8. God's Design for Life Priorities

Wisdom from the Word

Charm is deceitful and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the LORD will be praised.

Proverbs 31:30 (NET)

Understanding God’s Design

Assignment—For the next week, keep a chart of how you spend your time. Just take the chart at the end of this lesson and put it out in your home somewhere, perhaps on the refrigerator or beside a chair where you often sit down. (Assuming you can ever sit down!)

God’s priorities for you as a wife and mother are these: 1. Your relationship with God; 2. Your role as a helper to your husband; 3. Your children; 4. Your ministry. However, ranking these does not adequately explain how this really works. We cannot just choose God and neglect the other aspects of our lives. As believers, we are to be involved in all of these areas of life. Balance is an important concept, especially when partnered with the idea of priority. We are all to be involved in ministry in our churches; there is no option. However, the way that balances with our family relationships depends upon the needs of the people in our lives.

Our first priority is to love God with all of our hearts, souls, minds, and strength (Mark 12:30). That is the first and greatest commandment. Whenever your priorities are out of order, you will be placing something else above God and that is idolatry. When you have God at the forefront of your life, it is much easier to put everything else in place for He gives us the love and devotion we need for our families and the abilities for our ministries.

We have already seen throughout this course that our marriage relationships are the most important relationships we have on earth. Time with our husbands builds the “one flesh” relationship of God’s design. The strength of that relationship impacts our children. The greatest security you can give them is a loving marriage. We must put time with our husbands before our time with our children. Someday your children will leave, and it will come much sooner than you expect. Your relationship with your husband must still be intact because it will be just the two of you once again.

Originally, I listed “home’ as the priority after children. Actually, what you do in your home is an extension of your ministry to your husband and children. What kind of order do they need as they seek a place of peace for work and study? What this means varies from family to family. The goal is not a Southern Living home but a home where people are more important than perfection. Remember the principle of being the helper; we are to adjust to our particular families. Remember, God has given the married couple jointly the instructions to rule the earth and create family—work and family. We work together to create a true home for our children. It is not the wife’s responsibility alone.

I like what Jani Ortlund says about the atmosphere of our homes.²³

I believe that a godly home is a foretaste of heaven. Our homes, imperfect as they are, must be a haven from the chaos outside. They should be a reflection of our eternal home, where troubled souls find peace, wary hearts find rest, hungry bodies find refreshment, lonely pilgrims find communion, and wounded spirits find compassion.

Jani Ortlund

Your own family is your primary ministry; yet, we are all called to minister within our local church (1 Cor. 12:7; 1 Peter 4:10, 11). Again, how does this balance out? Ministry will always involve some sacrifice to both yourself and your family. However, it must be sacrifice that does not cost them more than they should bear. It must never become more important than they are.

My outside ministry was minimal when my children were small and grew as they gained more independence. Eventually when they were teenagers, I traveled around the country several times a year, teaching others how to study the Bible and lead classes. That meant that I would be away from my family for four days at a time, not there to deal with problems, etc. that came up. There were times when I missed my kids’ swim meets. I wasn’t there to cook or clean (but I did leave everything in order). However, Gary and the kids were my biggest encouragers in this ministry. I had their unqualified support. Sometimes I did return home to find Gary annoyed that he had to deal alone with some problem. If so, I would remind him that I was happy to stay home and not do the workshops anymore. That was not his desire; he merely wanted to vent his frustrations to me. Once he had, we went forward. My ministry was always secondary to my family. When I knew the kids’ schedules in advance, I would not plan to interfere with an event in their lives. When Gary had a chance to play golf for the weekend or he wanted us to do something together, I stayed home. I never accepted more workshops than I felt I could do with my family as my priority. The best thing about traveling was the appreciation that they felt for me in my absence. There is something to be said for leaving every now and then!

What does God say about managing our homes?

Proverbs 31 describes the kind of wife that the king should seek. It is not a job description for marriage but a character description of a strong woman. (The word translated excellent means strong or valiant!)

The Proverbs 31 woman was never a favorite of mine! I knew that I could never be as wonderful as she. She does it all: her own business, home, children, husband; she even works out! It was so freeing to me to see that she wasn’t doing all these things every day. I learned that it is her character rather than her activities that transfer from the culture of that day to our own. In that culture a strong woman would live out godliness in the ways listed. However you and your husband choose to fulfill your God-given mandate to work and to raise family (Gen. 1:26-28), your character must parallel hers.

Read Proverbs 31:10-31.

1. List what the Proverbs 31 wife does for her home and family and then the character qualities indicated by that work. How do you show that character quality in the 21^st century? Use the first person: I must . . .

Example: She works with her hands, making cloth (v. 13, 19) and clothing her family for the cold (v.21). I must be industrious and faithful to care for the needs of my family.

2. How are you doing with these character qualities? Write down one area of needed improvement and one way you will work on it beginning today.

I love the fact that God gives freedom in marriage for each couple to work together and work out their own job descriptions. Many of you have chosen to be the primary household manager so that your children are raised well.

3. If your primary responsibilities are in your home, what reason is given in Titus 2:3-5 for fulfilling all the responsibilities listed?

What is a “homemaker”? The literal word means “a keeper at home, one who looks after domestic affairs with prudence and care.”²⁴

4. How does the Proverbs 31 wife exemplify this kind of character?

Notice that the Proverbs 31 wife has a business and brings in income for her family. She is an astute money manager. I believe this passage is consistent with a woman having a paying job outside the home, if you and your husband agree. Each couple must decide how to fulfill God’s two primary instructions: to work and build family. But remember that family needs always trump work—for both of you!

Memorize the Word of Wisdom for the week and commit to fear the Lord.

Building Your Marriage with God’s Design

How are you doing as a homemaker? I hate the term “housewife”. I am not the wife in the house, but the woman making my house a home in every way. This applies to all women, whether they work outside the home or not.

5. How are you doing in your task of making your house a home? What do you need to do to look after the domestic affairs with prudence and care? Is there any area where you are being careless?

As your husband’s helper, you need to consider his personal needs rather than your strengths. Perhaps you hate to cook but that is important to his well-being or perhaps to your family finances. You need to come up with a plan to improve in this area. If he needs order, you need to begin to put things in order for his sake. As the helper you must be the one to do the adjusting.

I remember visiting my sister when our children were young. In the late afternoon we would pick up all the toys and activities strewn all over the house because it was important to her husband that everything be orderly when he came home. She would have preferred spending time doing something more fun, but she adjusted to his desires.

6. Married women: What is important to your husband in the home? What does he need provided in order to feel a sense of peace in the midst of chaos?

There was a point when I was constantly annoyed when I had to pick up after Gary. (This was not even daily, but I still got annoyed!) Then, I read Col. 3:23-24. Although it is in the context of slaves submitting to their masters, it applies to work in whatever form it takes: “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.” I began to apply those verses to my marriage situation; whenever I started resenting some of the repetitive or dirty work required to make my house a home of peace, I remembered that I was doing this for Christ. He delights when I work with my whole heart, however tedious or distasteful the task.

7. Name one homemaking task that you resent. Write a prayer giving that chore to God. Ask Him to remind you whenever you begin to complain, even in your heart, that you are doing it for Him.

8. What one tip for better home management do you have to share?

I received a book from a friend when my daughter was born. The authors suggested that mothers can feel a sense of accomplishment every day by simply making the bed. I lived by that principle and still do today. Despite the disasters and mess that the rest of the day may bring, I can see that one thing had been finished. Many times that has been the only thing I actually see accomplished in an entire day!

Go back and review the list of priorities on the first page of this lesson. Consider how balanced your life is and how the list of priorities affects it.

Read Luke 10:38-42.

Try to read this story as if you had never read it before.

9. Why was Martha upset at Mary according to her complaint to Jesus (v.40)?

10. What was Martha’s serving doing to her (v.40, 41)?

11. For what reason did Jesus commend Mary (v.42)?

It is usually clear when I have begun to substitute service for devotion to God. I have little patience with others. I start feeling stressed rather than resting in God. I am definitely not at peace within or with others. As things go wrong, I grow upset and out-of-sorts.

12. Consider your own service, even what you give to the Lord. Is it in the right priority in your life? How can you tell? If your priorities are out of whack, write down your plan to correct it.

By this point in this lesson, you should be getting close to the end of the six days of charting your activities. If not, wait until then to continue and answer the rest of the questions in this lesson.

Take the time to consider your priorities as revealed by your schedule. Also consider where you might be wasting time or spending too much time. Think about these questions. Remember our lesson on adorning ourselves with a gentle and quiet spirit rather than adorning ourselves outwardly? How did you do when you compare the time you spent on your grooming and exercise with your time with God? Did you focus this week on people or things? What priority does God have in your time? How much time did your husband get?

13. What one area of your life, according to your record of time, needs the most work? Write down in the first person what you will do this week to improve that area.

Years ago I read Anne Ortlund’s book The Disciplines of the Beautiful Woman.²⁵ She does a wonderful job making suggestions about simplifying wardrobe and make-up. She describes her planner that has sections for a journal and an organizer for her schedule. The book gives ideas for placing priorities in order. If you need help in any of these areas, I recommend you read her book.

Parenting with God’s Design

You are responsible to teach your children to care for their own areas of your home and to manage their time with the priorities set out in this lesson. They must learn that their work is done for the Lord, not man.

14. What will your children learn about priorities by watching you? Think about ways you spent your time this last week according to the record you have kept.

15. How are you teaching your children to care for the things that God has given them? How are you teaching them to manage their time?

My mother usually picked up our things for us. Rarely did she make us look after our room or our belongings. Once every few months, we had a huge organizing time for our closet and room, and we did help. I think it was just easier for her to do it herself than it was to make us do it, but it was not the best thing for us. We needed to be totally responsible for our room and our possessions. As moms, we love to do for our kids but we may inadvertently handicap them. If you have anyone who comes to your home and cleans, consider how to teach your children to care for their things and to keep their rooms. Perhaps your cleaning service needs to skip their rooms and baths and only help you with your needs. Are you teaching them to care for their clothes?

An older friend once told me that she was concerned that if God called her daughter to missions, she would be unable to go because she was so spoiled. It really gave me something to think about. I know that my children are spoiled compared to the world, but I did try to force them to learn to do for themselves and to wait for possessions rather than expecting me to provide for their every desire.

Wisdom from a Mentor (Lisa)

With a BBA in Management/Marketing, I couldn’t wait until I got married, had kids and began to manage my household. I would always laugh on the outside when moms called themselves, “Household Engineers,” but on the inside I was saying, “That’s me! That’s me!” Anyway, I started to think that I was possibly running too tight a ship when the following scenario took place.

My husband and daughters were very involved in the Indian Princess program at the YMCA. They looked forward to the monthly meetings, the turkey shoot, Christmas parade and yes…THE CAMPOUT. It was an Indian Princess ritual for the dads to pick the daughters up early from school on Friday afternoon and caravan to the campgrounds. My precious little one could hardly sit through 1^st grade that day knowing that her name would be called over the intercom saying, “Come to the office, your daddy is waiting for you.”

Well, it was such a day when my husband arrived early to school and approached the office with that gleam in his eye. He managed to leave work on time, pack the car, change clothes and get to school before the other dads. He was a proud man. He smugly went to the office and announced that he was here to pick up his daughter. The lady in the office, not the usual receptionist, asked him, “Who is your daughter’s teacher?” My husband looked at her with a smile and said, “Well, uh, it’s uh, you know, it’s only October and I haven’t gotten to know her yet, so, uh, could you just check?” The aide, slightly embarrassed for him, said, “Sure, what grade is she in?” My husband must have looked like a deer in headlights when he realized he didn’t know the answer to that question either. “This is terrible,” he said, “I should know these things!” “Would you like to use the phone and call your wife?” asked the aide. “No!” he said immediately. “That won’t be necessary!”

Since I was the president of the PTA, he would pull his eyeballs out, shove nails up his cuticles and walk on hot coals before he would allow that phone call to go through. Suddenly another dad showed up and he was able to redeem himself by happily letting the other dad go ahead of him. “1^st grade…that’s it!” “She’s in 1^st grade!” Well, the excited 1^st grader was “finally” called down and the campout was a huge success.

After hearing this story, from many people, I decided that I would communicate and manage my household a little more openly with my husband. Even the obvious is not too obvious sometimes.

Summing It Up

16. Explain the importance of “making a home” as you would to your children.

17. How has God spoken to you this week?

	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5	Day 6
Midnight-1:00 a.m.
1:00-2:00 a.m.
2:00-3:00 a.m.
3:00-4:00 a.m.
4:00-5:00 a.m.
5:00-6:00 a.m.
6:00-7:00 a.m.
7:00-8:00 a.m.
8:00-9:00 a.m.
9:00-10:00 a.m.
10:00-11:00 a.m.
11:00-Noon
Noon-1:00 p.m.
1:00-2:00 p.m.
2:00-3:00 p.m.
3:00-4:00 p.m.
4:00-5:00 p.m.
5:00-6:00 p.m.
6:00-7:00 p.m.
7:00-8:00 p.m.
8:00-9:00 p.m.
9:00-10:00 p.m.
10:00-11:00 p.m.
11:00-midnight

²³Ortlund, 147.

²⁴Zodhiates, 1033.

²⁵Anne Ortlund, Disciplines of the Beautiful Woman (Waco, TX: Word Books, 1977).

Related Topics: Curriculum, Marriage

9. God's Design for Finances

Wisdom from the Word

The LORD owns the earth and all it contains,
The world and all who live in it.

Psalm 24:1 (NET)

Understanding God’s Design

We would have to study an entire course on finances to cover all that God says about it in the Scriptures. Since we cannot spend that much time on it, we will take a few principles and think about their application in our lives.

Read Matthew 6:19-34.

1. What is the danger in storing up treasures on earth according to vv.21 and 24?

2. What should be your priority in life according to v. 33? What is the promise for those whose priorities are in line?

3. How will having those priorities affect your generosity to others and your giving to the church?

The book of Proverbs is full of wisdom about life. As you read proverbs, remember that they are sayings which are generally true. They are not promises but truths that usually happen.

4. Write down the financial principles that you learn from these proverbs:

a. Prov. 3:9-10

b. Prov. 6:6-8

c. Prov. 11:25

d. Prov. 11:28

e. Prov. 13:11

f. Prov. 21:5

g. Prov. 23:4-5

h. Prov. 24:30-34

I have made my prayer concerning finances that of Proverbs 30:8b-9: “Give me neither poverty nor riches—feed me with the food allotted to me; lest I be full and deny You, and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God.” God knows how much Gary and I need and can handle for the tasks which He has given us to do. I don’t want wealth to distract me from my faith in God; neither do I want poverty to cause me to doubt His goodness.

Read 1 Tim. 6:6-11.

5. What may happen to those who seek wealth?

6. With what necessities should we be content?

7. Instead of pursuing wealth, what is the believer to pursue? How does this fit with the priorities we looked at last week and Matt. 6 with which we dealt in questions #1-3 in this lesson?

One of the major problems concerning finances in marriage is debt. What are believers to do about debt? I wish we had time to go through the entire Bible and study what God has to say. If you and your husband want to study God’s principles for money, I would recommend either a Crown Ministry class or some of Larry Burkett’s material. He has workbooks to help you plan your finances as well. He tells us what God’s Word says about debt.²⁶

God does not prohibit using credit; He simply lays down very clear guidelines for how credit should be used. There are three basic principles: (1) credit should never be normal for God’s people; (2) credit should never be long-term; (3) never sign surety—take on an obligation to pay without an absolutely certain way to pay.

Larry Burkett

Our culture minimizes the impact of debt. We live in a debt-driven society. The world tells us that we need material things and should not have to wait for them. Consequently, we charge and borrow in order to have more stuff. Somehow we are convinced that these are necessities. God’s Word tells us to be careful because the borrower has a sure obligation before God to pay back what he borrows. You have made a promise, given your word to another, when you borrow. As we reflect the character of God, we must be faithful to our promises. Christians do not lightly give promises about anything.

8. Are you guilty of using debt to buy things that are not really necessities? Have you used credit when your husband has failed to give you what you want? Do you maintain a credit balance instead of paying off the debt before buying other things?

My husband and I do have credit cards but make it a practice to pay them off. My husband is generally not as concerned about our finances as I am so he spends money more freely. That could drive me crazy, but it is not my responsibility. God has been faithful to us through all the years and provided for our every need. I know that He will continue to do so.

Building Your Marriage with God’s Design

As married women, we must base our financial decisions not only on specific verses that teach about money but also on the Biblical teaching concerning marriage from our previous lessons.

We have already studied God’s principle of covenant, where two become one in an unbreakable vow before God. The oneness we share with our spouses applies in all areas of our lives, including finances.

Kay Arthur teaches this as it relates to our covenant with Christ but it also applies to our marriages.²⁷

Covenant is such a total oneness and commitment that, as Jesus says, you have to be willing to give up all your possessions . . . when two become one, everything you have also belongs to your covenant partner.

Kay Arthur

What is mine belongs also to my husband and what is his belongs to me. Marriage today has gotten far away from this in many ways. Individuals desire to hold onto “my stuff”. Too often I hear women refer to “my money” because it is the money they earned. All that a couple has is “ours”. There is nothing that belongs specifically to either one. If we follow God’s design rather than the world’s, we hold nothing back from our spouses. We give freely and without strings. Together you may determine who manages certain income. When my mother gives me money for my birthday, my husband wants me to use it for myself, not because it is “my money.” He knows that I will use it for our family if we have a need. Once a friend of mine told me that her husband wanted to borrow some of “her money.” Legally, it may have been “her money” but in God’s eyes, it belonged just as much to her husband. Her attitude toward her money and her marriage were out of whack with God’s design.

9. Married women:Do you have any possession or money that you consider yours and not your husband’s? What do you need to do about your attitude? Single women: Are you willing to be one with your future husband in this area? Why or why not? Does your attitude come from trust in God or not?

Although Gary and I consider all of the money we receive to belong to “us”, we do have separate checking accounts. Early on we realized that it is too difficult to keep up with the balance when two different people are using the same account. When I did not have a paying job, he gave me a certain amount each month; out of that, I paid certain bills and some other expenses. He trusted me to use that money wisely. One checking account may work for you and your husband. If you do have separate accounts, the key is to recognize that all the money in both accounts belongs to both of you. You do not have the authority to spend the money in your account in a way in which your husband would not agreed.

This brings up the other marriage principle that affects finances, submission. When you cannot agree, your husband is responsible before God for the way the money is spent. (Remember that includes all the money, whether you earned it or he did.) There have been so many times that I thanked God that it is not my responsibility but Gary’s. I am not anxious to answer to God for any more than necessary!

It is great when both spouses agree after praying about a monetary decision. I talk to so many women who say that they basically tell their husbands what to do financially. At the risk of being redundant, let me again emphasize that when you allow your husband to make the decisions, you are trusting God, not your husband. Let God, rather than you, deal with him! Don’t let your husband allow you to lead the home spiritually by being the only one who prays about the decisions made. Let him know that you respect him and expect him to pray and to make a wise decision.

If you desire to get out of debt (a wonderful goal), how do you do it? You stop spending and begin a plan to pay off the remaining debt. If you have to tear up your credit cards, do so. You may find that your husband is not as committed to getting out of debt as you are. Pledge that you personally will not be guilty of borrowing so that you have done all that you can to get out of debt.

10. Married women: Will you trust God with your money so that you quit trying to control the monetary decisions, giving your input but never insisting or suggesting that your husband is incapable of making the right decision? Write a prayer committing yourself to God and voicing your trust in Him. Single women: Write a prayer committing to God’s priorities for your money.

11. What does Prov. 27:15-16 say about nagging your husband over his spending habits (or any other things)? Married women: Have you been guilty?

12. What are some practical steps that a wife can take to let her husband know that she respects his decisions in this area?

Sometimes it can be quite difficult to shut your mouth and let your husband make what you consider bad decisions in the area of finances because they affect your entire family so much. Review the principles from 1 Peter about dealing with a husband who is not acting wisely, according to your understanding of God’s Word. Unless he is actually sinning, you need to respectfully share your perspective, pray, and let God deal with him. You are not the Holy Spirit. You must exhibit the gentle and quiet spirit that trusts God to deal with your husband and is at peace because of that faith.

13. How does our Word of Wisdom this week, Psalm 24:1, help you when you struggle to trust God with your money or your husband? Memorize it.

14. Copy 1 Sam.2:7 below. Read Ps. 127:2. How do these verses help you trust God instead of thinking that you must be a workaholic or work to the extent that it impacts your family?

Parenting with God’s Design

Darlene Leach shared with me a book written by her parents, telling of their lives and the ways that God had blessed them with “all these things” out of Matt. 6:33. Although they lived in a very different era, you can see from their example how important it is to teach financial principles to your children. In their marriage, they lived out the things they had been taught by their parents.²⁸

Both of us had always been taught to save a little of whatever we made! We had also been taught that the first ten cents of every dollar belonged to God, so it was only natural for us to take the first ten cents from our salary to church and the next ten cents to the Post Office! The Postal Service was paying 2% interest on investments! Discipline had always been a part of our lives, so it was fun and fulfilling to see our nest egg grow. It wasn’t very long before we could buy a car—not by paying so much down and so much a month, but by paying cash for a beautiful car! We didn’t realize it then, but God was gradually adding ‘all these things’ to our lives, just as fast as we proved ourselves to be dependable and trustworthy.

Daulton & Pauline Blevins

15. What practical ways are you teaching your children to trust God with their finances? How are you teaching them to give to God?

Wisdom from a Mentor (Karen)

For as far back as I can remember I have felt that I had to be independent. You’ve probably heard these philosophies: “If it is to be, it’s up to me” and “Life is what you make it”. I didn’t adopt those philosophies because I was a feminist or because my temperament directed me in that path, but because circumstances of my childhood more or less molded me that way. I learned about God at age 10, but there was no discipleship of my new faith until I was in my early twenties. By that time, I had become pretty proficient at taking care of myself financially, and I thought my role with God was to simply worship Him and live my life in a manner that would not shame Him. I had a really hard time shaking the idea that my problems were “my” problems and somehow I had to make decisions and work them out the best way I could, just as I had done all my life. It took a lot of Bible study and church attendance before it began to sink in that God didn’t want me to just worship Him as God, but to let Him be God in my life. It was hard for me to capture the thought that this Supreme Being not only wanted to participate in my decisions and needs, but He commanded it of me. What a relief that brought to my life and I used it “big-time” when I married my husband, a very sweet and sensitive person, but very choleric, take-charge kind of man!

By the time we met, we both were focused on following God’s will for our lives, so I didn’t have that struggle. I also knew that God’s design for marriage was for God to guide the man and the woman to follow that lead, and I was so ready for someone else to “take the lead” that this wasn’t an issue. (This far oversimplifies the submission issue for the wife, but that’s another topic in itself.) I so welcomed that! The struggle I did have was when God decided to test me in that area—how far would I trust Him to take care of the issues of our lives, and would I be willing to allow Robert to be the head of our household and not recapture that need to be independent?

Shortly after we were married, I sold my business and became an “assistant” to him in his. Calamity happened and we were wiped out financially. We lost everything except our cars that were paid for. It just seemed that things weren’t “working” for my husband from a business sense. Those were fearful times for me. I began thinking that I should get a job, any job, or maybe God wanted me to start back with my own business, but Robert was against it. I thought it was probably just his pride, and I was frustrated that I should be doing something to make our financial situation better. When you have a problem, you take action, RIGHT???? That is what I'd always done in the past. Finally, I did do something, I prayed, but God didn't seem to be listening. Frequently to my mind I would recall scripture that said that the man was the head of the house. I began to get a confidence that God was using this dark time in our lives to grow us for His purpose.

For the next few years, I stayed right at my husband’s side, supporting him in every way possible. I prayed for God to give me the strength to be an encouragement to my husband and to give me the contentment in our situation. Lord, help me not to whine and not to be envious of others who seem to not be having these awful financial struggles. We were frequent prayers. Things began to turn around and our financial issues decreased. When the dust had cleared, I looked back and realized that because I had truly relinquished my independence to God and my husband, God was able to work within my husband without my interference. I learned so many lessons through that hard time.

As a result, our marriage is strong and vital. We have a bond that creates a trust and oneness that I could have never imagined having with any one person! I realize that my husband isn’t perfect and that he is going to make mistakes, and from a secular view, I may suffer as a result; however, I know that if I simply follow the plan that God has laid out for the wife, then all that comes my way will ultimately be for my good. I don’t have to be the one to take care of everything in my life anymore. God does it perfectly. I can trust Him to work through my husband for my good and His glory.

Summing It Up

16. What one principle of finances has most impacted you this week? Write down one action you will take this week to implement this principle in your life. Make it personal. Use the first person: I will . . . .

²⁶Larry Burkett, The Word on Finances (Chicago: Moody Press, 1994), 147.

²⁷Kay Arthur, Our Covenant God (Colorado Springs, CO: Waterbrook Press, 1999), 64-65.

²⁸Daulton and Pauline Blevins, “All These Things”, (unpublished booklet, n.d.), 9.

Related Topics: Curriculum, Marriage

10. God's Design for Building Communication

Wisdom from the Word

You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Ephesians 4:29 (NET)

Understanding God’s Design

Throughout our study, we have studied many marriage principles. They do work better when the husband and wife communicate with one another, and communicate well. There is so much misunderstanding between spouses because of poor communication. I could write a book if I listed all the ways and times that Gary and I had misunderstandings because of poor communication with one another. If you are in a marriage where you do not understand one another very well, you may be able to improve things even if you are the only one to change. All you as the wife can do is adjust yourself and hope that your efforts will impact your husband as well.

You can read books and go to seminars that give practical methods for communicating in a better way. Many of the Biblical references deal more with problems that we have because our tongues get us into trouble.

Read James 3:2-12.

1. How powerful is the tongue according to James? Write down at least one phrase he uses to describe its power.

2. What illustrations from nature does James use to prove that it is not right to praise God with the same tongue that we use to destroy others?

I can remember far too many times when I have gone to church arguing with my husband or mad from an earlier argument; yet, I have sung praises to God and prayed with that same tongue. (I also smile and look so innocent!)

3. Have you been guilty of blessing God and saying hurtful, ugly things to your husband with the same tongue? Repent before God and write down your thoughts to Him.

Again, the book of Proverbs has much to say about this subject. As you read, remember that in Jewish poetry, which includes the book of Proverbs, the lines are in pairs. The second line either reinforces the truth of the first line or gives a contrast, an opposite. Knowing this may help you understand the verses better.

4. Read the following proverbs and write down the principles that you learn about the tongue:

a. Prov. 10:19-21

b. Prov. 11:13

c. Prov. 12:18

d. Prov. 12:25

e. Prov. 16:24

f. Prov. 17:9

g. Prov. 25:11-12

h. Prov. 27:6

i. Prov. 27:15-16

When we disagree with our spouses and become angry, or when they get angry, it is imperative that we handle it correctly. The Bible gives us some great suggestions for dealing with that situation.

5. What do you learn from the following verses? Write down what it says and then how it applies to an angry situation.

a. Prov. 15:1

b. Prov. 15:28

c. Prov. 21:23

d. Eph. 4:1-3

e. Eph. 4:29-32

f. Prov. 18:21

6. How does Matt. 5:21-24 relate to this last verse?

From my personal experience I can tell you what does not work when there is disagreement! An angry response merely increases the problem rather than fixing it. Don’t let me fool you. I get angry at least as much as my husband does at me. A lot depends upon my mood!!! I think we have to be extra cautious when we, as women, know that we are not in the best mood so that we can prevent arguments and not be too touchy about things. We need to know ourselves and our tendencies. Recognize your weaknesses and pray about God’s strength and grace during those times.

It has become quite popular to suggest that verbal abuse is a reason for divorce in the church. The Bible does not give that as an option. Remember that the only situation where Jesus allowed divorce was adultery. We see in 1 Cor. 7:12-16 that an unbelieving husband is allowed to leave if he chooses. The passage in 1 Peter 2:21-25 deals with others’ verbal abuse of Christ as an example to us. We looked at this passage in a previous lesson but need now to consider it as we deal with the tongue.

Read 1 Peter 2:21-25.

(Notice which passage follows these verses.)

7. How did Jesus handle verbal abuse according to these verses? (Write down what the Bible says, not what you think.)

We learn from Jesus that letting others have the final say is not weakness but strength when we are sacrificing ourselves to love. Responding in kind may be quite American, but it is not the example of Christ. We need to wait and deal with their treatment of us when things are not so tense.

8. According to Matt. 5:44, how did Jesus teach us to respond to our enemies who curse us? How did He exemplify this in His own life?

Instead of answering someone, not only in an abusive situation but also in other situations, often we should just listen. Too many times we only hear in part because we are so busy thinking of our retort.

9. What do you learn from the following verses about listening?

a. Ecc.3:1, 7b (The “b” indicates the second part of the verse.)

b. James 1:19

Building Your Marriage with God’s Design

10. How are you doing with your tongue, not just in marriage but in all areas of your life? Rate yourself from 1-10 from the biblical perspective we have studied. Give an explanation of why you placed yourself at that level.

11. Married women: With what one area of communication do you and your husband most struggle? Do any of these verses apply to that problem? Which ones and how can they help?

Steve Smith says that these are the most important words in marriage:

The 6 most important words—I am sorry. I was wrong.

The 5 most important words—You are my best friend.

The 4 most important words—What is your opinion?

The 3 most important words—If you please. (It’s not “I love you.” You show that you love him.)

The 2 most important words—Thank you.

The single most important word—We

12. Married women: Which of these words do you need to build more into your marriage? How can you incorporate these words more into your relationship with your husband?

Just as we have previously discussed, marriage is all about sacrifice and loving someone else more than yourself. It is death to self. That is the principle behind Jesus’ response to those who abused Him. How much do you love your husband and how much do you desire your marriage to be godly? Do you want to be the light of Christ to him? What if he is unsaved or not walking as he should with God? Your loving and gracious response to him in the midst of an ugly or angry situation may be the very sacrifice that will show him who Jesus is. Let go of your personal rights and the desire to be right. Just love him.

13. Write Eph. 4:29, the Wisdom from the Word this week, below and memorize it. If you are single, what situations do you face that need the application of this verse?

Parenting with God’s Design

I found that one of the most difficult tasks in parenting is teaching children to deal with one another, or even friends, when they are angry. Hitting is often the response of choice for young children. (Recently, it seems that many professional athletes have failed to respond any differently than young children who cannot control their emotions!) All of the principles from the verses you read in this lesson apply to children as well. As you know from your own life, answering in silence or with kindness to anger is not natural to us in the flesh. Only by the grace and strength of God can we learn to die to self and respond as Christ would. Our examples before our children will teach them much. Perhaps you need to have them memorize some of the verses that speak to the tongue. Perhaps you need to memorize them with your children!

I have noticed through the years that children who listen to gossip in their homes become gossips themselves. As they learn criticism of others from their parents, they become critical. Our words are heard, even when we are talking on the phone to someone else. Be careful!

14. Share a way that you are incorporating God’s principles for the tongue into your child training.

Wisdom from a Mentor (Margaret)

We came from very different backgrounds. We communicated very well in our family. My parents discussed everything together. My husband came from a family where there was a patriarch. No one discussed anything. His father made all the decisions, and everyone kept their feelings to themselves. When we married, my husband would not communicate. He would say, "We're not going to talk about it now.” There I was, wanting to talk about our problems. It got so bad that we went to a Christian counselor. He said communication was very important in a marriage. He gave us homework and said if we would do the homework, we could save our marriage. He said, “I am prescribing this for you and if you do not do this, it is like not taking medicine when one is ill.”

Our prescription was to sit down for 15 minutes, three times a week with a timer. The first time I would talk for 15 minutes about anything I wanted to say (without him interrupting), and the next time we met he could rebuttal what I said or talk about whatever he wanted to talk about without my interrupting him. We did this for two months and I found out more about my husband than I ever thought and the same for him. We have been communicating ever since.

I would recommend that every couple do this because it prevents arguing and causes you to really think about what the other person is saying. It helped me to really understand why he is the way he is. I thank God for leading me to this wise counselor. He saved our marriage.

Summing It Up

15. Consider all of the verses you read about communication. What verses did you find most convicting personally? Why?

16. What can you do to implement God’s principles in that one area this week? Give specifics and write it in the first person. I will . . . .

17. What is the one lesson you have learned in this course that has most impacted you? Why?

18. Write a personal prayer committing yourself to God’s principles in your marriage and thanking Him for what He has taught you through His Word.

Bibliography

Arthur, Kay. Our Covenant God. Colorado Springs, CO: Waterbrook Press, 1999.

Burkett, Larry. The Word on Finances. Chicago: Moody Press, 1994.

Christensen, Evelyn. Lord, Change Me. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1977.

Foh, Susan T. Women and the Word of God: A Response to Biblical Feminism. Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1979.

Mathews, Alice P. and M. Gay Hubbard, Marriage Made in Eden: A Pre-Modern Perspective for a Post-Christian World. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2004.

Mayhall, Carole. “Choosing to Submit,” in Marriage Takes More than Love. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1978.

Meredith, Don. Becoming One: Planning a Lasting, Joyful Marriage. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1979.

Meyer, F.B. Tried by Fire. Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1983.

The New Bible Commentary, ed. Donald Guthrie. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing, 1970.

Ortlund, Anne. Disciplines of the Beautiful Woman. Waco, TX: Word Books, 1977.

Ortlund, Jani. Fearlessly Feminine. Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 2000.

Renich, Jill. To Have and to Hold. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1972.

Sumner, Sarah. Men and Women in the Church: Building Consensus on Christian Leadership. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003.

Swindoll, Charles R. Strike the Original Match. Portland, Ore: Multnomah Press, 1980.

Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, vol. 1&2; eds. R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer, Jr., Bruce K. Waltke. Chicago: Moody Press, 1980.

Vine, W.E., Merrill F. Unger, William White, Jr., Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1996.

Wright, H. Norman. Understanding the Man in your Life. Waco, TX: Word Books, 1987.

Zodhiates, Spiros. The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament. Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 1992.

Related Topics: Curriculum, Marriage

Downloadable Resources for God's Design for Building Your Marriage

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Series Leader's Guide
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Related Topics: Curriculum, Marriage

God's Design for Building Your Marriage: A Study for Wise Women

Even before the first man and woman sinned, God established marriage. It is not a prison established by culture but a beautiful institution created by God for the best in family and society. So often we seek answers to our marriage problems from the world--psychologists, secular family counselors, friends, or even the Oprah Show--instead of from the only One who knows. Where have you sought help for your marriage? Have you been guilty of thinking that people know more than God? Join us on a ten-week adventure of discovering what God says about His plan for marriage.

Related Topics: Curriculum, Marriage, Women

Lesson 17: Lessons in Loneliness

Kate rolled over at the sound of the alarm, glanced at the clock, and wondered if she wanted to get up. Why bother? The house was silent. All three of her children had left for college over the past two days, and their absence hung heavily in the air. To make matters worse, the family dog had died a month ago, and even his friendly little wagging form had been removed from her life.

She wandered into the kitchen where her husband Hank was reading the sports page. "Hi, honey," she murmured. "Hmmm . . ."

Hank's eyes never left the paper. She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down at the window, staring at the September garden.

Hank stretched and groaned, got up and headed for the closet. Grabbing his suit coat, he walked toward the front door. "See you . . ." The door slammed, and Kate listened as the car started and backed out of the driveway, its sound fading into the cool morning air.

How would she fill another empty day? Kate dialed a couple of friends' phone numbers, but reached only their answering machines. She turned on the TV, made her way around the channels, then flipped it off in frustration. "I'll go to the mall," she decided aloud, smiling grimly at the bumper-sticker reality: "When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping."

The mall was crowded. Kate was caught in a tide of last-minute back-to-school shoppers, yet the crowds made her feel lonelier than ever. She sat at Starbuck's sipping a latte, watching the people chattering, laughing, and smiling at each other. 'Tears stung her eyes—she felt like the oldest shopper in the mall and the only one shopping alone. She fought off the idea that the world had somehow passed her by.

When she got home, Kate began to look forward to Hank's return from work. She decided to fight off her depression by making his favorite meal, which she did. The sound of his car pulling into the driveway gave her a surge of hope. Her solitary confinement was over!

Unfortunately, although Hank seemed to enjoy the dinner, he did so without comment. "How was your day, honey?" she inquired sweetly.

"Fine. Where's the TV Guide?"

She handed it to him, and he studied it during dessert. While she cleaned up the kitchen, Hank turned on the first in the series of sitcoms he would watch for the next three hours. Kate had a choice. She could sit at his side and watch with him. Or she could go into the den and spend the evening reading the new book she'd bought during her mall excursion. Either way, she would find no relief from the loneliness that seemed to follow her everywhere, dogging her steps like an unwelcome companion.

Lonely, But Not Alone

Loneliness. Even the word sounds sad, doesn't it?

What does it mean? Is being with people a solution? Is being married a remedy? Is having lots of friends a sure cure? Is being alone the same as being lonely?

According to Les Carter, "Loneliness is a feeling of separation, isolation, or distance in human relations. Loneliness implies emotional pain, an empty feeling, and a yearning to feel understood and accepted by someone."²³

Here's another interesting observation from Tim Hansel: "Loneliness is not the same as being alone. Loneliness is feeling alone . . . no matter how many people are around you. It is a feeling of being disconnected, unplugged, left out, isolated."²⁴

This means that we can be in a crowded room and feel isolated, locked in a bubble of our own. Like Kate, we can be married and lonely, yearning to be accepted as we are. This is one of the saddest kinds of loneliness there is. We can be at family gatherings and feel at a distance from other relatives. Loneliness is a feeling, not a circumstance. And all of us have felt it at some time because I don't think it's possible to find anyone who feels completely understood and fully satisfied all the time.

A Man Called to Loneliness

As we consider loneliness, we're going to revisit a man we met a few chapters ago. God called the prophet Jeremiah to live a very lonely life, and his loneliness came as a result of his commitment and obedience to God. In fact, that might be the very reason why some of us feel isolated and distanced from members of our families and some of our friends today.

As we read in Jeremiah 1 and 2, God called Jeremiah to be a prophet, a spokesman for God. He was to give God's words to a nation of idolatrous, wicked people. His messages were to be warnings of impending disaster, a judgment upon their rebellion against God and their worship of the pagan idols around them. We know Jeremiah was not courageous by nature; in fact he was timid and insecure. But God promised to make him strong and able to stand alone against the whole nation.

It was clear from the beginning that Jeremiah would never be a popular preacher who told people nice things about themselves. His message didn't exactly build their self-esteem. He gave them God's Word—and they hated it! Nobody ordered tapes of his messages. He didn't make many friends. Instead, he made very powerful enemies. TO make matters worse, the Lord gave Jeremiah some very hard orders. We find them in chapter 15 of the book of Jeremiah:

"Then the word of the LORD came to me: 'You must not marry and have sons or daughters in this place' For this is what the LORD says. . . . 'They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like refuse on the ground.' . . . 'Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal; do not go to mourn or show sympathy, because I have withdrawn my blessing, my love and my pity from this people.' . . .

"'And do not enter a house where there is feasting and sit down to eat and drink. . . . Before your eyes and in your days I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in this place" (Jer. 16:1-5, 8-9).

Jeremiah would never know the intimacy, comfort, and joys of marriage and family. He couldn't even enjoy a normal social life, sharing the joys and sorrows of his community. God wanted his lonely life to be an object lesson for what would soon happen to the whole nation. Talk about isolation and loneliness! There was no safe place, humanly speaking, for Jeremiah to be loved, encouraged, and accepted.

God gave His prophet a very tough assignment, and it lasted more than forty years, growing progressively worse. It's a real comfort to me to observe that Jeremiah wasn't always on top of things. He had deep feelings. There were times when he mourned for his people and times when he bitterly complained about his lot in life, including his relationship with God. Here are just a few of his grievances:

"Since my people are crushed, I am crushed; I mourn, and horror grips me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people? Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people" (Jer. 8:21-9:1).

"Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth, a man with whom the whole land strives and contends! I have neither lent nor borrowed, yet everyone curses me! . . .

"I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long" (Jer. 15:10 and 20:7-8).

Wouldn't you agree that Jeremiah was a very lonely man? He was angry, frustrated, fearful, uncertain, and depressed. He knew his enemies wanted to get rid of him. He couldn't trust his friends. He felt sometimes that even God had deceived him. His life was so painful he wished he had never been born.

The interesting thing is that he expressed his feelings. He told God what he was thinking. Some of his complaints were a mixture of good and bad. He'd complain, then he'd remember God's promises, then he'd complain again. The reason Jeremiah was able to fulfill his mission for all those years was that he always came back to the Lord and remembered his promises to him. He said, "Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you" (Jer. 32:17).

In the same way that Jeremiah was distressed because he believed God's promises of disaster and exile, he was encouraged and enabled to endure because he believed God's promises of a future restoration of Israel to the land that would be permanent. In the generations to follow, there would be no rebellion because God would bring His people under a new covenant that would be written on their hearts, not on tables of stone (see Jer. 31:31-34).

The Strength to Go On

Jeremiah could bear the hatred, the treachery, the plots against him, the imprisonment, the loneliness, even being stuck in the mud in the bottom of a cistern till he almost starved to death—he endured it all for the Lord's sake. He endured it because he knew he was doing what God told him to do, and he could see the big picture. He believed God would bring His people back to the land and to Himself. And even though Jeremiah wouldn't live to see it, he found comfort in its certainty.

Some of us experience isolation and distance from husbands, mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers, just because we are believers and are living in obedience to God. Perhaps you aren't invited to family gatherings. Maybe your husband is angry because you won't do some of the things he wants to do. Or it could be that some of your friends have dropped you since you've begun to be serious about living according to Scripture. Jesus knew this would happen to those who trusted Him. He invited us to take an eternal perspective on what happens to us here for His sake, saying, "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you" (Matt. 5:11-12).

Just as Jeremiah demonstrated for his people what was in their future, Jesus modeled for us what we can expect when we choose the narrow road of faith and obedience.

Imagine growing up with Jesus as a big brother—He must have been easy to live with, because He never sinned at all. Yet in spite of that fact, when he embarked on His ministry, His own brothers didn't believe in Him and thought He was crazy (see John 7:5 and Mark 3:21). He often felt isolation and lack of intimacy with His disciples in the three years He was training them. They were selfish, ambitious, unspiritual, and often unbelieving. Even when He needed them most as He prayed in the garden before His agony, they kept falling asleep, unable or unwilling to share that terrifying, heartbreaking time with Him.

Jesus certainly knew what it was to have His closest friends betray, deny, disappoint, and abandon Him. And the worst part about His substitutionary death for us was enduring, in the hours He hung on the cross, a seeming eternity of separation from God—the penalty for sin.

There was ultimate loneliness in Jesus' heart-rending cry: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:45). He endured separation from God, which is spiritual death, so we would never have to know it. He died to spare us the agony He experienced. And He lives today, willing to help us solve the problem of our lonely feelings.

The Causes of Loneliness

There are three basic causes for feelings of loneliness or alienation: separation from God, from others, and from ourselves. Let's examine each of these causes and consider ways to ease the pain of loneliness.

Separation from God

God created us to live in fellowship with Him, but sin broke that fellowship. As human beings, we are born with a capacity to know God; but we are also born without the knowledge of God and without a relationship with Him. God loved His fallen race so much that He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus, to die for our sins so that we might be restored to fellowship with God through faith in Christ.

Even those of us who have trusted Him and have been given new life experience times when we feel alienated from our heavenly Father. Fortunately, we're always the ones who have moved away—sin breaks our fellowship with God. That's why He has provided a way for us to be continually cleansed and forgiven when we confess our sins to Him. He doesn't want us to be lonely for Him.

We may be lonely for people, for friends, for a mate, but if we have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ, we never have to be lonely for God again. We have His constant assurance that He is always with us and in us. Augustine rightly said, "Our hearts are restless, O God, until they find their rest in Thee." In order to grow closer to Him, we need to cultivate our fellowship with God. There are some practical ways we can do that:

Quiet Time. Take just fifteen minutes at the start of your day to read some Scripture and pray.

Memorize Scripture. During the day, when you have to wait in a doctor's office or even at a traffic light, work on memorizing a verse you have in your purse or taped to your dashboard. Have verses available in your office desk so you can work on them at lunch or during your breaks. You'll be surprised at how many lost minutes you can recapture in a day.

Practice the Presence of God. Send up "arrow prayers" all day. Keep the spiritual "phone lines" open. This will cause you to be more responsive to the nudging of His Spirit. You will be more sensitive to sin. You will be more obedient to His Word. And you'll find that your close fellowship with your heavenly Father will ease the loneliness, which is the worst of all, that sense of separation from God.

Separation from People

God also created us to have relationships with other people. When He first created Adam, He said, "It is not good for man to be alone." But every relationship has its times of stress and disappointment. We all want to be perfectly free to be ourselves and to be accepted as we are, but that never works 100 percent of the time. There are times, for various reasons, when close friendships are disturbed. Occasionally, we even feel a distance from those we love the most.

It's very lonely to know a lot of people who are just acquaintances. We all put on happy faces when we meet. But how do we establish the kind of friendships in which we can be ourselves? How do we connect at a meaningful level? There are some steps we can take.

Reach Out to Others. Instead of waiting for the phone to ring, take the initiative. Many times the friend you want to know better is waiting for someone to call her. Suggest lunch or a casual dinner at your place. Plan an outing together, if you are both interested and compatible.

Share a Common Interest or Service. Another way to make friends is within church groups. Women get better acquainted when they share studies or serve in an outreach together. As we work side by side, share our needs, and pray together, we find other women who are drawn to us, and vice versa. Women need each other. We accomplish more as a team than we could ever accomplish alone.

Accept Others As They Are. Don't make friends to reform them. This doesn't mean that friends can't help each other overcome bad attitudes and flaws. But it can't be done within the context of condemnation. Love is the great motivator. When I know that I am loved and appreciated, it's not as painful to hear someone advise me that I should try a different approach to a situation.

Share Your Thoughts As Your Confidence Grows. Friendships deepen when we realize we can trust another person. Once trust is established, we are able to open our hearts to each other, drop our masks, and be real. Many times we struggle with loneliness because we keep our problems and real feelings all bottled up inside. But when we begin to talk about them, they are whittled down to size. Even if a friend has no solution, just talking about a difficulty helps. Knowing that someone else cares and is praying for us often eases our sense of isolation. We need to recognize that pride is often what keeps us from being honest and real, adding to our sense of isolation.

Sometimes our feelings of loneliness indicate a sense of alienation from ourselves. When we are completely honest, we'll admit there are things in our personalities we don't like. There are times when everything seems to be going wrong and we are frustrated and discouraged. When we dwell on our failures and shortcomings, we generate our own loneliness. And this usually leads to more problems.

There are some positive efforts we can make to change our sense of self-alienation:

Respond to God's Love. Choose to believe that God loves you, and receive His love. You are His unique creation. He will give your life significance. When you and I accept God's evaluation of us, we won't be controlled by our own feelings of inadequacy and loneliness. We will have confidence in His ability to make us the person He wants us to be. We will be free to be ourselves, controlled by His Holy Spirit. When you know you are loved, it changes the way you feel about yourself.

Jeremiah's isolation and loneliness were eased when he remembered who God is and when he believed His promises. Jesus experienced the worst separation in time and eternity so that we could have the love, fellowship, presence, and guidance of God forever. The psalmist said it well:

Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?

And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever . . .

As for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds. (Ps. 73:23-26, 28)

The psalmist's words are as true today as they were then. We may be alone, but we don't have to be lonely all the time.

Knowing God loves us and has control of our lives should give us an assurance that He will meet our needs. He may not give us all we want, but He will give us what we need. If you have been living with a feeling of loneliness and you've put your life on hold until things change, stop it today! Tell the Lord that knowing Him is more important than any other relationship. Tell Him you want to get out of the spiritual playpen and grow to maturity. Emotional immaturity will hinder your spiritual maturity. Your feelings aren't the most important part of you.

Act with Your Will. God gave you a will so you can make choices, and He intends for you to act with your will. He wants you . . .

To choose to obey Him.
To choose to be satisfied with the life He's given you.
To choose to be thankful for the way He has made you.
To choose to accept the love, forgiveness, peace, joy, and fellowship He offers you in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Every blessing of God is wrapped up in Jesus. When we act with our will to receive Him for our salvation, He comes to live within us, bringing with Him all the promises of God. We don't have to look anywhere else to find joy, peace, acceptance, security, and significance. We must simply act with our wills to receive whatever we need from Him. Provision for our every need is offered to us without cost, through the mercy and grace of God. But it isn't really ours until we take it for ourselves—by faith.

²³Carter, Mind Over Emotions, 121.

²⁴Tim Hansel, Through the Wilderness of Loneliness (Elgin, Ill.: David C. Cook, 1991), 59-60.

2. Show Me Thy Glory

Some people thoroughly fascinate me. Soon after I meet them I sense that there is something extraordinary about them. They think deeply and profoundly about things. Their ideas are creative and interesting. Their suggestions are practical and profitable. They exude an unusual radiance and concern for others. I find myself asking them questions and listening intently to the answers because I want to get to know them better, find out what they think, how they feel, and what makes them the people they are. Getting to know them is immeasurably helpful to me.

One day it occurred to me that God is the most fascinating person alive and that getting to know Him could well be the most helpful thing that ever happened to me. The more I probed His nature the more convinced I became that knowing Him is the solution to most of my problems. And as I listened to others share their burdens with me as their pastor, I became convinced that knowing God better was the answer to many of their problems as well. I decided that I want to get to know God intimately, and that I want to help others get to know Him as well, if I possibly can.

Many Bible students believe as a result of their examination of Scripture that the Christian’s most important occupation is getting to know God. Would you say that you know God personally? If so, how well? Barely? Casually? Intimately? Polls reveal that, in spite of the increased secularization of our society, the great majority of Americans still believe in the existence of God. Nearly everyone has had doubts about it at some time or other, but when the average person considers the evidence thoughtfully, he comes to the convinced persuasion that there is no other logical explanation for things as they are or life as we know it. There must be a personal God.

But if those same people were asked, “Do you know God personally?” many would admit that they had never actually thought about it. Having a personal and intimate relationship with God is something that has never occurred to them. In fact, they are not even sure that God is knowable, or that they would want to know Him if they thought they could.

All of us have our own mental image of what God is like. Psychologists tell us that it is formed largely through our relationships with our earthly fathers. For some, God is an angry tyrant who is upset with them most of the time. Who wants to know a god like that? For others, God is a strict disciplinarian who is always watching over their shoulders, ready to rap them on the knuckles if they step out of line. They want to get as far as they can from a god like that. For still others, God is an absentee father who is too busy or too aloof to care about them. He created them but now He has more important things to do. There isn’t much sense in trying to get to know a god like that. And for yet others, God is like an old fashioned great-grandfather who might be nice to know, but who really wouldn’t understand them or have much in common with them if they did know Him. So why bother to make the effort?

Most people would like to feel that God is on their side rather than against them, or that He will be there when they need Him. But know Him personally? That concept is foreign to them. I have often wondered what God thinks about all this. He is a person, you know. He does think. And He does have feelings. How would you feel if you kept sharing yourself with others in overtures of friendship, but most everybody to whom you reached out refused to accept you or refused to believe what you had to say about yourself? They insisted instead on perpetuating their own preconceived notions about you and went on ignoring you. That may be how God feels about the situation.

God is knowable, and He does want to be known. As a matter of fact, He tells us that our eternal state depends upon knowing Him. Jesus said, “And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent” (John 17:3). Knowing God and His Son Jesus is the heart of the whole matter of eternal life. The word know in this verse does not refer to a casual acquaintance either. It is the kind of knowledge that comes through living contact and personal relationship. If knowing God is that important, maybe we ought to talk about how we can get to know Him.

The One To Be Known Must Reveal Himself

What does it mean to know somebody? Obviously, we must first know something about him, what he is like, how he thinks, and how he is likely to act under certain circumstances. And that can only happen when he reveals himself to us.

If I want to get to know you, I need to make myself available to you, reach out to you in a friendly way, and show an interest in you. But that will accomplish very little unless you are willing to reveal yourself to me. You are the key. You decide whether or not I will ever get to know you. If you want me to know you, you will open up and tell me about yourself—what you are thinking, what you really believe, what you are feeling. You will be yourself in my presence, that is, act in a normal manner consistent with your true personality. You won’t put on airs, wear a facade, mask your true self, or always put your best foot forward.

One reason some Christians enjoy so few genuine friendships is that they are afraid to let people know them, afraid they wouldn’t be liked or trusted if anybody knew the real person inside. So they play the old game of cover-up. God is not like that. He wants to be known. He is confident that the better we know Him, the more we will love Him, trust Him, worship Him, and serve Him. So He takes the initiative and opens up. He tells us about Himself. He reveals Himself to us. It has to be that way. There can be no personal knowledge of God unless He makes Himself known.

How does God reveal Himself? One way is in nature. “The heavens are telling of the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1). He also reveals Himself in history. As King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon learned, “the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind” (Daniel 4:17). The Apostle Paul taught us that God reveals something about His holy standards through man’s conscience (Romans 2:14-16). But none of these give us very many particulars about God’s personality or nature. We need something more. We need to have Him talk with us. And He does that, not through spooky voices or mystical experiences, but through Scripture. They are God’s words to us. They were given by the breath of His mouth (cf. 2 Timothy 3:16; Matthew 4:4). In the Bible God tells us what He is like. We learn how He thinks, how He feels, and how we can expect Him to act. If we want to know God, we must begin by opening the Bible and reading what He has to say about Himself.

But God is infinite, and we are finite human beings. How can the finite ever really understand the infinite? How can the human ever truly know the divine? It seems that God must reveal Himself to us in some way more personal than mere written words if we are ever to know Him genuinely. And that is exactly what He did. “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:1-3). Jesus Christ is the out-shining of God’s glory and the perfect expression of God’s essential being. To know Him is to know God. Jesus Himself made that claim when He said, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him” (John 14:7).

While Jesus has returned bodily to Heaven, God has given us both the inspired record of His life as well as the spiritual faculties we need to know Him personally. We can know Christ just as intimately as if we walked with Him on earth as His first disciples did. And to know Him is to know God.

Of course, the spiritual faculties we need are not operative when we are born. Scripture says they are dead. They need to be made alive toward God (cf. Ephesians 2:1). God does that for us when we acknowledge our guilt and put our trust in Christ’s payment for our sins at Calvary. In a second birth, a spiritual birth, a birth from above, He gives us eternal, spiritual life (cf. John 3:3, 16). He enters our being in the person of His Spirit and brings us into a personal relationship with Himself. Then we can confidently say, “I know the Lord.” The knowledge of God begins at the cross of Jesus Christ. This is the knowledge He was referring to when He claimed that eternal life was a matter of knowing His Father and Himself. Knowing God in this sense means becoming a true Christian.

From that point on we have the spiritual resources to get to know Him better. And that is what He wants us to do. He encourages us to grow in His knowledge (2 Peter 3:18). But how is that going to happen? He has taken the initiative and has revealed Himself. The next step is ours.

The One Who Wants To Know Must Respond

Cultivate a Desire. Let’s go back to our human illustration for a moment. If I want to know you, first you must open up to me and share yourself with me. But I am still not going to know you very well unless I respond to your self revelation. The quality of my response will depend to a large degree on the intensity of my desire. Has my first insight into your personality whet my appetite to know more? Do I wish to pursue the relationship and carry it to a deeper level? While you were the key originally, now I am the key. I decide whether or not I will ever know you better.

Some Christians have not made much of a response in their relationship with God. They have learned enough about Him to acknowledge their need for salvation, and they have met Him personally and experientially in a saving relationship, but they have never moved on from there. Unfortunately they have gotten lousily entangled in too many other pursuits, and their time for getting to know God better has been crowded out. Though they know Him, it is not a very intimate and thorough knowledge. That could explain some of the problems in their lives, things such as nagging worries, endless fears, stifling guilt, a sour disposition, a gloomy outlook, and spiritual or emotional depression, since an inadequate knowledge of God will affect all these areas of life. And things will probably not change very much until they do develop a burning desire to know God more intimately.

Getting to know God better could well be the single most important issue in the Christian’s life. It affects so many aspects of our spiritual walk. For example, most believers who desire to please God want to know His will. They are asking, “What does God want me to do?” Knowing Him better will provide the answer to that question. As our knowledge grows, we will begin to think as He thinks, see things as He sees them, be burdened about the same things that burden Him. We will not need to ask what He wants us to do. We will know. And that is a good reason to begin cultivating a desire to know Him.

Moses had that desire. We read about it shortly after Israel’s idolatrous worship of the golden calf. Moses had pitched a tent outside the camp and was meeting there with God regularly. God was speaking to him face to face as a man speaks to his friend, and Moses was getting to know Him. But he wanted to know Him much better. “Now therefore, I pray Thee, if I have found favor in Thy sight, let me know Thy ways, that I may know Thee” (Exodus 33:13). That was the desire of his heart—to truly know God. His request resulted in a great promise from God: “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest” (Exodus 33:14). It was a beautiful assurance of God’s perpetual guidance and care.

But even that was not enough for Moses. Every new revelation of God stirred a hunger in his heart for more. With a longing in his soul he cried, “I pray Thee, show me Thy glory!” (Exodus 33:18) God’s glory is the sum total of all his attributes. Moses yearned to know all that a human being can possibly absorb about an infinite God. His soul thirsted for a knowledge of God. That is how a person gets to know Him. He realizes that life in this world is empty and meaningless apart from an intimate and thorough knowledge of the living God who made the world and controls it, who made him and gave him life. He longs to know God and he cries out from the depths of his soul, “Show me Thy glory.” That person is ready for an earthshaking, life changing, experiential knowledge of God.

David had the same desire. We see it repeated throughout the Psalms:

One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD,
And to meditate in His temple (Psalm 27:4).

To dwell in the house of the Lord was to live in intimate fellowship with the Lord. That was David’s passion:

As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So my soul pants for Thee, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God;
Where shall I come and appear before God? (Psalm 42:1-2)

O GOD, Thou art my God; I shall seek Thee earnestly;
My soul thirsts for Thee, my flesh yearns for Thee,
In a dry and weary land where there is no water (Psalm 63:1).

Paul had the desire as well: “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:7-8). All the position, praise, power, prestige, and possessions of earth were like trash compared to the excellency of knowing Christ because those things have no eternal value. They were not worth occupying his mind.

Why would anyone want to sit around and long after trash? Yet that is exactly what some believers are doing. They crave the things of the world instead of the knowledge of God; they long for the debris at the city dump when they can have the best life has to offer—an intimate relationship with the living God. The overpowering passion of Paul’s life was to know Christ (Philippians 3:10). That may have been one of the prime reasons God used him so powerfully. The desire was there. Ask God to give you that same desire, to help you cultivate a thirst for Him. Then begin reading His Word with an eye open to what He says about Himself. Each new revelation will create a desire to know more.

Accept What God Reveals. After cultivating the desire, the next step in our response to God’s self revelation is to accept what He makes known about Himself. That is the body of information we call the attributes of God. An attribute is an inherent characteristic, whatever God reveals as being true of Himself. It is not so much a part of God or a quality that He possesses as how He is or what He is—the essence of His being, His nature, His character. God and His attributes are actually one. As we study these attributes we are going to learn not only what God is like, but who God is.

Some theologians draw a sharp distinction between God’s essence and His attributes, but that seems to be unnecessary. The sum of His attributes constitutes who He is, His essential being. If you described all the properties of something you would be describing what it is, its essence. Just so, if you could describe all of God’s attributes you would be describing His essence, who He is.

Obviously, we do not know everything there is to know about God. We are limited to what He has revealed about Himself in His Word. And with our finite minds we cannot even comprehend all of that. But what we do grasp of what He has revealed can enrich our existence on earth immeasurably and provide us greater pleasure than any other pursuit in life. It brings us into personal touch with the living God.

There is also a debate among theologians concerning how the attributes of God are to be classified and cataloged. Some distinguish His natural attributes from His moral attributes, that is, those that belong to his constitutional nature in contrast to those that qualify him as a personal, moral being. Others separate the communicable attributes from the incommunicable, that is, those that can be understood by comparing them to something in human life in contrast to those that have no human counterpart. Others insist there are immanent attributes that relate to God as He is, and transitive attributes by which He reveals Himself to His creation. Why do we need to classify God’s attributes? He is who He is. I would prefer simply to know Him as He is and not try to pigeonhole each attribute.

As we see God reveal Himself in His Word we may say at times, “That is not the way I have always thought about God.” But what we have always thought is not particularly important. Concentrating on that may only confuse us. We need to focus on what God has told us about Himself. For example, if I have preconceived ideas about you that are inaccurate, yet I continue to hold on to those ideas after you tell me the truth about yourself, I will obviously never get to know you. I must accept what you tell me about yourself. Just so, when God tells us who He is and how He acts we need to believe Him. That is essential to knowing Him. But there is still something more that we need to understand.

Involve Your Entire Being. After the desire has been cultivated, and the decision to accept what He reveals has been made, there must be a definite commitment to Him that involves our total being. In our human illustration, I cannot get to know you intimately unless I commit myself to spend time with you, take an interest in what interests you, get concerned about what concerns you, and rejoice in what brings joy to you. I must become totally involved in your life. Unfortunately, many of us have stopped short of that point in our knowledge of God.

If we really want to know Him, it is going to involve our total person—intellect, emotions, and will. Unfortunately, we live in a day of extremes. On one hand are the superintellectuals who know all the doctrines about God, yet feel nothing in their relationship with Him. On the other hand are the supersentimentalists who can drum up a great emotional religious experience, but do not know the facts about God. In between are all kinds of people who say they know God yet do not exercise their wills to obey Him.

All three parts of our personality are involved in knowing God. First, we learn about Him with our intellects. We study the Word, absorb the information He reveals about Himself, meditate on it, then think through its implications and applications to our way of living. That is all the function of the mind. The mind must be involved in knowing God. If we do not have accurate information about Him, we cannot say we know Him.

But we must not stop with the mind. As we learn more about Him we become more emotionally involved with Him. And that is nothing to be afraid of. There is no reason to back away from the emotional expression of our faith. When we see the depths of His love for us it might well bring tears to our eyes or shouts of joy to our lips. It will certainly inspire greater love for Him. When we understand the far reaching implications of His goodness and grace toward unworthy sinners such as we are, we may burst into song, even if we cannot carry a tune. When we realize how deeply we have hurt Him by our sin we will feel grief. When we experience the reality of His forgiveness we will feel relief, and love, and joy, and a sense of security. When we see people spurn Him our hearts will be saddened. These are all emotions, and a true knowledge of God cannot eliminate them.

But we do not stop with an intellectual knowledge of the facts and some exciting emotional experiences. We must do something about what we have discovered. We must choose by an act of our wills to live in a manner consistent with the information we have received and the feelings we have encountered. Not everyone does that. Paul told us about people who professed to know God but denied Him by their deeds (Titus 1:16). John went so far as to say that the person who says he knows God but refuses to obey Him is a liar (1 John 2:4).

Let’s go back to the human illustration again. If I have gotten to know you intimately, you will expect certain things from me, things such as loyalty, faithfulness, trust, fellowship, an open sharing of myself with you, and a desire to please you. Those are things I must choose to do by an act of my will.

We cannot really say we know God just because we have accumulated some facts about Him or had an emotional experience with Him. If we truly know Him we will choose to do what He wants us to do. We will talk with Him, freely tell Him what is going on inside us, honestly admit where we fall short of His expectations, implicitly trust what He tells us, depend on Him, submit ourselves to Him, obey Him, and worship Him all because of who we have discovered Him to be. As we relate to Him in that way our personal knowledge of Him will grow even more meaningful and fulfilling.

Our willingness to obey God can increase our understanding of Him immensely. For example, if I express my willingness to obey your instructions, I am going to learn a great deal about you from the things you ask me to do. The more I obey, the more you will instruct me, and the more I will learn. When I stop listening to what you want me to do I will stop growing in my knowledge.

Anne Sullivan, who tutored the blind and deaf Helen Keller, recognized that it was useless to try to teach her anything until the young girl learned to obey her. She became convinced that obedience is the gateway through which knowledge enters the mind of a child. The same is true for the child of God. Obedience is the gateway to our knowledge of Him. Some of us have reached a roadblock in our relationship with God. Knowing Him better will first require yielding our wills to Him fully and deciding to obey Him unreservedly.

If that issue is settled and you want to go on growing in your knowledge of God, I would like to help by bringing together some of the information He has revealed about Himself in His Word. I feel most inadequate to do that, but I want to try. The rest is up to you. You will need to believe what God says, then commit yourself to total involvement with Him. It may mean some changes in the way you live, but the benefits will be enormous. Maybe it would be profitable to review a few of those benefits before we go on to explore God’s attributes. That is the purpose of the next chapter.

Action To Take

Determine first that you will ask God daily to show you something about Himself, and secondly that you will read some portion of Scripture daily, looking for some truth about Him. Begin right now.

The Net Pastor's Journal, Eng Ed, Issue 20 Summer 2016

Summer 2016 Edition
Author: Dr. Roger Pascoe, President,
The Institute for Biblical Preaching
Cambridge, Ontario, Canada
(http://tibp.ca/)

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“Strengthening the Church in Biblical Preaching and Leadership”

Part I: The Power For Preaching, Pt. 3 Continued

“The Power of the Holy Spirit”

In the last three editions of this journal we have been discussing the subject of the power of the Holy Spirit for preaching. In the last edition, we asked several questions like: (1) What is Spirit-empowered preaching? (2) Why do some preachers seem to have the power of the Spirit while others do not?

In this edition we are going to address another question that this subject raises: What is the difference between the “filling” of the Spirit and the “empowerment” of the Spirit? Here it is important to understand three distinctions between the baptism, the filling, and the empowerment of the Spirit (adapted from Dr. Stephen F. Olford).

1. The baptism of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13) represents our “spiritual position” in Christ. This occurs only once at the time of our regeneration, at which time we are “indwelled” by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19; 2 Tim. 1:14; James 4:5). All believers are baptized / indwelled by the Spirit.

2. The filling of the Spirit (Eph. 5:18) reveals our “spiritual condition” in Christ. There is one baptism of the Spirit but many fillings of the Spirit. Filling signifies saturation, no room for the flesh, self, or sin. This is not the indwelling of the Spirit (that is a fact of new birth). This is being controlled by the Spirit, as we have already discussed. This is a function of living according to the new birth. This involves obedience to, submission to, dependence on, and allegiance to the Holy Spirit in everyday living. “This is normal Christian living and Christ-likeness” (Olford, Anointed Expository Preaching, 216). We are to “be filled” with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18). This almost seems like a grammatical impossibility – an imperative in the passive voice; a command to do something that is done to us! But the conflict is resolved as follows: we obey the command by actively ridding our lives of anything that would grieve or quench the Spirit (by virtue of our manner of life, holiness etc.) and, in response, we are passively (i.e. something done to us) controlled by the Spirit as He works in us and through us in our lives and ministries.

3. The empowerment of the Spirit (Acts 1:8) reinforces our “spiritual vocation” in Christ. In order for our ministries to be effective for God, we need to be empowered by the Spirit (1 Cor. 2:1-5; 1 Thess. 1:5). We cannot produce spiritual results ourselves. We are engaged in a spiritual vocation which demands the sanction and efficacy of the Spirit in order to be effective. So, we must first be filled with the Spirit before we can be empowered by the Spirit to effectively preach God’s word. And I would argue that if we are truly filled with the Spirit, we will be empowered by the Spirit.

So, let me ask the same question as last time: Why are some preachers Spirit-empowered and others not? The difference has nothing to do with indwelling of the Spirit for all believers are indwelled by the Spirit. Rather, the difference seems to lie in the “filling” of the Spirit. Some preachers are “filled” with the Spirit and, thus, are able to serve in the “power” of the Spirit while others are not. If a preacher is not “filled” with the Spirit, then it stands to reason that his preaching will not be accompanied by the empowerment of the Spirit. Some preachers are living in obedience to the Spirit while others are not. Some preachers are gifted by the Spirit to preach and others are not. It’s all a question of how we live (whether we are in submission to and dependence upon the Spirit or whether we are living in our own resources) and how God has gifted us.

Therefore, if there is present in your life’s activities, thoughts, desires etc. anything that would “grieve the Holy Spirit” (Eph. 4:30), then the Holy Spirit will not be active in your life and ministry. It’s impossible. I am not denying the sovereignty of the Spirit to use even dumb donkeys or even unsaved people to achieve his purposes, but the principle in the believer’s life is that the Spirit does not operate for blessing when our lives are not suited to his indwelling. Similarly, if there are things in your life that would “quench the Spirit” (1 Thess. 5:19), then the Spirit will not be active in blessing or empowering your ministry.

It is right and proper, then, that we should want the empowerment of the Spirit in our lives and ministries. Indeed, we cannot conduct meaningful, fruitful ministry without the empowerment of the Spirit and the liberty of the Spirit to do his work in us and in our audience.

In order to preach with power, we must allow the Spirit of God to do His work in us, sanctifying us (so that we are usable by God), illuminating us (so that we understand the Word correctly), and enabling us (so that we can express the Word properly). And, the Spirit of God must do His work in our audiences, convicting them concerning sin, righteousness, and judgement to come (Jn. 16:11), and transforming them into people of God, Christ-followers. This is the evidence of the empowerment and, therefore, blessing, of the Spirit – vessels who are fit for the Master’s use and audiences whose lives are radically changed.

Let me now add a word of warning and a word of encouragement. First, a word of warning. Beware of “having a form of godliness but denying the power” (2 Tim. 3:5). Beware of thinking that because you can create a certain atmosphere in the congregation or draw out a certain response from them, that you are preaching with power. Beware of focussing on experiences, phenomena, and subjective feelings, while missing the genuine work of the Spirit. Beware that you don’t confuse preaching in the flesh with preaching in the Spirit. “When you preach in the energy of the flesh, you feel exalted and lifted up. When you preach in the power of the Spirit, you are filled with humble awe at the work of God” (Martyn Lloyd-Jones, cited in Arturio G. Azurdia III, Spirit Empowered Preaching, Christian Focus Publications, 2003, preface).

We must be convinced every time we preach that “the message I am preaching can do no good to anyone unless it is accompanied by the Spirit of God” (Stuart Olyott, Preaching Pure and Simple, Wales, Bryntirion Press, 2005, 154). It is only the empowerment of the Spirit of God that can produce spiritual results. On our own, we can accomplish nothing.

How do you know, then, if you are preaching with the empowerment and blessing of the Spirit of God? You know it when the Word of God applied by the Spirit of God produces a response from the people. And you know that people’s lives are being changed when some get saved, marriages are restored, relationships are healed, people become more devoted disciples of Christ, people become more engrossed with the Word etc.

Now, a word of encouragement. This analysis of “the empowerment” (anointing, unction) of the Spirit ought to be a great encouragement to preachers, who day in and day out, year after year, are quietly serving God in their ministries, who are faithfully and accurately explaining and applying God’s Word, who are trusting the Spirit of God to take his Word and use it to the conversion of souls and the transformation of lives, such that people become fully devoted followers of Christ “till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect person, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).

That’s Spirit-empowered ministry. It is the preaching of one whose sole desire is to glorify God, to magnify Christ, with a view to “presenting every person perfect in Christ Jesus” (Col. 1:28). I would argue that what we should seek in our preaching is God’s blessing, which will be manifested in such ways as: (1) fruit in our ministry (people being saved; people growing in Christ etc.), (2) spiritual fruit in our own lives (Gal. 5:22), (3) the affirmation of the leaders of the church in affirming us for ministry, and (4) the centrality of Christ and the glory of God in our preaching.

So, for those pastors and preachers who do not see visible results before, during, or after preaching, take courage. “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty, and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are so that no flesh should glory in his presence ...that, as it is written, ‘He who glories, let him glory in the Lord’” (1 Cor. 1:27-29, 31).

May this article be an encouragement to us all as preachers, that we cannot accomplish the great purposes of God in the lives of our hearers, but through living holy lives, supplication in prayer, and dependence on the Spirit of God, we can be used by God for his sovereign purposes. Sometimes we may know what some of those results are, but many times we will not. Our comfort is that the work is God’s work – he alone can save souls; he alone can change people’s lives. Without that assurance our ministry would be discouraging. But with that assurance our ministry is fulfilling.

Part II: Preparing For Preaching

Outlining the Sermon

Up to this point, in our discussion of “preparing for preaching” we have been talking about selecting texts and topics, studying the text, analyzing and understanding the text, and identifying the structure of the text. That process can be both exciting and discouraging – exciting when you discover the flow of thought in the passage (i.e. the structure of the text), but discouraging when you work at it for hours and fail to discover it. Perhaps you can see why sermon preparation is hard work.

But now, finally, you are ready to prepare a sermon outline of the text. Perhaps you are wondering, “What is the difference between the structure of the text and the outline of the sermon? Are they not the same?” For some preachers they are the same. Many preachers preach from the structure of the text - and that’s alright, but it doesn’t really quite go far enough, because our sermon outline needs to reflect the theological principles and application of the text to us today, so that our congregations can see how it applies to them. One of our jobs as preachers is to bridge the gap between the ancient text, people, language, and culture, to our present day.

So, while a sermon outline follows and flows from the textual structure, it differs from the textual structure in that it determines how you are going to preach what the text says. By the time you have determined the structure of the text, you know the subject of the passage and what the writer says about that subject (the complements). In other words, you know what the author has written about and how he has arranged his material. Now you need to decide how you are going to preach the theology contained in the text and make it applicable to your audience today. I think that this is perhaps the most important function of a preacher, because this is something that our audiences do not usually do for themselves. They read the Bible and they understand what it says, but often they do not understand what it means and implies, and how it applies to us today. It is our job to communicate this.

Another question that may come to your mind is, “Why do we need our sermons to have an outline?” Many preachers do not use outlines and as a result fail to explain the theological meaning and implications of the text, as well as its application to today’s audience. Our sermons need to be structured because:

1. The entire Bible is structured. Each biblical writer has a purpose in writing. No writing in the Bible is haphazard (i.e. without structure and purpose).

2. If you do not have an outline that follows and flows from the structure of the text, you will not have a logical sermon that the people can follow.

3. If you do not have a clear, biblical structure, you will fail to preach a clear, biblical message.

A sermon outline is the “skeleton” of a sermon, the skeleton that the flesh of your message hangs onto, the “framework” that your exposition is nailed to. It is the main points that divide up and hold together the body of your sermon.

A good sermon outline accomplishes the following:

1. It divides your message into “main points” (i.e. sermon divisions).

2. It helps you present your flow of thought with clarity, order, unity, progress, completeness.

3. It keeps you on track by preventing you from wandering or forgetting important points.

4. It balances the message between the introduction, the body (explanation, application, illustration), and the summation.

5. It controls the length of the message by preventing the message from being too long or too short.

6. It serves as a road map (or, table of contents) for the congregation to follow.

7. It makes the message more memorable for the listeners.

A sermon outline divides the subject of the text into major divisions, which form the main points of the sermon. Then the main points may be further subdivided into sub-points, which merely clarify the main points by breaking them down into smaller units. However, the degree to which you subdivide your message is a matter of personal preference. I think that it is simpler for the audience to follow if you only use main points in your outline and preach your sub-points as explanatory material for the main point. You can still word your sub-points so that they stand out, but they flow with the explanatory material of the sermon and are not articulated as separate sub-points. Otherwise, your audience can easily lose track of where you are.

I try to make my main points stand out by using common wording and repeating them as I go. For example, Philippians 1:19-20 could be outlined this way:

1. We can have confidence in the prayers of Christ’s people (19a)

2. We can have confidence in the provision of Christ’s Spirit (19b)

3. We can have confidence in the preservation of Christ’s testimony (20)

You never want the sermon outline to overpower your message or to impress your audience. It merely gives structure to your message.

The starting point for a sermon outline is the main thought (subject) of the passage. It is important to write down the main thought and the statements about that thought (the complements) to form the core of the sermon.

Every sermon has to have structure. The main structural components of every sermon are: (1) the beginning (introduction); (2) the middle (exposition, body); and (3) the end (summation, conclusion). In turn, these main structural components need to achieve the following objectives:

1. Your introduction should…

a) Get your audience’s attention

b) Create a need that the sermon will address

c) Connect to the Scripture passage

d) State the subject

e) State your thesis (i.e. the overall point and teaching of the passage)

f) Transition to the body of the sermon

2. The body of the sermon is where you…

a) State and explain your main points

b) Illustrate your points where necessary and appropriate

c) Apply the teaching to your audience

3. In your conclusions you…

a) Summarize the points you have just brought out of the passage.

b) Help the audience to visualize the truth you have explained – i.e. to see what this teaching looks like in daily life.

c) Challenge them to actualize the truth – i.e. to put it into practice, to respond to the truth they have just heard.

Starting with the next edition of this journal, I will cover these sections of a sermon outline in the order in which you prepare them (not the order in which you preach them) as follows:

1. Wording the main points.

2. Stating the thesis - some people call this the proposition, or “the sermon in a sentence”.

3. Drafting the body of the sermon – the explanation (including illustrations) and applications

4. Structuring the close of the sermon.

5. Designing the introduction.

Part III. Devotional

“The Character Of The Gospel” (1 Cor. 1:18-25)

By: Dr. Stephen F. Olford

We come now to one of the most revealing passages on the subject of the gospel and the nature of the Christian ministry that we find anywhere in the New Testament. Paul has been dealing with the curse of divisions in the church, but now he proceeds to consider the causes of divisions in the church; and right through to chapter 4, he addresses two misconceptions that are basic to all division. The first is the misconception concerning the Christian message (1:18-3:4), and the second is the misconception concerning the Christian ministry (3:5-4:5). To begin with, let us consider the misconception concerning the Christian message. First of all, this involves a misconception concerning The Character of the Gospel. This is our message today from 1 Corinthians 1:18-25.

Let us remember as we address ourselves to these verses that Paul is writing to a church that was divided. As we have observed already, there were no less than four parties with their respective watchwords. Part of the problem was that the believers were being drawn to men rather than to the Master, but there was also the tendency to exalt the messenger instead of the message. So Paul is compelled to set forth a clear statement on the character of the gospel. He first of all speaks about:

I. The Gospel As God’s Distinctive Revelation To Man

“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, foolishness; but unto us who are being saved, it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18). Paul’s emphasis here is not so much on the presentation of the gospel, as on the “word” of the gospel, as distinct from the wisdom of words referred to in verse 17. His supreme objective is to point out the uniqueness of the gospel as a revelation of the wisdom and power of God. These were the key words of the ancient world. The Greeks were ever seeking after wisdom, while the Jews were obsessed with signs. Thus Paul delineates the distinctive character of the gospel by observing:

1) The Wisdom of God in Contrast to the Wisdom of Man - “…Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:24). Paul leaves us in no doubt as to what he means by the wisdom of God. A little further down in the paragraph he says, “But…in Christ Jesus…God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30). There is no greater statement on the message of full salvation than that which is contained in this verse. First, Christ is our righteousness. In and through Jesus Christ, we have been made right, or just, before a holy God. This aspect of the gospel answers the ancient question: “How can man be justified with God” (Job 25:4). Because Christ has died for our sins and risen again to justify us, we can know the righteousness of God imputed to us through faith in His Son. Secondly, Christ is our sanctification. We could never attain holiness in our own strength, but through His indwelling, sanctification is accomplished day by day. This work of grace sets us apart entirely for the purpose of God. In terms of behavior it means living out experimentally what we are positionally in Christ. Thirdly, Christ is our redemption. This word means “release” or “deliverance.” In this particular context it refers not only to redemption from the penalty and power of sin, but from the very presence of sin. It is that final act of God by which we are made to conform to the very likeness of Christ at His coming.

What a revelation of the wisdom of God in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. But in contrast to this, Paul describes the wisdom of man. With the writer James, he agrees that man’s “…wisdom…is earthly, sensual, devilish” (James 3:15). Human wisdom is earthly. “…For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (1 Cor. 1:21). Now here is an all-important factor to remember: that God in His wisdom has decreed that the world by its own wisdom should not and cannot know God. This forever annihilates the notion that man by his own reasoning or intellectual attainments can find God, let alone know God. Human education at its very highest and best is wholly inadequate. Human wisdom is sensual. This is why Paul, with a touch of irony, says, “…the Greeks seek after wisdom” (1 Cor. 1:22). There is nothing which appeals to sensual or carnal people like the so-called “intellectual approach” of sophisticated preachers or silver-tongued orators. Human wisdom is devilish. It is described thus because it is associated with the devil who fell by pride. This is why human philosophy is nothing more than intellectual arrogance and conceit. Every movement that has undermined the authority of the Scriptures – call it what you will: modernism, liberalism, or humanism – is all part of this philosophical approach. Because of human pride, men seek to be associated with famous names of the philosophical approach, not realizing that the Bible condemns it as devilish.

So Paul reminds the Corinthians “…it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” (1 Cor. 1:19-20). The whole point of this quotation is to show that man has to learn that all his schemes and efforts to accomplish his own salvation are utterly futile. God only saves through the word of the cross (Isaiah 29:14). The second quotation from Isaiah 33:18 illustrates how God utterly confused the worldly-wise counsels of the Jewish rulers. And what He did in those days long ago He has continued to do when men will not renounce their philosophical reasoning in favor of the wisdom of God. But in describing this distinctive revelation of God, Paul not only contrasts the wisdom of God as against the wisdom of man, but also:

2) The Power of God in Contrast to the Power of Man - “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, foolishness; but unto us who are being saved, it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18). How this reminds us of Paul’s great affirmation in Romans 1:16: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” At the heart of the gospel is the very dynamic of God which has power to save and to deliver. There is nothing else in the whole universe which can transform human life like the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The power of the cross is the only answer to human sin.

In contrast to this, there is the vaunted power of man. “The Jews require a sign…” (1 Cor. 1:22). As Leon Morris says, “The Jews, throughout their history, were very matter of fact. They showed little interest in speculative thought. Their demand was for evidence, and their interest was in the practical. They thought of God as manifesting Himself in history, in signs and mighty wonders.” This is why the Jews were forever seeking signs from the Lord during His earthly ministry (Matthew 12:38; 6:1, 4; Mark 8:11; John 6:30). They thought of the Messiah as One who demonstrated His authority by striking manifestations of power and majesty. To them, a crucified Christ was a contradiction of terms.

Thus Paul sums up his analysis of divine wisdom and power against human wisdom and power in those tremendous words found in verses 22, 23, and 24: “For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.”

The second characteristic of the gospel that Paul spoke about was:

II. The Gospel As God’s Redemptive Invitation To Man

“But unto those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:24). Here is presented the perfect balance of the Christian gospel. Not only does God give us a revelation of Himself, but also an invitation to Himself. This is more than human wisdom and power can do. Consider then:

1) God’s Pleasure in the Gospel Invitation - “…it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe” (1 Cor. 1:21). The word “preaching” is not the same as that found in verse 18. The emphasis here is on the proclamation of the glorious message of the gospel. Paul tells us here that the supreme pleasure of God, or more literally, “God’s good pleasure,” is that through the foolishness of preaching men and women should be saved. Could anything be more majestic and wonderful than that God should set His heart upon the sons of men, and that through the foolishness of preaching, communicate the saving message of the cross? But think again of:

2) God’s Purpose in the Gospel Invitation - “The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18). Here is a combination of words that comprehend the total saving work of God in Christ. Let us remember that every man outside of Christ is lost. Indeed, the verb rendered “perishing” denotes not extinction, but ruin and loss of well-being. A person who is perishing is failing to fulfill the very purpose for which God created him. But this is where the gospel of Jesus Christ meets him and saves him unto eternal life. The idea behind this word “saved” is not only that of reclamation but also of transformation.

But observe once again what we are calling:

3) God’s Process in the Gospel Invitation - “…it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe…But unto them which are called…Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:21, 24). There are two words which sum up the divine process in the gospel invitation. One is the word “call.” The other is the word “believe.” The one describes the offer of God, while the other denotes the response of man. Jesus is always calling men and women to Himself; and thank God, people out of every tribe, tongue, and kindred are responding. This glorious process will continue until the Body of Christ is complete.

So we see that this redemptive invitation of God demands a verdict. Man can never be confronted with the revelation and invitation of the gospel without giving an answer. If he believes, he is saved. If he rejects, he perishes.

Conclusion: The Corinthian believers were divided because they had false notions concerning the message of the gospel. This is why Paul takes pains in this first paragraph to set forth the true character of the evangel. Having treated it as thoroughly as we have seen, he concludes with the words, “…the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger that men” (1 Cor. 1:25). The philosophies and human demonstrations of power may come and go, but the gospel of Jesus Christ is unchanged and unchanging for its character is that of Jesus Christ Himself – “…the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

Part IV: Sermon Outlines

To listen to the audio version of these sermons in English, click on these links: Link 1 - Jn. 10:1-2; Link 2 - Jn. 10:3-4; Link 3 - Jn. 10:4-8; Link 4 - Jn. 10:9

Title: Jesus is the Door (Jn. 10:1-9)

Point #1: False religious leaders are intruders (1-2)

1. They do not enter by the door but climb up some other way

2. They are thieves and robbers

Point #2: True religious leader are shepherds (3-5)

1. They lead God’s people by evoking our response (3a-b)

2. They lead God’s people by issuing us a call (3c)

3. They lead God’s people by giving us directions (3d-4b)

4. They lead God’s people by eliciting our trust (4c-5)

5. They lead God’s people by drawing us to Christ (6-9)

a) Christ is the door of the sheep (7-8)

b) Christ is the door of salvation (9a)

c) Christ is the door of liberty (9b)

d) Christ is the door of nourishment (9c)

La Revue Internet Des Pasteurs, Fre Ed 20, Edition du l’été 2016

Edition d’été 2016
Auteur: Dr. Roger Pascoe, Président
de l’Institut pour la Prédication Biblique
Cambridge, Ontario, Canada
(http://tibp.ca/)

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“Renforcer les capacités de l’Eglise

dans la Prédication Biblique et le Leadership”

Premiere Partie: La Puissance Dans La Predication, Pt. 3 Suite

“La Puissance du Saint Esprit”

Dans les trois dernières éditions de ce journal, nous avons élaboré sur le sujet concernant la puissance du Saint Esprit dans la prédication. Dans l’édition précédente, nous avons émis plusieurs interrogations telles que : (1) Qu’est-ce que la prédication accompagnée par l’onction de l’Esprit ? (2) Pourquoi certains prédicateurs semblent avoir la puissance de l’Esprit tandis que d’autres ne l’ont pas?

Au cours de cette présente édition, nous allons nous attarder sur une autre question que le sujet soulève: Quelle est la différence entre la « plénitude » de l’Esprit et « l’onction » de l’Esprit? Il est important de comprendre la différence qui existe entre les trois choses que sont le baptême, la plénitude et l’onction de l’Esprit (adapté de Dr. Stephen F. Olford).

1. The baptême de l’Esprit (1 Cor. 12:13) représente notre « position spirituelle » en Christ. Cela se produit une seule fois à l’occasion de notre régénération, moment auquel le Saint Esprit vient habiter en nous (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19; 2 Tim. 1:14; Jacq 4:5). Tous les croyants ont reçu le baptême de l’Esprit/l’Esprit habite en eux.

2. La plénitude de l’Esprit (Eph. 5:18) révèle notre condition spirituelle en Christ. Il y a un seul baptême de l’Esprit, mais diverses plénitudes de l’Esprit. La plénitude signifie la saturation, c’est-à-dire qu’il n’y a point de place pour la chair, pour soi-même ou pour le péché. Ce n’est pas l’habitation de l’Esprit en nous (qui est la conséquence de la nouvelle naissance). C’est plutôt le fait pour nous d’être sous le control de l’Esprit comme nous l’avons dit plus haut. C’est la vie selon le principe de la nouvelle naissance. Cela implique l’obéissance, la soumission, la dépendance et prestation d’allégeance à l’Esprit dans la vie quotidienne. « C’est là la vie Chrétienne normale et à l’image de Christ. » (Olford, Anointed Expository Preaching, 216). Nous devons également être remplis du Saint Esprit (Eph. 5:18). Cela paraît presque grammaticalement impossible – un impératif à la voix passive; un ordre de poser une action à laquelle nous sommes nous-mêmes soumis ! Mais le problème se résout comme suit: nous obéissons au commandement en nous activant à débarrasser nos vies de tout ce qui pourrait affliger ou étouffer l’Esprit (par la vertu de notre manière de vivre, notre piété, etc.) et, en retour, nous sommes passivement (action à laquelle nous sommes soumis) contrôlés par l’Esprit qui œuvre en nous et à travers nous tant dans nos vies que dans nos ministères.

3. L’onction de l’Esprit (Actes 1:8) renforce notre « vocation spirituelle » en Christ. Pour que nos ministères soient efficaces pour Dieu, nous avons besoin d’être oint par l’Esprit (1 Cor. 2:1-5; 1 Thess. 1:5). Nous ne pouvons pas par nous-mêmes produire des résultats spirituels. Nous sommes engagés dans une vocation spirituelle qui requière l’autorisation et l’efficacité de l’Esprit pour aboutir avec succès. C’est pourquoi il est indispensable que nous soyons d’abord remplis de l’Esprit avant de pouvoir recevoir l’onction de prêcher avec efficacité la parole de Dieu. Et je soutiens que si nous sommes réellement remplis de l’Esprit, nous aurons également l’onction de l’Esprit.

Permettez-moi donc de poser la même question que la dernière fois: Pourquoi certains prédicateurs sont oints et d’autres non? La différence n’a rien à voir avec la présence de l’Esprit en eux, car le Saint Esprit habite en tous les croyants. La différence semble plutôt reposer sur le fait de « la plénitude » de l’Esprit. Certains prédicateurs sont « remplis » de l’Esprit, et par conséquent sont en mesure de servir dans la « puissance » de l’Esprit, tandis que d’autres ne le sont pas. Si un prédicateur n’a pas la plénitude de l’Esprit, il va de soi que sa prédication ne soit pas accompagnée par l’onction de l’Esprit. Certains vivent dans l’obéissance à l’Esprit tandis que d’autres non. Certains ont reçu par l’Esprit le don de la prédication, tandis que d’autres ne l’ont pas reçu. Tout cela est question de la manière dont nous vivons (si nous sommes soumis et dépendons de l’Esprit ou si nous vivons selon nos ressources propres) et du don que Dieu a déposé en nous.

C’est pourquoi, s’il existe dans votre vie des actions, des pensées, des désirs, etc., tout ce qui pourrait « attrister le Saint Esprit » (Eph. 4:10), alors, celui-ci ne sera pas actif dans votre vie ou dans votre ministère. C’est impossible. Je ne doute point de la souveraineté de l’Esprit qui peut utiliser même des ânes muets ou même des personnes qui n’ont point le salut pour accomplir ses desseins, mais le principe qui s’applique à la vie du croyant, c’est que l’Esprit n’agit pas pour notre bien dès lors que nos vies ne lui sont pas agréables. De même, s’il existe des choses qui étouffent l’Esprit dans votre vie, (1 Thess. 5:19), alors il ne saura s’activer à vous bénir ou à soutenir votre ministère par son onction.

Il est juste et légitime alors d’aspirer à l’onction de l’Esprit dans nos vies et dans nos différents ministères. En effet nous ne pouvons pas exercer un ministère utile et efficace sans l’onction de l’Esprit et sans la pleine liberté de l’Esprit de faire son œuvre en nous et au sein de notre public.

Pour prêcher avec puissance, il nous est indispensable de laisser l’Esprit de Dieu faire son œuvre en nous en nous sanctifiant (afin de nous rendre utilisables par Dieu), en nous illuminant (pour que nous comprenions d’une manière correcte la parole) et en nous revêtant de sa capacité (afin que nous sachions utiliser la parole convenablement). Aussi, l’Esprit de Dieu doit faire son œuvre au sein de nos publics, en les conduisant à la repentance, à la justice et en ouvrant leurs yeux sur le jugement à venir (Jean. 16:11), et en les transformant en des hommes et femmes de Dieu, disciples de Christ. Cela montre qu’il y a vraiment l’onction et, par conséquent la bénédiction de l’Esprit –Des vases qui sont propres à l’usage du Maître et des publics dont les vies sont radicalement transformées.

Permettez-moi à présent de donner à la fois un mot d’avertissement et un mot d’encouragement. Commençons par le mot d’avertissement : Gardez-vous « d’avoir une forme de piété qui pourtant fait fin de la puissance » (2 Tim. 3:5). Gardez-vous de penser qu’en raison du fait que vous arrivez à créer une certaine atmosphère au sein de votre congrégation ou parvenez à obtenir une certaine réaction de leur part, vous prêchez pour autant avec puissance. Prenez garde et ne vous concentrez pas sur les expériences, les phénomènes et les sensations subjectives en manquant l’œuvre véritable que l’Esprit accomplie. Ne confondez pas prêcher dans la chair et prêcher dans l’Esprit. « Lorsque vous prêchez dans l’élan de la chair, vous vous sentez exaltés, élevés. Mais lorsque vous prêchez avec la puissance de l’Esprit, vous êtes remplis d’humilité et d’étonnement devant l’œuvre de Dieu » (Martyn Lloyd-Jones, cité dans Arturio G. Azurdia III, Spirit Empowered Preaching, Christian Focus Publications, 2003, préface).

Nous devons à chaque fois que nous prêchons avoir la conviction que « le message que je prêche ne peut faire de bien à personne que lorsqu’il est pas accompagné par l’Esprit de Dieu » (Stuart Olyott, Preaching Pure and Simple, Wales, Bryntirion Press, 2005, 154). C’est uniquement l’onction de l’Esprit de Dieu peut produire des résultats spirituels. Nous ne pouvons rien accomplir par nous-mêmes.

Comment savoir donc si vous prêchez avec l’onction et la bénédiction de l’Esprit de Dieu? C’est lorsque la Parole de Dieu mise en action par l’Esprit de Dieu produit un effet manifeste au sein du public. Et vous savez qu’un changement est en train de s’opérer dans la vie des gens lorsque certains reçoivent le salut, lorsque des foyers sont restaurés, des relations sont rétablies, les gens deviennent des disciples dévoués de Christ, lorsque les gens sont absorbés dans la Parole, etc.

Maintenant, voici un mot d’encouragement: Cette analyse de “l’onction” de l’Esprit devrait être un grand encouragement pour les prédicateurs qui, jour et nuit, d’année en année servent silencieusement Dieu dans leurs ministères, décortiquent et mettent en application la Parole de Dieu en toute fidélité et droiture, ont la foi que l’Esprit de Dieu se saisit de Sa parole et l’utilise pour la conversion des âmes et la transformation des vies au point que bon nombre deviennent des disciples dévoués de Christ « jusqu’à ce que nous parvenions tous à l’unité de la foi et de la connaissance du fils de Dieu, à l’état d’homme fait, à la mesure de la stature parfaite de Christ » (Eph. 4:13).

C’est cela le ministère exercé sous l’onction de l’Esprit. C’est la prédication d’une personne qui a le désir de glorifier Dieu, de magnifier Christ et dont le but est de « présenter tout homme parfait en Jésus Christ » (Col. 1:29). Je soutiendrai que ce que nous devrions rechercher dans notre prédication c’est la bénédiction de Dieu, qui se manifestera par: (1) les fruits dans notre ministère (le salut des gens, la croissance des gens en Christ, etc.), (2) des fruits de l’Esprit dans nos propres vies (Gal. 5:22), (3) la déclaration des autorités de l’église qui nous consacrent pour le ministère et (4) le fait que Christ et la gloire de Dieu sont au centre de notre prédication.

Pour les pasteurs et les prédicateurs donc qui ne voient pas de résultats visibles avant, pendant ou après leur prédication, prenez courage. « Dieu a choisi les choses folles du monde pour confondre les sages, et Dieu a choisi les choses viles du monde, celles qu’on méprise, celles qui ne sont point, pour réduire à néant celles qui sont, afin que nulle chair ne se glorifie devant Dieu… afin comme il est écrit, que celui qui se glorifie se glorifie dans le Seigneur » (1 Cor. 1:27-29, 31).

Puisse cet article être pour nous tous en tant que prédicateurs, un encouragement en ce sens que nous ne pouvons pas (par nous-mêmes) accomplir les grands desseins de Dieu dans la vie de nos auditeurs, mais en ayant une vie de sainteté, de prières avec des supplications dans une entière soumission à l’Esprit de Dieu, nous pouvons être utilisés par Dieu pour atteindre son but souverain. Parfois il peut nous être donné de connaître certains de ces résultats (effets de notre prédication dans la vie de nos auditeurs), mais bien de fois nous n’en aurons pas la possibilité. Mais ce qui nous réconforte, c’est le fait que l’œuvre est celle de Dieu – lui seul peut sauver les âmes ; lui seul peut transformer la vie des gens. Sans cette assurance, notre ministère serait décourageant. Mais avec cette assurance, nous savons que notre ministère est en plein épanouissement.

Deuxième Partie: Preparer La Predication

Faire le plan du message

Jusqu’ici, dans notre discussion sur comment « préparer la prédication », nous avons parlé du choix des textes et des sujets, de l’étude du texte, de l’analyse et la compréhension du texte et de l’identification de la structure du texte. Ce processus peut être à la fois intéressant et décourageant – intéressant lorsque vous découvrez le flot de pensées que renferme le passage (c.-à-d. la structure du texte), mais décourageant lorsque vous y passez plusieurs heures sans parvenir à le déchiffrer. Peut-être cela vous permet de comprendre pourquoi la préparation du message est une tâche difficile.

Mais maintenant, enfin, vous êtes prêts pour préparer un plan de message à partir du texte. Peut-être vous vous demandez “quelle différence fait-on entre la structure du texte et le plan du message? N’est-ce pas la même chose?” Pour certains prédicateurs, il n’y a aucune différence. Beaucoup de prédicateurs construisent leur prédication selon la structure du texte – et ce n’est pas mal, mais ça ne va pas vraiment assez loin, parce que notre plan de message doit refléter les principes théologiques et le sens dans lequel le texte s’applique à nous aujourd’hui, de manière à ce que nos congrégations puissent voir comment il s’applique à elles. Une de nos responsabilités en tant que prédicateurs, c’est de créer un pont qui lie le texte, le peuple, la langue et la culture d’autre fois à notre temps présent.

Ainsi, quoique le plan du message suit et découle de la structure du texte, il est différent de la structure du texte dans ce sens qu’il détermine comment vous allez prêcher ce que le texte dit. Dès lors que vous déterminez la structure du texte, vous connaissez le sujet du passage et ce que l’auteur de l’écriture dit à propos de ce sujet (les compléments). En d’autres termes, vous savez de quoi l’auteur parle dans son écrit, et comment il a organisé ses idées. A partir de là, vous devez décider de la manière dont vous allez prêcher la théologie contenue dans le texte et l’adapter au contexte actuel de votre public. Je crois que c’est peut-être là, le rôle le plus important d’un prédicateur, parce que c’est quelque chose que nos publics n’ont pas l’habitude de faire pour eux-mêmes. Ils lisent la Bible et comprennent ce qu’elle dit, mais souvent ils ne comprennent pas le sens et ce qu’il implique, et dans quel sens il s’applique à nous aujourd’hui. C’est notre rôle de communiquer cela.

Une autre question qui peut nous venir à l’idée est la suivante: « Pourquoi nos messages ont-ils besoin d’avoir un plan? » Beaucoup de prédicateurs n’utilisent de plans et par conséquent ne parviennent pas à expliquer le sens théologique et les implications du texte, ainsi que son application au public d’aujourd’hui. Nos sermons ont besoin de structure parce que :

1. La Bible est entièrement structurée. Chaque auteur de la Bible a un but précis dans ses écrits. Aucune partie de la Bible n’est écrite au hasard (c.-à-d. sans structure et sans but).

2. Si vous n’avez pas un plan qui suit et découle de la structure du texte, votre message manquera de logique et le public ne pourra pas vous suivre.

3. Si vous n’avez pas une structure claire et biblique, vous ne pourrez pas pêcher un message clair et biblique.

Le plan d’un message est le « squelette » de celui-ci, le squelette sur lequel s’attache la chair de votre message ; le « cadre » sur lequel votre exposé est fixé. C’est les éléments principaux qui de parts et d’autres forment l’ensemble du corps de votre message.

Un bon plan de message rempli ce qui suit:

1. Scinde votre message en plusieurs « grands points » (c.-à-d. différentes parties du message).

2. Il vous permet d’exposer le flux de votre pensée avec clarté, de manière ordonnée, unie, progressive, complète.

3. Il vous permet de rester focalisé sur le sujet en vous évitant de divaguer ou d’oublier des points importants.

4. Il équilibre le message entre l’introduction, le corps (explication, application, illustration) et le résumé.

6. Il sert de feuille de route (table de matières) que la congrégation est appelée à suivre.

7. Il rend le message plus facile à mémoriser par les auditeurs.

Un plan de message divise le sujet du texte en plusieurs grands points qui forment les principales parties du message. Ainsi, les grands points peuvent à leur tour être subdivisés en sous-points, qui les étayent simplement en les éclatant en de plus petites unités de sens. Cependant, le niveau auquel vous subdivisez votre message est question de préférence individuelle. Je pense qu’il est plus simple pour le public de pouvoir suivre, si vous utilisez uniquement des grands points dans votre plan en prêchant les sous-points sous forme d’éléments explicatifs du grand point. Vous pouvez tout de même formuler vos sous-points de manière à ce qu’on puisse les distinguer, mais ils vont être utilisés comme éléments servant à expliquer le message sans être articulés comme des sous-points à part. Autrement, votre public peut facilement perdre le fil de votre message.

J’essaie de rendre mes grands points distinctifs en utilisant une formulation commune et en ne cessant de les répéter à mesure que j’avance. Par exemple, le passage de Philippiens 1 : 19-20 peut être découpé de la façon suivante:

1. Nous pouvons faire confiance aux prières disciples de Christ, (19a)

2. Nous pouvons espérer en l’assistance de l’Esprit de Christ (19b)

3. Nous pouvons espérer en la préservation du témoignage de Christ (20)

Votre plan de message ne doit pas dominer votre message ou servir à impressionner votre public. Il a le simple objectif de donner une structure à votre message. The point de départ du plan d’un message, c’est l’idée principale (le sujet) du passage. C’est important d’écrire l’idée principale et l’assertion faite à propos de cette idée (les compléments) formant le cœur du message.

Tout message doit avoir une structure. Les principaux éléments structurels que comporte tout message sont : (1) le début (introduction); (2) le milieu (exposition, corps); et (3) la fin (résumé, conclusion). A leur tour, ces éléments structurels doivent atteindre les objectifs suivants:

1. Votre introduction devrait…

a) Retenir l’attention de votre public

b) Créer un besoin que le message permettra de combler

c) Relier au passage de l’Ecriture

d) Enoncer le sujet

e) Enoncer votre thèse (c.-à-d. l’idée générale et l’enseignement que porte le passage)

f) Servir de transition vers le corps du message

2. Le corps du message c’est là où vous…

a) Exposez et expliquez vos grands points

b) Illustrez vos points là où c’est nécessaire et approprié.

c) Appliquez l’enseignement à votre public

3. Dans vos conclusions vous…

a) Faites le résumés des points que vous avez faits ressortir du passage.

b) Aidez votre public à se faire une image de la vérité que vous avez expliquée – c.-à-d. à voir à quoi cet enseignement s’applique dans la vie quotidienne.

c) Leur lancez le défi d’actualiser la vérité – c.-à-d. à mettre en pratique, répondre à la vérité qu’ils viennent d’entendre.

En commençant par l’édition suivante de ce journal, j’aborderai ces sections du plan de message dans l’ordre auquel vous les préparez (pas dans l’ordre auquel vous les prêchez) de la manière suivante :

1. Formuler les grands points.

2. Exposer la thèse – certains l’appellent la proposition, ou “la substance du message en une phrase”.

3. Rédiger le corps du message – l’explication (avec les illustrations) et les applications

4. Construire la structure de fin du message.

5. Concevoir l’introduction.

Troisième partie. Caractère de piété

“Le caractère de l’Evangile” (1 Cor. 1:18-25)

By: Dr. Stephen F. Olford

Nous venons maintenant à l’un des passages les plus révélateurs sur le sujet de l’évangile et la nature du ministère chrétien que nous trouvons partout dans le Nouveau Testament. Paul a beaucoup évoqué la malédiction liée aux divisions dans l’église, mais maintenant il entreprend de considérer les causes des divisions dans l’église ; et rien qu’à travers le chapitre 4, il dénonce deux fausses conceptions qui sont à la base de toute division. La première concerne la fausse conception autour du message Chrétien (1:18-3:4), et la seconde c’est la fausse conception sur le ministère chrétien (3:5-4:5). Tout d’abord, considérons la conception erronée du message de Christ. Dans un premier temps, cela implique la vision erronée sur le caractère de l’Evangile. C’est ici le point de notre message aujourd’hui, tiré de 1 Corinthiens 1:18-25.

Pendant que nous abordons ces versets que Paul a écrits à une église divisée, rappelons-nous, comme nous l’avons déjà observé, qu’il n’y avait pas moins de quatre bords, chacun avec son propre slogan. Une partie du problème était le fait que les croyants s’attachaient aux hommes plutôt qu’au Maître, mais il y avait également la tendance à exalter le messager au lieu du message. Pour cette raison, Paul s’est vu obligé de présenter un message clair sur le caractère de l’évangile. D’abord, il parle de :

I. L’EVANGILE COMME REVELATION PARFAITE DE DIEU A L’HOMME

“Car la prédication de la croix est une folie pour ceux qui périssent; mais pour nous qui sommes sauvés, elle est une puissance de Dieu” (1 Cor. 1:18). Ici, Paul ne met pas tant d’accent sur la présentation de l’évangile que sur le “message” de de l’évangile, qui se distingue de la sagesse des mots auxquels il est fait référence au verset 17. Son objectif suprême, est de faire ressortir l’unicité de l’évangile comme une révélation de la sagesse et la puissance de Dieu. C’était là les mots clés de l’antiquité. Les grecs recherchaient la sagesse sans répit, tandis que les juifs étaient obsédés par les signes. Par conséquent, Paul décrit le caractère particulier de l’évangile en observant:

1) La sagesse de Dieu comparativement à la sagesse humaine – « Christ la puissance de Dieu et la sagesse de Dieu » (1 Cor. 1:24). Paul ne nous laisse dans aucun doute sur ce qu’il entend par la sagesse de Dieu. Un peu plus loin dans le paragraphe, il dit ceci : «Or c’est… en Christ Jésus...lequel de par Dieu, a été fait pour nous sagesse, justice et sanctification et rédemption » (1 Cor. 1:30). Il n’y a pas de plus grande déclaration sur le message du plein salut que celle contenue dans ce verset. Premièrement, Christ est notre justice. En lui, et à travers lui Jésus Christ, nous avons été rendus justes ou irréprochables devant Dieu le Saint. Cet aspect de l’évangile répond à la question qui date de l’antiquité : « Comment l’homme peut-il être juste devant Dieu ? » (Job 25:4). Parce que Christ est mort pour nos péchés et ressuscité pour nous justifier, nous avons la grâce de connaitre la justice de Dieu qui nous est donnée par le moyen de la foi en son fils. Deuxièmement, Christ est notre sanctification. De par notre propre force, nous ne pouvions par parvenir à la sainteté, mais grâce à sa présence en nous, la sanctification est accomplie de jour en jour. Cette œuvre de la grâce nous met entièrement à part pour Dieu. En termes de comportement, cela implique que nous devons vivre à titre d’expérience ce que nous sommes en Christ. Troisièmement, Christ est notre rédemption. Ce mot signifie “libération” ou “délivrance”. Dans ce contexte précis, il fait allusion non seulement à la rédemption vis-à-vis des conséquences et du pouvoir du péché, mais aussi de la présence même du péché. Il s’agit de cet acte final de Dieu par lequel nous sommes amenés à être conforme à l’image véritable de Christ quand il viendra.

Quelle révélation de la sagesse de Dieu dans l’évangile de notre Seigneur Jésus Christ! Cependant, en comparaison à cette sagesse divine, Paul décrit la sagesse de l’homme. Avec l’apôtre Jacques, il convient que “la sagesse de l’homme… est terrestre, sensuelle, diabolique” (Jacques 3: 15). La sagesse humaine est terrestre. « Car puisque le monde dans sa sagesse n’a point connu Dieu dans la sagesse de Dieu, il a plu à Dieu de sauver les croyants par la folie de la prédication » (1 Cor. 1:21). A présent, voici un facteur très important qu’il faut retenir: c’est que Dieu dans sa sagesse a décrété que le monde, de par sa propre sagesse ne devrait, ni ne pourra connaître Dieu. Cela réduit à jamais au néant l’absurde idée selon laquelle l’homme de par son propre raisonnement ou de par ses percées intellectuelles peut trouver, voire connaitre Dieu. L’éducation humaine à son plus haut niveau et la meilleure qui soit est entièrement insuffisante. La sagesse humaine est sensuelle. C’est pourquoi Paul, avec une petite touche d’ironie affirme : « …Les grecques cherchent la sagesse » (1 Cor. 1:22). Il n’y a rien de plus attrayant pour les personnes sensuelles ou charnelles que la soi-disant « approche intellectuelle » des prédicateurs sophistiqués ou les orateurs à la parole facile. La sagesse humaine est diabolique. Elle est décrite comme tel, parce qu’elle est associée au diable qui est déchu à cause de l’orgueil. C’est pourquoi la philosophie humaine n’est rien de plus que de l’arrogance intellectuelle et de la suffisance. Tous mouvements qui ont remis en cause l’autorité des Ecritures – appelez-les comme voulez : le modernisme, le libéralisme ou l’humanisme – font tous partie de cette approche philosophique. A cause de l’orgueil humain, les hommes cherchent à être associés à des noms célèbres de personnalités incarnant l’approche philosophique, ignorant que la Bible condamne ce fait et le considère comme diabolique.

De ce fait, Paul rappelle aux Corinthiens “Il est écrit: je détruirai la sagesse des sages, et j’anéantirai l’intelligence des intelligents. Où est le sage? Où est le scribe? Où est le disputeur de ce siècle? Dieu n’a-t-il pas convaincu de folie la sagesse du monde? (1 Cor. 1:19-20). L’idée essentielle de ce passage, c’est de montrer que l’homme doit savoir que tous ses plans et ses efforts pour parvenir à son propre salut sont complètement vains. C’est Dieu seul qui sauve à travers le message de la croix (Esaïe 29:14). Le second passage tiré d’Esaïe 33:18 illustre la façon dont l’Eternel a complètement confondu tous les sages-conseillers des nations des dirigeants juifs. Et ce qu’il a fait en ces temps-là, il continuera de le faire tant que les hommes ne renonceront pas à leur raisonnement philosophique au profit de de la sagesse de Dieu. Mais en décrivant cette révélation claire de Dieu, Paul oppose non seulement la sagesse de Dieu à celle de l’homme, mais aussi:

2) La puissance de Dieu par opposition à celle de l’homme - “Car la prédication de la croix est une folie pour ceux qui périssent; mais pour nous qui sommes sauvés, elle est la puissance de Dieu” (1 Cor. 1:18). Cela nous rappelle bien cette puissante déclaration de Paul dans Romains 1:16: « Car je n’ai point honte de l’évangile de Christ: c’est une puissance de Dieu pour le salut de quiconque croit, du Juif premièrement, puis du Grec. » Au cœur de l’évangile se trouve la dynamique même de Dieu qui a le pouvoir de sauver et de délivrer. Dans tout l’univers, il n’existe rien d’autre qui puisse transformer la vie de l’homme en dehors de l’évangile de notre Seigneur Jésus Christ. La puissance de la croix est l’unique réponse au péché de l’homme.

A l’opposé, il y a cette puissance dont l’homme se vante. « Les Juifs demandent des miracles… » (1 Cor. 1:22). Comme le dit Léon Morris, “les Juifs ont été très pragmatiques tout au long de leur histoire. Ils ont éprouvé très peu d’intérêt pour les pensées spéculatives. Ils réclamaient l’évidence, et ne s’intéressaient qu’à ce qui est concret. Ils concevaient Dieu comme se manifestant au cours de l’histoire à travers des miracles et des prodiges. C’est pourquoi les Juifs demandaient toujours des miracles au Seigneur pendant son ministère sur la terre (Matthieu 12:38; 6:1, 4; Marc 8:11; Jean 6:30). Ils concevaient le Messie comme Celui qui manifeste son autorité par des démonstrations de puissances et de majesté. Pour eux, un Christ crucifié était une pure contradiction des termes.

Ainsi, Paul résume son analyse de la sagesse et la puissance divines par opposition à la sagesse et à la puissance de l’homme en ces merveilleux termes que l’on trouve dans les versets 22, 23, et 24: « Car les Juifs demandent des miracles, et les grecs cherchent la sagesse: nous, nous prêchons Christ crucifié ; scandale pour les Juifs et folie pour les païens, mais puissance de Dieu et sagesse de Dieu pour ce qui sont appelés tant Juifs que Grecs. »

La deuxième caractéristique de l’évangile dont Paul a fait cas était:

II. L’EVANGILE COMME APPEL A LA REDEMPTION DE L’HOMME PAR DIEU

« Mais puissance de Dieu et sagesse de Dieu pour ceux qui sont appelés tant Juifs que Grecs » (1 Cor. 1:24). Ici l’équilibre parfait de l’évangile de Christ est mis en valeur. Non seulement Dieu se révèle à nous, mais aussi il nous appelle à Lui. C’est au-delà de ce que peuvent accomplir la sagesse et la puissance humaines. Voyez donc

1) Le plaisir que Dieu se fait dans l’invitation de l’évangile – « …Il a plu à Dieu de sauver les croyants par la folie de la prédication » (1 Cor. 1:21). Le mot « prédication » ne revêt pas le même sens que celui évoqué au verset 18. L’accent est mis ici sur la proclamation du message glorieux de l’évangile. Paul nous apprend ici que le plaisir suprême de Dieu, ou plus littéralement “le bon plaisir de Dieu” c’est que les hommes et les femmes soient sauvés à travers la folie de la prédication. Y aurait-il quelque chose de plus majestueux et merveilleux que le fait que Dieu porte son cœur sur les fils des hommes et que par la folie de la prédication il leur communique le message rédempteur de la croix ? Mais considérez encore ce qui suit:

2) Le but de Dieu dans l’appel de l’évangile - “la prédication de la croix est une folie pour ceux qui périssent, mais pour nous qui sommes sauvés, elle est la puissance de Dieu” (1 Cor. 1:18) Voici un ensemble de mots qui englobe toute l’œuvre rédemptrice de Dieu en Christ. Rappelons-nous que tout homme en dehors de Christ est voué à la perdition. En effet, le verbe « périr » utilisé pour porter ce sens n’évoque pas la disparition, mais la ruine et la perte du bien-être. Une personne qui périt manque d’accomplir le but précis pour lequel Dieu l’a créée. Mais c’est dans ce sens que l’évangile de Jésus Christ lui est présenté pour la sauver et lui accorder la vie éternelle. L’idée derrière ce mot « sauvés » n’est pas seulement celle de la récupération mais aussi celle de la transformation. Mais remarquez une fois de plus ce que nous appelons:

3) Le processus divin dans l’appel de l’évangile - “Il a plu à Dieu de sauver les croyants par la folie de la prédication…Mais puissance de Dieu et sagesse de Dieu pour ceux qui sont appelés (1 Cor. 1:21, 24). Il y a deux mots qui résument le processus divin dans l’appel de l’évangile. L’un, c’est le mot « appel ». L’autre c’est le mot “croire”. L’un décrit l’offre de Dieu et l’autre évoque la réponse de l’homme. Jésus appelle toujours les hommes et les femmes à Lui ; et Dieu merci, les hommes et femmes de toute tribute, de toute langue et de toute lignée répondent à cet appel. Ce processus glorieux continuera jusqu’à ce que le corps de Christ soit complet.

Nous voyons donc que cet appel rédempteur de Dieu requiert un verdict. L’homme ne peut être confronté à la révélation et à l’appel de l’évangile sans donner une réponse. S’il croit, alors il est sauvé. S’il rejette l’appel, il périt.

Conclusion: Les croyants de Corinthe étaient divisés parce qu’ils avaient des notions erronées sur le message de l’évangile. C’est pourquoi Paul a pris la peine de définir clairement le caractère véritable de l’évangile dans le premier paragraphe. Après avoir suffisamment élaboré sur la question comme nous l’avons vu, il conclue en ces termes : «… la folie de Dieu est plus sage que les hommes, et la faiblesse de Dieu est plus forte que les hommes » (1 Cor. 1:25). Les philosophies et les démonstrations de puissance des hommes paraissent et disparaissent, mais l’évangile de Jésus Christ est et reste le même car il est le caractère de Christ Lui-même – “… le même hier, aujourd’hui et éternellement”.

Cinquième Partie: Plans de messages

Pour écouter la version audio de ces messages en Anglais, cliquez sur les liens suivants: Link 1 - Jn. 10:1-2; Link 2 - Jn. 10:3-4; Link 3 - Jn. 10:4-8; Link 4 - Jn. 10:9

Titre: Jésus est la porte (Jean. 10:1-9)

Point #1: Les faux leaders religieux sont des intrus (1-2)

1. Ils n’entrent pas par la porte mais par un quelconque autre moyen

2. Ils sont des voleurs et des brigands

Point #2: Les vrais leaders religieux sont des bergers (3-5)

1. Ils conduisent le peuple de Dieu en évoquant notre réponse (3a-b)

2. Ils conduisent le peuple de Dieu en nous lançant un appel (3c)

3. Ils conduisent le peuple de Dieu en nous donnant des directives (3d-4b)

4. Ils conduisent le peuple de Dieu en affermissant notre foi (4c-5)

5. Ils conduisent le peuple de Dieu nous conduisant à Christ (6-9)

a) Christ est la porte de la bergerie (7-8)

b) Christ est la porte du salut (9a)

c) Christ est la porte de la liberté (9b)

d) Christ est la porte du pâturage (9c)

The Net Pastors Journal, Rus Ed 20, Летнее издание 2016

Летнее издание 2016
Автор:
Др. Роджер Паскоу, президент
Институт Библейского проповедования
Кембридж, Онтарио, Канада
(http://tibp.ca/)

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“Укреплять Церковь через Библейскую Проповедь и Руководство”

ЧАСТЬ I: СИЛА ПРОПОВЕДИ, Ч. 3 продолжение

“Сила Святого Духа”

В последних трех изданиях этого журнала мы обсуждали тему о силе Святого Духа для проповедования. В последнем издании, мы задали несколько вопросов, таких как: (1) Какая Проповедь является вдохновленной Богом? (2) Почему некоторые проповедники имеют силу Духа Святого, а другие - нет?

В этом выпуске мы будем рассматривать другой вопрос: В чем разница между «наполнением» Духом и «усилением» Духом? Здесь важно понимать три различия между крещением, наполнением и усилением Духа (адаптировано профессором Стивеном Ф. Олфордом).

1. Крещение Духом (1 Кор. 12:13) представляет нашу "духовную позицию" во Христе. Это происходит только один раз в момент нашего рождения заново, в это время мы как бы "живем внутри" Святого Духа (1 Кор. 3:16; 6:19; 2 Тим. 1:14; Иакова 4: 5). Все верующие крестятся / внутри них живет Святой Дух.

2. Наполнение Духом (Еф. 5:18) показывает наше «духовное состояние» во Христе. Существует одно крещение Духом, но много наполнений Духом. Наполнение означает насыщение, нет места ни для плоти, ни для себя, ни для греха. Это не просто присутствие Духа внутри (то есть факт нового рождения). Оно - под контролем Духа, как мы уже говорили. Это - функция жизни в соответствии с новым рождением. Это предполагает послушание кому-либо и подчинение, зависимость от кого-то и верность Святому Духу в повседневной жизни. "Это - обычная христианская жизнь и уподобление Христу" (Олфорд, Помазанная экспозиционная проповедь, с. 216). Мы должны "быть наполнены" Духом (Еф. 5:18). Это почти похоже на невозможность в грамматике - императив в пассивном залоге; команда сделать что-то, что уже сделано для нас! Но конфликт решается следующим образом: мы подчиняемся команде, активно избавляя свою жизнь от чего-либо, что может огорчить Святого Духа или затушит Его огонь (силой нашей жизни, святостью и т. д.) и, в ответ, мы пассивно (то есть это было сделано для нас) находимся под контролем Духа, по мере того, как Он действует в нас и через нас в нашей жизни и служении.

3. Усиление Духа (Деяния 1: 8) делает эффективным наше "духовное призвание" во Христе. Для того, чтобы наше служение было эффективным для Бога, мы должны быть наделены силой Духа (1 Кор. 2:1-5; 1 Фессалоникийцам 1:5). Мы не можем достигнуть духовных результатов своими силами. Мы вовлечены в духовное призвание, которое требует эффективности Духа в нас для того, чтобы мы были продуктивными. Таким образом, мы сначала должны быть исполнены Духом, прежде чем мы сможем быть наделены силой Духа для эффективной проповеди Слова Божьего. И я бы сказал, что если мы действительно наполнены Духом, то мы будем иметь и силу Духа в нашей проповеди.

Итак, позвольте мне задать тот же вопрос, как в прошлый раз: Почему некоторые проповедники наделены силой Духа, а другие - нет? Разница не имеет ничего общего с пребывающим Духом во всех верующих, в ком пребывает Дух. Скорее всего разница лежит в «наполненности» Духом. Одни проповедники "наполнены" Духом и, таким образом, могут служить в «силе» Духа, а другие - нет. Если проповедник не "наполняется" Духом, то само собой разумеется, его проповедь не будет сопровождаться силой Духа. Одни проповедники живут в послушании Духу, а другие - нет. Одни проповедники одарены Духом, чтобы проповедовать, а другие - нет. Это все вопрос в том, как мы живем (находимся ли мы в подчинении и зависимости от Духа, или мы живем своими собственными ресурсами) и какими дарами наделил нас Бог.

Поэтому, если есть в вашей жизни мысли, желания и т.д. - все, что может "оскорбить Святого Духа" (Еф. 4:10), тогда Святой Дух не будет активен в вашей жизни и в служении. Это невозможно. Я не отрицаю суверенитет Духа, в том чтобы использовать даже тупых ослиц или не спасенных людей для достижения своих целей, но принцип в жизни верующего тот, что Дух не действует для благословения, когда наша жизнь не соответствует, когда Он не может пребывать в нас. Точно так же, если есть вещи в вашей жизни, что могут "угасить Дух" (1 Фес. 5:19), то Дух не будет активен в том, чтобы благословить ваше служение Его силой.

Это справедливо и правильно, то, что мы должны хотеть силу Духа Святого в нашей жизни и в служении. Действительно, мы не можем вести значимое и плодотворное служение без силы Духа Святого и свободы Духа, чтобы делать свою работу в нас и с нашей аудитории.

Для того, чтобы проповедовать с силой, мы должны позволить Духу Божьему сделать Его работу в нас, освятить нас (так чтобы мы были угодны Ему), просвещая нас (так, что мы понимаем Слово правильно), и помогая нам (так что мы можем выразить Слово, как надо). И Дух Божий должен служить нашей аудитории, обличая их во грехе, праведности и о суде, что будет (Ин. 16:11), и преобразовывая их в народ Божий, последователей Христа. Это является свидетельством силы и, следовательно, благословения Духа Святого - сосуды, которые могут быть использованы для служения Учителем и людей, чья жизнь радикально изменилась.

А теперь позвольте мне сказать слово предупреждения и слова ободрения. Во-первых, предупреждение. Остерегайтесь "имеющих вид благочестия, силы же его отрекшихся" (2 Тим. 3: 5). Остерегайтесь того, чтобы думать, что вы можете создать определенную атмосферу в собрании или вытягивать определенный ответ из них, когда вы проповедуете с властью. Остерегайтесь опыта, явлений и личностных ощущений, в то время как можете упустить истинную работу Духа Святого. Помните, что вы не должны путать проповеди по плоти с проповедью в Духе. "Когда вы проповедуете по плоти, вы чувствуете себя возвышенно и приподнято. Когда вы проповедуете в силе Духа, вы наполнены в смирении трепетом от того, что делает Бог "(Мартин Ллойд-Джонс, цитирует в Arturio Г. Azurdia III, Проповедь в силе Духа, Издание Христианский Фокус 2003, предисловие).

Мы должны быть уверены каждый раз, когда мы проповедуем, что "послание, что я несу, не может сделать ничего хорошего, если оно не в силе Духа Божьего" (Стюарт Олиотт, Проповедуя чисто и просто, Уэльс, Bryntirion Press, 2005, 154). Только сила Духа Божьего может произвести изменения в духовной жизни. Своими силами, мы не сможем добиться ничего.

Как вы знаете что вы проповедуете с силой и благословением Духа Божия? Вы знаете это, когда Слово Божие применено в силе Духа Бога и производит реакцию на Слово в аудитории. И вы знаете, что жизнь людей изменяется, когда люди спасаются, браки восстанавливаются, отношения исцеляются, люди становятся более посвященными учениками Христа, люди становятся более поглощенными Словом и т.д.

Теперь, слово ободрения. Этот анализ «силы» (помазания) Духа должен быть большим стимулом для проповедников, которые изо дня в день, из года в год, тихо служат Богу, которые добросовестно и точно объясняют и применяют Слово Божье, которые доверяют Духу Божьему, принимают Его Слово и используют его для того, чтобы души спасались и жизни преобразовывались, таким образом, чтобы все становились преданными последователями Христа "доколе все не придем в единство веры и познания Сына Божия, в совершенного человека, в меру полного возраста Христова "(Еф. 4:13).

Это наполненное силой служение Духа. Это проповедь того, чье единственное желание - прославить Бога, возвеличить Христа, с целью "представить каждого человека совершенным во Христе Иисусе" (Кол 1:29). Я бы сказал, что мы должны искать в нашей проповеди Божьего благословения, которое будет проявляться следующим образом: 1. плодами нашего служения ( спасенными людьми, теми, кто возрастает во Христе и т.д.), 2. духовными плодами в нашей собственной жизни (Гал. 5:22), 3. подтверждением лидеров церкви нас для служения, и 4. Христос как центр нашей проповеди для Божьей славы.

Итак, для тех пасторов и проповедников, которые не видят видимых результатов до, во время или после проповеди, мужайтесь. "Бог избрал немудрое мира, чтобы посрамить мудрых, и Бог избрал немощное мира, чтобы посрамить сильное и незнатное мира и уничиженное и ничего не значащее, чтобы упразднить значащее, для того, чтобы никакая плоть не хвалилась пред Богом ... что, как написано: «Хвалящийся хвались Господом" "(1 Кор 1:. 27-29, 31).

Пусть эта статья быть стимулом для всех нас как проповедников, что мы не можем достичь великих целей Бога в жизни наших слушателей, но через живую святую угодную Богу жизнь, через молитву, и зависимость от Духа Божия, мы можем быть использованы Богом для Его суверенных целей. Иногда мы можем знать некоторые из этих результатов, но зачастую - не можем. Наш покой в том, что эта работа - Божья - только Он может спасти души; только Он может изменить жизнь людей. Без этой уверенности наше служение будет вялым. Но с этой уверенностью наше служение будет эффективным.

ЧАСТЬ II: ПОДГОТОВКА К ПРОПОВЕДИ

ПЛАН ПРОПОВЕДИ

До этого момента, в нашем обсуждении "ПОДГОТОВКИ к проповеди" мы говорили о выборе текста и темы, изучении текста, анализа и понимания текста, и определении структуры текста. Этот процесс может быть одновременно интересным и грустным - захватывающим, когда вы обнаруживаете поток мысли в Писании (то есть структуру текста), но разочарование наступает, когда вы работаете с ним в течение нескольких часов и не обнаруживаете его. Может быть, теперь вы понимаете, почему подготовка к проповеди - тяжелая работа.

Но вот, наконец, вы готовы к тому, чтобы подготовить план проповеди. Возможно, вы задаетесь вопросом: "В чем разница между структурой текста и набросками проповеди? Они - не то же самое? "Для некоторых проповедников обе вещи - одинаковы. Многие проповедники проповедуют структуру текста - и это нормально, но на самом деле, не очень глубоко, потому что план нашей проповеди должен отражать принципы богословия и применение текста Писания на сегодня, чтобы наши церкви могли видеть, как это относится к ним. Одна из наших задач, как проповедников заключается в том, чтобы преодолеть разрыв между древним текстом, людьми, языком и культурой на сегодня.

Таким образом, в то время как план проповеди следует и вытекает из структуры текстовой, она отличается от структуры текстовой в том, что она определяет, как вы собираетесь проповедовать то, что говорится в тексте. К тому времени, как вы определили структуру текста, вы знаете тему Писания и то, что автор говорит по этому вопросу (дополнения). Другими словами, вы знаете, что автор написал о том, как он и организовал свой материал. Теперь вам надо решить, как вы будете проповедовать богословие, содержащееся в тексте и как примените его к вашей аудитории. Я думаю, что это, пожалуй, самая важная функция проповедника, потому что люди обычно не делают этого для себя. Они читают Библию, и они понимают, что Он говорит, но часто они не понимают, что это значит и как это относится к нам сегодня. Это - наша задача в том, чтобы сообщить об этом.

Другой вопрос, который может прийти на ум, это "Зачем нам нужен план нашей проповеди?" Многие проповедники не используют план и в результате не в состоянии объяснить богословское значение и последовательность текста, а также как его применить сегодняшним читателям. Наши проповеди должны быть структурированы потому что

1. Вся Библия структурирована. Каждый библейский автор имел цель при написании своей книги. Все записи в Библии не случайны ( без структуры и цели).

2. Если вы не имеете плана проповеди, который следует и вытекает из структуры текста, то вы не будете иметь логическую проповедь, за которой смогут следовать люди.

3. Если у вас нет четкой, библейской структуры, вы не сможете проповедовать ясное, библейское послание.

План проповеди - это «скелет» проповеди - скелет, за который плоть вашего сообщения цепляется, "рамка", к которой крепится ваша проповедь. Это основные моменты, которые разделяют и держат вместе “тело” вашей проповеди.

Хороший план проповеди включает в себя следующие элементы:

1. Он делит послание на "основные моменты" (т. е. пункты проповеди).

2. Он помогает вам представить свой поток мыслей ясно, организованно, в единстве, в прогрессе, в полноте.

3. Он удерживает вас, предотвращая вас от отклонения от темы, или чтобы вы не забыли основных моментов.

4. Он уравновешивает послание между введением, основной частью (описанием, применением, иллюстрациями) и заключением.

5. Он регулирует длину послания, не позволяя ему быть слишком длинным или слишком коротким.

6. Он как дорожной карта (или оглавление) для направления по ней людей.

7. Он делает послание более запоминающимся для слушателей.

План проповеди разделяет тему на основные структурные разделы, которые формируют основные моменты проповеди. Затем основные моменты могут быть подразделены на подпункты, которые просто разъясняют те основные моменты и разделяют их на еще более мелкие подпункты. Однако, как вы структурируете ваше послание - это вопрос личный. Я думаю, что так проще для аудитории, если вы используете только ключевые моменты в вашей схеме и разъясняете свои подпункты в качестве пояснительного материала для основной темы. Вы можете по-прежнему озвучить свои пункты так, чтобы они акцентировались, но они будут звучать также наряду с пояснительным материалом проповеди и не будут сформулированы отдельно. В противном случае, ваша аудитория сможет легко потерять вас.

Я стараюсь, чтобы мои основные моменты выделялись с использованием общих формулировок и повторений. Например, Филиппийцам 1: 19-20 могли быть изложены так:

1. Мы можем быть уверены в молитвах христиан (19а)

2. Мы можем быть уверены в присутствии Духа Христа (19b)

3. Мы можем быть уверены в сохранении свидетельства Христа (20)

Вы никогда не захотите, чтобы план проповеди пересилил ваше послание или впечатлил вашу аудиторию. Он просто структурирует ваше послание.

Отправной точкой для проповеди является главная мысль (предмет) отрывка Писания. Важно записать главную мысль и высказывания об этой мысли (дополнительные пункты), чтобы сформировать ядро проповеди.

Каждая проповедь должна иметь структуру. Основными структурными компонентами каждой проповеди являются: (1) начало (суммирование, вывод). В свою очередь, эти основные структурные компоненты должны решить следующие задачи:

1. Ваше введение должно ...

а) Захватить внимание аудитории

б) Создать потребность в проповеди

в) Иметь соответствие с Писанием

г) Определить тему

д) Определить тезисы (В общем тему и изучение данного отрывка)

е) Перейти в основную часть проповеди

2. Основная часть проповеди, где вы ...

а) Объясняете основные моменты послания

б) Иллюстрируете ваши пунктики, где это необходимо и целесообразно

в) Применяете изучение материала к вашей аудитории

3. В заключении вы…

a) Суммируете пункты, что вы вынесли из вашего отрывка.

б) Помогаете аудитории визуально представить истину, что вы им объяснили - то есть, чтобы они увидели, как это учение можно применить в повседневной жизни.

в) Призываете их реализовывать правду - т.е. применить, ответить на истину, которую они только что услышали.

Начиная со следующего издания этого журнала, я покрою эти моменты плана проповеди так, как вы готовите их (не в порядке, в котором вы проповедуете их) следующим образом:

1. Формулировка основных моментов.

2. Выделив тезис - некоторые люди называют это проповедью в одном предложении".

3. Черновой вариант основной части проповеди - Объяснение (включая иллюстрации) и приложения

4. Структура заключительной части проповеди.

5. Набросок введения.

ЧАСТЬ III. ИЗУЧЕНИЕ СЛОВА

“Характер Евангелия” (1 Кор. 1:18-25)

Проф. Стивен Ф. Олфорд

Теперь мы подошли к одному из наиболее показательных отрывков на тему Евангелия и природы христианского служения, которое мы находим в любом месте Писания в Новом Завете. Павел говорит о проклятии разделения в церквях, но теперь он приступает к рассмотрению причин разделения в церкви; и вплоть до главы 4, он обращается к двум неправильным представлениям, которые являются основными для всех подразделений. Первым из них является неправильное представление относительно христианского послания (1: 18-3: 4), а во-вторых, ошибочное мнение относительно христианского служения (3: 5-4: 5). Для начала, рассмотрим неправильное представление относительно христианского послания. Прежде всего, это связано с неправильным представлением о характере Евангелия. Это наше сегодняшнее послание 1-е Коринфянам 1: 18-25.

Давайте вспомним, как мы обращаемся к этим стихам, что Павел пишет церкви, которая была разделена. Как мы наблюдали ранее, уже было не менее четырех партий с их соответствующими лозунгами. Часть проблемы заключалась в том, что верующие привязывались к людям больше, чем к Мастеру, но есть также тенденция возвеличивать посланника больше, чем послание. Таким образом, Павел вынужден изложить четкое заявление о характере Евангелия.

Он прежде всего говорит о том:

I. ЕВАНГЕЛИЕ, КАК ОТЛИЧНЫЙ ПЛАН ОТКРОВЕНИЯ БОГА

"Ибо слово о кресте для погибающих, юродство есть; а для нас, спасаемых, сила Божия "(1 Кор. 1:18). Павел делает акцент здесь не столько на презентации Евангелия, как на "слове" Евангелия, в отличие от мудрости слов, упомянутых в стихе 17. Его высшая цель состоит в том, чтобы указать на уникальность Евангелия, как откровение мудрости и силы Божьей. Это были ключевые слова древнего мира. Греки всегда ищут мудрости, в то время как евреи одержимы знамениями. Таким образом, Павел очерчивает отличительный характер Евангелия, наблюдая:

1) Мудрость Божья - не человеческая мудрость - Христос сила Божия и премудрость Божия "(1 Кор. 1:24). Павел не оставляет нам никаких сомнений относительно того, какую мудрость подразумевал Бог. Чуть дальше он говорит: "Но ... во Христе Иисусе ... Бог сделался для нас премудростью, праведностью и освящением и искуплением" (1 Кор. 1:30). Там нет большего заявления о послании об истинном спасении, чем того, что содержится в этом стихе. Во-первых, Христос - это наша праведность. Но через Иисуса Христа, мы стали оправданными, или правыми перед святым Богом. Этот аспект Евангелия отвечает на древний вопрос: "Как человек может быть оправдан Богом?» (Иов 25: 4). Потому что Христос умер за грехи наши и воскрес для оправдания нас, мы можем знать, что Божья праведность вменяется нам через веру в Его Сына. Во-вторых, Христос - наше освящение.

Мы никогда не могли достичь святости нашими собственными силами, но только через Его присутствие в нас и освящение каждый день. Это - работа Божьей благодати, она отделяет нас друг от друга исключительно для целей Бога. С точки зрения поведения, это значит жить экспериментально, то есть позиционно во Христе. В-третьих, Христос - это наше искупление. Это слово означает "освобождение" или "избавление". В данном конкретном контексте, это относится не только к искуплению от наказания и власти греха, но и от самого присутствия греха. Это - последнее действие Бога, посредством которого мы способны соответствовать самому подобию Христа, когда Он вернется.

Какое откровение мудрости Бога в Евангелии нашего Господа Иисуса Христа. Но в отличие от этого, Павел описывает также мудрость человека. В послании Иакова, он соглашается с тем, что человеческая мудрость ... "... земная, душевная, бесовская" (Иакова 3:15). Человеческая мудрость земная. "... Ибо когда в премудрости Божией, мир своею мудростью не познал Бога, то благоугодно было Богу юродством проповеди спасти верующих" (1 Кор. 1:21). Теперь важен тот момент, чтобы помнить, что Бог в Своей мудрости постановил, что мир в своей мудрости не должен и не может познать Бога. Это навсегда уничтожает понятие, что человек из своих собственных рассуждений или интеллектуальных достижений может найти Бога и также познать Бога. Человеческое образование по своему качеству совершенно недостаточно. Человеческая мудрость - чувственна. Вот почему Павел, с оттенком иронии, говорит: «... греки ищут мудрости" (1 Кор. 1:22). Там нет ничего, чтобы могло взывать к чувственным или плотским людям, как так называемый "интеллектуальный подход" умудренных проповедников или сладкоречивых ораторов. Человеческая мудрость - бесовская. Она описана так будто она связан с дьяволом, который пал от гордости. Вот почему человеческая философия - не что иное, как интеллектуальное высокомерие и тщеславие. Каждое движение, которое подрывает авторитет Писания - назовем это модернизмом, либерализмом, или гуманизмом - это все часть этого философского подхода. Из-за человеческой гордости, мужчины стремятся быть похожими на известных философов, не понимая, что Библия осуждает это как дьявольское.

Так Павел напоминает коринфянам "... написано, я погублю мудрость мудрецов, и разум разумных отвергну. Где мудрец? Где книжник? Где совопросник века сего? Не обратил ли Бог мудрость мира сего в безумие?"(1 Кор 1: 19-20.) Весь смысл этой цитаты в том, чтобы показать, что человек должен узнать, что все его приемы и усилия, идущие на достижение его спасения - совершенно бесполезны. Бог спасает только через слово креста (Исаия 29:14). Вторая цитата из Исаии 33:18 показывает, как Бог совершенно спутал советы умудренных еврейских правителей. И то, что он делал тогда еще, он продолжал делать, когда люди не отказывались от их философского рассуждения в пользу мудрости Бога. Но в описании этого своеобразного откровения Бога, Павел не только противопоставляет мудрость Бога против человеческой мудрости, но и:

2) Силу Божью против силы человеческой - "Ибо слово о кресте для погибающих юродство есть; а для нас, спасаемых, - сила Божия "(1 Кор. 1:18). Как это напоминает нам о великом утверждении Павла в Послании к Римлянам 1:16: "Ибо я не стыжусь благовествования Христова, потому что оно есть сила Божия ко спасению всякому верующему, во-первых, Иудею, а потом и Еллину ". В самом сердце Евангелия - динамика Бога, которая имеет власть, чтобы сохранить и донести. Нет ничего другого во всей вселенной, что могло бы преобразить жизнь человека, как Евангелие Господа нашего Иисуса Христа. Сила креста - единственный ответ для человеческого греха.

В отличие от этого, есть хваленная сила человека. "Евреи требуют знамения ..." (1 Кор. 1:22). Как говорит Леон Моррис, "Евреи, на протяжении всей своей истории, были прямыми по сути. Они не хотели спекулятивных мыслей. Они хотели доказательств, и их интерес был практическим. Они думали о Боге, как Он проявляет себя в истории, в знамениях и великих чудесах "Вот почему евреи вечно ищут знамения от Господа во время Его земного служения (Матфея 12:38;

6: 1, 4; Марка 8:11; Иоанна 6:30). Они думали о Мессии как о том, Кто демонстрировал свою власть путем проявления силы и величия. Для них, распятый Христос был противоречием терминов.

Таким образом, Павел подводит итог своему анализу божественной мудрости и силы против человеческой мудрости и силы в этих огромных словах, найденных в стихах 22, 23 и 24: "Ибо и Иудеи требуют чудес, и Еллины ищут мудрости; а мы проповедуем Христа распятого, для Иудеев - соблазн, а для Еллинов - безумие; для самих же призванных, Иудеев и Еллинов, Христа, Божию славу и Божью премудрость."

Вторая особенность Евангелия в том, что Павел говорил:

II. ЕВАНГЕЛИЕ, КАК БОЖЬЕ ПРИГЛАШЕНИЕ ИСКУПИТЬ ЧЕЛОВЕКА

"Для самих же призванных, Иудеев и Еллинов, Христа, Божию славу и Божью премудрость Божия" (1 Кор. 1:24). Здесь представлен идеальный баланс христианского Евангелия. Мало того, что Бог дал нам откровение о Себе, но и приглашение к Себе. Это больше, чем человеческая мудрость и сила может сделать. Рассмотрим затем:

1) Божье наслаждение в приглашении к Благой Вести - "... это благоугодно было Богу юродством проповеди спасти верующих" (1 Кор 1:21).. Слово "проповедь" не то же самое, что в стихе 18-м. Акцент здесь делается на провозглашение славного послания Благой Вести. Павел говорит нам здесь, что высшее удовольствие Бога, или более буквально, "Божье наслаждение," является тем, что посредством юродивой проповеди происходит спасение мужчин и женщин. Что может быть более величественно и прекрасно, чем то, что Бог возлюбил людей, и что юродством проповеди несет спасительное послание о кресте? Но подумайте еще раз о:

2) Божьем замысле в приглашении к Евангелию - "проповедь о кресте для погибающих юродство есть, а для нас, спасаемых, есть сила Божия" (1 Кор 1:18).. Вот это сочетание слов открывает нам общую работу по спасению людей Богом посредством Иисуса Христа. Давайте помнить, что каждый человек без Христа потерян. Действительно, глагол, переведенный как «погибающих» означает не исчезновение, но разрушение и потерю всей жизни, благосостояния. Человек, который погибает не выполняет саму цель, ради которой Бог сотворил его. Но это не происходит тогда, когда Евангелие Иисуса Христа встречает его и спасает его для вечной жизни. Идея этого слова "спасаемых" не только в восстановлении, но и в преображении людей.

Но давайте еще раз посмотрим на то, что мы называем:

3) Божий процесс в Приглашении к Евангелюя - "... то благоугодно было Богу юродством проповеди спасти верующих ... Но к ним, которые призваны... Христос есть сила Божия, и премудрость Божия" (1 Кор 1:. 21, 24). Есть два слова, которые подводят итог божественному процессу в приглашении к Евангелию. Одним из них является слово "призвать". Другое слово - "верить." Одно описывает предложение Бога, а другое - ответ человека. Иисус всегда призывает мужчин и женщин к Себе; и слава Богу, люди из всякого колена и языка, и наречия отвечают на призыв. Этот славный процесс будет продолжаться до тех пор, пока Тело Христово не станет полным.

Итак, мы видим, что это искупительное приглашение Бога требует решения. Человек никогда не может столкнуться с откровением и приглашением к Евангелию, не дав ответа. Если он верит, то он спасен. Если он не верит, он погибает.

Вывод: Верующие в Коринфе были разделены, потому что у них были ложные представления о послании Евангелия. Вот почему Павел трудится усердно, описывая в первом абзаце истинный характер благовествования. Рассмотрев его тщательно, мы уже увидели, что он приходит к выводу: "... немудрое Божие премудрее человеков, и немощное Божие сильнее человеков "(1 Кор. 1:25). Философии и человеческое проявление власти могут приходить и уходить, но Евангелие Иисуса Христа остается неизменным, и неизменно оно из-за его характера в Иисусе Христе - "... оно то же вчера, сегодня и навсегда."

ЧАСТЬ IV: ПЛАН ПРОПОВЕДИ

Для прослушивания аудио версии этих проповедей на английском языке, нажмите на эти ссылки: Link 1 - Jn. 10:1-2; Link 2 - Jn. 10:3-4; Link 3 - Jn. 10:4-8; Link 4 - Jn. 10:9

Заголовок: Иисус - Дверь (Ин. 10:1-9)

1: Ложные религиозные лидеры и злоумышленники (1-2)

1. В дверь не входят, перелазят инде

2. Они - воры и разбойники

2: Истинные религиозные лидеры - пасторы (3-5)

1. Они ведут народ Божий, призывая к ответу (3а-б)

2. Они ведут народ Божий, бросая вызов (3в)

3. Они ведут народ Божий, давая указания (3г-4б)

4. Они ведут народ Божий, выявляя доверие (4в-5)

5. Они ведут народ Божий, привлекая ко Христу (6-9)

а) Христос - дверь овцам (7-8)

б) Христос - дверь спасения (9а)

в) Христос - дверь свободы (9б)

г) Христос - дверь насыщения (9в)

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From the series:

8. God's Design for Life Priorities

Wisdom from the Word

Understanding God’s Design

Read Proverbs 31:10-31.

Building Your Marriage with God’s Design

Read Luke 10:38-42.

Parenting with God’s Design

Wisdom from a Mentor (Lisa)

Summing It Up

From the series:

From the series:

9. God's Design for Finances

Wisdom from the Word

Understanding God’s Design

Read Matthew 6:19-34.

Read 1 Tim. 6:6-11.

Building Your Marriage with God’s Design

Parenting with God’s Design

Wisdom from a Mentor (Karen)

Summing It Up

From the series:

From the series:

10. God's Design for Building Communication

Wisdom from the Word

Understanding God’s Design

Read James 3:2-12.

Read 1 Peter 2:21-25.

Building Your Marriage with God’s Design

Parenting with God’s Design

Wisdom from a Mentor (Margaret)

Summing It Up

Bibliography

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From the series:

Downloadable Resources for God's Design for Building Your Marriage

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ЧАСТЬ I: СИЛА ПРОПОВЕДИ, Ч. 3 продолжение

ЧАСТЬ II: ПОДГОТОВКА К ПРОПОВЕДИ

ЧАСТЬ III. ИЗУЧЕНИЕ СЛОВА

I. ЕВАНГЕЛИЕ, КАК ОТЛИЧНЫЙ ПЛАН ОТКРОВЕНИЯ БОГА

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