In 1996 when we were heading to Germany a friend gave me a wonderful book of Charles Spurgeon’s sermons. I asked him why do I need this book and he relied, “I am sure you will be preaching maybe you can use one of Spurgeon’s sermons.” I said thank you and now it collects dust on our shelves. My friend the last thing the church (especially in America) needs is to hear another canned sermon. Did you know here is a big difference between a sermon (a canned speech by a clergyman on some religious topic or on morals) and a message (a God-breathed word of revelation for a given time and a given body of people). The last thing we need to hear is another sermon. What we need to hear today is the unvarnished word of God that brings life to us, but sadly not too many Pastors today have the ability in God to hear from Him and share His words with His people. Now do not be deceived, some Pastors say they are sharing a message when in reality it is a sermon. For a message to be a message it must be directly from God and it must contain life. Jesus taught us this spiritual principle when He said, “But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4) A message contains the life of God in its words. The Lord really worked this truth into my spirit and life the first time I went to the Islamic Republic of the Mauritania. It was early in the morning, before the sun was up and I went for a walk in the Sahara Desert without any water. How foolish. The morning was cool so off I went. Before I knew it I walked about 2 ½ hours out in the desert and I was sweating, so I decided to head back, well the sun was up now and boy was it hot. Suddenly I found myself sweating more and more (heat exhaustion) and I was getting dizzy. I knew I was becoming dehydrated and needed water now. But, I had some distance to go. Things really started looking bad when I stopped sweating (heat stroke), but then the Lord brought back to my memory, “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.” (Psalms 23:2) Things started looking up. Here in this verse David was saying God “leadeth me” or God leads him from one watering hole to the next watering hole. What a wonderful leading of God for me to a much needed watering hole or I would die. Remember, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out from the mouth of God.” With each step I took I said, “he leadeth me,” step, “he leadeth me” step, “he leadeth me” step, and before I knew it I was back safe and sound. What an unbelievable experience to God’s faithfulness yet at the same time a very costly lesson in awareness. My friend we must hear from God for in the hearing and receiving of the word of God is the life of God. If we never hear from God we will never receive His faith to do the things He desires us to do. God’s faith is not contained in sermons, but in a message of His words. In Romans Paul shares this truth with us, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17) Now faith does not come by hearing the Bible on tape or CD as many of my friends believe. Faith does not come by hearing sermons or even messages if this be so why do many believers hear sermons and messages every week and have no faith? But faith comes when we hear a word from God. The Greek version of Romans 10:17, is more realistic to what God is saying here in Romans, “So then faith cometh by hearing a word from God.” (Romans 10:17 Greek) In the word we hear from God faith is contained, everything; our power, our supply, our ability everything needed to do what God desires us do is contained in the word. We can not pray faith up, work faith up, give our money to get our faith up, or even sing and dance faith up, faith is God’s and He gives it to us when He speaks it to us and when we hear His words with the right heart condition.
We all have a role to play in hearing from God; like preparing our spirit and heart so that the word of God can take root, but I would like to humbly and respectfully place the blame for the spiritual failures and great aversion to spiritual growth and development in the nominal (in name only not in fact or power) church of America and around the world where it lies, in the hands of her Pastors. Now I too was a Pastor and share in this blame. I failed many times, but when I Pastor again with God’s strength and grace I will not make the same mistakes. The spiritual welfare of any church is the responsibilities of the Pastor, not the board of Deacons, Elders, or committee, but the Pastor. If your church is organized in any other way I would be very careful because the head (the leadership) is not in Biblical order so the tail (the people) cannot follow in obedience. The Pastor alone is held accountable by God for what happens in the church which God has entrusted him with. God always appoints someone to be the leader. Graduating from a seminary or Bible School with a Doctor of Divinity will not do it, having a title confirmed by a board of denominational regents, or voted in by the people will not do it, but God and God alone appoints a Pastor and God and God alone holds that Pastor to a very high standard. We can see this truth time and time again in the Bible. This person scripturally is a male and is held accountable by God and God alone for the success or failure of His intention in the gathering of His people. In the US Navy the Commanding Officer (CO) of the ship is solely responsible for anything and everything that happens on the ship, even if they are asleep or not onboard when something bad happens, the CO is held totally responsible and is always accountable to higher authority. If something goes wrong, the CO is relieved of command until a board of inquest can either clear him or convict him of the command’s failure. This is known as, “The Captain of the Ship Doctrine.” So too God has this doctrine for all who would be a Pastor. In God we must be careful what we ask for and what God entrusts within our hands. Some day I will stand before God and give account of myself, my wife and family, and the church I was given responsibility for. I do not know about you my friend, but this is a very sobering and scary thought. But sadly most Pastors are to busy to separate themselves from family and their church to wait before God in silence to hear from Him. Most Pastors not willing to pay the price to hear from God, not willing to endure sometimes physical pain, loneliness, and the anguish of self-examination and confession to be a Godly vessel He can use. Most Pastors are too busy working for God with many programs and activities, too much work and not enough becoming something in God to be the channel the Holy Spirit can flow through. The Holy Spirit will not use a Pastor (or Teacher) who has not paid the price to be used. Most Pastors would rather blow off the dust and try to resurrect an old sermon, but this my friend this will never do. Even a babe in God knows the difference. When a “true” message from God is delivered the people are humbled and respond in a downward direction, downward to our knees. God’s message is not hip with cool sayings using today’s language. Pastors who try to be hip and cool are trying to save someone to a hip Jesus. Jesus was not hip, He was God’s Son. Jesus was serious, Jesus was intense, Jesus was sincere, and Jesus was compassionate. There is nothing funny about the Gospel message. Jesus gave His life for it. How can you be Godly if you are busy being cool? Hip and cool Pastors are liars (they are not telling the truth), thieves (stealing God of His glory), and are hirelings who strip the Gospel message of it power and authority.
We all have a role to play in hearing from God; like preparing our spirit and heart so that the word of God can take root, but I would like to humbly and respectfully place the blame for the spiritual failures and great aversion to spiritual growth and development in the nominal (in name only not in fact or power) church of America and around the world where it lies, in the hands of her Pastors. Now I too was a Pastor and share in this blame. I failed many times, but when I Pastor again with God’s strength and grace I will not make the same mistakes. The spiritual welfare of any church is the responsibilities of the Pastor, not the board of Deacons, Elders, or committee, but the Pastor. If your church is organized in any other way I would be very careful because the head (the leadership) is not in Biblical order so the tail (the people) cannot follow in obedience. The Pastor alone is held accountable by God for what happens in the church which God has entrusted him with. God always appoints someone to be the leader. Graduating from a seminary or Bible School with a Doctor of Divinity will not do it, having a title confirmed by a board of denominational regents, or voted in by the people will not do it, but God and God alone appoints a Pastor and God and God alone holds that Pastor to a very high standard. We can see this truth time and time again in the Bible. This person scripturally is a male and is held accountable by God and God alone for the success or failure of His intention in the gathering of His people. In the US Navy the Commanding Officer (CO) of the ship is solely responsible for anything and everything that happens on the ship, even if they are asleep or not onboard when something bad happens, the CO is held totally responsible and is always accountable to higher authority. If something goes wrong, the CO is relieved of command until a board of inquest can either clear him or convict him of the command’s failure. This is known as, “The Captain of the Ship Doctrine.” So too God has this doctrine for all who would be a Pastor. In God we must be careful what we ask for and what God entrusts within our hands. Some day I will stand before God and give account of myself, my wife and family, and the church I was given responsibility for. I do not know about you my friend, but this is a very sobering and scary thought. But sadly most Pastors are to busy to separate themselves from family and their church to wait before God in silence to hear from Him. Most Pastors not willing to pay the price to hear from God, not willing to endure sometimes physical pain, loneliness, and the anguish of self-examination and confession to be a Godly vessel He can use. Most Pastors are too busy working for God with many programs and activities, too much work and not enough becoming something in God to be the channel the Holy Spirit can flow through. The Holy Spirit will not use a Pastor (or Teacher) who has not paid the price to be used. Most Pastors would rather blow off the dust and try to resurrect an old sermon, but this my friend this will never do. Even a babe in God knows the difference. When a “true” message from God is delivered the people are humbled and respond in a downward direction, downward to our knees. God’s message is not hip with cool sayings using today’s language. Pastors who try to be hip and cool are trying to save someone to a hip Jesus. Jesus was not hip, He was God’s Son. Jesus was serious, Jesus was intense, Jesus was sincere, and Jesus was compassionate. There is nothing funny about the Gospel message. Jesus gave His life for it. How can you be Godly if you are busy being cool? Hip and cool Pastors are liars (they are not telling the truth), thieves (stealing God of His glory), and are hirelings who strip the Gospel message of it power and authority.
My friend there is a process we must endure to be the channel for the Holy Spirit to flow God’s word through. Like all processes in God they start with communion with Him. No communion with God, no nothing. We must have communion with God because, it is in the delivering of God’s word will the burden from God be discharged. Here is a flow diagram to help explain this process and my cryptic review below:
Communion => Burden => Enlightenment (revelation) =>Thought => Words, both external (many) and internal (few)
Communion: A personal relationship with God. Time spent with Him in prayer (communication) and time spent with Him in fellowship. Without this communion it is impossible to be a man of God who can deliver God’s word.
Burden: A yoke of duty and responsibility that God gives a trusted servant in doing God’s will for their lives. A burden is truly a sign of God’s approval in our lives. Gifts, tongues, and talents mean little, but God trusting us with a piece of His plan is truly something special. The heavier the burden the greater the power released when discharged.
Enlightenment (revelation): God’s light. Such light does not linger, but is fleeting. It is a quick glimpse of truth that runs through our spirit and mind. We cannot hold them unless we can fix the light with our thoughts. There are two types of revelation; one in our spirit and one in the word of God.
Thoughts: Holding God’s light of truth and revelation by meditating on them as it is transferred from our spirit to our words.
Words: Two types, external many written words, notes, and such. If my mind is clear and my thoughts are strong I will be able to fix more of God’s light to my thoughts which gives me more words. Worldly speech is measured by counting words or counting time. Words of revelation however are enormously different. As God can reveal so much in a second so too God is able to reveal much in few words, these are internal words of the Spirit of God and they are few, but they contain the life of God. Here is the distinction between the two. The internal words are never long, but are rich in content. They do not come in long messages since we have few, but what spiritual wealth a wealth that is life-releasing. External words are never short, but many words from our mind and are orchestrated by the Holy Spirit. Not as rich and does not contain much life to release God power and authority, but is of God none the less.
I often read Wade Taylor’s website and was kind of surprised to see Wade has cancelled all of his services and meetings waiting to get a fresh word from the Lord. Knowing the Godly man Wade Taylor is and how he values hearing from God I was not too surprised. Actually I was convicted to the need of doing the very same thing. Now I believe Wade has been in ministry longer than I have been alive, what a mentor what a guide. My fellow Pastors and friends if we do not hear from God what are we going to say? Well that answer is easy, what the church is saying today the same old denominational mess and not a message from God, this will not do. We must hear from God and share His message, real life God’s life awaits. No longer can the church afford to hear sermons, it must be God’s word or nothing. Written by David Stahl.
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