The Preacher and The Act of Preaching

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/veTfM)

A Preacher is the One Preaching The Word of God

Preaching is the act of discoursing the word of God. When a preacher starts to discourse about God’s word, it is then called preaching.  In history, preaching is most commonly known as “Homily”. Even nowadays, they were recognized as synonymous terms. However, homily is a noun while preaching is a verb. Actually, the direct synonymous term of homily is sermon and not the act of preaching.

A preacher is basically someone who preaches a sermons or someone who give homilies (Wikipedia).  Most often, he is the pastor of a Church, but not limited from being a pastor. There are some people though who still preaches yet not a pastor. There were times that laypersons, deacons, small group leaders, etc preaches. They are the customary substitute for the pastor in the ministry of preaching.

Some churches have “pulpit preachers”. These preachers are mostly pastors by profession, but they do not exactly pastor the church where they are preaching. They are plain preachers who shares the word of God.

In most common usage, Preachers and Pastors were interchangeably used. Most people call the Preachers as Pastors. This is probably due to its main function as a pastor of the church that is to preach the word of God. However for the Chinese, it was said that once you are a preacher, it does not necessarily mean that you are a pastor. Being a preacher is just a start to be a pastor for them until such time that they will be ready to properly handle the church.

Sermon as the Content of Preaching

Sermons are the content of preaching. It is the message being delivered through discoursing the Word of God. The sermons are most commonly known as the “Revelations” of God which was interpreted from the Bible.

A preacher preaches truths from the Bible. Nowadays, with millions of people interpreting God’s word, many of those were false teachers and does not really preach God’s word but from mere personal beliefs and opinions. Some even made their own book and uses it as a proof of their belief. But know that the genuine message of God comes only from the Bible.

There are several kinds of sermons to which I highly recommend that you read my posts on Preaching.

The Difference between the Preacher and Evangelist

Basically both preaches the word of God and both discourses passages from the Bible. The difference however is lies in the purpose where they usually preach. The preacher preaches mainly for the purpose of delivering the weekly sermons and regular services. They preach every Sunday, special events (ex. baptism, love month, Christmas, etc.), and special occasions (ex. Wedding, engagement, house blessings and the like).

On the other hand, Evangelists preaches on Revival Nights and Crusades. There are some Evangelists who are called “Street Evangelists”. You will usually see them corners of busy streets with megaphone and speakers, telling people to repent and accept our Lord Jesus Christ.

Some were authentic street preachers. But beware, for there is more hoaxes in street preaching than genuine preachers. You can test them by observing what they do after preaching. Most hoaxes ask and gather money after preaching, while most of those genuine will not ask even for a penny.

6 Useful Tools For the Preacher and His Preaching

Preach It!– Lecture series on How To Preach!!! I originally wrote this as an e-book with the intention to lecture it to our disciples. But I want to share it to a greater audience, and so I prefer to post it in series.

Sermon Illustrations – Collection of sermon illustrations that can be used effectively in preaching. Illustrations are very important in clarifying things during preaching. Sometimes, they are the one that is being remembered most of the time.

Bible Tools – There are free and paid Bible tools. But this link will lead you to the free ones. Believe me, they are almost equally useful than the paid ones.

Sermon Manuscripts – I already have a fair collection of sermon manuscripts that you can use as a beginner. But I do not, recommend that you exactly copy it. I strongly suggest that you develop it because it’s best to tell the people something that is coming from inside you and not from other’s work.

The Discipler’s Toolbar – Being highly customized for preachers, this very useful toolbar will give you updates on the latest posts about Christian living, devotions, sermon outlines, sermon illustrations etc. Not to mention the links for other useful tools online. So I wish that you will never miss this great toolbar.

How To Preach Effectively And Get People Listening To You – A short synopsis on how you can best preach.

Women in Ministry

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/jmSiR)
From: http://ping.fm/WpzOm

"What does the Bible say about women in ministry?"

There is perhaps no more hotly debated issue in the church today than the issue of women serving as pastors/preachers. As a result, it is very important to not see this issue as men versus women. There are women who believe women should not serve as pastors and that the Bible places restrictions on the ministry of women, and there are men who believe women can serve as preachers and that there are no restrictions on women in ministry. This is not an issue of chauvinism or discrimination. It is an issue of biblical interpretation.

The Word of God proclaims, “A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent” (1 Timothy 2:11-12). In the church, God assigns different roles to men and women. This is a result of the way mankind was created and the way in which sin entered the world (2 Timothy 2:13-14). God, through the apostle Paul, restricts women from serving in roles of teaching and/or having spiritual authority over men. This precludes women from serving as pastors, which definitely includes preaching to, teaching, and having spiritual authority over men.

There are many “objections” to this view of women in ministry. A common one is that Paul restricts women from teaching because in the first century, women were typically uneducated. However, 1 Timothy 2:11-14 nowhere mentions educational status. If education were a qualification for ministry, the majority of Jesus' disciples would not have been qualified. A second common objection is that Paul only restricted the women of Ephesus from teaching (1 Timothy was written to Timothy, who was the pastor of the church in Ephesus). The city of Ephesus was known for its temple to Artemis, a false Greek/Roman goddess. Women were the authority in the worship of Artemis. However, the book of 1 Timothy nowhere mentions Artemis, nor does Paul mention Artemis worship as a reason for the restrictions in 1 Timothy 2:11-12.

A third common objection is that Paul is only referring to husbands and wives, not men and women in general. The Greek words in the passage could refer to husbands and wives; however, the basic meaning of the words refers to men and women. Further, the same Greek words are used in verses 8-10. Are only husbands to lift up holy hands in prayer without anger and disputing (verse 8)? Are only wives to dress modestly, have good deeds, and worship God (verses 9-10)? Of course not. Verses 8-10 clearly refer to all men and women, not only husbands and wives. There is nothing in the context that would indicate a switch to husbands and wives in verses 11-14.

Yet another frequent objection to this interpretation of women in ministry is in relation to women who held positions of leadership in the Bible, specifically Miriam, Deborah, and Huldah in the Old Testament. This objection fails to note some significant factors. First, Deborah was the only female judge among 13 male judges. Huldah was the only female prophet among dozens of male prophets mentioned in the Bible. Miriam's only connection to leadership was being the sister of Moses and Aaron. The two most prominent women in the times of the Kings were Athaliah and Jezebel—hardly examples of godly female leadership. Most significantly, though, the authority of women in the Old Testament is not relevant to the issue. The book of 1 Timothy and the other Pastoral Epistles present a new paradigm for the church—the body of Christ—and that paradigm involves the authority structure for the church, not for the nation of Israel or any other Old Testament entity.

Similar arguments are made using Priscilla and Phoebe in the New Testament. In Acts 18, Priscilla and Aquila are presented as faithful ministers for Christ. Priscilla's name is mentioned first, perhaps indicating that she was more “prominent” in ministry than her husband. However, Priscilla is nowhere described as participating in a ministry activity that is in contradiction to 1 Timothy 2:11-14. Priscilla and Aquila brought Apollos into their home and they both discipled him, explaining the Word of God to him more accurately (Acts 18:26).

In Romans 16:1, even if Phoebe is considered a “deaconess” instead of a “servant,” that does not indicate that Phoebe was a teacher in the church. “Able to teach” is given as a qualification for elders, but not deacons (1 Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:6-9). Elders/bishops/deacons are described as the “husband of one wife,” “a man whose children believe,” and “men worthy of respect.” Clearly the indication is that these qualifications refer to men. In addition, in 1 Timothy 3:1-13 and Titus 1:6-9, masculine pronouns are used exclusively to refer to elders/bishops/deacons.

The structure of 1 Timothy 2:11-14 makes the “reason” perfectly clear. Verse 13 begins with “for” and gives the “cause” of Paul’s statement in verses 11-12. Why should women not teach or have authority over men? Because “Adam was created first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived.” God created Adam first and then created Eve to be a “helper” for Adam. This order of creation has universal application in the family (Ephesians 5:22-33) and the church. The fact that Eve was deceived is also given as a reason for women not serving as pastors or having spiritual authority over men. This leads some to believe that women should not teach because they are more easily deceived. That concept is debatable, but if women are more easily deceived, why should they be allowed to teach children (who are easily deceived) and other women (who are supposedly more easily deceived)? That is not what the text says. Women are not to teach men or have spiritual authority over men because Eve was deceived. As a result, God has given men the primary teaching authority in the church.

Many women excel in gifts of hospitality, mercy, teaching, and helps. Much of the ministry of the local church depends on women. Women in the church are not restricted from public praying or prophesying (1 Corinthians 11:5), only from having spiritual teaching authority over men. The Bible nowhere restricts women from exercising the gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12). Women, just as much as men, are called to minister to others, to demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), and to proclaim the gospel to the lost (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; 1 Peter 3:15).

God has ordained that only men are to serve in positions of spiritual teaching authority in the church. This is not because men are necessarily better teachers, or because women are inferior or less intelligent (which is not the case). It is simply the way God designed the church to function. Men are to set the example in spiritual leadership—in their lives and through their words. Women are to take a less authoritative role. Women are encouraged to teach other women (Titus 2:3-5). The Bible also does not restrict women from teaching children. The only activity women are restricted from is teaching men or having spiritual authority over them. This logically would preclude women from serving as pastors/preachers. This does not make women less important, by any means, but rather gives them a ministry focus more in agreement with God’s plan and His gifting of them.

Sermon About Backsliding: Moving Forward to Maturity

Text: Hebrews 6:1-8

Introduction

The passage is more like a warning about returning the old life. I know some of us are feeling spiritually weak from time to time. Some even fell of going back to the sinful nature because they cannot see themselves working something for the Lord. The worst thing is, some of them cannot give up what the Lord is asking them to give up. For some it was pride, for others its their wealth, while to others their family. But today we will be learning something from the Bible that teaches us not to give up.

Why Backsliding Is Not A Good Idea?

It is a sign of immaturity (v.1).

Remaining in elementary teachings signifies immaturity. We all know that elementary teachings are for kids. They are the basics of learning. As our eductational grade school goes up, the more difficult our lessons will be.

Our spiritual life is similar to our student life. As time goes by, as we continue going to school, we are learning more things, more complicated and difficult lessons. And this means that we need more perseverance, need more patience and work harder.

Remaining infant is not an option. We have to overcome immaturity as we have overcome our own emotional lives, we also have to overcome our spiritual lives, its challenges and changes.

It is a sign of not receiving the grace of God (v.4-6).

It says there it is “impossible” to for a man who have tasted all the goodness of God to renew them again to fall into repentance. This passage is a little hard to understand, but what it says is that those people are like those who are apostate. People who denied Christ despite of their full conciousness of His power and of His being, cannot expect forgiveness. As what the passage tells us, it is like crucifying Christ again.

A man who have experienced all the goodness of Christ, His power and everything in Him will not turn His back from Him. But if there is someone who will, the Bible says it is like crucifying Christ one more time, putting Him to an open shame.

It is sometimes hard to believe things about cursing, or what we call “karma / gaba”, but it is true especially when the name of the Lord is at stake. The Old Testament explicitly commanded, “Do not use the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” Thus, it is understandable that God have taught the Israelites to respect even the name of the Lord, and how much more His overwhelming integrity?

It is a sign of upcoming judgement (v.8).

As we can see here in verse 8, it says, “...if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.” Now here we see that the previous point also applies. Being given a chance to be partakers of the Holy Spirit and the goodness of God, yet in the end turned down Christ because at the first place they did not accept the grace of God, surely their end is to be burned.

The Bible is clear that there is no future in being an appostate, for those people who profess that they love God and they are of God, yet in the end turned their backs denying by actions or by works what they are before.

It is a sign of rebellionagainst God.

Some depart from what they believe because they cannot simply follow God. For them, nothing can change them, not even God. What else could be worst in a man who believes that no one can ever change them? Having doubts is actually rebelling against God.

And what can we gain in rebelling against God? Nothing but agony, because no matter how we rebell, we can never win against God. But sometimes, people are just by nature rebellious.

What Should We Do Then?

Leave the elementary teachings (v.1)

To move on to the next step. Elementary teachings are for kids, for young people. There are more things to discover, more things to work on, more things to learn. We have to accept what was designed for us to learn.

We have to take that another step. Leaving though does not mean abandoning nor forgetting what we already have learned. It is just learning more, going to advance level. This is just the first step, because in order to take the full advantage of these things, we have to apply it which brings us to the next step.

Learn and apply the advance teachings (v.1).

Not only that we have to take that step, but we have to learn it verfy carefully. To make things clearer, it's like from elementary we are now going to high school level. It doesn't mean that we have to forget what we have learned from elementary but we are now moving on to the high school level.

Now that we are in the high school level, we are suppose to be learning a whole new lessons, more advance as what we have learned in the elementary. If we have learned the basic mathematical operations, in high school level, we are suppose to have mastered it and use it in a lot more difficult lesson, algebra and trigonometry.

The thing is, even if we have taken another step, we have to learn and not become stagnant students. Because in high school, more temptations and more peer pressure comes. In fact, as we see our students now, we see lots of students who remained frist year because instead of going to class, they go to somewhere else, somewhere cool.

We have to finish our schooling until we graduate and receive diplomas.

Conclusion

Obviously, turning our backs against the Lord is not an option nor it should be. But instead, we have to move on forward to maturity.

Treatment To Each Member

1Title: Treatment to Each Member
Text: 1 Timothy 5

Introduction
Paul after exhorting Timothy in how he is to become a minister, he is now instructing Timothy how to treat each members of the body of Christ. His treatment should be impartial and should exemplify as a good leader. The following tells us how are we going to treat

The Older Men
Do not rebuke an older man HARSHLY. Exhort him as your father. Here we see that we have to give respect to older men inside the church. Anyone who is older than you is worthy for your respect and this means that even if he is not a good man.

Note that Paul did not just say, “do not rebuke older men”. In other words, the phrase suggests, “if we are to rebuke older men, we have to rebuke them with love, not harshly.” By doing this, they will be able to see things more clearly and that they will be less defensive than if we will not be showing them respect.

In addition to this, this passage means, that older men are not the highest authority inside the body of Christ. This means that if they have a certain suggestion about a project, they are not the one who is to decide whether to pursue the project or not. In our case, it is the decision of the body as represented by the servant leaders/council.

The Younger Men
Treat the younger men as your brothers. We are to treat younger men as our brothers. This is to show them love. How do we treat our younger brothers? Do we love them? Or do we hate them so much?

If we really love the younger generation, then we ought to do what we have to do. To guide them to live a life worthy of God’s calling. We are to teach them and admonish them how to treat younger women. To show them love so they will also show the same love to others.

There are lots of young men who are lost because they have not felt that they are loved in homes. They were not taught to love. Their parents work so hard in the field that they no longer have time to be with their children. They were thinking on what are the things that they can do for their kids, but have not taught to give time for them. I do hope that we will love the younger men as our sons, as our brothers.

The Older Women
Treat the older women as your mothers. We are to give due respect to older women. This is the same as what we have said for the older men. But how do we treat older women? Do we treat them without respect?

Sometimes, the younger generation makes fun of our older buddies especially if they already have “Alzheimer’s Disease”. We are mad at them especially when our grand parents are already bed ridden. Sometimes, we use to laugh at them when they can no longer go to the bathroom to do their thing.
Here in the Bible, it clearly says that we have to give them still our due respect.



The Younger Women
Treat the younger women as your sisters. There are millions of young women around the globe aging from 14-20 who have experienced sexual contacts outside of marriage. Many of them resulted to unwanted pregnancy, unwanted wedding, and worst of all abortion.

Minds of our younger women are now corrupted with all the things that surround them. They have become equally worst than that of men. When I was young, they say that men are more aggressive sexually than women. Now I would say that both of them are equally worst.

This is why we have to guide them and show them love. We have to teach them how to treat young men. Instead of flirting with them, we have to teach them how to respect them and to act as an honorable woman.

The Widows
Paul have given emphasis in this portion. In verse 3, we are to give recognition to widows. Note that these widows are those who are really in need. Those who still have children, they have family, they are to be taken care of by their families. The family are to show them their religion to be put into practice. Here we see that religion is not just a set of beliefs, but it is actually how we apply those beliefs and put that into practice. That is religion.

Who are the true widows? The true widows are those widows whose husband or wife died, don’t have any children, don’t relatives to take care of him or her, and don’t have any property to live on. In this case, Paul urges Timothy to help the real widows, to assist them to provide for them.

This means that not all widows qualify for this privilege. There are widows who have professional children. Paul said allow the children to take care of their widows, or relatives to take care of their widows.

Paul even set up a measuring stick for the real widows. She must be over 60 years old (v.9), she should have been faithful to her husband, she should have a reputation of taking care of the strangers, serving the saints (God’s people), helping those who are in trouble, and those who have devoted their lives doing good deeds. If there is a widow who does not fit with these requirements, then she should not be included in the list of widows to whom the church will help.

Younger widows were encouraged to remarry than committing themselves wholly in the service of God for there is a big possibility that their sensual desire will again flare up then they want to remarry. Now again, what Paul is saying is that, they have to sure if they really want to commit the rest of their lives serving the Lord or to marry again. For if they have committed themselves fully for God’s service and then later on they will remarry, it is good as giving judgment for themselves.

In addition, younger widows where encourage to have their own family, to have children and to take care of them. They are not to become idlers and slanderers. Instead, they are to watch themselves not to fall on this. For there are widows who became like this.

The Elders/Overseer/Bishop/Pastor
In many cases, churches teach the members how to live by faith. Indeed, the Bible teaches the members of the body especially the pastors to live by faith. In here, we mean to become dependent to the Lord for our financial needs.

The problem with many churches however, they do not teach this thing completely. Many pastors are guilty of going only to one side of this teaching. Now here we are talking about the support of the pastor.

In verse 17, Paul says: ”17The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.” Here we can see good thought here. First, let us start with the question, “who is worthy of double honor?” Verse 17 says, the elders who direct the affairs of the church WELL. This means that not elders direct the church well. Not all elders are worthy of double honor. There is a prerequisite here. He must be able to direct the church well and that is working on “preaching” and “teaching”.

There are pastors who strongly demands to have “double honor”, but is not directing the church well. He does not even preach, he does not even teach. Sometimes, he preaches but do not teach. We understand that pastors work ARE preaching, teaching, and directing the church. Some pastors are too lazy to work. This is why their churches does not have evangelism, their churches is not in a good standing, the church is even divided among themselves.

On the hand, if he directs well, and he preaches and teaches, then he is worthy to have more than what he should have.

Paul, even gave emphasis to his statement by quoting two passages from the Old Testament and from Jesus’ teachings, “Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain, (Deuteronomy 25:4)” and “The worker deserves his wages (Luke 10:7).”

Accusation against an elder should not be entertained unless there are two or more witnesses. Being a pastor is like being in showbiz. Sometimes, even the simplest mistake that a pastor did will mean a lot to the church. But here we can see that Paul is giving a higher requirement if there will be one who will accuse the pastor. He should have two or three witnesses.

But if, there will be someone who will be found guilty of sinning, he is to be rebuked publicly so that others may take warning. Now we see why there is a higher requirement if you will be accusing a pastor. It is because, the discipline process is much harder than that of ordinary members.

Who then should discipline an elder? This is the main use of organizations like our Association and our Convention. They are the “check and balance” of our pastors. If there is a sinning (proven to be sinning) pastor, local members can go to the Association or to our Convention, then these bodies, which also composed of pastors, are the one to discipline the sinning pastor. They will form part of the discipline committee.

Here we also see the disadvantage of the “lone ranger” churches, the independent churches. If their pastor is sinning, they cannot do anything except to transfer to another church.

Conclusion
Finally, Timothy should do the following:
1. To be impartial in the implementation of these standards.
2. To be careful in laying of hands, watching himself not to share with the sins of others.
3. To be taking care of his health.

24The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them. 25In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not cannot be hidden.