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This is a command to preachers. However, it also contains a command to God's people to be faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also
. Hebrews 13:17 says: Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
If you do not faithfully
obey your pastor to the extent that he can send you out to teach others also
then He will have grief
at the judgment seat of Christ
, but your life will be unprofitable
.
Think about this folks. 1Timothy 6:7 says: For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
The only way that our life can be profitable
is if we use our life to lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven
(Matthew 6:20; 19:21; Mark 10:21; Luke 12:33; 18:22). The basic way that the Bible tells us to do this is to do the'Great Commission'. It is to be done at home and away from home at the same time according to Acts 1:8. It is also preaching the gospel to the lost, according to Mark, and teaching God's people to obey God's word according to Matthew. Thus, in order to have any lasting spiritual profit
from your life you must learn enough about the'Great Commission' to be able to preach the gospel to the lost so that they get saved and also be able to teach God's people to obey God's word.
I personally know that your pastor is able and willing to teach you soul winning. He is also able to teach you the basics of follow-up so that people who make a profession are urged to attend church and be baptized and join the church so that they get more blessings and protection from God. That said, it is also the responsibility of every saved person to learn what the Bible teaches about maturing spiritually to the point that they can teach others to also mature spiritually. The Bible is full of examples of God's people doing exactly that.
The people who started the churches in Antioch and Rome had no preacher with them. Yet they preached the word
, started Bible Studies and basically had a mission ready to be organized as a church when they finally received an ordained preacher. The New Testament also tells of other non-preachers doing the same. In addition, the book of Acts tells about a non-preacher couple correcting the doctrine of a world-traveling preacher. Thus, what God expects of every saved person is that they spiritually mature to the point that they can do any job in the church except be the ordained pastor.
The church is the family of God. Everyone has greater protection and provision while part of a family than when they are on their own. Devils are real and try to keep newly saved out of church so that it is easier to lead them into doctrinal error and cripple them spiritually. Just as it is the job of older brothers and sisters to help their parents with younger siblings, and to help protect them, so also are the more spiritually mature Christians responsible to help protect and teach the newly saved.
John 10:10b says: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Notice the and
within that sentence. It means that what is on either side of the and
are different things. It also means that the abundant life
is added only after we already have God's life
in us. Of course, receiving God's life
is called salvation. Receiving more of God's blessings is the abundant life
and it is the result of spiritual maturing after our initial salvation.
Now notice how this verse matches with the'Great Commission' which God commands us to do. Preaching the gospel brings God's life
to others while teaching the saved allows them to receive the abundant life
as they obey and spiritually mature. As true Biblical Christians
, we are supposed to be disciplined followers of Christ
. Since He came to the Earth that people might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly
, and since we are commanded to do the'Great Commission' , which also gives people God's life and God's abundant life
, we must be doing the'Great Commission' in order to follow Jesus Christ. This shows us that anyone who claims to be a true Biblical Christian
, while failing to do the'Great Commission' , is a liar. They claim to be something while refusing to live the life to back that claim.
1John 5:13 says: These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
Notice that we also have an and
within that sentence. Also, once more, the first half of the sentence promising God's life while the second half is the way that we spiritually mature in order to receive the abundant life
. That is: we must increase our belief in God's word, by increasing our faith, in order to have the second half of this verse.
What is important in these two verses, along with the'Great Commission' , is that we have the written Bible from God added to the example from Jesus and a command from God for us to use both in order to do the'Great Commission'. Therefore, anyone claiming to be a true Biblical Christian
has no excuse for not doing'Great Commission'.
That said, we need to recognize that there may be some people in this meeting who do not yet have God's life in them. At the end of the message there will be and invitation and an opportunity for those people to come forward and be shown how to receive God's life. However, it is believed that the majority here are professing Christians and this message is directed at them.
Our original verse started out telling us to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus
. When the Bible uses the title of Christ Jesus
it is giving us a doctrine about blessings which are available to all saved but which require us to spiritually mature in order to receive them. You do not give the motorcycle keys to a two-year-old and tell them to rake it for a ride. Likewise, God does not give certain types of grace
to people until after they have spiritually matured to a certain extent. However, once we have matured to the required level, and have received the grace
, then we are commanded to use it to be strong in that grace
. This is because we are fighting devils which try to make us disobey God. In addition, we are also fighting our own flesh which also tries to make us disobey God. Only God's grace
gives us the spiritual strength to win the spiritual battle with our flesh and with devils.
The second sentence within our original verse starts with the word And
, which means it is added after we become strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus
. That is: we are to use the grace that is in Christ Jesus
in order to commit
the things which we are taught to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also
. Therefore, if we will not obey this command then there is no reason for God to give us His grace
. He gives us His grace
to accomplish a given task but if we refuse to do the task then we are wasting His grace
.
I said earlier that we get treasure in Heaven
when we do the'Great Commission' , which includes supporting missions. Philippians 4:17 says: Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.
In this section of the Bible Paul is talking about the God given reward for financially supporting Paul as a missionary. The account
that he is speaking about is in Heaven and kept by God. Thus we see the Biblical basis for saying that we lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven
by supporting missionaries. While I could go more into the Biblical basis for doing the'Great Commission' resulting in treasures in Heaven
, instead I am going to provide a practical set of instructions.
The Bible warns that God uses sickness and death as a punishment when His children refuse to obey. The number one neglected ministry in America is soul winning and the number two neglected ministry is missions support. The number one prayer request in American churches is for sickness, death and other medical problems. Now, not all of those are a result of punishment by God but a lot are. If you want to avoid the same then get personally involved in the'Great Commission'. You have heard me testify that 5 times in my life I was dying and the doctors said that they could not save my life. Twice I have died and been revived. In addition, the fact that I can drink Filipino water when it makes other Americans sick is also evidence of God's blessing. I think that it would be pretty hard for people to deny that this is evidence of the power of God
in my life.
The fact is that the evidence from America and from my own life is that God gives protection and provision to His people who are involved in the'Great Commission' and sickness and death to those people who refuse to do the'Great Commission'. In addition, the more a person sacrifices in order to do the'Great Commission' , the more blessings that God provides. That said, please remember that the New Testament promises that most of those blessings are kept in Heaven until we get there so that we have them for eternity.
Acts 1:8 says But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Here we see the order that we are to learn and do the'Great Commission'. We are to start at home, which is our Jerusalem
, because that is where we get highly supervised instructions. Please keep in mind that this includes soul winning and teaching doctrine such as Sunday School lessons, starting Bible Studies and more. If a saved person is not learning to do these things then they are sinning by not doing what God commands and are in danger of getting the same punishment as Americans get.
After we have been trained at home, then we are to go to mission works and other places within our own country and culture, which is our Judaea
. This is where we have close support but need to be able to do the job without direct supervision. We can start this by going on mission trips under supervision of our spiritual trainers. In addition, to going to the next level, we see the word all
within our phrase. This word lets us know that we are to be experiences in all parts of the'Great Commission' and in all possible circumstances, before we go on to the next level.
Going to other Asian countries or culture groups is the next level of training. Here we are dealing with similar, but still somewhat different, cultures where we have to come up with our own answers to situations which we were not trained for. Only after being successful at that level do we go unto the uttermost part of the earth
.
Probably the main export from the Philippines is people. The Filipino government will help Filipinos get jobs in other countries and help them with problems that they have. However, where Filipino Christians are messing up is that they are not making sure that they are fully trained to do the work of God before leaving home. They also have all of the lessons that they need to start a Bible Study in their foreign home, and keep it going with different lessons for at least a couple of years, but most Filipinos fail to become familiar with the help provided. When they then try to make excuses for failing to do the'Great Commission' , God rejects their excuses and brings judgment.
The bottom line is that God's people need to get trained in their home church to the point that they can do soul winning and also teach others how to do it. They also need to know how to pray and study their Bible and lead a Bible study in their home. They need to learn to do this before going off to somewhere else for a job. Your pastor can teach you all of this. Therefore, your failure to know how to obey God will bring judgment upon yourself because you rejected what God provided.
There is a second way that we get the blessings of the abundant life
which I have tried to teach to Filipinos. You all know my testimony about God blessing my finances. I've tried to teach Filipinos that the most basic step, which must be done daily, is an action which shows God that you have the right attitude. However, most people are not willing to do this simple action. That is to praise and thank God for His little blessings on a daily basis.
Luke 16:10 says: He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
God wants His people to praise and thank Him for all of the little things that He provides before He gives us big things. If we will not praise and thank Him for all of the little things then we will not praise and thank Him for the big things and God will not waste His big blessings on us unless God is building a record of our failure which will be used to condemn us.
While God wants us to praise Him, our sinful selfish nature keeps us from doing so unless we have something to remind us daily to do so. Explain five centavos.
This is a free gift. However, it will not do you any good unless you pray and ask God to use it to remind you to daily thank and praise God for His blessings. In addition, you must be willing to pick up any coin that God shows you no matter how small it is.
In summary, we have two specific ways to cause ourselves to mature spiritually and receive God's abundant life
. The first is to be involved in doing the'Great Commission' and doing it to the point that we can teach others when away from home. Also included in this is knowing how to get Bible Study lessons and to have the experience to start and lead a Bible Study when away from home. The second specific way to mature spiritually and receive God's abundant life
is to daily thank and praise God for His small blessings.
With that, I have provided Bible Study lessons on the internet and provided a reminder now to help you thank and praise God. Therefore, if you fail to have God's abundant life
then it is because of your own failure to use what God provided. As such, you are invited to come to the altar and ask God to help you do what is required in order to have His abundant life
.
While that works for saved people, it will not work for the lost. If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord
, then you are still on your way to Hell and not getting any blessings from God. If you will come up then the pastor will have someone hyelp you see what the Bible says for yoy to do in order to become a child of God who will go to Heaven.