Only Preach and Testify Christ!
1 Corinthians 1:23 - “But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;”
The Lord Jesus Christ came to declare His message of hope to the whole world. He started the Church to carry and propagate His message for all humankind. As His witnesses, we are to declare no one and no other issues but Jesus Christ and His precious gospel.
Romans 10:13-15 - “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. [14] How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? [15] And how shall they preach, except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”
For the gospel to reach the whole world, God has chosen Preachers and, through the empowered Church, sent them to preach not what people want to hear but the message that must be heard - the message of salvation and how to be Christlike.
To prepare a message can be challenging. Often, we preach based on the issues at hand and other times about personal matters that concern others. Remember, the Gospel is good news. Let us not dwell on the problems but on the answers in the Person of Jesus Christ.
Our message must be the gospel truth, focusing on the solution, who is our Lord, and His Word. When we preach the Word, the Holy Spirit moves to convict and persuade men about their sins. He does the job better than anyone.
When we dwell on certain issues, we can’t help but express our biases and opinions. Our message becomes subjective instead of the clear, objective declaration of God’s Word. If there is a message of warning and the coming judgment and condemnation, let it be the exclusive works of the Holy Spirit. Always remember to Preach Christ!
Acts 5:42 - “And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.”
Our testimony may be powerful and effective, but that is not our message. We might be aware of a pressing issue affecting some people in the Church, but the pulpit is not the proper place to talk about them. Remember, our message is only Jesus the crucified Lamb and how we should serve Him faithfully.
We can better deal with pressing issues by talking to the concerned individual. Let us not use the pulpit and our message to attack or rebuke publicly any particular individual. God knows every issue, and He will rebuke and correct as the Holy Spirit works in our lives.
God’s Word must be relevant, practical, and effective in our declaration. However, we must be cautious not to magnify ourselves but only the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ!
Our Prayer for today:
Lord, we are so blessed to be counted worthy to be your voice to declare your precious gospel. May we always be mindful that our message must be You. Help us not to dwell on certain issues and use the ministry to show our wisdom and sometimes our sentiments. We want our total being to be saturated by you and your Word. We will never forget that we are simply your voice to proclaim the message of eternal hope. In Jesus Name, Amen!