The Preacher (Teacher) of the Word of God

Ezekiel 33: 1 – 9 “Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand. So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.”

Study this scripture very carefully.  The preacher or teacher is the “watchman”.  The watchman has the Word of God and preaches the Word to the people.  The people do not obey the Word of God they are lost in their own failure to obey the Word of God.  The preacher did his job. 

Again, the preacher or teacher has the Word of God but does not preach the complete Word of God to the people.  The people are still lost in their own failure to obey the Word of God.  God now holds the preacher or teacher accountable for the people being lost.

James 3: 1 “My brethren, be not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation”.  I believe that God holds preachers or teachers to a higher standard based on what they teach or what they fail to teach from the Word of God.  

Good Advice

Advice

An opinion about what could or should be done.  Advice can be good or bad.

Advise

Offer advice to; counsel.  To recommend, suggest.

Fact 

Something that has been verified.

God established the fact Jesus is his beloved Son and that He (God) is well pleased with Him (Jesus).  Matthew 3: 16, 17.  As man would say “you can take these facts to the bank”.

Here is a fact that Jesus said:  Matthew 7: 21 “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”

Now go to Mark 9: 7 “And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.”

God has spoken when he told man to listen to his beloved Son which was very, very good advice.  Man has a bad habit of adding the word “but” to the equation.

A good example of this is found in John 14: 15 when Jesus states that if you love me keep my commandments.  Man takes these words of Jesus and states “but one does not have to be baptized to be saved; one must only believe”. 

Jesus said in Mark 16: 16 “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”

Man does not have the power to change the Word of GOD!

The Word of God

A few things we need to know about the Word of God:

The Bible (The Word of God) is in two parts.  Part One is the Old Testament which is comprised of 5 Books of the Law, 12 Historical Books, 5 Poetical Books and 17 prophetical Books.  Part Two is the New Testament which is comprised of the 4 Gospels, the Book of Acts, 21 Epistles and Revelation.

2 Timothy 3: 16, 17 we are told that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

Ok, we know that God provided man with his inspired Word.  What else does man know about the Word of God?  Man does not have the authority to add to or take away from the Word of God.  Deuteronomy 4:2; Deuteronomy 12:32 and Revelation 22: 18, 19.  Man must rightly divide the Word of God, 2 Timothy 2: 15.  Man must also live by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, Matthew 4:4.

Climate Change

No matter how much man tries, man can’t change the climate!  If man spent 100 trillion dollars, he could not change the climate.  I know this to be fact.  We still get bad storms, rain, heat and cold, clear and nice weather no matter what man does! 

Do you know how I know this?  The Supreme Being told me.  Turn in the Bible, God’s Word, to Genesis 8: 22 “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”

Read this verse very carefully.  God set the parameters of climate change.  Climate change will not end until God destroys the earth.  Notice that there will be summer and winter, cold and heat.  He did not set a higher than or lower than temperature.  That is why we can say the summer this year was hotter than last year.  We had more cold weather this year than last year.  We had more rain this year than last year.  There were several bad storms last year and several storms this year.  God’s plan included a time to plant crops and a time to harvest the crops.

Man does not have the knowledge or power to alter the climate change that God created!

BAPTISM

There are many religious men in the world today that say you do not have to be baptized to obtain salvation.  Yet, these same religious men say that they love our savior Jesus Christ.  As the old saying goes, these religious men speak with “forked tongues”.  If you absolutely love Jesus Christ, you must keep his commandments. 

John 14:15 “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”  Jesus commanded that we be baptized.  He commanded his apostles to go unto all the world and baptize.  You will be baptized if you love Jesus.  The requirement to be baptized is demonstrated and emphasized in the Word of God.

The requirement to be baptized is demonstratedActs 2: 37, 38 “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?  Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

1 Corinthians 1: 14 – 16 “I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius; Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.  And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.”

Acts 8: 36 – 38 “And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.”

Acts 9: 17,18 “And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.  And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.”

Acts 10: 48 “And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.”

The requirement to be baptized is emphasizedMark 16: 15, 16 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”

Matthew 28: 18 – 20 “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

1 Peter 3: 20 – 22 “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.  The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:  Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.”

Colossians 2: 12 “Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.”

Ephesians 4: 4 – 6 “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”

Romans 6: 3 – 6 “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.”

Please study all these scriptures that I have outlined concerning baptism.  I started this study in the Book of John 14th chapter.  I will now return to the Book of John 14th Chapter.  John 14: 6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me”.  We see that Jesus is the “door” that one must go through to be with the Father.  The desire to be in heaven after death requires obedience to the Word of God.  John 3: 5 “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”  To obtain salvation you must be baptized.

Why Go Back to the Bible?

The question “Why Go Back to the Bible” needs to be answered. The Bible is our authority in religion. Jesus said “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8: 32. Jesus further tells us that we must worship God in spirit and in truth. John 4: 24. One can now ask the question “What is truth?” Jesus tells us that God’s Word is truth. John 17: 17. Read the whole chapter. Add these scriptures to your study: John 14: 23-24, Hebrews 1:1-2, John 3:35, Matthew 28:18, John 17:2, Ephesians 1:20-23, John 12:48, John 6:68. In closing ll Timothy 3: 16-17 states the following: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” Back to the Bible! No other book is needed.

Back to the Bible

This thought is a novel approach to obtaining God’s salvation. Go back to the Bible, the Word of God, and throw out all teachings of men. After all, God created us, and it is God’s plan that will save us, not man’s plan. Salvation cannot be obtained by obeying the teachings of men. I say again, go back to the Bible, the Word of God. Throw out all teachings of men. Matthew 15: 7 – 9: “Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”