The Speaking Gifts - How to speak words of Life - Preaching and Teaching - Part 2
The Speaking Gifts • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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GREET EVERYONE-
Good morning loved ones!
If we have never had a chance to meet, my name is Scott and I am a follower of Jesus and I get the phenomenal Privilege of Serving Jesus as the lead Pastor among the people of Stonewater Fellowship.
Our Vision:
We Desire see every follower of Jesus well equipped and fully deployed on the mission of Jesus.
What mission? - This questions leads us to articulate His mission for His church in a simple way.
Our Mission:
Is to engage people into a multiplying relationship with Jesus!
INVITE
1- Radiate Coalition - Today after worship
2- Welcome Home - Lunch Oct 6th
3- Kairos - Closing Ceremony Applications
LETS GRAB OUR BIBLES IF YOU HAVE ONE AND
Open it to 2 Timothy 4:1-5 today as we Continue in our current Series on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit where we will be navigating the Speaking Gifts and How the Holy Spirit uses God’s spirit filled, super natural church to Speak word of Life in every conversation we have.
PRAYER OVER SERIES
is and has been that as we are Exposing What God says, through the scriptures about the 9 Speaking Gifts that are given God’s people;
My prayer is We would become more and more and more a people who speak words of life to a lost and dying world.
PRAYER OVER MESSAGE
IS that we would come to the scriptures this morning that three things would happen to us all.
1- We would understand the necessity of Preaching on our life and place preaching in its appropriate place.
2 - That we would know more and more fully what the Bible says about Teaching and as we do that know and hear from the Holy Spirit that God has called us all into teaching.
Lastly- Spoiler Alert - That we as a people would come to understand the difference that teaching makes in Making Disciples and speaking life into this lost and dying world that God has planted as His witnesses in.
ENGAGEMENT –
Ever wondered where things got started?
Like Cars - do you ever think when you look at a Tesla cyber truck - Where did we get all this started.
What about other things - Like. Roads? or Stoves? or Pan or Skillets?
What about Eating carrots? Like when did we as human being begin to eat carrots?
Like were we watching the rabbits eat this orange stick liking things they pulled out of the ground and thought to ourselves - Man that looks good lets try one?
And you might be thinking:Pastor - Like who cares where carrots began?
To which I might say - Well its important to eat carrots - they are necessary to our health - They have been around sense way back when - So lets all eat carrots.
Ya know Just like Cars and Light bulbs and Fire and the wheel and oil and government, politics and policies and principles and all of the other things in our life that are important there are things in our life that as Jesus followers are important to understand not only in how they get started but how important they are to us as Jesus Followers.
TENSION
A lot of time we can so easily take things for granted
not knowing the how things got started and how important things are throughout the ages.
When we take this into our relationship with Jesus it will have a very negative and possibly eternal effect on our relationship with Him
and we might not even know what is going on.
There are a couple of things in our life and culture and in pretty interesting ways in the church, Because biblical illiteracy is pretty high, we can easily see happening.
Mainly slow erosion to the ingredients that make up a full and vibrant relationship with Jesus.
The ingredients if you will as to what gets us to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of Jesus that are the initial stages of obedience.
ingredients, meaning they are part of the whole.
And as such they are important parts.
just like baking a cake, all the ingredients are important but none of the ingredients by themselves are the cake.
And just like baking, leave and ingredient out and the result is and in very real terms will be something other than a cake
In very real ways - if we do not understand the beginnings of the things that facilitate our growth in the grace and in the knowledge of Jesus, and actively anticipate in these things, as God has wired it, the we might only be a people who know about Jesus, but have no real relationship with Him.
You might be asking at this point:” what are the ingredients that get us to grow our relationship with Christ where we know Him and not Just about Him?
And where do they begin and what is there importance?
This morning we will unpack and unwrap just 2 of those - dealing one part of the recipe.
and those two are Preaching and teaching.
You see what has happened in our culture and in a lot of ways even in the church among people who claim Christ is this kind of slipping importance of where Preaching and Teaching fit in the life of a believer.
Like hearing someone preach a sermon from the Scriptures is not really that important.
ANd I am not talking about listening to me preach - I am talking about preaching! I listen to dozens of preachers. It is not about who but what.
The other thing is the act and function teaching is for the work of others.
And in very real ways the lack of understanding of the call and importance of teaching that every believer is to participate in not only in the area of learning but also and more importantly the teaching of others.
Yes, I believe the Lord Jesus, has called all of us to teach others.
So this morning let us hear from the Holy Spirit trough the Scriptures about both.
BACKGROUND
This brings us to the first set of questions this morning:
Where preaching started?
What is the historical necessary of preaching?
Really: what is preaching?
Lets begin with a definition:
Preaching in the original language of the Scriptures both old and new testaments means “To cry out loud” “To Proclaim” “To Declare” “To Announce” specifically from the scriptures - from the word of God.
Lets Look the text this morning.
Where do we get this thing called preaching?
in the Old Testament - God’s people were rebellious against God and one of the ways God brought His people back to Himself was through something called the Babylonian captivity.
This was a siege against the city of Jerusalem by the Babylonians and they took most of the people of Jerusalem captive for 70 years.
Nehemiah was a cup bearer for the Babylonian King and after a management change in Babylon He get permission to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the city beginning with its walls and gates.
A guy named Ezra, was a Jewish priest know today as a Rabbi, and Ezra was a leader of God people Just like Nehemiah was.
Nehemiah was a political leader and Ezra Spiritual leader.
and In Nehemiah Chapter 8 we get this first glimpse of Preaching.
Watch
1 And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel.
All the people, all of God's people, gathered together in ONE PLACE.
Look this was assembly of the called out ones of the Old Testament This was the Church, in the old testament. The People of God assembling together in one place.
and watch - EZRA brings the Book of the Law of Moses. 1st 5 books of the Bible.
VS 2
tells us who was in the assembly.
Man and Women who could understand what they heard.
VS3
What happened -
Ezra Read form the first 5 book of the Bible, Known as the Pentateuch.
He did this from morning until Mid Day.
and All the people were attentive.
VS4
Tells us about this Idea of a platform that Ezra and others stood on.
VS5
Ezra is above all the people on this platform. and when Ezra opened the book all the people stood.
VS6 Ezra blessed the Lord and and the People said AMEN and AMEN. and they lifted their hands and bowed their faces as they worshiped.
VS7 these others that were there, helped the people understand as they read from the Law
VS8 Clarity is emphasized here so that People really understood the Reading.
So Here in Nehemiah we get an early picture of what Preaching was.
Reading from the book of the Law, known to those people as the Scriptures from morning to mid day, and doing it with clarity.
By EZRA a person who was called by God to be a priest and scribe for God and to God’s people.
Doing this among the assembly of God’s people, composed of people who could understand.
On a platform above the people so they could see and hear him.
With other leaders, in unity with them, who could also help the people understand the Law.
Blessing the Lord, - and interactive activity as the people said AMEN and AMEN.
What also happened - Worship.
You see loved ones - Worship is multi functional.
AS we assemble from the first note sung until the last prayer is prayed we are worshiping. This is why we don't call this a worship service.
This is a worship Gathering of God people.
WE gather together as an assembly of the called out ones to worship God in everything we do from 10:07 until we say “Go in peace”
That includes whats we are doing at this very moment. AS we proclaim the word of God to God’s people we are worshiper and blessing God.
This gives us an insight as to the beginning of Preaching.
But what about the Historical need for the roll of preaching in the life of people?
Loved ones the Historical need for the roll of preaching in peoples lives goes back all the way to the very beginning.
Eve is in the Garden and encounters the devil, the serpent of Old, as she is tempter by the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
and in that encounter the words are uttered by the devil that would usher in the breaking of their relationship with God and ultimately the breaking of the relationship with God of all of humanity.
“Did God actually say?”
as the devil presented eve with a question that was twisted and intended to deceive and confuse.
and right then and there what Eve and all of creation needed was a preacher to cry out loud,
a preacher to proclaim,
a preacher to declare and announce with clarity “This is what God has said”
But here is the deal with preaching. Its short. Its not actually very relational.
Yes Ezra Read form the Scriptures from morning to mid day and the people did worship .
But a mid day. Ezra got off that platform and went home.
and the preaching was over.
Every event the the new testament, where someone including Jesus preached, Preaching was over and everyone went on their way.
Loved ones this is why listening to Preaching in the assembly of the called out ones is only ONE of the ways that we grow in the grace and in the knowledge of Jesus.
It is only one of the ingredients.
Bad news is if we take it out - We stunt our growth.
And Preaching is a Calling not a gift of the Spirit.
No where in the text is Preaching considered a Gift of the Spirit.
Necessary for growth, Done by persons called by God to do it, but not listed as a Spiritual Gift.
Teaching on the other hand?
A Spiritual Gift. Given to the Church for a specific purpose.
As a reminder All Spiritual Gifts are given to the Church at the discretion of the Holy Spirit for three purposes.
The Revealing of the nature of God. Better known as the Glory of God
2 - The Common Good
3 the building up of the church. Building up meaning adding new believers to.
In Paul's letter to the Ephesians - A place where He spent three and a half years - Preaching the Gospel to New believers and then teaching them in the Hall of tyrants and from House to House.
He Delineates for us that Teachers who serve in Teaching are given to the church for specific purpose with a specific end in mind.
Teachers who teach through teaching, serve Jesus to Train the Saints for the work of Ministry so a singular purpose - building up of the Church.
This brings Unity in the Church and protects the church from false beliefs, man’s crafty ness and being deceived Into falsehood.
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
Teaching - What was the framework of Teaching when Jesus commissioned His church to teach and what was Paul thinking when He wrote This in His letter to the Ephesians Church?
Well lets begin with the definition of the New Testament word :
In the original language of the New Testament Teacher/Teaching comes from a group of words that means : “To form a bridge of knowledge AND ability of the pupil that especially impacts knowledge. It is an activity that conveys information that is both in there and in practice with activity that is systematically gradual and totally fundamental to assimilation.
Here is what that means - Teaching is the art of transferring to another person both the information and the action that brings them into unity with the group.
Therefore teachers must not only know what to do they must live it out so that people we are teaching can not only learn by listening to our words but also learn by watching what we do.
This is a deeply imbedded in the heart of Jesus and Paul when they were using the word teaching.
In the time of Jesus, if you were a Jewish young man, at about 5 years old you would leave the instruction of your mom and dad as the primary way to learn adn you would enter Jewish School to learn how to read and write and al of that and and the main way athat you did that was called Bat Safir.
That would go from age 5 or so to about age 10. One of the results of Bat Safir was that the student would have read al lof the Old Testament and would have memorized the first five books of the Old Testament.
At this age decisions were made and if you were the top to the top of those students your went one to Bat Talmud
Bat Talude would go from age 10 or so through about age 14-15. One of the Results of this would be that not only did you read and read and read the Old Testament you would have memorized fie first five books, The Books of History which are the next 12 and the books of wisdom and poetry the next five. 22 Books of the Old Testament memorized and the next 17 book you would have been VERY familure with.
At this point evaluations were made and if you were the top to the top you then wen one to Bat Midrash.
At this level you were then adopted by a working Rabbi. And for the next 5 - 10 years you would literally walk in the footsteps of your rabbi. Go where he went do what He would do - Sleep where he would sleep and eat what he would Eat.
During this time not only did you memorize all 39 book of the Old Testament the way that you would graduate is you would recriete them in your own scrolls to perfection from memory with you Rabbi looking one. And if you made one slightest mistake you did not get to just correct it and move on - You had to take that entire section out of your scr4ool and redo the whole section.
This is teaching in the mind of Paul and of Jesus.
IT is relational - It is committed - It is over time and sometimes a very long time.
Watch what Pall tells Timothy in relationship to his leading others in the things of God.
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
His instruction is to Preach the Word - Tell people what God has said. This is an instruction to Timothy and it is directed directly to his calling from God to Preach. This is verified here in the next verses.
But then He tells Timothy something that the scripture tells all of us to do. BE READY ALL THE TIME.
BE READY - Peter says the Same thing in His letter to believers all over the place. 1 Pet3:15
but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
So All of us are to Be Ready!
Everyone say Be Ready:
But watch what Paul does - He Says DO these things but do them in the context of COMPLETE PATIENCE AND TEACHING.
patience means that Teaching is in relationship over a long period do time.
COMPLETE PATIENCE and TEACHING which was long haul relationship.
Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.
You see loved ones our Aim -
All of us who are saved by grace through faith have been enlisted by Jesus to GO into the world and make disciples.
Engage people into a multiplying relationship with Jesus Christ. To please the one who enlisted us by saving us.
And Part of that activity is teaching
Teaching is what Jesus says is an important roll of the church in any culture it is planted in.
And what is interesting is that Jesus was speaking of individuals carrying the role of teaching into their making of disciples.
We have this weird kinda of thoughts about this in the church cultyure here in the west. We think that the Organization of the church, like the institution of the church should carry on the teaching.
Loved ones - The Church is not an institution, it is not an address or a place or a location - The Church loved ones is a people
Who is the Church?
And this is the reason that the church - The Assembly of the called out ones was formed to make disciples by teaching them.
And it is interesting that Jesus spoke these words from the very seat of His authority,
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
All Authority has been given to me -
In this Jesus is directly implying that He even had the Authority to tell these 11 disciple, These 11 students that He has been teaching For the past 3 years, He has authority to tell them what they will do with the rest of their life.
Here is what He said - Go into the world and make disciples from Among all people groups.
Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Teaching them to obey all that I have commanded.
Same word that means Teaching - Long term relationship of speaking and doing. to the point that not only can they do it that can teach others to as well.
This is what Jesus was referring to.
I think that a lot of people in western Christianity thing that we make a disciple when we present the gospel and someone says a sinners prayer and we then celebrate that a new disciple has been made.
I think that Jesus and the evidence of the activity of the church as recorded for us in the book of acts might say Not QUITE.
You see if we share the gospel and someone comes to faith we have made convert.
Jesus said we are to are disciples not make converts.
Now Conversion is a part of making a disciple but it is not a part. And in actuality it is the initial part.
I think that part of the reason we have so many false disciples is Because we have tried to make converts and not take converts into making disciples of jesus form them.
A disciple is someone who begins to join in and learns from Jesus and become like him and obeys his commands Because we share with him what his commands are and show them through out life how to obey them.
I think that we must really ask do we know What the commands of Jesus really are?
Do we know them? and do we practice them? and can we model them if someone walked along side us as we went through our life?
Here is the funny part. I have heard this all my christian life.
“Teach them to obey all that I have commanded” and yet no one has ever given me the list.
Let me give you the list. And these are life style lists.
These are no one off commands like Bring me some water or Get me a donkey or GO get Peter.
As you read the New Testament - Here is what you might find that in general terms there are 9 life style commands that Jesus places on his followers
1- Repent and Believe - Repent equals “surrender” turn from your life that you want to live and surrender to the life Jesus came to give you - the new and abundant life. Believe means trust - trust that his life he has for you is better than anything we can come up with. Trust also in His finished work on the cross of Calvary as the only means that make you right with God and that he is alive today because God raised him from the dead.
This is regeneration unto new life.
2- Be baptized - This is the biblical initiation to following Jesus- You didn’t say a prayer, you didn’t fill out a card - You got in the water and hands were laid on you and your died with Christ and were raised to new life.
we will talk a lot about That here in a minute
3- Pray, be in relationship with God , in the name of Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit
4 - Go Make Disciples - This is the mission of the church and this is your personal mission that Jesus has given you and all of us.
5 Persevere - in other words Do give up ever following Jesus No matter how difficult, no matter how much persecution - no matter the loss or strife or pain - don't stop.
6 Love - Love your brothers and sisters in Christ - Love your enemies - love those whose life style repulse your sensibilities - love those who are different - love those you cannot stand - love those who hate Jesus and everything about him.
7 - actively and often participate in the Table of Jesus - Renewing the Gospel in our hearts and minds.
8 - Give - Live a life of abundant Generosity in every area to follow jesus and help others follow jesus, Abundant generosity in time talents and treasure to the work of God
9 - Gather with others - lock arms together and Go together and worship together and serve together - for an unassembled church is not the church
This are the 9 commands of Jesus.
listen to what Jesus says about keeping his commandments.
Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
THE GOSPEL CONNECTION - The Worship Team
You might very well be sitting here this morning or watching in your living room and thinking to your self.
I am not a teacher and I do not follow all the commands of Jesus.
This is where the Gospel comes in and Jesus changes you.
There is a promise in the Gospel. If you follow Jesus he will change you Into a new creature.
Jesus call is to follow him, Pick up the cross and Follow Him, and He will make you something that you are not. He will make you a fisher of men.
He will give you are hearts desire to follow his commands. He will make you a new creature with supernatural gifts from the Holy Spirit. He will manifest himself among us as we follow Him.
WE are born dead in our trespasses and Sin and We are made alive in Christ through His finished work. We become God’s workmanship, created in Christ, God’s workmanship - Specifically crafted by God, in Christ for Good works that God has planned in advance that we may walk in them.
This is the abundant life of Jesus. And there is an invitation to repent and believe that is open to everyone Every day as there is still light.
But the darkness is coming and there will be a day and a moment where the open call of God to everyone who has not repented and believed will close.
It is as if God is calling you this day with one hand and with the other holding back His wrath of Judgement agains the lost and dying world and there will be a day when both hands are dropped.
Loved ones - If you have never Turned you life over to the Lordship of Jesus and Fully Trusted his finished work as the only means that you can be forgiven and your relationship with God restored - I cannot imagine what you are waiting for.
He has a life for you that is so different that the one you are living now that you cannot imagine
Turn TO JESUS - Be made new - A new creature - Be baptized and Receive the Holy Spirit.
Kathy BAPTISM
PRAYER TEAM