Praise the LORD!!!
***Due to the events of the day, there hasn't been a new posting for today supplied, so I'll re post one from an earlier date***
In the day and age of mega churches and ministries that sell just about everything imaginable, I've been led to these verses and am to expound upon them this day!
1 Cor. 9: 16-18
"Yet when I preach the GOSPEL, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the GOSPEL! If I preach voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the GOSPEL I may offer it free of charge, and so not make use of my rights in preaching it."
Now, I've not yet been called to preach, though I have given my testimony on several occasions. Maybe I should restate this though, I've not been asked by men to preach, though GOD has shown me that I will someday be filling these shoes also! There are many methods off preparation for preaching and most rely solely upon the knowledge of the man himself and allowing GOD to administer HIS guidance for the presentation. In so doing the man himself becomes the source of the message and not GOD where the message originally was given birth. In this way the man has become the source, the means and the broadcaster of the message and can assume a position of boasting. Paul here is showing that it wasn't his personal wisdom or knowledge that was being brought forth, but he was 'compelled' by GOD to present it in the manor in which he did! Not the man, but the MASTER was the source of the message.
If you're like me, you've been to services that were so dry and boring that they could barely hold your attention. This is greatly due to the fact that the message wasn't supplied by GOD in the power of the HOLY SPIRIT, but was developed and presented by a man (speaking generically, for it could be a woman also.) To often today in the preparations of sermons the writer depends solely upon their own knowledge and abilities to produce the outcome. Where as it should be started with prayer, asking GOD to provide the WORDS and the power to bring it forth. Without the doing of this, we've ended up with a church that is weak and in disrepair and rightly needs to be rebuilt by the LORD from the ground up.
Another condition that has sprung from these loins, in combination with the churches joining up with the world, is the charging for all things presented before the church and other people. Books, CD's and DVD's, tapes and lessons, all at a cost. I know what the result would be if JESUS walked into one of these churches and saw all the vendors tables offering wares for sale. It would be a repeat of the scene in the temple where HE over turned the money changers tables. Righteous indignation it was called. HE had all rights to be mad, for they'd turned the temple/church into a store. In our verses today, Paul eluded to the fact that he preached the gospel freely, in all rights he felt it an honor to be able to and didn't want to be paid or a burden to anyone because of it.
Oh how different our churches would be if this were the case. Now I know there will be those that say that, 'the ox deserves his reward,' eluding to the fact that those who labor are deserving of their pay. This is true and very scriptural. Yet may I ask this though, are we supposed to charge for that which was given unto us freely? When the oxen were allowed to feed as they tread the grain, they weren't allowed to stay there until they completely ate their fill, but only so as to provide for their sustenance while working. We see these days preachers living in million dollar homes, being driven around the country in limos, or flying around in their private jets. Wouldn't this money be better spent helping those in need through outreach? I know what a number of them will say, 'well it helps speed up our delivery of the GOSPEL, allowing us to reach more souls for GOD.' What I've seen it doing for the most part is putting more money in their bank accounts and not out into the harvest fields.
Years back, when I was first start VCM, I sent out request to a majority of these large ministries, asking for assistance in getting it going. Out of over twenty letters sent out, not counting all the emails request sent, I received back only two with any help. One sent back over $300 worth of teaching tapes and books, while the other only sent a packet of example literature which I could purchase through their ministry. The rest sent back letters stating they couldn't assist at the time, but would keep me within their prayers. You know the really funny part about this, I wasn't asking for their monetary assistance at all, though it would of been welcome, I was asking for their guidance in setting up the ministry and organizational assistance! But received very little of any at all, in either form. Now here are these multi-million dollar organizations preaching the WORD of GOD daily in all forms of media, yet they followed not scripture when it came to helping a brother in the faith when in need! Praise the LORD!!! The things HE has shown me about that and the very distaste it leaves upon these ministries.
Our preaching is to be set upon a solid foundation provided by the LORD and given freely as it has been given to us. Not in the manor in which it has become so popular to do today. The church, as it sits today in a saddened state, is the results of these practices being carried out for so long. Many will state that their church isn't in this condition and that they do many great things to further the spread of the GOSPEL. May I ask that they truly take a good hard look at their church of today and it's practices and policies, and then look at the church as it was in the first couple of century. I truly believe that what they will see will be eye opening and I pray that it will stir their hearts to seek changes within their churches. There have been many great movements in church history throughout the centuries and if you were to look around today, you may just see another one about to begin!!!
More verse of interest: Matt. 10: 8; 1 Cor. 9: 7-12; 1Tim 5: 18; Dt. 25: 4; John 6: 27
Use these verses, but don't stop with them, cross reference and seek out GOD from within HIS WORD!!!
Prayer request can be sent to: prayers@vineofchrist.org
GOD bless and good day,
Rev. Marshall Barth
Vine of CHRIST Ministries
Vine Ministerial Network International
Thursday, April 22, 2010
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