{"id":18220,"date":"2016-05-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-08T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/2-timothy-030-why-preach-the-bible-part-5\/"},"modified":"2016-05-08T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-05-08T05:00:00","slug":"2-timothy-030-why-preach-the-bible-part-5","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/2-timothy-030-why-preach-the-bible-part-5\/","title":{"rendered":"2 Timothy 030 – Why Preach the Bible? – Part 5"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[100],"series_event":[454],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18220","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-2-timothy","series_event-2-timothy","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"2 Timothy 030 - Why Preach the Bible? - Part 5","sermon_date":"20160508","sermon_month":"5","sermon_year":"2016","sermon_notes":3610,"sermon_slides":3613,"sermon_mp3":3614,"sermon_id":"58161054589","series_or_event":454,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":100,"chapter_and_verse":"4:1-2","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nWhy Preach the Bible?\u00a0 Part 5\n\n5-8-16\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2 Timothy4:1\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 31\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 If we could take our Bibles and open them to 2 Timothy, which is right after 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy 4:1.\u00a0 As we continue on in our series through 2 Timothy and specifically a series within the series entitled Why Preach the Bible.\u00a0 And of course, a very happy Mother\u2019s Day to all of our mothers, we have several ladies in the church that have for whatever reason, sovereignty of God, haven\u2019t been able to have their own children but it\u2019s interesting that in the Bible you can have spiritual children, so Mother\u2019s Day is just as much a celebration for you as anybody else.\n\nIn fact, speaking of spiritual children Paul had a spiritual child named Timothy.\u00a0 Timothy, of course, is the pastor of the church at Ephesus, and like most people when God calls them to a task it gets difficult.\u00a0 We have a tendency to think because God called us to do something it\u2019s easy and there\u2019s always the question mark in our minds, maybe I should just throw in the towel when difficulty comes, maybe I didn\u2019t follow God\u2019s leading correctly, am I sure God wants me to do this.\u00a0 And Paul writes this book, really to get Timothy\u2026 it\u2019s not to get him saved, there\u2019s no doubt that he\u2019s saved, it\u2019s to get him to continue on in his task.\u00a0 This is not a salvation book, it\u2019s a task book.\n\nAnd chapter 1 has been a general faithful call to endurance.\u00a0 Chapter 2 is really a description of what endurance looks like in the form of about ten word pictures.\u00a0 And then beginning in chapter 3 he begins to describe something which is sort or eerie when you begin to read what he says.\u00a0 He begins to describe something that\u2019s coming into the life of the church in the last days; in fact, I believe Paul indicated in Acts 20 that this would occur right after the death of the apostles. \u00a0And it would get worse as the church age progresses.\u00a0 And that\u2019s something called the apostasy which essentially means a departure from truth.\u00a0 This is not talking about conditions in the world; it\u2019s not a statement about the stock market or the White House or the economy.\u00a0 It\u2019s a statement about the spiritual condition of the church; as the church age progresses it will have a tendency to move away \u00a0from truth, which always makes it difficult upon the person who wants to stand for the truth.\u00a0 And that\u2019s when throwing in the towel becomes very tempting.\u00a0 You start to think to yourself well, all these people disagree with me, I must be doing something wrong.\u00a0 And no doubt Timothy had a lot of those insecurities.\n\nSo Paul, to prepare Timothy, and us as God\u2019s servants, for that time period describes the apostasy with its evil and its examples.\u00a0 And then one of the things I love about Paul is he doesn\u2019t just give you the problem that\u2019s coming, he gives you the solution.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t say here\u2019s how to stop the apostasy, because I don\u2019t think it can be stopped; what he says is here\u2019s how you as a man of God, as a woman of God, are to react to it once it comes.\n\nNumber 1, you need to follow my example and my character, Paul says to Timothy.\u00a0 And then, number 2, you need to stick with the Scripture.\u00a0 In fact, you need to up the ante in terms of absorbing and publicly teaching, and as we\u2019ll see today public proclaiming the Scripture.\u00a0 So what you have in chapter 3, verse 14, all the way through chapter 4, verse 8, is one of the most fantastic treatments\u00a0 you have anywhere in the Bible concerning the priority that the Scripture should have in our lives but specifically here in our churches.\n\nAnd what the apostle does for this young man, Timothy, is he lays out about nine reasons why the Scripture is so important.\u00a0 These Scriptures impacted Paul, verse 14 of chapter 3.\u00a0 These Scriptures lead people to a saving knowledge of Christ, chapter 3, verse 15. \u00a0These Scriptures are of divine origin; this is God\u2019s book Paul says.\u00a0 God inspired the Scripture. And we\u2019ve talked about what that means.\u00a0 The Scripture just doesn\u2019t lead\u00a0 you to Christ, it helps you grow in Christ, verse 16, the second half of the book, a process we call progressive sanctification.\u00a0 Last week we saw verse 17, that the Scriptures actually have the capacity to equip you for how many good works?\u00a0 Every good work, at the statement there about the sufficiency of the Scripture.\n\nAnd now Paul continues on with this list as we find ourselves finally in chapter 4, heading down the home stretch here, where Paul gives a couple of more reasons why Timothy is to preach the Scripture.\u00a0 First of all, we\u2019ll look at Paul\u2019s charge to Timothy.\u00a0 And then secondly today we will look at Timothy\u2019s evaluation that\u2019s coming because you see, there\u2019s a performance appraisal on the horizon for Timothy, and quite frankly, for all of us.\u00a0 And Paul brings that to Timothy\u2019s remembrance.\n\nBut notice first of all this charge he gives to Timothy.\u00a0 Notice if you will chapter 4 and verse 1, Paul says, \u201cI solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, \u2026 and by His appearing and His kingdom:\u201d verse 2, to \u201cpreach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.\u201d\n\nFirst of all, notice if you will the charge.\u00a0 He reveals the charge at the beginning of verse 1 and he continues with the thought into verse 2 as we will see.\u00a0 But notice this charge.\u00a0 Paul says, \u201cI solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Jesus Christ\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 Notice this expression, \u201ccharge,\u201d \u201cI charge\u201d you something, I task you with something.\u00a0 This word \u201ccharge\u201d is very interesting in the Greek, it\u2019s marturomai<\/em>, where we get the word martyr incidentally, and it speaks of a charge or of a command at the highest level of intensity.\u00a0 In fact, that\u2019s why the New American Standard Bible translates this as \u201cI solemnly charge,\u201d charge in and of itself wouldn\u2019t be strong enough a word so the English translation adds the word \u201csolemnly\u201d but these are both English words derived from the single word marturomai<\/em>.\n\nAnd it\u2019s interesting, when you track this word through the New Testament it occurs in Luke 16:28.\u00a0 You remember the man who died without faith and went into Hades, and in Hades, he pleaded that Abram, Abraham, would ask God and God and Abraham would send forth people who could warn his brothers.\u00a0\u00a0 Have Lazarus come back from the dead and warn my brothers who are on the same path of unbelief that I am on and then they won\u2019t come to this terrible place of torment.\n\nLuke 16:28 says, \u201cfor I have five brothers-- in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.\u201d\u00a0 Now in Luke 16:28 the English word translated \u201cwarn\u201d is the same word, or verb, marturomai<\/em>.\u00a0 It\u2019s a warning of intensity.\u00a0 I want you to go warn my brothers, I want you to charge my brothers, I want you to explain something to my brothers that if they die in unbelief they\u2019re going to come into this place of torment that I find myself in.\n\nPaul uses that identical very, marturomai<\/em>, to charge Timothy with the task of preaching the Word of God.\u00a0 Of all of the tasks you should be giving yourself to, Timothy, the most intense task I can assign to you, with the most aggressive Greek verb that I know how to express, this task is to preach and teach the Word of God.\n\nNow when we come back to verse 2 in just a moment we\u2019re going to be getting an in depth explanation of what that charge entails.\u00a0 But before Paul gets into that he completes verse 1 and he begins to talk about Timothy\u2019s evaluation that is on the horizon, his performance appraisal that is coming.\u00a0 And notice what Paul says towards the end there of verse 1, \u201cI solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, by His appearing and His kingdom.\u201d\n\nNotice this expression here, \u201cI charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 He is making a reference there to two members of the Trinity; generically he\u2019s making a reference to the Triune God, the Godhead.\u00a0 We believe, of course, in one God but He has expressed Himself in three separate personages: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting he describes here two of those members of the Trinity, \u201cin the presence of God,\u201d that would be a reference to the Father, \u201cand of Christ,\u201d that would be a reference to God the Son.\n\nWhat he is saying to Timothy is God is watching what you\u2019re doing.\u00a0 God, who is omnipresent, everywhere at once, is present with you;\u00a0 you may feel like you\u2019re by yourself but God is with you, God is present with you and He\u2019s carefully observing what you are doing.\u00a0 He is carefully observing how you are carrying out this particular command to preach the Word.\n\nAnd he makes a reference here to the coming judgment because he describes the Triune God as one who is going \u201cto judge the living and the dead.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting that every person alive today, the six to seven billion people on planet earth, are going to be judged.\u00a0 This life ends in judgment.\u00a0 It does not end in unconsciousness, it does not end in nirvana, it does not end in us being reincarnated into some other life form.\u00a0 The biblical worldview says this life ends in judgment; every person that\u2019s alive today will be judged.\n\nNow you say well, I\u2019m a Christian, I\u2019m not going to be judged am I?\u00a0\u00a0 Yes you will be; you will be judged just as Timothy is going to be judged.\u00a0 For the believer it\u2019s not a judgment to determine heaven or hell, it\u2019s an evaluation to determine rewards or authority once one arrives in heaven and the kingdom.\u00a0 It\u2019s something that we call, that the Greek text calls, the Bema Seat Judgment of Christ.\u00a0 So Timothy I want you to think about, not necessarily your numerical count at church.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want you necessarily to think about how money is coming into the offering.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want you to think about how popular your message is, or how gifted people think you are in terms of your oratorical style.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want you to think about any of that stuff.\n\nWhat I want you to think about is your future performance appraisal, because as living beings God will judge you and He will also judge the dead.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it interesting that the dead are awaiting the judgment of God.\u00a0 Even that man that died in unbelief in Luke 16, that went to that terrible place of Hades, he was there in that place of torment awaiting a future judgment.\u00a0 And a Christian who dies, absent from the body is to be what?\u00a0 Present with the Lord.\u00a0 The Christian who dies is in a place of bliss but they are still awaiting a future judgment for the believer; a judgment of rewards.\n\nIsn\u2019t it interesting how we work differently when we know a performance appraisal is on the horizon?\u00a0 I remember in classes I had in college when the professor only gave a final but he never gave a midterm; I had a tendency to slack off during the first half of the semester, but I didn\u2019t have that tendency in classes where there was not just the final but also a midterm because knowledge of an imminent evaluation, where I would be accountable for displaying my knowledge (or lack thereof) motivated me in the present.\u00a0 And\u00a0 you see, this is what the Christian worldview does for the believer.\u00a0 If you understand that as a Christian \u201cwe all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ,\u201d we prioritize our lives; we do things differently.\u00a0 [2 Corinthians 5:10, \u201cFor we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.\u201d]\n\nIf you don\u2019t think about the future judgment, you don\u2019t think about your future performance appraisal our lives can get very, very sloppy and lackadaisical.\u00a0 Thus, Timothy, I want you to understand that Jesus is coming \u201cto judge the living and the dead.\u201d\u00a0 And let me tell you something; this is a thought that I think about probably almost every day, this thought enters my mind: the teachers in the body of Christ, those that are in formal teaching positions are judged to a higher standard, not only in terms of what they communicate and say but what they don\u2019t communicate and say.\u00a0 And it\u2019s beyond just words, is there a lifestyle that consistently backs up the words?\n\nThe book of James, chapter 3 and verse 1 says, \u201cLet not many of you become teachers, my brethren,\u201d now when says \u201cmy brethren\u201d it\u2019s very clear he\u2019s talking to believers.\u00a0 \u201cLet not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0Notice that there\u2019s a judgment for the brother in Christ who is a teacher, or the sister in Christ who is a teacher.\u00a0 And if I\u2019m reading my Bible correctly that judgment is actually more strict or severe; there\u2019s a higher standard than for others in the body of Christ.\n\nThe prophet, Ezekiel, is probably one of my favorite Old Testament prophets; he prophesied during the days of the Babylonian exile.\u00a0 He writes a 48 chapter book recording the visions that the Lord gave him and the prophet Ezekiel was commissioned by God, not once but twice; once in chapter 3, once again in chapter 33.\u00a0 You say why is he commissioned twice?\u00a0 Because the book of Ezekiel has two parts to it.\u00a0 The first part of the book is judgment that\u2019s coming upon Judah.\u00a0 The second part of the book is about restoration.\u00a0 So Ezekiel, part of your ministry is going to be preaching about coming judgment and then part of your ministry is going to be preaching about coming restoration.\u00a0 And Ezekiel, for both sections of his ministry, was commissioned by God in each instance.\n\nNotice Ezekiel 3:17-19, commissioning number 1, \u201cSon of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me.\u00a0 [18] When I say to the wicked, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.\u00a0 [19] Yet if you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered yourself.\u201d\n\nEzekiel, I have put you in a position as the watchman on the wall and I want you to reveal to the people everything I tell you.\u00a0 And if you reveal everything I tell you to reveal and they won\u2019t listen to you then it\u2019s their own fault.\u00a0 If they die in their wicked way they\u2019ve got no one to blame but themselves.\u00a0 But conversely if I tell you to say something and\u00a0 you withhold it and the people die as a result of a lack of knowledge, God says to Ezekiel, Ezekiel, I\u2019m coming after you; their blood I\u2019m requiring at your expense.\u00a0 Wow!\u00a0 The office of the teacher.\u00a0 It\u2019s so interesting that God says the identical thing in the chapter where Ezekiel is commissioned to preach restoration, Ezekiel 33:7-9, you\u2019ll see exactly the same language.\n\nEzekiel 22:7, \u201cNow as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them warning from Me.\u00a0 [8] When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you will surely die,' and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand.\u00a0 [9] But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life.\u201d\n\nYou say well, that\u2019s all Old Testament stuff, I\u2019m glad we don\u2019t have to worry about that.\u00a0 Notice Acts 20:26-27, the last time I checked the book of Acts was in which Testament?\u00a0 The New Testament.\u00a0 Notice what Paul says as he is speaking to the Ephesian elders.\u00a0 \u201cTherefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men.\u00a0 [27] For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.\u201d\n\nThe origin of Paul\u2019s thoughts is not found in any other source other than the prophet Ezekiel.\u00a0 Paul says as I stand before you spiritual leaders today, having completed my ministry, I am innocent of the blood of all men because I revealed to you everything that God said.\u00a0 And consequently I have delivered myself and so if you move off into sin and disobedience you\u2019ve got no one to blame but yourself.\u00a0 Now on the other hand, if I hadn\u2019t told\u00a0 you everything and you died in your sin or wandered off in your sin, then God would hold me accountable.\n\nSee, the way I look at Ezekiel 3 and Ezekiel 33 and Acts 10 and James 3 and now to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4, is a commissioning from God as a teacher at the highest level.\u00a0 There is a sin of commission saying something wrong, and equally true there is a sin of omission, avoiding something because you think it might inhibit church growth, it might hurt somebody\u2019s feelings, it might upset the applecart.\u00a0 And to the extent that we are evaluated, not based on what we say but what we don\u2019t say, as I began to understand this I became committed to the verse by verse method of teaching.\u00a0 Because you see, verse by verse forces me to interact and declare everything in the Bible.\u00a0 And so I\u2019ve got my defense all planned actually, Lord I was at Sugar Land Bible Church and I went verse by verse through and I can name the books.\u00a0 Now He might say well, you only covered 10% of it so maybe we\u2019ll have to move faster at some point, but you see, this is a very serious thing that God is saying here.\n\nThere\u2019s a reason why back in 3 Timothy 3;16 he says \u201cAll Scripture is inspired by God\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 Why would he say \u201cAll Scripture is inspired by God\u201d and then tell Timothy to preach part of the Scripture?\u00a0 That would make no sense.\u00a0 And it is just so disturbing to me to see ministry after ministry after ministry soft-pedaling the Word of God, watering down the Word of God, avoiding certain subjects or topics in the Word of God.\u00a0 And I\u2019m wondering, do all of these so-called spiritual leaders and teachers, do they not understand, do they not see this commission that God has given us?\u00a0 And so at the end of the day I\u2019m far more afraid of God than I am people.\n\nNow people can be intimidating; people want their ways, they want their ears tickled.\u00a0 People in a nanosecond, if you part your hair on the wrong side of\u00a0 your head will pick up and move to another church that does it like I want it done.\u00a0 That\u2019s the fickle, market demanding mentality of the American consumer today.\u00a0 That\u2019s how people to church, they look at it like a shopping mall where they have this and that, this and that in terms of activities or ministries, and if they\u2019re not there then I\u2019m out the door.\n\nThe fact of the matter is, I am not accountable to you; I\u2019m accountable to an elder board but ultimately the moment I put myself in the position of teacher, the moment I responded to what I felt was the call of God on my life, teach the Bible, is the moment I\u2019m totally accountable to God and I will have to give an account one day.\u00a0 Just keep that in mind when you get a little bit anxiety-ridden about the slow pace I\u2019m moving through a book.\u00a0 Just sort of keep that in mind when the sermon goes a little longer than it should.\u00a0 I would love to make everybody content and happy but the fact of the matter is, at the end of the day it is God who is to judge the living and the dead.\n\nNow when will this judgment take place?\u00a0 He tells us here as we move into the end of verse 1, He is, \u201cto judge the living and the dead,\u201d well, when is this going to happen, \u201cby His appearing and His kingdom.\u201d\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice that Paul says the judgment is yet future.\u00a0 It\u2019s connected with Christ appearing.\u00a0 The Greek word translated \u201cappearing\u201d is where we get the English word \u201cepiphany,\u201d the revelation of the appearance of God.\u00a0 So this is a reference to the Second Advent of Christ.\u00a0 It\u2019s not speaking of the rapture here, but the return of Jesus Christ at the end of the seven year tribulation period, to establish his long-awaited kingdom on planet earth.\n\nAnd notice this word \u201ckingdom, \u201cby His appearing and His kingdom\u201d, the Greek word for kingdom here is basileia<\/em>.\u00a0 I have just completed a 363 page book on the kingdom.\u00a0 It\u2019s part of my sabbatical project that I contracted with, the College of Biblical Studies, yeah, you can have a couple of semesters off but we need to see you produce something; this is what I\u2019ve been enmeshed in, immersed in.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been studying the kingdom for the last several months relentlessly and what you\u2019ll discover here is that the word \u201ckingdom\u201d is not defined.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t explain what kingdom or what kind of kingdom it is.\u00a0 And people come into a verse like this and they apply their own thinking on what the kingdom is.\u00a0 Well, the kingdom is Jesus reigning in the church; Jesus reigning in our hearts, the gospel going out to the earth.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is every time you see a reference to kingdom in the New Testament, basileia<\/em>, it\u2019s always undefined.\n\nSo since the word is undefined how am I supposed to understand what he\u2019s talking about when he talks about a kingdom?\u00a0 The answer is the Old Testament.\u00a0 He is expecting Timothy, a Jew, to have a working knowledge of the kingdom from Old Testament Scriptures.\u00a0 We don\u2019t come to this word \u201ckingdom\u201d and assign any meaning we want to it because it\u2019s undefined.\u00a0 We have to develop our definition of the kingdom from the Old Testament.\n\nYou know, if you were to go home today and you were to read about six or seven verses, Isaiah 2:1-4, Isaiah 11:6-9, you would learn so much about the kingdom just from those verses.\u00a0 What is the kingdom?\u00a0 The kingdom is the time in history when Jerusalem will be the center of world, spiritual and political authority.\u00a0 That\u2019s what those verses say.\n\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n[Isaiah 2:1-4, \u201cThe word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.\n\n[2] Now it will come about that in the last days\nThe mountain of the house of the LORD\nWill be established as the chief of the mountains,\nAnd will be raised above the hills;\nAnd all the nations will stream to it.\n\n[3] And many peoples will come and say,\n\u201cCome, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,\nTo the house of the God of Jacob;\nThat He may teach us concerning His ways\nAnd that we may walk in His paths.\u201d\nFor the law will go forth from Zion\nAnd the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.\n\n[4] And He will judge between the nations,\nAnd will render decisions for many peoples;\nAnd they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.\nNation will not lift up sword against nation,\nAnd never again will they learn war.\n\nIsaiah 11:6-9, \u201cAnd the wolf will dwell with the lamb,\nAnd the leopard will lie down with the young goat,\nAnd the calf and the young lion and the fatling together;\nAnd a little boy will lead them.\n\n[7] Also the cow and the bear will graze,\nTheir young will lie down together,\nAnd the lion will eat straw like the ox.\n\n[8] The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra,\nAnd the weaned child will put his hand on the viper\u2019s den.\n\n[9]They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain,\nFor the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD\nAs the waters cover the sea.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nThere\u2019s coming a time in history where things are not going to be run from Washington D.C. any more (and AMEN to that); they\u2019re not going to be run from Brussels or any other Gentile city.\u00a0 The whole thing is going to be headquartered in Jerusalem.\u00a0 It\u2019s a time in history where there\u2019ll be\u00a0 perfect justice.\u00a0 You know, we cry out today because of injustice.\u00a0 And God is saying of course there\u2019s injustice today, you\u2019re not in the kingdom yet.\u00a0 But there\u2019s coming a time in history where everything will be made completely right and perfect justice will break out upon the earth.\n\nThere\u2019s coming a time in history of world peace, where the nations won\u2019t know what to do with weapons anymore and they\u2019ll beat their swords into plowshares because Jesus will be ruling and reigning over the earth from David\u2019s throne in the city of Jerusalem.\u00a0 It\u2019s even a time in history where a little child will be able to put their hand in the cobra\u2019s nest and not be injured; where wolf and lamb will lie down together.\u00a0 It\u2019s a time in history where there will be universal spiritual knowledge, where you won\u2019t go up to people and say do you know about Jesus; let me evangelize, because everybody will say oh, yeah, Jesus, I know about that, the Bible, I know about that, Scripture, I know about that, because knowledge of God will break out all over the world.\u00a0 There will be a time in history of perfect prosperity.\n\nYou know, we have these layoffs today, inflation, economic insecurity, our 401K\u2019s are not 201K\u2019s, what\u2019s in the social security trust fund?\u00a0 Nothing!\u00a0 The governments of the earth running the printing presses as if there\u2019s no tomorrow.\u00a0 And yet in the kingdom there is no such thing as economic lack or economic want.\u00a0 I say Lord, I\u2019m ready.\n\nBut are we ready?\u00a0 Because you see, in the kingdom there will be the evaluations given; we are evaluated, first of all whether we trusted Christ\u00a0 as Savior and secondly as Christians we\u2019re evaluated based on whether and how we prioritized our lives in God.\u00a0 We, at this church, do not teach that we are now in the kingdom.\u00a0 If we are in the kingdom I must be living in the ghetto section of town because kingdom conditions don\u2019t exist today.\n\nIn fact, the United Nations, which the nation of Israel calls the UN the United Nothing, is one of the most godless, arrogant organizations on planet earth today because on their building in New York City they have inscribed there, Isaiah 2:1-4, which was one of the verses I alluded to earlier describing the kingdom.\u00a0 What they have done is they have ascribed to themselves a Messianic priority that only God can fulfill.\u00a0 They believe that they are actually bringing in, through political and global government, the kingdom of God.\n\nThe fact of the matter is, if that\u2019s the standard they are miserable failures because there have been more wars after the founding of the United Nations than there were beforehand.\u00a0 I understand, we\u2019re in the political season, everybody is nervous about this and that, but I hope this much for you--that your hope for this earth is not in a bunch of fallen men and women to supposedly fix things up.\u00a0 To me the more these people try to fix things the worse it gets.\u00a0 I am not looking to a political candidate or a political party or a political platform or a set of rulers\u2026 now I believe in voting and all of that.\u00a0 That\u2019s just stewardship and being salt and light.\n\nThe fact of the matter is, my hope is not in any of those things.\u00a0 I\u2019m looking for the kingdom of God, because you see, if you believe that man is somehow going to bring in these ideal conditions then there will be a ruler that will show up one day and tell you exactly what you want to hear.\u00a0 He\u2019s called the antichrist.\u00a0 The hope of the world will be placed in this antichrist, just like people in this country placed their hope in a certain political candidate a few years ago.\u00a0 Just like people today are placing their hope in today yet another political candidate.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is these candidates, most of them don\u2019t even know where their car keys are half the time.\u00a0 Are they going to solve this world\u2019s problems, particularly with the advent of weapons of mass destruction, nuclear weapons, the capacity that we have to blow ourselves off the planet several times?\u00a0 Are you looking to man to somehow fix these things?\u00a0 These things can\u2019t be fixed other than through Christ.\n\nSo Timothy, I want you to think about, as the apostasy rolls on, this coming kingdom of God.\u00a0 Suddenly the prayers of Jesus Christ, Matthew 6:10, how He taught us to pray start making sense.\u00a0 How are we to pray?\u00a0 \u201cThy kingdom\u201d what? \u201ccome.\u201d\u00a0 Acts 14:22 says, \u201cstrengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, \u2018Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 You mean we\u2019re not in the kingdom now?\u00a0 No, we\u2019re not!\n\nWell, what\u2019s happening now?\u00a0 Many tribulations.\u00a0 Amen!\u00a0 The norm today is not the kingdom, it is many tribulations.\u00a0 If you want a fancy-dancy name for this we call this premillennialism; pre means before, millennium means a thousand years.\u00a0 Millennium comes from two Latin words, mille<\/em>, a thousand, annum<\/em> years, we believe in premillennialism.\u00a0 What does that mean?\u00a0 Jesus comes back first, and then the kingdom comes.\u00a0 What a deception of statements to delude us into thinking that we, as the church, are going to set up the kingdom for Christ so that Jesus can come back in apple-pie order.\u00a0 \u00a0That\u2019s called amillennialism, some call it postmillennialism, but it is a deception of the devil.\u00a0 Do you know why it\u2019s a deception?\u00a0 Because it moves us away from what we ought to be doing, which is reach and teach, evangelize and disciple.\u00a0 That\u2019s the primary calling of the church.\u00a0 You move off into kingdom now theology and suddenly the church\u2019s priority shifts into changing the social structures of society, into bringing what everybody is calling social justice, whatever that means; that\u2019s the buzzword today.\n\nSocial justice in its truest sense will never be fulfilled on planet earth.\u00a0 We can make little differences, perhaps, here and there, but generally speaking it is a losing battle, it is a losing proposition because water flows downhill.\u00a0 We are in an era and a season of many tribulations.\u00a0 Why waste the few hours, weeks, days, months, years we have left trying to do something that only Jesus Himself can do.\u00a0 You see, theology matters, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 What you believe about the kingdom will influence\u00a0 what you think the church should be doing.\n\nTake a look at this issue as you get ready to support different ministries.\u00a0 One of the questions we have on our questionnaire at Sugar Land Bible Church for missionaries is we want to know what you believe about the kingdom.\u00a0 Why would\u00a0 you ask them an arcane question like that?\u00a0 What is this, Bible trivia?\u00a0 It is an illuminating question; it is an informed question, it is an enlightened question because tell me what you believe about the kingdom and I will tell you almost every other area of your theology.\n\nAnd then following this evaluation at the Bema Seat Judgment he gets back to the subject of the charge; he fills out what the charge is and you\u2019ll see it there in verse 2.\u00a0 What\u2019s the charge?\u00a0 \u201cPreach the word; \u201c\u00a0 the kingdom\u2019s future so what do you do in the meantime. \u201cPreach the word; be ready in season, out of\u00a0 season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction.\u201d\u00a0 What you\u2019ll discover in verse 2 are five imperatives.\u00a0 An imperative is a verb mood where the verb is a command.\u00a0 All of these things I have on the screen, five of them, are five commands. \u00a0[Preach, Be ready, Reprove, Rebuke, Exhort] These are not options, suggestions, try this and see if it works sort of thing.\u00a0 These are\u00a0 commands from the Apostle Paul, first of all they are commands from God to the Apostle Paul, to Timothy and by extension to every spiritual leader that reads this book.\u00a0 These are direct commands from heaven itself.\u00a0 It is what we are to occupy ourselves with in the life of the church while the kingdom is in a state of abeyance or postponement.\n\nWhat do we do in the interim; the first verb, first imperative is preach.\u00a0 The English word \u201cpreach\u201d is a translation of the Greek word k\u0113russ\u014d<\/em>, which means to proclaim, to herald, to announce.\u00a0 One of the things that I get very frustrated with is Christian education, so-called Christian education because I hear this quite a bit from so-called Christian educators and church consultants. What they\u2019ll say is God only has requirements regarding content, how the content is communicated is flexible.\u00a0 The rules of God just relate to the content but how you disseminate the content, that\u2019s up to you.\n\nDoes the philosophy make any sense in light of this verb, k\u0113russ\u014d<\/em>?\u00a0 God is not making a statement simply about content; He is making a statement about method.\u00a0 God has something to say, not only on content but He has something to say on the issue of method, how it\u2019s done; k\u0113russ\u014d<\/em>\u00a0 he says, proclaim, herald.\u00a0 Preaching is God\u2019s method.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t invent it, this is God\u2019s method.\u00a0 And what you\u2019ll discover in the Scripture is people are preaching all the way through the New Testament.\u00a0 John the Baptist, Matthew 3:1, \u201cNow in the days John the Baptist came preaching,\u201d k\u0113russ\u014d<\/em>.\u00a0 Do you know Jesus was a preacher?\u00a0 Matthew 4:17, \u201cFrom that time Jesus began to preach,\u201d k\u0113russ\u014d<\/em>.\u00a0 The disciples were preachers, Matthew 10:7, \u201cAs you go, preach,\u201d k\u0113russ\u014d<\/em>, same verb.\u00a0 Do you know there\u2019s going to be a lot of preachers after the rapture.\u00a0 Matthew 24;14 says, \u201cThis gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world\u2026\u201d k\u0113russ\u014d<\/em>.\u00a0 The early church went around preaching.\u00a0 Mark 16:20 says, \u201cAnd they went out and preached everywhere,\u201d k\u0113russ\u014d<\/em>.\u00a0 The deacons were preachers.\u00a0 Maybe we should ask that on our candidates list\u2014are you ready to preach?\n\nActs 8:5 says this, \u201cPhilip went down to the city of Samaria\u201d Philip being a deacon, \u201cPhilip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them,\u201d k\u0113russ\u014d<\/em>.\u00a0 Paul was a preacher, Acts 9:20, \u201cand immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues,\u201d k\u0113russ\u014d<\/em>.\u00a0 Jesus, in between His crucifixion and resurrection descended to where some of the demons are imprisoned and He gave them a sermon.\u00a0 1 Peter 3:19 says \u201c\u2026He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison,\u201d k\u0113russ<\/em>\u014d.\u00a0 And angels are preachers, Revelation 5:2, \u201cI saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice,\u201d k\u0113russ\u014d<\/em>.\n\nOkay, so God has something to say about method, what do we preach?\u00a0 Paul says I\u2019m glad you asked, here comes the content.\u00a0 Ready?\u00a0 \u201cPreach the\u201d what? \u201cthe Word.\u201d\u00a0 The Greek word \u201cWord\u201d is in the accusative, it\u2019s receiving the action, it\u2019s ton logon<\/em>, or the word logos<\/em>, it\u2019s typically used in the Bible of the Scripture.\u00a0 Galatians 6:6 says,\u00a0 \u201cThe one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him.\u201d\u00a0 The word \u201cword\u201d is logos<\/em> there.\u00a0 In other words, if you\u2019re being fed through a ministry you ought to get behind that ministry financially.\u00a0 This is not a plea for money either, it\u2019s basic Bible teaching and instruction.\n\nIn fact, the school that I graduated from, what\u2019s the motto of the school?\u00a0 K\u0113russ\u014d<\/em> ton logon<\/em>, taken right out of 1 Timothy 4:2, which is to \u201cPreach the Word.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Don\u2019t forget the word \u201call\u201d back in verse 16 of chapter 3, \u201cPreach the Word,\u201d if all Scripture is God-breathed \u201cPreach the Word,\u201d all of the Word.\u00a0 Don\u2019t get involved in dialogue, don\u2019t get involved in telling the students how to bring in social justice, don\u2019t get involved with getting your name into print by publishing a bunch of academic articles, not that those things in and of themselves are wrong when they\u2019re properly focused but that\u2019s not the focus.\u00a0 The focus is this institution is going to be training people to preach the whole counsel of the Word of God.\u00a0 Everything else is something that takes place on the side.\u00a0 That\u2019s not the spotlight; the spotlight is the open proclamation of the Word of God.\n\nWell, how do we do that?\u00a0 Lewis Sperry Chafer said I\u2019m glad\u00a0 you asked that question, let\u2019s set up an institution to train people how to do it.\u00a0 That\u2019s Dallas Seminary, that\u2019s how it started.\u00a0 J. Vernon McGee, I love his synopses and things; he writes, \u201cWe are not to preach about the Word or from the Word of God, but we are to preach the Word of God itself.\u201d\u00a0 We, at Sugar Land Bible Church, are not a church that tells you about the Bible.\u00a0 God forbid if we limit our vision to telling people about the Bible.\u00a0 We are to give them the Bible itself.\u00a0 There are many, many preachers today that stand up and refer to the Bible, like as a footnote, alludes to the Bible, maybe summarize or paraphrases something in the Bible.\u00a0 That is not the command of God, it is to \u201cpreach the<\/u> Bible.\u201d\n\nThe first verb, \u201cpreach,\u201d the Word of God.\u00a0 Second verb, \u201cbe ready,\u201d notice what he says, \u201cpreach the word; be ready\u201d watch this now, \u201cin season and out of season;\u201d you know, I can\u2019t just go to the store, I found this out living at my parent\u2019s house when I was younger, I just can\u2019t go out to the store in California and buy strawberries any time I darn well want strawberries.\u00a0 I went to the store one time and I said mom, there weren\u2019t any strawberries there.\u00a0 She said of course knucklehead, they\u2019re out of season right now.\u00a0 In season, out of season,\u00a0 you buy strawberries when they\u2019re in season; you can\u2019t buy strawberries when they\u2019re out of season.\n\nWhat is he talking about here?\u00a0 There are seasons where the Word of God will be respected.\u00a0 There will be times when it will be in season and everybody will be jumping on the bandwagon and saying yeah, let's do this; but there will be other times, particularly as the apostasy increases where it will be out of season.\n\nBeloved, I can\u2019t think of a better description of our times than \u201cout of season.\u201d\u00a0 It just is not cutting edge any more, to preach the Bible.\u00a0 It just isn\u2019t relevant.\u00a0 It just isn\u2019t contemporary.\u00a0 It just isn\u2019t authentic.\u00a0 Paul said those times will come and you are to preach it when it\u2019s fashionable, when it\u2019s out of fashion.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it interesting that these fashions, you go back and you look at something on TV or Youtube in the 1970\u2019s, all these weird fashions that people were into.\u00a0 I mean, those shirts with those massive collars and colors and we say what were they thinking?\u00a0 And yet in that time period that was \u201ccool,\u201d that was \u201chip.\u201d\u00a0 And people today look at Bible teaching as some kind of archaic practice and\u00a0 yet there was a time in America where if\u00a0 you opened a church and you were known as a Bible-teaching or preaching church, you didn\u2019t even have to be the best orator, you could pack the place out week after week after week.\u00a0 That describes America in the 70\u2019s, perhaps some in the 80\u2019s.\u00a0 That\u2019s not America today.\u00a0 We, by insisting on this paradigm are fighting up hill.\n\nNow don\u2019t let that discourage you, Paul said it would come, \u201cin season and out of season,\u201d it doesn\u2019t matter what the fickle masses think is important.\u00a0 What matters is you are faithful to God because God is your judge at the end of the day, not some survey demonstrating whether a given practice or method is popular or not.\n\nHe gives another imperative here and these last three sound a lot like verse 16, which is the work of the word: teaching, reproof, correction, training.\u00a0 He recaps some of those here in these last three.\u00a0 The third imperative is to reprove.\u00a0 [4:2] \u201cpreach the word; be ready in season and out of season;\u201d notice the next verb, \u201creprove,\u201d \u201creprove\u201d who? Those in error.\u00a0 How do you do that?\u00a0 You teach the Bible and the Bible, if you unleash it will start correcting people because that\u2019s the nature of the Bible.\u00a0 Reprove means to feel bad or guilty, it\u2019s an appeal to emotions.\u00a0 If you can sit under the preaching and teaching of the Word of God week after week after week and never sense a twinge of guilt then number 1,\u00a0 you must have arrived at glorification, or number 2, the preacher and teacher is not being faithful in their message, because the Word of God is designed to bring reproof, correction and guilt into our lives.\n\nIn fact, Peter preached the opening sermon on the day of Pentecost and Acts 2:37 says this:\u00a0 \u201cNow when they heard this,\u201d now that\u2019s a very biblical sermon he does there in Acts 2, \u201cNow when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart,\u201d that\u2019s reproof, that\u2019s what the Word of God does.\u00a0 And before it comes out of my mouth, believe me, it does a number on my heart as I\u2019m studying, like oh my Lord, have\u00a0 you got the right guy Lord, look at the failures in my life.\n\nI got convicted the other night reading the book of Jonah with my daughter, Sarah.\u00a0 Jonah chapter 3, where a whole city repented and Jonah got mad.\u00a0 In chapter 4 Jonah, you\u2019re happy about this plant that you\u2019re living under that gives you shade, you\u2019re upset when the plant disappears but you could care less about a whole city of people who don\u2019t know morally their right hand from their left.\u00a0 I\u2019m a political conservative, I was very disappointed in Tuesday night, I fought feelings of anger all week long and how the book of Jonah itself, as I\u2019m reading it with my daughter corrected me.\u00a0 Look at how Jonah is mad at a whole city that God loves; the Holy Spirit says to me that\u2019s your attitude towards people: Reprovement, correction, confrontation, that\u2019s what the Scripture does at this job.\n\nAnd then he moves on, he gives a fourth imperative, he says, \u201crebuke,\u201d \u201crebuke\u201d who?\u00a0 Those that are in sin.\u00a0 If \u201creprove\u201d is an appeal to the emotions, \u201crebuke\u201d is an appeal to the mind.\u00a0 Your thinking is not right.\u00a0 And then fortunately I like how he lists this one last, \u201cexhort.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m much more comfortable with \u201cexhort\u201d than \u201creprove\u201d and \u201crebuke.\u201d\n\nHe says, preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort,\u201d the Greek word translated \u201cexhort\u201d is parakal\u00e9\u014d<\/em>, which means to encourage; encourage through the teaching of the Word of God those that are living in harmony with God\u2019s truth.\u00a0 The Word of God doesn\u2019t just annihilate and tear down, it comforts, it consoles, it builds up.\u00a0 Reprove\u2014an appeal to the emotions; rebuke\u2014an appeal to the mind; parakal\u00e9\u014d<\/em> encouragement\u2014an appeal to the will.\u00a0 Be encouraged in God.\u00a0 Be encouraged in what He\u2019s done in your life.\u00a0 Be encouraged what He\u2019s doing in this church.\u00a0 Be encouraged in what He wants to do.\n\nI like this summary of preaching.\u00a0 What is the goal of preaching?\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure who said this first but I got it from somewhere, it\u2019s floating around: it is to comfort the afflicted but to afflict the comfortable.\u00a0 I love it.\u00a0 What does the Word of God do?\u00a0 What does the open, naked, unadulterated proclamation of the Word of God that is faithful week after week, what does it do?\u00a0 It comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable.\u00a0 Comforting the afflicted is an exhort; afflicting the comfortable is in reprove and rebuke.\u00a0 You can\u2019t really, in some cases, have good news until you get some bad news.\u00a0 How can a medical expert put you on the path to medical recovery, which is good news, unless he first or she first points out something wrong.\u00a0 We expect this in the world of medicine, good news and bad news.\u00a0 We don\u2019t expect it in the world of spirituality.\u00a0 And yet the same principles hold true as we are examining Paul\u2019s command.\n\nNow how do you exhort?\u00a0 Look at this, \u201cpreach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort,\u201d how \u201cwith great patience and instruction.\u201d\u00a0 Focusing just for a minute on \u201cinstruction,\u201d that\u2019s the Greek noun didach\u00e9<\/em><\/em> and you might recognize a similar sounding word back in 2 Timothy 3:16 where it talks there about how the Scripture is \u201cprofitable for teaching.\u201d\u00a0 The Word of God wants to instruct, the Word of God wants to teach, the Word of God wants to lay a right foundation for us.\u00a0 The Word of God wants to correct us when we step out of line.\u00a0 The Word of God wants to encourage us as we submit to the will of God all through instruction.\u00a0 And so many people today are looking for a mystical experience, a condition of the heart.\n\nIn the emergent church today they are looking actually for something that bypasses the intellect altogether.\u00a0 As long as it is mystical and spiritual.\u00a0 I talk to many people and I say why do go to church such and such?\u00a0 Because of the way I feel, I like how it makes me feel.\u00a0 Emotion! Feeling!\u00a0 I\u2019m not against emotion and feeling at all, that\u2019s part of being a human being.\u00a0 But let me tell you something, the heart cannot rejoice in what the mind does not comprehend.\u00a0 God is not interested in bypassing the intellect.\u00a0 If anybody tells you that they are preaching something that is foreign to the Scripture.\n\nAnd how people are bringing Eastern mystical thoughts into Christianity today where they say things like this: empty your mind of everything, and the first thing that comes into your mind, even if it\u2019s a piece of Scripture, that\u2019s God talking to you.\u00a0 Beloved, that\u2019s not God talking to you, that\u2019s the devil talking to you, that\u2019s Satan talking to you, that\u2019s the sin nature talking to you.\u00a0 It\u2019s not God talking to you because God never says empty your mind\u2026.ever!\u00a0 That is Eastern mystical thought.\u00a0 It is a concept that you do not find in the pages of God\u2019s Word.\n\nWhat the Word of God says is meditate on Your Word day and night.\u00a0 [Joshua 1:8, \u201cThis book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.\u201d]\u00a0 I\u2019m not emptying my mind of anything.\u00a0 I\u2019m trying to fill it with truth so that way when Satanic or demonic thoughts enter my mind, or fleshly thoughts, I know exactly what they are, I can identify them as such because I have a barometer, I have a standard to compare them to.\n\nAnd then it\u2019s easy to let this one slip by, but with this we\u2019re finished; \u201cwith great patience,\u201d not just patience, but \u201cgreat patience.\u201d\u00a0 In fact, the Bible translates that word\u2026, patience I think is a poor translation, it really reads this way in the Greek, \u201call patience,\u201d not just patience but all kinds of patience, every kind of patience.\u00a0 And how easy it is for us to pursue ministries that are in God and\u00a0 yet be impatient with the slow progress of people.\u00a0 That\u2019s why 2 Timothy 2:24-25 says, \u201cThe Lord\u2019s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome,\u201d are you quarrelsome?\u00a0 Are you a fighting-fundy?\u00a0 I can be like that.\u00a0 It\u2019s not of God.\u00a0 \u201cThe Lord\u2019s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to\u201d who? \u201call,\u201d I just want to be kind to the people I like.\u00a0 That\u2019s not what it says, \u201cbe kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged,\u201d whoops, \u201cpatient when wronged,\u201d one more time, \u201cpatient when wronged,\u201d [25] \u201cwith gentleness correction those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth.\u201d\n\nGuthrie, in his commentary on The Pastoral Epistles<\/em> on this verse says: \u201cChristian reproof without the grace of long-suffering has often lead to a harsh censorious attitude intensely harmful to the cause<\/em> of Christ.\u00a0 But the other requirement is equally essential, for correction must be intelligently understood and hence based on \u2018teaching.\u2019\u00a0 To rebuke without instruction is to leave the root cause of error untouched.\u201d\u00a0 [Guthrie, pp 166-67]<\/em>\n\nFocus on instruction, focus on content, focus on method, Guthrie says though but focus on attitude as we do it.\u00a0 It\u2019s very easy to win an argument but lose a heart.\u00a0 I hope God never shows me how many people I alienated from the cause of Christ in the course of my life, not based on what I told them but how I said it.\u00a0 May God help us understand this; the calling is not just fruit.\u00a0 Ephesians 4:15 says preach \u201cthe truth in love,\u201d if you don\u2019t have love, Paul tells us in his other epistle, 1 Corinthians 13, you\u2019re just a clanging gong, an out of sync, out of rhythm instrument that\u2019s nothing more than an annoyance.\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 13:1, \u201cIf I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love,\u00a0 I have become a noisy going or a clanging cymbal.\u201d]\n\nAnd how many of us are saying the right thing but the world looks at us as just another clanging, irritating going because we\u2019re not monitoring attitude, we\u2019re only monitoring content.\u00a0 \u201cPreach the Word,\u201d very simple.\u00a0 Towner says, \u201cChristian ministry centers on the Word of God<\/em>.\u201d \u00a0<\/em>[<\/em>Towner, 1-2 Timothy . . . \u00a0p204.]\n\nGod\u2019s own expressions of His will for people whom He desires to bless is God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 If God had not spoken we would not have known about Him, since it is through His Word that He continues to preach and speak to His people.\u00a0 Ministry first and foremost must be the communication of His Word.\n\nShall we pray.\u00a0 Father, thank\u00a0 You for this 2,000 year old exhortation.\u00a0 Help us to walk these things out better; we want to do better and only You can help us do it.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t