Should I Preach?

Posted on by kevinjandt

preach-the-word

What does it mean to preach, I mean after all it sounds so “preachy” and kind of harsh. I started thinking of things like being called a “Bible Thumper”, or “Holier than Thou”… My flesh cries out against this idea because it’s just not politically correct or culturally relevant. How many of today’s buzz words can I employ that convince myself and you that this is just not the way to go about it? Shouldn’t we be “relational” and utilize “friendship evangelism”? Shouldn’t we “invite” them to church, or have them attend a less hostile atmosphere, make it cozy and comfortable? Isn’t this a better method in the modern age?

Preaching seems to be something only reserved for those that get paid to stand in front of a church congregation. In a stodgy old building, and he or in some cases she, but we can discuss that another day, wear a suit and a tie and yell at people for an hour. Wouldn’t it better if that guy would come down to our level and wore a cool t-shirt and skinny jeans? He could be more conversational, and make it a little more relaxing? It seems that would be more effective.

Should the Bible get in the way of what we think works? Don’t get me wrong, I think evangelizing to friends is a great thing, but it’s not the only way and it shouldn’t even be the primary way. If we believe the Bible, shouldn’t we do what it says? Shouldn’t we use the language it uses? After all it is the Word of God right? Should we do as Paul said “imitate me as I imitate Christ”?

From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” – Matthew 4:17

The word “preach” used here is Kēryssō –

  1. to be a herald, to officiate as a herald
    1. to proclaim after the manner of a herald
    2. always with the suggestion of formality, gravity and an authority which must be listened to and obeyed
  2. to publish, proclaim openly: something which has been done
  3. used of the public proclamation of the gospel and matters pertaining to it, made by John the Baptist, by Jesus, by the apostles and other Christian teachers

Did you catch the part about gravity and authority? Jesus preached with authority and gravity, He demanded a response from His listeners. Jesus never gave people a pass, He wasn’t that gentle little mouse that people make Him out to be, that gives everyone a hug and tells them it’ll be okay. When they encountered Him it was to be confronted with their sin and be forced to make a decision about their condition. He used different techniques depending on His audience, but He always preached with gravity.

Mark 1:4 John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sin.

Acts 8:5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is good news; it is something to be proclaimed with authority and demand a response, so that some might be saved. If you are a believer it’s your job. It’s why you were saved. Not all are going to stand on a street corner and proclaim the news, but some will and some should. The meaning of the word calls for it, and the early church understood this. Paul knew it, and he lived it. And it didn’t take him very long to get to it.

Acts 9:20-21 Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God. Then all who heard were amazed, and said, “is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose…”

No time to think about it, not time to reconsider, or even hesitate, Paul just gets up and starts preaching…what a remarkable event.

But what do we preach?

But He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.” – Luke 4:43

This word is euaggelizō and it’s the “good news”, we must preach the good news, after all its news right? (Voddie Baucham – loosely quoted) Shouldn’t we be talking about news, especially good news? Christ must be preached, and the kingdom of God must be proclaimed as the only way of salvation. Are you willing?

Not all are called to preach from the pulpit, not all are called to preach in open air, or in the public arena, but we are all called to preach.

If you are a Believer in Jesus Christ!

This might mean friendship evangelism for some and maybe for most, at the very least, but it means what it says, and preaching is proclaiming with gravity and authority, and demanding a response. Doesn’t that seem weightier than “sharing” the gospel?

The only time the word share is used in the New Testament it has to do with sharing in other’s sins, or actual sharing of goods, so I’m going to do my best to drop this word from my vocabulary as it relates to the gospel.

I will preach the gospel, and I will proclaim the gospel, and maybe on occasion I’ll share the gospel, but I think preaching is just more manly and more Christ like, and more Paul like, so I’m going to try and be like them.

Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. – 2 Timothy 4:2

Kevin

Dogs Like Vomit, Do You?

Posted on by kevinjandt

vomit

Proverbs 26:11 As a dog returns to his own vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.

What differentiates the wise from the foolish?

It seems an obvious answer as we read this Proverb, but yet how often do we return and continue to fall into the same sins again and again? In times past I had a dog and I can vividly remember the sound of the dog removing the contents of her stomach only to lap it up again. I don’t care how cleverly I try to write that it brings an image to our mind that is repulsive. And it should be repulsive, because it’s just disgusting.

Isn’t that the point?

There is a razor thin line between the true church of Christ and those that profess with their mouth Jesus is Lord. As Scripture repeatedly points out, it is the life we live that affirms or denies our confession. Many, and probably most of the professing church are apostate. How can I say that? That certainly is judgmental on my part. Who are you to say such a thing? Are you without sin? You are a legalist!

I’ve heard it all before and the only way I can make such a “judgmental” statement, if you must call it that, is those are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one that told us “many” and “few”. He said the path was narrow and difficult that leads to life, and the road is wide that leads to destruction. He asked us the hard question, “Do you also want to go away?” (John 6:66).

It’s really easy to get caught up in the doctrine of humanism. It’s really out there today, as it has always been. It’s really easy for it to be all about us. We can slap a little Christianity on it and even throw down a passage of the Bible and call it “religious”, but Jesus said it just wasn’t that easy. He drove home the point that He would separate families; that our enemies would be from our own households. (Matthew 10:35-37) That’s really hard stuff.

So how do we really know? Shouldn’t we have a way to examine our lives?

How often do you return to your own vomit?

Look at what Peter says about this, as he is speaking about the false prophets that were so prolific then just as they are today. These are words for us to heed today. These are words that must be taken seriously, and examine the legitimacy of those that preach the word. Does this sound familiar?

For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh… – 2 Peter 2:18

What are you being taught? Is the Scripture opened and explained properly to you? Does the Scripture and teaching point you to God’s greatness, and your littleness? Or does it tell you how you can live better, how you can like yourself more, or get ahead in the world financially. Even more, does it allow you to leave unconvinced of any sin in your life? Does it let you know the vomit is okay to return too?

2 Peter 2:18b-21 …through lewdness (lustful), the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.

22 But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog return to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”

We have a very clear picture of apostasy in the church. It’s clear there are false teachers, and they abound. They build great buildings, and have lots of people in attendance. They build big audiences through social media because people like what they say.   The words are sweet to our ears.   Their condemnation is certain. They will not escape the wrath of God, but what about us?

Do we return to the vomit again and again? Does your sin continue to be justified in your mind and you convince yourself it’s only once more? Or it’s, “but you don’t know my…you fill in the blank.”
“If they wouldn’t do that, I wouldn’t do what I do…”

It’s a dangerous place to live, and it would be better that you had never known the way of righteousness. Please don’t count the blood of Christ a common thing. If you continue to wallow in your sin I urge you to repent today. I urge you to seek counsel from your pastor or your elders, if they are true shepherds of Christ’s church, and then heed that counsel.

Your very soul may be asked of you tonight. Do it now, while it is possible for salvation and then grow in grace, that you may bear fruit and bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Kevin

Discipline…

Posted on by kevinjandt

discipline

What a distasteful subject is the topic of church discipline, does anyone like correction?

Well that depends…

It depends upon the condition of your heart.

Listen to counsel and receive instruction, that you may be wise in your latter days. – Proverbs 19:20

Rebuke is more effective for a wise man than a hundred blows on a fool. – Proverbs 17:10

A scoffer does not love one who corrects him, nor will he go to the wise. – Proverbs 15:12

How much better to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver. – Proverbs 16:16

He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed. – Proverbs 13:20

What else must I do to convince you that God’s word is what we must use to gain wisdom? What else matters, and as the verse states above this is better than gold and should be chosen over silver.

God has not left us to stumble around in the dark without counsel. He has spoken on the matter of church discipline and has given the church direction. The scriptures are not silent on this subject, but the bigger questions are these…are we willing to listen, are we willing to heed the counsel?

Jesus clearly and perfectly lays out the formula. The church is to follow the example and sin must be dealt with in the church, or the church becomes polluted.

“Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.” – Matthew 18:15-17

This is pretty clear isn’t it?

What is the purpose of this; can we see what Jesus desires in this instruction? He desires restoration. The goal is to bring the one in sin to a place of understanding their sin; a place of brokenness over their sin, so they can be restored to their brother.

This is being lived out in the life of the church that I attend. My wife, my eldest daughter and I are members and we dearly love the people in our church. It’s heart breaking to see sin in the lives of people. It’s even more heartbreaking to know that unless that sin is forsaken and turned from it will destroy. That’s what Satan does! He came to destroy people and he does it in the most sinister and deceitful ways possible.

Others in my church love this man and below is a letter that was written as the church is telling this man of his sin. It is our hope and our desire that this will restore the man to a right relationship with God.

It is our desire that if he is a brother, he will confess his sin and forsake his sin, if he is not a brother that he will repent and believe in Jesus Christ as his only hope for salvation. I post this that he will be ashamed of his sin and that others might read it, be ashamed of their sin, and come to repentance.

This problem is rampant in the “church world”. It’s not a victimless crime. It’s heinous and it’s ugly.

And if they are bound in

fetters,

Held in the cords of affliction,

Then He tells them their work

and their transgressions—

That they have acted defiantly.

He also opens their ear to

instruction,

And commands that they turn

from iniquity.

If they obey and serve Him,

They shall spend their days in

prosperity,

And their years in pleasures.

But if they do not obey,

They shall perish by the sword,

And they shall die without

knowledge. – Job 36:8-12

 

Kevin

 

I know a Man…

 

That he might be broken and ashamed:

On nights when he is angry with his wife, she goes to sleep in their bedroom. Meanwhile he sits in his living room, just a few feet from his bride-only a wall apart-browsing depictions of harlots, picking the ones that please him the most, displaying them on his screen and having sex with them using his self. It feels good to him, helps him to relax, so he does it again or another time. He knows it is sinful, but he isn’t broken by it so he doesn’t repent. It’s not really adultery he says. He won’t tell his wife. He knows it’s wrong but he doesn’t feel saddened over it, so he does it again. His only son sleeps soundly upstairs, unharmed so the man thinks. Yet he does not know God may require the life of the child for sin such as this. He took David’s child for this, yet the man fears God not.

He comes into the sanctuary of God’s people on Sunday’s. He will not open his mouth to sing praises to God. But repent- I think not- he just doesn’t feel like it. He won’t look at the preacher, for he despises that man, sure he led him to Christ, but he’s wronged him since then. I want to ask this man, would you pick up a knife and slit the throat of your son for this preacher who wronged you? Would you slay your son for that man who you think despises and rejects you? Have you forgotten o man that God sees your adultery? That this God sees your lack of praise, lack of love for the saints, sees your lack of time in the word, and yet still shows you His love?

God sends His people to plead with the man, turn, turn from your sin, lest the Lord reject you. This God sees your sin- takes His only son- and slays Him. He drains Jesus’ blood on the wastelands, opens His side and rejects Him; Pours out His wrath and His righteous indignation, upon the perfect lamb, the great I am, don’t you remember? Wasn’t it for your sin? Will you continue to reject Him? Christ died for sins, will you continue to live in them?

Some people confront him on his sin when his conscience overbears him to report it. Repent of it- no- but agree that it’s sinful- yes. I’m just being honest says the man, I can’t turn cause you told me, or I don’t want to deny feelings. Little does he know his flesh is destroying him.  He sees his wife and child, and loves them he thinks, but show them Christ in Him-maybe he will get to that next week.

This man is hardened-stiff necked, his sin spreads and spreads. He lives it, breathes it, chews it, and loves it. Love the saints? No time for that. Preach the Gospel? Who needs it. Serve the body? They don’t deserve it. But I deserve my sin says the man, after all, who are they to tell me it’s sinful? The proverbs warn him. Destruction and calamity await him- will he turn yet from his sin? I think not. He just doesn’t feel it…

You are that man… Repent and turn to Christ and you will be forgiven.

 

 

 

Are You a Jonah?

Posted on by kevinjandt

jonah

Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittal, saying, “Arise, go to Ninevah, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. – Jonah 1:1-2a

Jonah is not a book of the Bible that I spend a lot of time thinking about. We have a really cool puzzle that my daughter Lydia just loves putting together. It’s an oversized puzzle, so even I can do it, and it shows a cartoon character Jonah being spit out of the great fish’s mouth onto the sand. It’s a really great image. But I must confess I’ve not given a lot of thought to Jonah until recently.

This past Lord’s Day, during our prayer time, I was asked to pray corporately, praying from Jonah. As I read chapter 2 in preparation I was struck by how much like Jonah I am. How often I run from the presence of the Lord, or at least I think I run from His presence. Of course, where can we really go that He is not there right?

But it appears Jonah really thought he could just go the opposite way and that was going to be alright with God. Jonah thought that God’s arm wasn’t long enough to reach him. Doesn’t it appear that way? Was this the same God that did all those miracles? Is this the same God that by His spoken word created everything? What a foolish thing for Jonah to do…

Because I know I would never do that…I’m pretty sure you would never do that either…Say I sarcastically…

How many times have you blown opportunities to tell someone the good news?

Ouch…

Matthew 10:32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.

Homologéō – to say the same thing as another; to agree with, assent. Many will say they “confess” Christ, but in their actions deny Him. It’s quite different to actually agree with Him than to open our mouths and say Jesus is Lord. The bottom line is do we live like it?

We must consider the words of our Lord, when He said “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not done all these things in Your name…” And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you: depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ – Matthew 7:21-23

This past weekend for the first time I went into the open air and preached the gospel. Like Jonah I was attempting to run from God and avoid the inevitable disagreement with Him that desired my own earthly comforts, pride, selfishness and personal desires. I mean, honestly, who wants to go out and take the abuse that you are sure is coming your way? Isn’t that why there are “professionals” that teach in churches, pastors that get paid for this? Shouldn’t they be the ones going out and doing this sort of thing, if this sort of thing should even be done today, which many will say?

Then I once again remember the words of Jesus and my pathetic heart melts…

Matthew 16:25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

I desire to save my life…

Last Saturday, by the grace of God I began a journey to lose my life and it was humbling and even humiliating beyond words. Yet it was exhilarating and thrilling to stand up in front of a God-hating crowd and proclaim His name. To tell them He IS Lord, and they must submit to Him, or perish in their sins.

Do I think, or expect that everyone reading this will go to a public arena and preach? No, I don’t think that is wise for everyone. You should go under the protection and blessing of your church, but we should all be proclaiming His name in whatever opportunities He presents to you. It might be the grocery store, or the coffee shop, maybe sitting next to someone on a plane. Whatever, wherever, whenever you are presented with an opportunity to proclaim His name, be obedient to the call and lose your life.

Who knows what will happen.

Jonah 3:10 Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.

Never forget that Salvation is of the LORD, but as for us, we must proclaim the good news and trust that God will grow His church. Amen!

Kevin

It’s all about me!

Posted on by kevinjandt

loveme

I’m a selfish man by nature… I really can’t help, I was born that way.

I was thinking about this recently and discussing how easy it is to live that way with a brother of mine. It comes quite naturally in most situations, but one of the times I notice it most is when I return from business trips.

I’m in an unusual sort of business. Believe it or not someone pays me to provide times for the participants in a running race. This business requires me to be away from home on numerous occasions and sometimes during the peak running season I can be gone for up to a week at some of our very large events.

It’s in these times that I’m particularly prone to myself. It’s almost like a surreal world that I reside when I’m at these events. The bottom line is that I have a certain amount of work that needs to be accomplished and I need to ensure it gets done. I wake up when I need to wake up, do the things that I need to do, feed myself when I’m hungry (in most cases) and don’t have to wait around for a wife and children.

It’s probably similar to a military man on deployment. He’s hanging with the guys and then they head out on their missions. When I come home it’s sometimes difficult to re-adjust. I have to attempt to snap out of “Kevin only” mode and start considering the ones God has placed in my life to nurture. It’s really much more difficult than you think and on more than one occasion (or maybe all of them), my wife has to gently remind me that she desires adult conversation when I return home. And, “oh right, I almost forgot God requires me to lead my family.”

Hebrews 4:12 tells us that God’s word is sharper than any two-edged sword, and it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, and this is very sharp indeed for me.

Husbands love your wives…  Ephesians 5:25

Husbands your wife is a weaker vessel… 1 Peter 3:7

Father’s train your children… Ephesians 6:4

It goes on and on for me and I’ve often found myself knowing that I need to put things off to stay ahead of the impending email that will soon invade my inbox. I’m pulled in a lot of directions, because Jen wants me to lead and I just got done leading and I’m a bit worn out.

It would certainly be a lot easier to just hide somewhere, but I can’t wait to get home and I can’t wait to see Jen and the girls, so the war rages inside.   I have responsibilities and I must provide for my family, but I must also lead them and nourish them and train them.

So the battle continues and it will for a lifetime, because one day the kids will be out of the house and then my role will change, but God still doesn’t let me off the hook. Lord willing I’ll still be a husband, and Lord willing I’ll still be a father, and Lord willing I will be a grandfather and have the opportunity to live out a multi-generational vision for my grandchildren.

What a battle…what a life…what an opportunity to deny myself, take up my cross and serve and honor the Lord.   He never promised a life of ease and comfort, actually just the opposite. If the Christian life you live is a little too easy, maybe it’s not true Christianity and maybe a war needs to rage within you?

It’s pretty easy to live life on cruise control. Jesus said those who desire to keep their life will lose it and those who desire to lose their life will find it. I desire to lose my life, but that doesn’t make it easy.

 

Kevin