Tag: Word

The Delight of Teaching God’s Word

Posted on by ifacedownworship
English: ESV Study Bible Hardcover Cover
ESV Study Bible – the Study Bible I often use when studying the Bible.

Teaching the Word of God is truly a delight. It is one of the few things in life that truly brings pleasure to my soul.

Teaching requires that we study the teaching material first. In the endeavor to teach the Bible, in any form, in preaching, Bible Study, evangelism, or others, studying it first gluttons my heart to high spiritualities. It is one of the wonders any Bible teacher experiences from time to time. It is in fact listening to God.

A true teacher of the Scriptures will do his or her best to live out what he or she is preparing to teach. This, again, fulfills the deepest longings of the soul. Any true obedient disciple of Christ knows that trying to live in the perfect will of God is one sure thing to live a meaningful, fulfilled life. It is the highest achievement any human can achieve.

Then comes the blessed task of teaching it. If we have tried our best to study and live the Message, then the act of teaching is really in a sense a completed task. It has its own duties, but once we have tried to study and live the Word, then we can be assured that God will bless also our work of teaching to others what we have experienced ourselves.

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Preachers are Broken People (most of the time)

Posted on by ifacedownworship
not strong but weak
A preacher is often weak on the inside.

Generally, preachers are not strong people, but weak individuals strongly used by God for His Kingdom purposes.

Dynamic preachers are usually seen as strong people, not knowing the aches and struggles they face behind the pulpit. Preaching for more than five years already, I could say from experience and observation of others some facets of the weaknesses preachers face from time to time.

1.) Lacking the zeal to study harder. Preachers should study not just to prepare sermons, but also to nourish the self. Hard study and meditation and memorization should ever equip the heart and mind of the preacher – and that is an absolute rule. Every man of God, and certainly the preacher, should have his blood with the Word on it.

2.) Lacking the desire and effort to live what he preaches. One frustration of the preacher is failing to measure up his own life for what he preaches. Yet, even worse, the lack of the desire to live his message. Sometimes, the heart could be so cold and dark that there is no real desire to walk his talk.

One of the biggest fulfilment of a preacher is seeing his life living out his sermon. It has always been an ideal for me to follow the great example of the great teacher and reformer Ezra: study the Word, then live it up, then teach it to others. And that is Ezra 7:10.

3.) Lacking the humility to pray more than enough. The persistence and intensity of the preacher to pray for the power of his sermons has no limitation. But often, he is easily caught by the temptation to pray just enough or less than enough – with no tears at all. Not willing enough to pray for more reflects a heart hardened by pride. It is an indication that he relies on himself a little bit (or too much) and not totally on God.

Often, I have found my preaching to be very dynamic and fruitful, not so much because of my own prayers – thanks to the prayers of others. Again, this is one great gem in the secret of Spurgeon’s power in preaching – his congregation continuously prays for his preaching.

Preachers are broken people. But maybe it is more truthful to say that the most powerful preachers are those who are truly broken – not necessarily broken by sin, but is broken before the Lord in utmost humility, dependence, and submission. It is truly a paradox in God’s design that He uses weak vessels to contain the insurmountable divinity of the Word, spilling out His grace, mercy, and love to the lost world. And it is still a greater paradox that even if God uses the weak to display His strength, there is still the great standard for every preacher to imitate dearly the holiness of Jesus, the Master Teacher.

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