Preach The Word!

[Marnie]

What a great message! I would say we need more men behind the pulpit who preach the Word...Here is the whole article, and below are few excerpts.

2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 2, a familiar verse but it is the verse for this occasion. And it is really the motto of this occasion..."Preach the Word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction."

That brief verse defines biblical ministry in one central command...Preach the Word. Along with that you could add 1 Timothy 3 where pastors and overseers and elders are to be didaktikos in the Greek, skilled in teaching and preaching. We are to preach the Word skillfully. That is our calling. And this verse is definitive as few others of that calling because it speaks so concisely and precisely...Preach the Word.

Now you will notice that the Apostle Paul adds the time and the tone here. The time, "in season and out of season." We could debate what that means but if I can lead you to a very simple conclusion, whatever he may have had in mind specifically about in season and out of season it is only possible to be in season or out of season, therefore it means all the time. Preach the Word all the time. There is no time when we change that commission, no time when that method of ministry is set aside for something else. Preaching the Word is to be done all the time.

The tone is given also in the verse, there is a negative aspect of reproving and rebuking, and that is we take the truth of the Word of God and we confront error and sin. And then there is the positive side, we take the truth of God and we exhort with great patience and we instruct.

The great enemy of the Word of God is anything outside the Word of God... the word of Satan, the word of demons, the word of man. And we are living in very dangerous seasons concocted by seducing spirits and hypocritical liars propagated by false teachers. And here's what makes them successful... look at verses 3 and 4. "The time will come, and it does, it cycles through all of church history, when they will not endure sound doctrine." People don't want to hear sound doctrine. "Sound" means healthy, whole, wholesome. They don't want wholesome teaching. They don't want the sound, solid Word. They just want to have their ears tickled. That's all they want. They're driven by the sensual, not the cognitive. They're not interested in truth. They're not interested in theology. All they want is ear-tickling sensations. That's what they want. They refuse to hear the great truth that saves and the great truth that sanctifies. And according to chapter 2 verse 16, they would rather hear worldly empty chatter that produces ungodliness and spreads like gangrene.

And, you know, you look at the evangelical church and you can see a perfect illustration of how the church has fallen victim to this. Christians all over the place are all whipped up to fight abortion and they're all exercised to fight homosexuality and the influence of homosexuals in places of influence and power. And we want to fight the Lesbian trends and we want to fight for religious freedoms in America and we want to preserve prayer in the schools and we want to fight against euthanasia and that all has a place. But I want to tell you something, and you need to understand this... the worst form of wickedness in existence consists of the perversion of God's truth. That is the worst form of wickedness. And the church today is utterly indifferent to that. It doesn't care about that. It treats that with indifference as if it was harmless, as if a right interpretation of Scripture somehow was unnecessary if not intrusive into an otherwise superficial tranquility. Here we are fighting all of this peripheral stuff and given away everything at the heart that defines our whole faith. This is suicide.

There's not going to be any church to fight anything, if we don't preserve the truth.

The ability to distinguish between false and truth is absolutely critical. You can't speak truth, you can guard truth if you can't understand truth. We raised up a seminary in order to train men who can do that. And you know what's wonderful? They go everywhere, twenty-three countries of the world, all these various cultures, and you know what? They don't have to figure out what is culturally relevant; they just go in there with the Word of God, sort through the issues and bring the Word of God to bear upon that society. And you know what? Whatever language you speak and wherever you live, your heart before God is in the same needy condition and the truth of God transcends all cultures.

But we live in a time when people want to depreciate sound doctrine. We want a sort of a... well, we want to be more loving. Let me tell you something, we were talking about this down at the Ligonier Conference, R.C. Sproul and I were talking about this a little bit and the idea that I don't want to tell you the truth, I don't want to call error, error, I don't want to confront your sin or your error because I love you is just not true. It's not because I love you. If I love you I would seek your best and highest good, wouldn't I? And that's completely connected to your understanding of and obedience to divine truth. So if I don't... if I say... Well, I want this superficial tranquility... I don't think it's loving to do that. Truth is, you don't love them, you love yourself, that's the issue, and what you really do is love yourself so much you don't want them not to like you.

Self-love, that's sin. You're afraid if you confront something they won't like you so you'd rather love yourself and have them like you than to love them enough to confront their error, show them the truth which can lead them to the blessing and well-being that produces God's greatest good in their lives. Loss of truth, loss of conviction, loss of discernment, loss of holiness, loss of divine power, loss of blessing... all they want is to get their ears tickled. Tell me a little about success. Tell me a little about prosperity. Give me some excitement. Elevate my feelings of well-being, self-esteem, and give me a bunch of emotional thrills.

And you know what? When they want that, it says in verse 3, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires. The market creates the demand.

[Marnie]

This pastor has misinterpreted so much.

R-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ght. And your theolgical training is from......

[gypc]

Marnie.............Pastor John is right on.

They don't have to figure out what is culturally relevant; they just go in there with the Word of God, sort through the issues and bring the Word of God to bear upon that society. And you know what? Whatever language you speak and wherever you live, your heart before God is in the same needy condition and the truth of God transcends all cultures.

Once we try to teach based on culture, we'll have to give up some truth not to offend. This is so sad. Paul wasn't worried about offending when he gives the account of rebuking Peter in front of the whole church. Peter repented and went on.

Christians all over the place are all whipped up to fight abortion and they're all exercised to fight homosexuality and the influence of homosexuals in places of influence and power. And we want to fight the Lesbian trends and we want to fight for religious freedoms in America and we want to preserve prayer in the schools and we want to fight against euthanasia and that all has a place. But I want to tell you something, and you need to understand this... the worst form of wickedness in existence consists of the perversion of God's truth. That is the worst form of wickedness. And the church today is utterly indifferent to that. It doesn't care about that. It treats that with indifference as if it was harmless, as if a right interpretation of Scripture somehow was unnecessary if not intrusive into an otherwise superficial tranquility. Here we are fighting all of this peripheral stuff and given away everything at the heart that defines our whole faith. This is suicide.

Wow!

[darski]

I absolutely agree with John M.

If we had maintained the Truth that was entrusted to us, we would not be murdering babies at the rate we do today. The culture wars are the result of letting idiots define (or not) Truth

Psalm 14

Folly and Wickedness of Men.

1The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God "

I am coming to realize that many people don't care about truth. I am not saying that they are liars but that the truth is not where they go to create a belief system.

I have a friend who honestly believes "the rich young ruler" came back and joined Jesus. She would like this to be true and the fact that scripture does not support her belief is of no consequence. That scripture supports the other side - he left and stayed away- can not be permitted to intrude on her rosy plan.

If a biblical standard of truth - that which is preached from God's word - is not in place...

[Floatingaxe]

The culture wars are the result of letting idiots define (or not) Truth

Right on, darski! When we abdicate, they take over!

[Scarletprayers]

The culture wars are the result of letting idiots define (or not) Truth

Right on, darski! When we abdicate, they take over!

Right on both counts!

[EricH]

This will not turn into an apologetic for the Catholic line of succession. That was not the original intent of the OP. I am removing all posts that lead in that direction

[EricH]

This pastor has misinterpreted so much.

Statements like this are hardly helpful or edifying. Maybe it would be best if you could provide some concrete examples of Dr. MAcArthur has in your view misinterpreted something. That will lead to genuine discussion, rather than simply firing buckshot on the whole thing

[Openly Curious]

Hello Marnie,

You are right it is a great message and also a timely message. We are told in the word to be good stewards of the mysteries of the Word of God and we are to do it without compromise. As the apostle Paul said "For I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation. If the word of God is not proclaimed as found in the pages of God's word then people cannot be saved or respond in faith to the gospel message and lives will not be changed for His glory. So many have stopped proclaiming the word and are preaching another gospel and some have turned to another gospel because they could not endure the truth. But the word of God will always show the hidden intents of the heart and reveal our wrongs so that we can make them right through the correction and instructions God has given us in His word.

The word is what gives us the skills to live a successful Christian life the more abundant life the extra ump we need. God does not want us to be ignorant in our knowledge of the word for the word gives us instruction to live a godly life. Preach the word be instant in season and out of season is what we still need in our day. Sometimes the Lord gives fresh messages and sometimes we have to rely on the old messages when we don't have a fresh message. But sometimes the old things need to be said again and again and taught again to reinterate things in our hearts. something new and something old still needs to be preached and said.

Great article thanks for sharing

loving blessings

OC

[darski]

Point of Information please...

Is there a place where we newbies can go so we can learn how to quote only small bits of l-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ng posts?

Sorry, I am a miser by nature and wasting bandwidth on repeat information breaks my frugal heart.

So, is there a Worthy U thread?