Acts 17:10-12 10 And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. 12 Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.
In case nobody told you...Let me be first to do so - Preachers make mistakes. This is somewhat hard to admit, considering the fact that I am a preacher and know full well that there are those who take pride in highlighting this fact and using it to justify their ways of rebellion and rejection of the word of God. The truth however is inescapable and I must admit I have made mistakes in the past and may very well continue to do so - I am not perfect.
Paul gave a very fitting command to his son in the Gospel, Timothy:
Paul gave a very fitting command to his son in the Gospel, Timothy:
2 Tim 2:15 15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
If I am to be honest and transparent, I will have to admit the fact that there are times I have not rightly divided the word of truth and thus am an ashamed workman. One particular incident comes to mind. It was on a Thursday night when my father and pastor was not able to be at church and gave me, the young budding preacher the opportunity to preach. He had been doing a series on "The Chemistry of Emotions" and I felt led to go along and talk about the emotion of excitement. In an attempt to illustrate the fact that familiarity and lack of excitement for the things of God leads us down the road of instruction I told the story of David bringing the Ark of God to Jerusalem. Anyone who has studied the story will know that Uzzah the man who touched the Ark and died was not unfamiliar with he Ark; it rested in his fathers house. However in my description of his familiarity I stated That he was used to touching the Ark. Not bad for a slip of the tongue but was was worse is that I had placed that very line in my notes. I had felt so good an right about it but I was dead wrong. When my father finally heard the sermon he questioned me and corrected my error.
As I write this I am remeinded of the many times during my bible reading or just life that a thought comes to my mind. A powerful thought - One that will just preach, One that I at the moment was convinced came from the Holy Spirt. Somewhere during the progress of getting that thought into a sermon (Prayer, Meditation and thought and study) I come to the place where the whole message is useless because I realease how non-biblical the thought is. I could still preach it from the bible but in reality it would be taking things out of context and more of isegesis (using scripture to prove your veiw) than exergesis (Going to scripture to get your veiws). Preaching my veiw would again be another mistake.
I say all of this because it really scares me that my mistakes are recieved by well meaning sincere people as the truth. And its not me alone around the world many people sit in churches and under annointed, God called (I stress these words) men of God and take their words for fact because they are annointed, led by the spirit and have peached truth. Many people will leave church remembering a message but never actually checking it out in scripture. That scares me. I know I am prone to mistakes and this can happen in my ministry.
I am a minister. I know what the spirit of rebellion is - This is not what I am talking about. I am talking about each person working out their own salvation and not taking the preachers word for it. I'm talking about the words I have grown up hearing my dad say when he would teach things like the oneness of God, baptism in Jesus name, The Holy Spirit and holiness. He would say "Don't believe this because Pastor Lake said it - Read your bible and know it for yourself."
As I have matured in wisdom and ministry I can easily identify those in the church who like the Bereans searched the scriptures for themselves. Firstly, they have questions. Their reading the scripture sometimes makes them see things which are not clear - It confuses them. They sometimes have read things which are not quite what the preacher is saying. A perfect example
of this come to my mind: Many years ago my father preached a message in our bible study. But late that night one of the most faithful saints came nocking on our door with his bible under his arm. He had heard a message but could not just recieve it he needed clarification. It was immportant for him to clearly see that it was in fact what the scriptures said. He was not rebellious - He was very close to the pastor and this was just an indication of how hungry for truth he was. My father always points to this incident and says he wishes he had more people like that.
Secondly Bereans have revelations. You may teach it one way but they will look through the scriptures and find what you are saying in places you never saw. It hurts my heart to say this but many people in apostolic churches have a knowledge of doctrine by catechism not revelation. They know only what the preacher told them. This is sad. Joy filled my soul when I went through the study notebook of one of my "trinitarian" minister friends. The word trinitarian is in inverted commas because although he attends a trinity church he has a sure revelation of the oneness and baptism in Jesus name. He had many note about these doctrines in his notebook yet they were scriptures I had never heard preached. He had studied and gotten a revelation for himself. Nobody could take away what he had seen plainly in scripture.
Nothing beats a Berean. The bible calls them noble. They didn't believe in Jesus because the greatest apostle - Paul himself, whose preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom but in the demonstration of the spirit in power, had told them but rather because they had searched the scriptures and found Jesus - the source of eternal life.
If I am to be honest and transparent, I will have to admit the fact that there are times I have not rightly divided the word of truth and thus am an ashamed workman. One particular incident comes to mind. It was on a Thursday night when my father and pastor was not able to be at church and gave me, the young budding preacher the opportunity to preach. He had been doing a series on "The Chemistry of Emotions" and I felt led to go along and talk about the emotion of excitement. In an attempt to illustrate the fact that familiarity and lack of excitement for the things of God leads us down the road of instruction I told the story of David bringing the Ark of God to Jerusalem. Anyone who has studied the story will know that Uzzah the man who touched the Ark and died was not unfamiliar with he Ark; it rested in his fathers house. However in my description of his familiarity I stated That he was used to touching the Ark. Not bad for a slip of the tongue but was was worse is that I had placed that very line in my notes. I had felt so good an right about it but I was dead wrong. When my father finally heard the sermon he questioned me and corrected my error.
As I write this I am remeinded of the many times during my bible reading or just life that a thought comes to my mind. A powerful thought - One that will just preach, One that I at the moment was convinced came from the Holy Spirt. Somewhere during the progress of getting that thought into a sermon (Prayer, Meditation and thought and study) I come to the place where the whole message is useless because I realease how non-biblical the thought is. I could still preach it from the bible but in reality it would be taking things out of context and more of isegesis (using scripture to prove your veiw) than exergesis (Going to scripture to get your veiws). Preaching my veiw would again be another mistake.
I say all of this because it really scares me that my mistakes are recieved by well meaning sincere people as the truth. And its not me alone around the world many people sit in churches and under annointed, God called (I stress these words) men of God and take their words for fact because they are annointed, led by the spirit and have peached truth. Many people will leave church remembering a message but never actually checking it out in scripture. That scares me. I know I am prone to mistakes and this can happen in my ministry.
I am a minister. I know what the spirit of rebellion is - This is not what I am talking about. I am talking about each person working out their own salvation and not taking the preachers word for it. I'm talking about the words I have grown up hearing my dad say when he would teach things like the oneness of God, baptism in Jesus name, The Holy Spirit and holiness. He would say "Don't believe this because Pastor Lake said it - Read your bible and know it for yourself."
As I have matured in wisdom and ministry I can easily identify those in the church who like the Bereans searched the scriptures for themselves. Firstly, they have questions. Their reading the scripture sometimes makes them see things which are not clear - It confuses them. They sometimes have read things which are not quite what the preacher is saying. A perfect example
of this come to my mind: Many years ago my father preached a message in our bible study. But late that night one of the most faithful saints came nocking on our door with his bible under his arm. He had heard a message but could not just recieve it he needed clarification. It was immportant for him to clearly see that it was in fact what the scriptures said. He was not rebellious - He was very close to the pastor and this was just an indication of how hungry for truth he was. My father always points to this incident and says he wishes he had more people like that.
Secondly Bereans have revelations. You may teach it one way but they will look through the scriptures and find what you are saying in places you never saw. It hurts my heart to say this but many people in apostolic churches have a knowledge of doctrine by catechism not revelation. They know only what the preacher told them. This is sad. Joy filled my soul when I went through the study notebook of one of my "trinitarian" minister friends. The word trinitarian is in inverted commas because although he attends a trinity church he has a sure revelation of the oneness and baptism in Jesus name. He had many note about these doctrines in his notebook yet they were scriptures I had never heard preached. He had studied and gotten a revelation for himself. Nobody could take away what he had seen plainly in scripture.
Nothing beats a Berean. The bible calls them noble. They didn't believe in Jesus because the greatest apostle - Paul himself, whose preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom but in the demonstration of the spirit in power, had told them but rather because they had searched the scriptures and found Jesus - the source of eternal life.
John 5:39
39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
I pray that these words are recieved in the right spirit
D.C. Lake
