Turning Pro...Active, That Is!: A Devotion

7/28/2019 Turning Pro...Active, That Is!: A Devotion

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Turning ProActive, That Is!

A DevotionByDon

Theres a song I recently heard, titledPreach The Word. Written by Jim Davis,this song especially moved me, not only because of its profound message and the

beauty of its sound, but also because on a personal basis, it jolted me with areminder of our charge in the Great Commission of Matthew 28:1620: 16The

eleven disciples went to Galatiansilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had orderedthem. 17When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted. 18Then Jesus

approached and said to them, All power in heaven and on earth has been given tome. 19Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name

of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe allthat I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the

age.

Now I know that in a sense, Im preaching to the choir here. But in another sense,and as Ill explain, you like me may need this reminder. Print the songs words

(an addendum to this devotion) and follow with me as we see what it and

Scriptures say to us in the way of Gods instructions on how and when we are to

preach His Word.

First off, the basis for this song appears to be 2 Timothy 4:1-2. So lets first hearwhat Paul says in this passage, first in the NIV version, then from the NAB and

finally from The Message:

1In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead,and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge:

2Preach the

Word; be prepared in season and out of season; corr ect, rebuke and encouragewith great patience and careful instruction. (NIV)

1I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living

and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingly power: 2proclaim the word; be

persistent whether i t is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand,encouragethrough all patience and teaching. (NAB)

And then from The Message:1I cant impress this onyou too strongly. God is looking over your shoulder. Christ

himself is the Judge, with the final say on everyone, living and dead. He is about tobreak into the open with his rule, 2so proclaim the Messagewith intensity; keep on

your watch. Chall enge, warn, and ur ge your people. Dont ever quit. Just keep itsimple.


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Wow! Pauls words do give us powerful instruction, and obviously gave a lotof inspiration for the song. In both cases theybegin with Pauls discipleship

perspective ofchargingTimothy. By reading all three versions, we can see the full

emphasis of Pauls message.

Do you have a disciple-relationship with someone? If you do, have you ownedyour role by chargingyour disciple to do certain things you know are important?

This is certainly a morepro-active stance than merely suggesting those things.The other point that immediately hit me was Pauls telling Timothy, in his words,

tojust do it, whether it is convenient or inconvenient, or as The Message says,dont ever quit (Which reminds me of Jimmy Vs saying, Dont ever give up!

Dont ever give up!). This is sort of like our being told, Its not the 10Suggestions, stupid; its the 10 Commandments! First and foremost! Top

priority! All as driven home by the words correct, rebuke, encourage,persistent,convince, reprimand, intensity, challenge, warn and urge. I think Paul just re-

wrote my thoughts on discipleship! Now, if I can also remember to do all of this in

the prism of Gods love, with plenty of mercy and grace!

What also helped make Pauls message so powerful for me was the context

surrounding his charge to Timothy. The song tells us of Pauls being weary onhis journey. I dont know about you, but I sometimes feel that way, albeit not to

Pauls extent. My weariness can also remind me that Im headed to a time when

my body will be even more frail and weak and my journey on this earth will be at

an end. Guess I need to remember I cant, but He can (Somebody told me thatonce!).

So our first introspective question from this song might be, Have we dipped our

pen and written to our Timothy? OK, maybe not actually in writing. Perhaps

were carrying out our discipleship in other ways. But we can ask ourselves if our

message to our disciple is loud and clearto Preach the Word!

If youre our senior representative, who is now 80 and has been with our ministry

since the ministry began, youre probably carrying on your discipleship workthrough your family. After all, he has multiple generations, including quite a fewgreat-grandchildren, to work with! But if youre like me (children are not

married), or without children, you know your opportunities are more in others. Isuggest we continually think and pray about who we might disciple to Carry on

what weve begun, even if it is not in aformalrelationship.


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One friend of mine likes to say, Just be Jesus with skin on!, telling us to extendHis love in a persistent way in our every-day lives. Examples can include helping

others with little things that are natural for us to do, sending a note to someone,

inviting someone for some good talk-time, listening, being kind, offering a word of

encouragement, helping someone to laugh, or being sad with someone who is sad just meeting people where they are.

In my case, Ive moreoverwondered HOW Im suppose to preach the Word, andhave even prayed for aLennie-like boldness that would be take hold of me

whenever the opportunity presented itself. If youre wondering, Lennie is a friendof mine who preaches the Word so easily, whether in a grocery store, a restaurant

or on the phone. Shes the one who, when we go to a restaurant, before I know ithas her arm around the person sitting next to her, asking with her beautiful smile

and Southern accent, Where do you go to church?

Often when I wonder about a spiritual gift, I turn to Oswald Chambers to see what

he says in My Utmost For His Highest. Here are a few points Oswald makes on

preaching:

In his March 10 devotion, he says We are not turned into spiritualmediums, but into spiritual messengers; the message must be a part of

ourselves. as His disciples, our lives must be the sacrament of our

message. This reminds me of St. Francis statement to Preach the Gospelat all times and when necessary use words. My good friend who is often a

source of devotional thoughts says, If Christ is living in us, we are Hisrepresentatives in the most dynamic way!

Oswalds July 17th devotion (Hey, thats my birthday! Thanks Oswald!)starts with 1 Corinthian 2:1-5: When I came to you, brothers, proclaiming

the mystery of God, I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom.For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ,

and him crucified. I came to you in weaknessand fear and much

trembling, and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive

(words of) wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and power, so that

your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God. Allof this prompted Oswald to say, The creative power of the Redemption

comes through the preaching of the Gospel, but never because of thepersonality of the preacher. The real fasting of the preacher is not fromfood, but rather from eloquence, from impressiveness and exquisite diction,

from everything that might hinder the Gospel of God being presented.Maybe Im fortunate I wasnt given the gift of eloquence orexquisite

diction! Now all I need to do is fast from injecting puns!


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And, his December 3 devotion cites the same passage from 1 Corinthians2:1-5, bringing a similar thought of not letting ourselves get in the way. As

Oswald puts it, Ifin preaching the Gospel you substitute your clearknowledge of the way of salvation for confidence in the power of the

Gospel, you hinder people from getting to Reality. So lets be clearwere

not trying to substitute ourknowledgefor Gods Word!

Jim Davis lyrics are a great reminder of what were to be preaching: Preach the

Word, preach the Cross! And they are a reminder of to whom we are to bepreaching: a lost and dying world! Jim didnt have to tell us that Paul and

Timothy were gone now, but he did need to tell us the implications of their being

gone: that the letter still remains, the mission that was written down calls out to ustoday and that we are toLift the name of Jesus higher, until the whole world

knows the story of amazing grace; We are messengers of hope!

Wait, Jim, you mean the burdens on us?! WE are the messengers of hope?!?! If

youre me, youre immediately thinking once more about Dick Woodwards 3rdSpiritual Secret: I cant, but (thankfully) He can (OK, I added a word!). The task

could seem overwhelming if it were all in my court! But the truth is that the taskisall in my, and your, court and we cant, but He can!. What can help, in

addition to the grace of God (if we are in Him and He is in us), is the promise of

the outcome we see in Matthew 24:14: And this gospel of the kingdom will be

preached throughout the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will

come, or as The Message offers: All during this time, the good newsthe

Message of the kingdomwill be preached all over the world, a witness staked outin every country. And then the end will come.

Another take on the song was offered to me by a best friend, who said the theme

that jumped out for him was one ofour last words, the words we would want tospeak to those we love ifwe knew the end were near. He said, You tell them the

most important thing they need to know and then guide them on how to do thework they are called to do. Jesus did it at the Last Supper (love one another) and

on the beach after His resurrection (feed my sheep). He said, I imagine a

fathers last words to his oldest son, who will become the man in the family afterhe dies: Love your mother and your siblings, and here are some things you willneed to know, to do it well. Well said, dear friend!


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My final suggestion (not a commandment!) to all of us is to just practice what wepreach. However, in this case Im not saying to live out our life as we say we will,

but rather, topractice our preaching, i.e., our sharing the Word where we see it is

needed. My experience is that, like everything new, practice gives us comfort.

Janet had a good friend, Betty, who suddenly learned she had a cancer-ridden bodyand was told her life would soon end. I heard so much about people caring for her

physical and earthly needs (Betty had been caring for her 91-year old mother) but Iheard nothing about her most important need: her spiritual one. Burdened by the

message of this song, I called Betty and asked if she knew where she would begoing (I also asked about her feelings and comfort.). While I was able to let her

know the answer was her belief in Jesus, I could not tell if her mind was clearenough to comprehend my message.

The next morning my Scripture reading included Romans 10:9-10, for, if youconfess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God

raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and

so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. I immediatelywrote her a note that included this passage and asked her to know that this was the

key. Betty did pass away, but not before Janet had the opportunity to sit with her,read my note to her and remind her that Jesus suffered that we might be eternally

freed from suffering. Betty responded with, I know.

I share my story to point out my initial discomfort in not knowing how to share,and to show how we can have comfort in knowing how we share is not so

important as thatwe share and whatwe share. If there were any doubt remainingfor me, the later passage from Romans 10:14-15 in my Scripture reading gave me

the rhetorical reminder and encouragement I needed: 14But how can they call on

him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in him of whom

they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? 15Andhow can people preach unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are

the feet of those who bring (the) good news! (NAB)


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If there is still any hesitancy on our part, as followers-of-Christ we can take heart

in Jesus words in Mark 1:38, Matthew 10:7 and Luke 4:43 (NIV), as He sent Hisdisciples and then spoke to the crowd outside Capernaum. May these Jesus-words

be a catalyst for us to go from being amateurs in sharing our faith, to turning

proactive that is!

Mark 1:38 (NAB): He told them, Letusgo on to the nearby villages that I maypreach there also. For this purpose have I come.; Matthew 10:7 (The Message):

As you go, preach this message: The kingdom of heaven is near. ; Luke 4:43(NIV) But he said[to the crowd],I must preach the good news of the kingdom of

God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.

With these thoughts to ponder, lets listen to the song together, reflecting on thesongs so-important message: Preaching the Word!

[Play song]

Amen!


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PREACH THE WORD (Jim E. Davis)

Paul was weary on his journey,

His body frail and weak.

The apostle knew the end was near,

As he dipped his pen in ink.He wrote, "Timothy, my son,

I have fought the fight of faith.

Carry on what I've begun,

But most of all I pray":

Preach the Word, preach the cross,

Preach redemption to a lost and dying world.

Lift your voice, unashamed, of the Gospel of His Name.

Until all have heard, preach the Word.

Paul and Timothy are gone now,

But the letter still remains,

And the mission that was written down,

Calls out to us today.

Lift the name of Jesus higher,

Until the whole world knows,

The story of amazing grace,

We are messengers of hope!


Preach redemption to a lost and dying world.Lift your voice, unashamed, of the Gospel of His Name.

(Preach the)


Preach redemption to a lost and dying world.

Lift your voice, unashamed, of the Gospel of His Name.

Until all have heard, preach the Word (preach the word, preach the word).


Preach redemption to a lost and dying world.Lift your voice, unashamed, of the Gospel of His Name.

Until all have heard, preach the Word (preach the Word, preach the Word), preach the

Word (preach the Word, preach the Word), preach the Word (preach the Word, preach

the Word), preach the Word.

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Turning Pro...Active, That Is!: A Devotion