Devoted Youth ~ Stay Devoted to Christ.

My hope is anchored in the blood of Christ.

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:29:43 -0400

My hope is anchored in the blood of Christ.

Stop! In the Name of...

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:11:00 -0400

Depending on how old you are, you may finish that with “the law” or “love.” Either way we know that when someone says something “in the name of” something else, they are saying it under the authority of, and representing that thing or person. So it’s “Under the authority of the law, and speaking on behalf of the law, I’m telling you to stop!”

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Col. 3:17

According to this verse, everything we do should be under the authority of the Lord Jesus. Your actions, words, and decision- did he tell you to say and do them, or did you say and do whatever you wanted?

Everything we do should be representing the Lord Jesus. Is it him living through you, or are you representing yourself?

As Christians, we’re not supposed to be running around “doing whatever we want just as long as it doesn’t make God mad.” We’re supposed to be fully surrendered to him. Our lives are dead in Christ. The lives we now live are in representation of him, and under his direction.

Are you worried about the bank failures?

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 14:11:16 -0400

Are you worried about the bank failures?

Every Young Man Should Read This

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:00:16 -0500

Proverbs 6:1 - My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, 2 Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. 3 Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend. 4 Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. 5 Deliver thyself as a roe from the handof the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.

6 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: 7 Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, 8 Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. 9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? 10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: 11 So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.

12 A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth. 13 He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers; 14 Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he sowetha discord. 15 Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy. 16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: 17 A proudb look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, 19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

20 My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother: 21 Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. 22 When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. 23 For the commandment is a lampc; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: 24 To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. 25 Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids. 26 For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteressd will hunt for the precious life. 27 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? 28 Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? 29 So he that goeth in to his neighbour’s wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent. 30 Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry; 31 But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house. 32 But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understandinge: he thatdoeth it destroyeth his own soul. 33 A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away. 34 For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance. 35He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.

The Greatest Thing

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 23:18:43 -0500

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. 1 Cor. 13:13

As Christians, we want to keep our faith strong. We want to have a living hope of heaven. But most of all, we need to be in love with the Lord Jesus Christ.

A strong love for Jesus will strengthen your faith and your hope. A strong love for Jesus will give you a hatred for sin, and things that pull you away from Him. A strong love for the Lord Jesus Christ will keep us in the right place of humility, and will carry us through very hard times. And out of all things we can have…

Song of Solomon 8:6 Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. 7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.

…our love for Jesus Christ is the only thing that will last beyond death. Faith will turn to into sight. Hope will turn into victory. Our love for Him will only get stronger.

You believe in Him, you have hope for heaven, but do you love Him?

Loving Jesus

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 08:41:43 -0500

Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. Luke 7:47

Sometimes our love for Jesus gets cold. It’s not that we don’t love him in theory, we just go through times when our love isn’t warm.

A woman in Luke 7 came to Jesus humble, thankful, giving, and serving toward Jesus. Her love for him was strong because her sin which was great and right there before her eyes was completely forgiven and washed away.

The pharisee that sat across the table was interested in Jesus, but he didn’t love him. He hadn’t gotten forgiven by Jesus. He didn’t even think he needed Jesus’ forgiveness for his sins.

There lies the difference for us. When we get too close to the world and sin and don’t see the blackness of the sin and immediately ask God for forgiveness, we lose our love for him. We start to love the world and ourselves instead of Christ.

If we keep ourselves constantly aware of our sin and our sinfulness, continually asking Christ’s forgiveness, we’ll see Jesus as he is: incredible, longsuffering, merciful, full of love and grace toward us. When we look closely at that Jesus, it’s difficult not to love him with all our heart.

In Your Shoes

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 09:58:00 -0500

Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 2 Cor 1:4

I got an earache last night. I’ve never in my life had an earache before, but last night I woke up with it hurting and couldn’t go back to sleep because of the pain. There’s just no way to get comfortable on your pillow when your inner ear is hurting!

My daughter, Sophie had tubes put in her ears when she was 2. She had so many ear infections that they had to do the surgery on her. I cared for her, I felt bad for her and very sad to see her in pain, but I never felt so much care for her situation until last night. I walked in her shoes for just a few short steps last night. And it made me think totally different about the pain she endured night after night for so long.

The Lord Jesus Christ knows our sufferings first hand. He suffered temptation, hunger, grief and pain. He’s been where we’ve been and that’s what makes him such a loving friend. He knows what we’re going through and cares as one who has been through the pain.

When we go through pain also, God gives us the special gift of being able to use that suffering to minister to others. If you’ve even had a close friend pass away, you’ll be able to comfort others whose friends have recently passed, much more than if it had never happened to you. If your parents have been divorced, you’ll be able to cry with your friend when his parents are splitting up. When we go through pain, we lose the edge, we lose the judgemental attitude. We lose the know-it-all arrogance, and we realize how helpess we are.

We turn to Christ, and we become that much more suited to point others to Christ as well.

I Need Thee Every Hour

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 09:43:00 -0500

The word of the hour is independence. Be your own person, make your own way, you can do it! We have made a god out of personal pride. The world has said that self-confidence is the key to success.

A Christian can have confidence, but his confidence comes from Christ, not from himself. Paul said:

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: Rom. 7:18

He had no confidence in his own ability to accomplish anything. The truth is, if we do anything outside of Christ’s help, we are just going to get full of ourselves and think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. If we get good grades, land a great job, get a promotion, or succeed in sport without prayer for God’s guidance, help, and strength, we’ve done in on our own. We’ve built up our flesh. We’ve won one for the wrong team, and our flesh will only think it’s something special as a result. That’s dangerous.

On the other hand, Paul said:

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Phil. 4:13

Paul didn’t walk around defeated and run down. He knew that when he walked with Jesus Christ, when he did what God wanted him to do by Jesus’ strength through prayer, then he could do anything that Christ wanted him to do.

Both ways can accomplish big tasks. One, however leaves you proud and ignoring the Lord. The other leaves you humble and loving Jesus even that much more.

The Most Dangerous Aspect of Pharisee-ism

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 06:59:00 -0500

Pharisees had it all together. They knew the law and they kept it perfectly, or so they thought. They walked around as shining examples of keeping the law, and when they prayed, they said loudly “I thank thee that I am not as those sinners!”

We have modern day pharisees, too. I’m ashamed to say I’ve been one of them. Modern day pharisees never go to the altar during messages lest people think they’re sinning. Sure, they admit to being a sinner in theory, but you’d have to look pretty hard to see any chinks in their armor. They’re sanctified, perfect. Not sinless, of course, but as close to sinless as you can get on this side of heaven! They’ve really got this Christianity thing nailed down!

Of course there’s a lot that’s bad about this. It’s arrogant, proud, boastful, and anyway, it’s not even true. But there’s something even more dangerous than all those built-in sins of pharisee-ism…

Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. Gal. 3:24

The law wasn’t made to show how perfect the pharisees were. It was made to show that no one could keep it, and drive people to the grace and mercy of God in Jesus Christ. It showed us that we couldn’t earn salvation, so we needed it as a free gift from Christ.

When the pharisees used the law to show how perfect they were, people weren’t being driven to Christ. They were driven to emulate the pharisees. They were driven to try to be just like them and earn eternal life. They were driven to look at the pharisees, not at Christ.

The danger is the same today. I’m not saying we should flaunt our sin, not at all. Your sin should be kept between you and God. But when we present some kind of pharisee-ical image of perfection to those around us, when we give off an air that says that “we’ve got this Christianity thing under control,” we drive people to look to us, to look at us. Instead, people should be able to look at us and see someone who is broken, fallen, “false and full of sin,” and desperately in need of and clinging to Jesus.

What Are You Going to Be?

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 12:04:54 -0500

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother, Colossians 1:1

As a young adult, the question “What are you going to be?” will be thrown at you over and over, both from other people and from yourself. When I was a kid, I really wanted to be a fireman. No, really. I even looked into it when I was finishing high school. I thought it would be cool to work a few days on, and a few days off. I liked the idea of doing something that mattered- something that helped people. Plus, it wouldn’t be hard to find a wife if you’re a fireman, right? I mean, girls LOVE that stuff, don’t they?

God had other plans for me. When I was 17, he called me to preach. I dropped my plans to go through EMT training (the first step before firefighter school) and went to Bible school instead. There were lots of people who thought it was a joke, or maybe I was just reacting emotionally to some “God experience,” but I knew what God’s will was- he wanted me to be a preacher.

For some reason, people have this great interest in what YOU are going to be. They want you to be a doctor or lawyer, or they want you to follow in the family business or trade. They really want their will in your life! Other times, it’s our OWN will that we’re following. WE want to be a doctor, a nurse, a fireman, or whatever. Maybe it’s something that interests you and you really have plans to do that for a career. Maybe you just want to make lots of money!

Paul had plans, too. He went to the best school for pharisees. He was trained as a kid to become a great lawyer. In this verse, though, we see that God had other plans. He had become what GOD wanted him to be. Not what his friends or family wanted him to be. Not what HE wanted to be. He became “an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God”. He became what GOD wanted him to be because he was submitted to God’s will more than his own will. The Lord Jesus Christ stopped him when he was in the middle of his current job and told him to change occupations. He told Paul that he had been kicking against God’s will for his life, and that it was time to change. Paul did change. He lined up with what God wanted for him, and although it wasn’t what he originally wanted to do, God’s will was best for him after all. I mean, Paul didn’t get the notoriety (in his lifetime) that he got from his old job. He didn’t get the money he used to have. But he got to live his life in God’s will, and he lived a life that pleased Jesus Christ as a result of it.

Not everyone is called to preach. Most people aren’t. If you’re trying to be a preacher when God doesn’t want you to, you’re just as wrong as the person who’s ignoring the call to preach. It’s not about looking at someone else and copying what they did, it’s about looking to Jesus Christ and asking him, with a submitted heart, what he wants you to do.

If you do that, you’ll look back on your life and be able to say:

“John, a construction worker by the will of God.” Or

“Amanda, a nurse by the will of God.” Or

“Kyle, a manager by the will of God.”

And that’s the best thing you could be. Whatever God wants you to be.

Getting God's Forgiveness

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:48:43 -0500

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

When we get saved, we get a relationship with Christ. We become a son of God. There’s nothing we can do to change that relationship. Even if we sin, deny God, and walk away from the faith, we’ll still be saved. You can’t lose that relationship!

However, when we sin we lose our fellowship with God. That means you won’t be walking in the Spirit. You can’t talk to God or hear from him until you get that fellowship restored.

If you were to sin against your earthly father, you wouldn’t stop being his son or daughter. You would, however, need to ask his forgiveness before you could be on good terms with him again.

That’s the way it is with God. Sin requires forgiveness, and God is ready to forgive our sin and restore fellowship any time we ask. This verse shows us how. Simply pray and confess your sin to Jesus Christ. Tell him specifically what you did, and that you’re sorry for the sin and want his blood to cleanse you from it. When you do that, the Bible says he will forgive you and have fellowship with you once again.

How to Not Sin

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 01:39:23 -0500

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

Gal. 5:15

A Christian that is currently in love with Jesus Christ doesn’t want to sin, but that doesn’t mean that he won’t sin. Actually, our flesh still really wants to sin, and that’s where we spend all our time… in our flesh. As a result, we’re constantly drawn by our flesh into sin, even when we don’t want to.

Lots of people have tried and suggested ways to keep from sinning. I’ve heard people say that you should spend lots of time outside. I’ve heard them say that you should get an accountability partner. Some talk about punishing yourself when you sin and rewarding yourself when you don’t. Still others make a list of standards that will keep you from sin, like not going to certain places or watching TV.

The list is long, but none of these things will keep you from sin! Why? Because they are all being done in the flesh, by the flesh, and the flesh loves sin! No matter how much you try in your flesh to stop sinning, ultimately your flesh will outsmart itself and get what it really wants!

The verse above, however, tells us how to keep from sin. It says that if we walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Walking in the Spirit means we’re living our lives filled with the Holy Spirit that we received when we got saved. It means walking around throughout the day listening to the Holy Spirit and spiritual things, and not listening to the flesh.

One way to do this is to feed the Spirit more than the flesh. Whoever you’re feeding more will win, so keep the Spirit fed with spiritual food. God’s words, prayer, spiritual music, spiritual talk; these are the things that feed the Spirit and keep you walking in the Spirit instead of the flesh.

Try starting your day by praying and telling God that you want to crucify your flesh and walk in the Spirit that day. Keep on praying, talking to God. Then open God’s words and listen as he talks to you. Keep up the conversation throughout the day. Carve out the things you don’t need that are feeding your flesh - worldly music, entertainments, people- whatever God shows you that’s pulling you back into the flesh. Replace them with things that feed the Spirit. At the end of the day, you might realize that you sinned much less simply because your flesh wasn’t controlling you- the Holy Spirit was. That’s a great day!

I’m not saying you’ll live a sinless life. That’s impossible as long as we’re living in the flesh. Something will happen that will pull you out of the spiritual frame of mind and get you walking in the flesh, and that’s when you’ll sin. However, as long as we’re walking in the Spirit, the Bible says, we won’t be fulfilling the lusts of the flesh. It’s the way God intended for us to avoid sin. Not by beating the flesh into submission, but by crucifying the flesh and feeding and walking in the Spirit.

The half has never been told!

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 22:20:22 -0500

The half has never been told!

Is it well with your soul?

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 20:50:14 -0500

Is it well with your soul?

Have You Read This Recently?

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 01:00:24 -0500

I just read over this, and even though we know it so well it was a great blessing to me again. Hope it is to you also!

Psalm 23
¹The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
²He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
³He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
⁴Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
⁵Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
⁶Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Mr. Miagi vs. the Cobra Kai

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 10:32:00 -0500

Please excuse me while I reference an old cheesy movie. One of my favorite movies when I was a teenager was Karate Kid. Daniel’s arch enemy was the punk kids from the Cobra Kai Dojo. Their instructor was a jerk and a bully, so all his students were bullies as well. Daniel’s instructor was Mr. Miagi, who was very kind and taught Daniel to be responsible with Karate.

The different instructors ultimately had a huge impact on the guys that learned from them, and the students’ lives took a totally different path depending on which instructor they sat under.

Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge. Prov. 19:27

Instructors are all around us. They teach us what they believe in the songs they write. They act out their ideology in the movies they create. They tell us what we should believe in articles and blog posts and straight to our face. Even though we try to be our own person and not be influenced by the message, ultimately the instructors we listen to shape who we become.
God tells us in the passage above to stop listening to the people who are pulling us away from his words. It’s so hard, because these people could be our friends. They could be the musicians that we really enjoy, or the movies we’re dying to see. It’s a big step to put things aside that we’ve held onto for so long. And it’s scary and feels weird to not be “into” what everyone around us is into.
If we realize, though, that those things aren’t as innocent as they seem- realize that they hate our saviour Jesus Christ and want nothing to do with him- then we won’t have such a hard time walking away from them. It starts with loving God’s words and loving good instruction from Jesus Christ. Once we love those things, our love for the things that pull us away from him will fade away.

Down for the Count

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 10:02:00 -0500

^“Only by pride cometh contention:” Prov. 13:10

“A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.” Prov. 15:1

We’ve all been in arguments. It seems like we humans can’t go a week without getting into some kind of battle. Even since Cain’s countenance fell, we’ve been knocking each other in the head, dropping bombs on each other, or just lobbing insults.

When two people argue (“contention”), the Bible says there’s pride in there somewhere. One side or the other (but usually both) may be a bit full of themselves. When you get into a fight, back up and ask God if there’s pride in your heart. If so, ask God to forgive you and wash it away. Many times, your newfound humility will end the fight.

If not and the other person is still hot, remember the second verse. Answer softly. Show them that you’re trying to see their side, you’re trying to end this argument, even at the cost of you being wrong.

These two verses combined give us a great way to end any fight. The next time you’re battling with your parents, friends, spouse, whatever, think about these verses and ask God to help you apply them to the situation.

Doing the Work of Angels

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 09:42:00 -0500

”…ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God…” Paul in Gal. 4:14

Acts 23: 14-24

14And they came to the chief priests and elders, and said, We have bound ourselves under a great curse, that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul.

15Now therefore ye with the council signify to the chief captain that he bring him down unto you to morrow, as though ye would enquire something more perfectly concerning him: and we, or ever he come near, are ready to kill him.

16And when Paul’s sister’s son heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered into the castle, and told Paul.

17Then Paul called one of the centurions unto him, and said, Bring this young man unto the chief captain: for he hath a certain thing to tell him.

18So he took him, and brought him to the chief captain, and said, Paul the prisoner called me unto him, and prayed me to bring this young man unto thee, who hath something to say unto thee.

19Then the chief captain took him by the hand, and went with him aside privately, and asked him, What is that thou hast to tell me?

20And he said, The Jews have agreed to desire thee that thou wouldest bring down Paul to morrow into the council, as though they would enquire somewhat of him more perfectly.

21But do not thou yield unto them: for there lie in wait for him of them more than forty men, which have bound themselves with an oath, that they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him: and now are they ready, looking for a promise from thee.

22So the chief captain then let the young man depart, and charged him, See thou tell no man that thou hast shewed these things to me.

23And he called unto him two centurions, saying, Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea, and horsemen threescore and ten, and spearmen two hundred, at the third hour of the night;

24And provide them beasts, that they may set Paul on, and bring him safe unto Felix the governor.

The pharisees plotted to kill Paul, but one young man heard their plan. He decided to risk his own life to save him. He was taking on a very real danger; these men swore they wouldn’t eat until they accomplished their plan. He proved that he believed that the message Paul was preaching was more important than his own life.

Some would say that without this young man, Paul may have been killed. I don’t think so. There are many times in the book of Acts that God uses angels to accomplish important tasks, and keep the gospel message alive. If this young man had not warned Paul, maybe God would have sent an angel to deliver the message. But God did not. He saw a boy, willing to risk his life to carry the message, and told the angels to have a seat. He watched and protected that young man as he carried the warning of death.

He allowed one unknown youth to do the work that angels do.

I don’t believe that people will go to hell because you failed to carry the warning to them. God is not risking one man’s salvation on another human being. The Bible says that God will get the message to them, in spite of the failure of the messenger (Rom. 1:20).

However, God gives us the great privilege of carrying his message to souls in danger. He could have sent his “star players” the angels, but he has them sit on the sidelines while he lovingly gives us, his children, a chance to “get in the game.”

The requirement for the job: understand and accept that the message is more important than our own life. Death to self. Death to our plans, our will, our message. Living to deliver his message.

PS - When it’s all said and done, he’ll get all the glory for doing something amazing with us, these little lumps of clay.

Thoughts

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:05:00 -0500

The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.
Psalm 10:4

For a wicked man, “God is not in all his thoughts.” Maybe it’s true that: His friends are in his thoughts. His own self is in his thoughts. Entertainment, amusement, and fun is in his thoughts. But God is not. For us Christians, this can mean a couple things.

First, when we “let our light shine among men” it’s a really bright light. It may seem like no big deal to thank God publicly or talk about him, but it is a jolt to non-believers. It puts God right in front of someone who has not thought about him at all. That’s a huge, life-changing event.

Secondly, if we are honest with ourselves, could we lump ourselves into that category? Sure, we think about God on Sundays and every once and a while besides that, but is he in all our thoughts?

Sometimes we get exhausted just considering this. Do we really have to be thinking about living some perfect Christian life all the time? Can’t we ever take a “brain vacation” from it every once and a while? Can’t I have some kind of a life outside of God?

Wow, read that last one again. When that comes to mind, I’m thinking just like a non-believer. That means I’m just being religious, just thinking about what I’m “supposed” to be doing to be a “good Christian.” I’m not really even thinking about GOD, I’m thinking about myself.

When you put GOD in all your thoughts, however, it’s easy, even enjoyable. Your mind is filled with thankfulness to him. Astonishment at what he’s doing in you and through you. You realize and take on HIS love for those around you. Most of all, you want to think about him even more. You get mad at the sin that tries to break that fellowship. You brush off the distractions that are pulling your mind off him. God is in all your thoughts.

But how do you get him there? Start simple, just by asking him. “God, I want you to be in all my thoughts.” Ask God consistently to be in all your thoughts. It’s a prayer he is very willing to answer!

The Preacher, the People, and Prayer

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 09:21:04 -0500

I’ll admit it. Sometimes, as a preacher, you get frustrated with the people you’re preaching to. You preach and preach, but growth is slow, the harvest takes a long time to come in, and many of the words fall on “rocky ground.” In other words, the people just don’t seem to be getting it. Worse, they don’t even seem to care that they’re not getting it.

The people listening can feel the same way about the preacher. We can feel like he’s going too long, he’s not “feeding us,” we don’t like his style, or generally aren’t getting his points.

This problem is understandable. After all, at the same time preaching is abrasive and gives us healing. It is rough and gives us comfort. It tears down our flesh and builds up our spirit. It is spoken by man and we are spoken to by God. There is bound to be strife between the preacher and the people every once and a while.

At the end of Colossians, Paul says a few things that are helpful here:

v. 2 - “Continue in prayer,”

v. 3 - “Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ,”

v. 12 - “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.”

Paul says to continue in prayer. He says that we should pray for him, the preacher, that God would give him a chance to preach the gospel. Later, he tells the people that their preacher, Epaphrus, is praying for them.

I don’t know much about cars, but I know that the piston is needed to work the engine, much like the preaching is needed to work in the lives of the hearers. However, the friction caused by this movement can wreck the engine if there is no oil to go between the parts.

Prayer is the answer. It brings in the oil of the Holy Spirit to go between the preacher and the people. In such an important thing as preaching, or hearing preaching, the spiritual transaction must be “greased” with the oil of the Holy Spirit.

So, preachers, are you praying for the people you’re preaching to? We should be praying for them “fervently!” And for us hearers, are we praying for our preacher? If there is tension on either side, spending time in fervent prayer for one another could be the answer.