Preach...

"And as you go, preach..." -- Matthew 10:7.  Here Jesus sends out the twelve on what some have called "The Limited Commission."  Jesus gives them a variety of instructions from Matthew 10:7-14 but those instructions are initiated with the instructions to preach.

Preach.  I recently started reading a book called "He Is Not Silent" by R. Albert Mohler Jr.  In the foreword to his book, Mohler speaks of the fact that many of us today have gotten away from preaching in that we try any number of evangelistic methods in order to bring people to Christ and leave preaching as a last resort.  Please bear with me as I am in no way trying to suggest other evangelistic methods are wrong as the Bible does not give us specifics as to how to evangelize, it just tells us to do it, how is up to us.  However, it is interesting that Jesus' initial instructions when sending the apostles out is to preach.

Preach.  This week's series of blogs is going to have to do with what our responsibility as disciples of Christ is given that Matthew 10 is primarily about discipleship. We see from Matthew 10:7 that our first task as disciples is to preach.

Preach. So what all is involved in preaching?  This is a loaded question so in the interest of your valuable time reader I will do my best to be concise.  Beginning here in Matthew 10, we can see that preaching first involves being equipped.  Jesus equipped the apostles with everything they needed.  It is interesting to note that Jesus did not equip them with material items.  Quite the opposite in fact, in Matthew 10:9-10, Jesus tells them NOT to take any material items but to rely on the material support of any gracious individuals the apostles might encounter along the way.  What Jesus did equip the apostles with was the authority to heal sicknesses, cleanse leprosy, cast out demons and even raise the dead! This was all by the power and authority of Christ.  Of course we do not have this capability today but that is another discussion for another time.  However, just because we don't have these miraculous abilities, this does not mean we cannot be equipped to preach.

Preach.  When we look through the Scriptures, we see that the miracles performed and other similar signs were meant to support and confirm the message of Christ and the apostles.  Given that the miracles and signs acted as a support, we can gather that the primary emphasis was the message itself.  We can further gather that you can't have a message without a messenger.  In other words, you can't have a message without a preacher to preach the message.  Our main task as Christians is to preach!

Preach.  Again, as we look through the Scriptures, the main reason the Lord's church grew was quite simply because of the preaching.  Again though, in order to preach we must be properly equipped. Any good preacher will tell you that preaching is by no means easy contrary to what many might believe.  I still find it amazing that some men who have been preaching for upwards of 20 years still search the Scriptures diligently to make sure what they are preaching is the truth, the absolute truth that God intended to convey to us through His Word so that that truth might be passed on in order to bring more people to Christ.  The simple fact is, the power to bring people to Christ is found primarily in preaching God's Word, plain and simple!

Preach.  Our command is to preach.  This command is one where we are not told specifically how to do it.  So you might be saying to yourself "I can't preach" or maybe you might be a woman saying "Preaching is for the men to do."  For the latter, granted in specific contexts this is true that men are the ones that need to do the preaching.  However, today this is not the point.  The point is no one man or woman is exempt from preaching God's word to others.  There are a number of avenues we can use to get God's Word out to the world.  A blog such as this one is one of many methods a person can use to get God's word out to the world.  You can use Facebook or other social media such as Twitter or podcasts to get God's word out to the world.  And of course men, there is a vast need for men to stand up and be men and fill our pulpits.  Ladies, you too can get God's Word out by taking full advantage of events such as Ladies' Day's with your congregation and inviting other ladies to come to those that you might be trying to reach with the gospel message.  The point is no matter how we do it we have a command to follow and that command is to preach!

So in closing, I leave with two simple words that I once heard from a fellow preacher, "Just preach!" :) but most importantly I leave you with the words of Jesus, "And as you go, PREACH..." (Emphasis added)

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! PRAY ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!