DON'T CLOSE YOUR MOUTH II
Memorise: Ye have not
chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring
forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of
the Father in my name, he may give it you. - John 15:16
Read: Matthew
28:18-20 (KJV)
18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto
me in heaven and in earth.
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I
have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the
world Amen.
Bible in One Year: 1
Kings 5-6, Luke 2: 1-21
MESSAGE
In addition to opening our mouth in prayer, opening our mouth as witnesses of
Jesus is another obligation we must perform. Evangelistic outreach is for all
children of God; not for God's ministers alone. We must all bear fruit of souls
into God's Kingdom as commanded by our Lord in today's memory verse. To back us
up in this obligation, our Lord Jesus Christ assures us that all power in
heaven and on earth belongs to Him. It is therefore a settled matter that no
power on earth or in the spiritual world can stop us from carrying out His
instructions. We are therefore inexcusable if we fail to win souls. He
instructed us to go and teach all nations, baptising them in the Name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. The Great Commission therefore
involves teaching. Let us pause and think about what this assignment of
teaching means.
To teach is to expound truths that will bring about change in the taught. We
are faced with a two-pronged problem in the area of fulfilling this assignment
today. One aspect of this problem is that the teacher who is supposed to
expound the truth is often afraid of what the reaction of the student would be
to a demand for change; hence, he shuts his mouth. But the Bible in 2 Timothy 4:2 says:
"Preach the word; be instant in
season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and
doctrine."
The other aspect of this problem is
that the people to be taught are not comfortable with the cry for
"change". They do not want to be "intimidated" by the
"dos and don'ts" of their new found faith in Christ. Such people are
deceiving themselves because the Bible does not say we are called into
lawlessness. As a matter of fact and whether we believe it or not, a yoke of
"learning and change" is attached to our calling into the faith.
Jesus in Matthew 11:29a said:
"Take my yoke upon you, and
learn of me;"
It is our duty as children of God to
open our mouths wide to this perverted generation and teach them the counsel of
God without fear or favour. I was in a church sometime last year and I heard a
sister teaching on tithes. In order to make people accept the doctrine of
tithing, she said they could start by giving 5% of their income and gradually
increase it! What an erroneous teaching! We must not hold back the truth from
those we are sent to. This is the only way our fruit can endure, and then our
prayers will be answered.
Action Point: Determine to properly disciple your converts through sound
teaching of the Bible from today.
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