So please stop the unending topical oration week after week with weak eisegesis and get back to verse by verse exegesis of scripture by help of the Holy Spirit and real research.
I understand this is difficult. This would actually require significant study on your part because you couldn't teach what you didn't know. I realize this will probably weed out a large percentage of many of you currently in pulpits proclaiming opinion rather than fact. It would disqualify an innumerable number of actors in collars who have mastered the art of performing and free-styling on stage but don't know the script or Scriptwriter and couldn't enunciate the purpose of the show aside from their own bloated egos. I can sympathize with the fact that this may cost you your job and popularity, or even the semi-large congregation you've superficially accumulated if they finally sense that you yourself have been compromising the tenets of doctrine.
But this is why you are called, chosen and commissioned to stand before people of all classes, occupations, and backgrounds. If you are not accomplishing that task, you have become ineffectual and an unfaithful steward of the position afforded you by God. An offense for which you will most certainly give account to the Master and King of all the Heavens and Earth when He returns requiring fruit of your work and talents given.
Please forgive me, I do not presume to be intelligent, or superior in knowledge or commitment to God than you in any way, shape or form. I have no regard for myself as an important person as I write these words.
I am nothing.
Consider these words I speak and the message I bring simply coming from a vessel. I'm neither the originator nor the instigator. I am merely an instrument being used because of my currently unique way of expressing myself. God is simply utilizing the gift of writing He has placed in me to speak to you.
Better yet, think of me as Balaam's ass in Numbers 22:23. I'm just a smelly donkey if you will. You don't have to ask who the heck I think I am for this audacity. I don't think much of myself. I choose to offend you if need be because my at-best, base discernment, sees by His will, the mighty angel of the Lord with His sword drawn in His hand.
I simply desire NOT to be slain along with you. You, like Balaam, are aware of what the Lord's will is. But because you want emotional profit and wish to curry favor with those sheep you are called to shepherd, you wish you proceed with your own agenda. Nevertheless, a proverbial donkey like me has had her mouth opened to speak to you in a way you can understand. Hopefully to redirect your ways since your priorities have become somewhat blurred. If your anger is kindled and you happen to smite me with your staff...(your words, reprimands, or even pastoral influence) I don't mind.
Like in Numbers 22:30, I would simply say:
"...Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee?"
Am I not Tomi Favored, the same one who will gladly serve on your platforms when you call, and be a blessing to your people regardless of an honorarium? Do I not give my time, money, talents, energy and passion into serving in your congregations with as much honor as possible?
Surely, I have been serving faithfully until now and wouldn't be so foolish as to malign my leaders or disrespect the calling on your lives. I must however speak against the errors as my mouth has been opened to do:
The Bride of Christ is being prodded to wake up and prepare for her soon-coming King. You therefore, shepherds beneath the Great shepherd, are being reminded, recommissioned and reinvigorated if you so choose, to do that work for which you were initially called. First because the Lord so desires it, and then because at the Bema seat, you will be scored on how well you did what was instructed.
How well will you do sir?