You are here: Home / Archives for ARTICLES

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PREACHING, TEACHING, AND TRAINING

by

PREACHERS SHOULD PREACH, TEACH, AND TRAIN

“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.” Matthew 4:23.

“Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.” Acts 15:35.

“Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.” Acts 28:31

Preaching is the message announced by preachers and is primarily for the purpose of conversion. We could say, with accuracy, Jesus preached to the multitudes, and taught His Disciples. Perhaps the Twelve taught the Seventy and the Seventy, the hundred and twenty.

Teaching consist of the message taught by preachers that explains, clarifies, and applies, with exhortation. It is primarily for building faith, Christian conviction, and character. One of the qualifications of a pastor is he must be “apt to teach.” (I Tim. 3:2. II Tim. 2:24). Paul seemed to have his greatest success by teaching. Many pastors are excellent preachers, but they also need to distinguish between the two, and master teaching.

Training is a task whereby preachers develop skill sets in trainees.  According to Webster’s Dictionary, the definition of training is: the act, process, or method of one that trains. The skill, knowledge, or experience acquired by one that trains. The state of being trained. A young doctor who’s still in training. She’s in training for the Olympics.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Training others may be the greatest weakness of many good preachers.[/perfectpullquote]

Synonyms: drill, practice (also practice), routine, exercise, workout, assignment, homework, lesson; brush up, refresher, review, spring training, a process by which someone is taught the skills that are needed for an art, profession, or job. The process by which an athlete prepares for competition by exercising, practicing, etc. It is the skill, knowledge, or experience acquired by a person or animal who has trained. Thus, training is showing how, assisting in the task, the trainee performs the task. Correction and encouragement are given as necessary. Training others may be the greatest weakness of many good preachers.

ARE THEY LOST OR ARE THEY SAVED?

by

ARE THEY LOST OR ARE THEY SAVED?

Comments on 1 Cor. 6:9

“Observe here, 1. Our apostle’s positive assertion, and categorical proposition, That the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God; whereby unrighteousness, is meant injustice and injuriousness towards our neighbour, as appears by the context, which speaks of defrauding: unrighteousness will as certainly shut out of heaven, as ungodliness.

Observe next, The large catalog of sins which the apostle reckons up, that will shut out of heaven: uncleanness, idolatry, inordinate love of this world, drunkenness, etc. For the confirmation of his proposition, he proceedeth to the enumeration of the several sins destructive of salvation: which are not to be understood copulatively, but disjunctively: not as if he only who is guilty of all these shall miss of heaven, but he that lives in any one of these unrepented of; if he doth not forsake his wicked course of life, he shall never see the kingdom of God: whoever allows and tolerates himself in any one sin, is certainly in a state of damnation.-William Burket’s notes

“Know ye not, etc. By unrighteousness here you may understand what is opposed to strict integrity. The unrighteous, then, that is, those who inflict injury on their brethren, who defraud or circumvent others, who, in short, are intent upon their own advantage at the expense of injuring others, will not inherit the kingdom of God. That by the unrighteous here, as for example adulterers, and thieves and covetous, and revilers, he means those who do not repent of their sins, but obstinately persist in them, is too manifest to require that it should be stated. The Apostle himself, too, afterwards expresses this in the words employed by him, when he says that the Corinthians formerly were such The wicked, then, do inherit the kingdom of God, but it is only in the event of their having been first converted to the Lord in true repentance, and having in this way ceased to be wicked. For although conversion is not the ground of pardon, yet we know that none are reconciled to God but those who repent. The interrogation, however, is emphatic, for it intimates that he states nothing but what they themselves know, and is a matter of common remark among all pious persons.” –John Calvin

“The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom – The unrighteous, αδικοι , those who act contrary to right, cannot inherit, for the inheritance is by right. He who is not a child of God has no right to the family inheritance, for that inheritance is for the children. If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, Ro 8:17. There are here ten classes of transgressors which the apostle excludes from the kingdom of God; and any man who is guilty of any one of the evils mentioned above is thereby excluded from this kingdom, whether it imply the Church of Christ here below or the state of glory hereafter.

Several of the evils here enumerated will not bear to be particularly explained; they are, however, sufficiently plain of themselves, and show us what abominations were commonly practiced among the Corinthians.”-Adam Clark

“…their tricking and defrauding of one another, with other sins they were guilty of; which, if not repented of, would show, that notwithstanding their profession, they were destitute of the grace of God, were unfit to be in the kingdom of God, in a Gospel church state here below, and would be shut out of the kingdom of heaven hereafter.” –John Gill

“He puts it to them as a plain truth, of which they could not be ignorant, that such sinners should not inherit the kingdom of God. The meanest among them must know thus much, that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God (1Co 6:9), shall not be owned as true members of his church on earth, nor admitted as glorious members of the church in heaven. All unrighteousness is sin; and all reigning sin, nay, every actual sin committed deliberately, and not repented of, shuts out of the kingdom of heaven.” –Matthew Henry

“And he presses the point that they were to cherish no illusions as to this, for none of the characters pointed to in verse 9 and 10 should ever dwell with God.”-Georg Williams

“Those who practice such sins are not Christians.”- William McDonald

“The kingdom of God. Cannot be saved; cannot enter into heaven. Cmt. on Mt 3:2. This may refer either to the kingdom of God in heaven, or to the church on earth–most probably the former. But the sense is the same essentially, whichever is meant. The man who is not fit to enter into the one, is not fit to enter into the other. The man who is fit to enter the kingdom of God on earth, shall also enter into that in heaven.”- Albert Barns

THE NEW COVENANT WITH ISRAEL.

by

THE NEW COVENANT WITH ISRAEL.

COVENANT                                             

IT MIGHT SURPRISE YOU TO KNOW THAT MOST CHRISTIANS DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A COVENANT AND A TESTAMENT. ODDLY ENOUGH, MANY ASSUME THAT THE CHURCH, THE BODY OF CHRIST, IS NOW UNDER THE NEW COVENANT. ALTHOUGH THERE ARE EIGHTY-FIVE CONTRASTs BETWEEN THE OLD AND THE NEW COVENANT, NEITHER THE OLD OR THE NEW WAS MADE WITH THE CHURCH. IT IS CLEAR THEY WERE MADE WITH ISRAEL.

 

  1. JESUS IS THE MEDIATOR OF THE NEW COVENANT.
  2. THE OLD COVENANT WAS ONE OF CONDEMNATION.
  3. THE NEW WAS MADE WITH ISRAEL AND JUDAH.
  4. THE NEW IS NOTHING LIKE THE OLD.
  5. THE NEW COVENANT WILL BE INSTALLED IN THE MILLENNIUM.
  6. GOD WILL CONVERT THE WHOLE NATION. “SO ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED.”
  7. THE LORD WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND ISRAEL WILL BE HIS PEOPLE.
  8. THERE WILL NO WITNESSING FOR ALL IN THE LAND WILL KNOW HIM.
  9. GOD WILL IN MERCY, REMOVE THEIR UNRIGHTEOUSNESS AND THEIR INIQUITIES HE WILL NEVER REMEMBER.
  10. THIS IS THE NEW COVENANT PROMISED TO ISRAEL IN JEREMIAH 31:31-34.

“But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.  For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.  For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:  Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:  And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.  For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.  In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.” Hebrews 8:6-13

 

MATTHIAS THE APOSTLE?

by

Was Matthias a legitimate Apostle?

casting-lots “Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.  And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.  And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,  That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.  And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.” Acts 1:21-26.

It has been claimed by some that the Eleven were in a hurry in the choosing of Matthias, and therefore he was not Gods choice. In other words, the Eleven should have waited until Paul was converted and he should have been numbered with the Eleven.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The Lord never rebuked them for their choice…[/perfectpullquote]

We believe this argument is absurd and based on nothing but guesswork in order to delegalize the unique apostleship of Paul. The text is clear. The apostles prayed about the matter of a replacement for Judas. It was required that the replacement should have ministered from the beginning of the ministry of the Lord and witnessed His resurrection. Furthermore, to specifically ask for God to lead in the choice. Casting lots were not uncommon in settling the unknown. The lot fell to Matthias and he was numbered with the Twelve. The Lord never rebuked them for their choice, but contrarywise blessed their ministry mightily.

The casting of lots was not only Scriptural, it was also a common practice. The first record in Scripture is in Leviticus 16:8. “And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.” There are many accounts of casting lots in Scripture. The Psalmist said, “The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD.” Proverbs 16:33. It was firmly believed that the providence of God ruled in the casting of lots to the degree it was never questioned.

Paul was never intended to be one of the Twelve or to have a part in their ministry. He was divinely selected to be the apostle to the Gentiles. “For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:” Romans 11:13. He was also chosen to write all the church epistles. Just as many of the Jewish Christians could not reconcile Paul’s ministry, so it is today among many Gentile Christians.

THE APOSTLES FIRST POST-RESURRECTION QUESTION

by

THE APOSTLES FIRST POST-RESURRECTION QUESTION

question“When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” Acts 1:6

It is not always immediately clear why one asks questions. There could be several reasons. God asked Adam, “Where art thou?” Since God knew, the answer is evident. But, what of the disciples? They had spent three years under the teaching of Jesus. They had watched and heard Him preach, and they were trained and sent out on many preaching assignments. All the ministry and the training of the Twelve was about the Kingdom of Heaven. Their hopes were dashed when He was crucified, but His resurrection revived their spirits and hopes. Thus, their first post-resurrection question. “…, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” Now, I believe we should look long and hard at that question. Why would they ask it? What was their thinking and what was uppermost on their mind for them to ask that question? In addition, He did not correct their thinking or assumption. His response was simply that it was not for them to know the time. The motive behind our question is, what was their thinking and why? Questions can be revealing.