Preach Red
Then, that confidence started to look like overconfidence and I started to develop a distaste for it. It just seemed too risky to be so sure about things. Being wrong is just too dangerous... too embarrassing... too misleading. Especially when you are supposed to be teachers of the Word of God. People's lives are affected by what you teach as truth... drastically. Being wrong about it, or even unsure, can often have devastating effects. So, it would seem prudent to stay grey. End all advice with "but that's just my take on it" or "no one really knows for sure". Teaching the Word of God however it seems right in your own eyes. I think there is verse that sounds similar to that.
If I want to know what color looks best in my living room, whether to go to Paris or Rome for vacation or even what style of music I should listen to, then your advice should be your opinion... take it or leave it. If I want to know what God Almighty has said in regard to a situation, from His Word, then I expect certainty...Confidence. If God calls us to live or die by His Word, if that might mean loss, if that might mean pain and suffering, if that might mean shame and sorrow...even death, then we had better be sure. We had better teach with confidence... as though the very oracles of God...familiar again?
The Bible is not a self help books of advice, but a supernatural revelation of a person. A person who lived here, had sure thoughts and desires and desired for us to know Him. Teaching Him to others cannot be done in an unclear way. Imagine if someone asked your child what you thought about drug use or pornography and they said "Welllllll.... he's not been clear to me on that. I think he would say it depends on the person...If it makes you happy..." It really is an all or nothing message...Because He is who He is, all the time, under every circumstance. Uncertainty might happen for a time, but we are expected to be seekers and can expect to find. We're just lazy and a bit afraid.
"For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."
Hebrews 4:12
Hebrews 4:12
That's most preaching today...To itching ears... satisfying rather than true. The aim of pleasing people rather than God. Please God, and He'll please the people. I value such brave and selfless preachers. Paul Washer is 55 years old and such a preacher. He lies in a hospital bed from a massive heart attack today... probably overworked himself in his Heartcry ministry. I pray we don't lose him. His messages might not make you feel warm and fuzzy all the time, but he rightly divides the Word of Truth... yes, it can be done, or God wouldn't have asked us to...And preaches it with certainty... boldly and fearlessly. Being more afraid to band aid sin than to miss the opportunity to share the cure. That's the way I want to be. Confident in who Jesus is, what He said and would do. He made it possible to know by the perfect Word in our hands, made sure.
"So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention"
2 Peter1:19
"So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention"
2 Peter1:19
We doubt. It's easier to doubt. Grey is a comfortable color.
Red is far more bold, hot and passionate.
It's the color He bled for us.
It's rich and overpowering.
It's never ambiguous.
It's never ambiguous.
Might be my favorite.
My husband says "The Bible is a person. Truth is a person." Teach and live the person. He doesn't shape shift, change His mind nor is He two faced. You can count on consistency and perfection with Him...so preach Him that way.
One of Pastor Washer's "Buckleys" sermons...Might taste bad, but it works!!
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