December 1, 2019
Evening Service

This morning we were all challenged by the Apostle Paul to fulfill the Great Commission by “preaching the word.” 

2Ti 4:1-2 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: (2) Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.

        We are always to be ready and willing to share our testimony with those around us in hope that they will choose to accept Jesus as their personal Savior.  This is the first of three ways Paul instructs us to “preach the word.”  

Convince means to persuade someone to believe firmly in the truth of something and to act upon that belief.  Our goal in sharing our faith is to persuade them to come and see for themselves that what you are saying is true.

 

 Psalms 34:8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

 

Isa 1:18 "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

        We are simply being used as instruments or tools to point those who are seeking to Jesus Christ who takes away the sins of the world.  It is not a confrontational argument, but a rational discussion that God exists, created us, loves us, and sent a Savior for us.  We are to only start the conversation and “reason” with them, it is the Holy Spirit that will call them to a decision to follow or not.  Our “preaching the word” is to convince others to become disciples of Christ and follow His teachings.  Sharing our personal testimony fits into this category.  The second way our preaching is to be used is for rebuke.

 

            Rebuke is to express sharp disapproval or to criticize someone because of their behavior or actions.  This means we are to correct our brothers and sisters when they are out of line with what the Word of God says.  The best example of this I thought of was when Jesus had just told the disciples that He would suffer greatly in Jerusalem and be killed but would rise again the third day.

 

 Mat 16:22-24 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!"  (23)  But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."  (24)  Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

 

 

        We can learn several things from this story from Matthew.  First we can see that before we offer rebuke or correction, we better know that we are right beyond a shadow of a doubt.  Peter attempted to rebuke the Lord and say in a good hearted way that He did not have to suffer or perhaps even die.  Peter did not have a good understanding of what God was doing in this situation and spoke without praying about what he was confronting Jesus with.  Be careful when you rebuke or correct and be totally sure you are right in doing so not from a personal conviction, but speaking straight from scripture. Pray over it and discuss it confidentially with another brother you trust and let them confirm your thoughts or give you a different needed perspective.

            Secondly we see Jesus rebuking Peter for having a selfish perspective of the situation rather than one that was yielded to the will of God.  Peter did not want Jesus to leave them.  He wanted to follow Him and learn from Him for many years and watch what many miracles that could be done by this Holy Son of God and perhaps in his mind see the world changed for the better.  He had a plan and it was a good one.  The problem was his plan was not God’s plan.  God was going to change the world, but it was going to come to pass through Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection.  Carrying our cross means to follow even when we don’t understand what He is doing but trusting Him to do what is best for all yielding our will to His.

            We are here to hold one another accountable and keep each other on task of following Jesus.  If there are times my brother gets out of the will of God, I am to rebuke him with hope to restore him to a proper and productive relationship with Christ.  This is not always pleasant because it is not always well received and needs to be done with longsuffering in the spirit of love and humility.  James said it like this:

 

Jas 5:19-20 Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, (20) let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.

            Our preaching of the word can convince men to initially believe and to return them to the truth when they have wondered from it.  The third way our preaching is to be used is for exhortation.

 

Exhort means to strongly encourage someone to do something.  Rebuke would be tearing someone down and to exhort would be to build them back up.  Our preaching should be one of encouragement for our brothers to trust God and hold true to the faith.  Exhortation is a gift that is listed in the “Gift chapter” of Romans 12.

 

Rom 12:6-8 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; (7) or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; (8) he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

 

 

 

To encourage one another is a God given gift that is to be used to build up our fellow followers of Christ.  It is always easy to see what is wrong in a situation and be critical, but on the contrary it is a gift to be able to exhort someone in their time of difficulty.  To exhort someone is to be the positive influence in a negative situation.  We are often quick to speak when something is wrong, but remain quiet when something is right.  If you see someone doing something that holy, just, righteous or pure tell them so.  A word of encouragement can be the wind in the sails of someone who is struggling.  We can say this; be slow to rebuke, but quick to exhort. I think our “Hug & Howdy” time in our service is a great example of exhorting one another.  There is something holy and righteous about the hugs, handshakes and conversations that occur in that short time.

 

  I am very blessed to be around many of you who have been given this gift and use it to exhort me.  You all are so encouraging and grateful that it drives me to work harder to dig deeper and do better in everything I do.  Thank you for using your gift! 

 

Today we really only completed two verses in this chapter, but were exposed to so much in the challenge from Paul to “Preach the word!”  I want to wrap this all up with another familiar verse that tells us the attitude that must be present as we convince, rebuke and exhort those around us.

 

1Co 16:13-14 Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.  (14)  Let all that you do be done with love.

        We must always be on guard of our surroundings as we need courage to stand strongly upon the things that we believe, but never let us speak or preach one word that is not spoken in love.  Love never fails!

 

Heavenly Father as we go into this world and seek to preach the word give us compassion to convince others of Your love for them, grant us wisdom when rebuke is needed, and fill our mouth with encouragement for our brothers and sisters.