We all are in the school of Christ together, no matter how long ago—or how recently—you began to minister the Word of God.
The older I get, the more difficult it is to find that word. As a younger man, I had a file cabinet full of words that I could share at any moment. But as we go on in the Lord, in some measure, our source of the word becomes a little deeper. It is more necessary to seek in order to find that word that needs to be spoken.
Even though you may be a veteran speaker, you know what I am saying. When you know that you are getting ready to speak and you are bone dry, unless the Lord can bring something up from that rich, dwelling Word of Christ within your heart and express it through your mortal body, you have nothing.
I say this because the song we just sang reminded me of something. I asked for it to be sung partly because I remember learning a song from our dear brother Christian Chen. I had never heard it before.
If anybody has a library full of notes, it is Brother Chen. But we were in a conference somewhere—I cannot remember where—and it was not a matter of asking the Lord for a word about our weakness or our life. It was a necessary situation where he had to have a word from the Lord to speak.
He led in this song, and he wanted to read the words, but he could hardly read them:
Lord, hast Thou not one word for me?
The people have need, and I have nothing.
Lord, hast Thou not one word for me
That I might share?
I am tearing up saying that. My brother had a hard time keeping his composure as he expressed those words. I hope you understand: we do not come as the answer man, as somebody who knows what is going on.
If this was your starting place when you were asked to minister the Word of God—“Lord, hast Thou not one word for me?”—you are starting from a good place.
Lord, You are so gracious to us. We realize that because of Your Spirit and because of Your living Word, we have an inexhaustible stream of truth and life. We are so thankful for the living Word of God.
Our desire, Lord, is that we might find that one word when we go back to our assemblies: a word that could capture a life, a word that could bring us onto higher ground.
In these last days, despite the overall condition of the church in decline, we want to be those who are overcomers by the One who dwells within us. Toward that end, we pray that You might make men of the Word and men of God out of all of us who sit here through this weekend.
Oh, Lord, do not let us escape if You have a sure calling upon our lives, until we faithfully come to You and allow You to minister, prepare, and lead us in the ways of the ministry of God’s Word.
With that in mind, Lord, we come to this last time and ask that You would give us a refreshing. Oh, Lord, there is something in all of us, I suppose, that wishes we could sit on the hills of Galilee and hear words from Your mouth.
Your messages often were so short, but so transforming. Your words brought light even to a whole area of Israel that was in darkness until You came.
Lord, we know that You still live among Your people. You want to raise up those who can bear the testimony of Jesus and who have in their heart the living, fermenting, scintillating Word of God, that as they speak, life may come forth.
So be with us tonight. Be with me, Lord, as I try to express this one final word in this time we have together. In Jesus’ precious name.
We have several scriptures. I do not know if you need to turn there; I will cite them, and you can copy them down. They are little anecdotal fragments that I will explain as we minister along.
We have already had references from some of the speakers to the words Jesus spoke to His disciples after His resurrection at the end of Luke 24. He opened up the Word of God to His disciples.
And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, He interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself.
—Luke 24:27
And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem exceedingly.
—Acts 6:7
But the word of God grew and multiplied.
—Acts 12:24
Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this scripture, preached unto him Jesus.
—Acts 8:35
Jesus therefore answered them and said, My teaching is not Mine, but His that sent Me.
—John 7:16
But when it was the good pleasure of God, Who separated me, even from my mother’s womb, and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.
—Galatians 1:15-16
But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit Which is from God; that we might know the things that were freely given to us of God.
Which things also we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth; combining spiritual things with spiritual words.
—1 Corinthians 2:12-13
I want us to have a good desire and to pursue higher ground in the ministry of the Word.
Just before I came down here, I reread The Ministry of God’s Word by Watchman Nee. As it went deeper into the chapters, it started going layer by layer more deeply into this matter of the ministry of the Word. It left in my heart a desire that I want to share with you.
I want us to aspire for higher ground—not merely to be ministers of God’s Word, but to be ministers of Christ through the Word.
Our brother Nee made that distinction. Frankly, I cannot imagine being in that training session out there in Fuzhou, at Kuling Mountain, when Brother Nee stood up and spoke the words we now have in that book.
When I see something like that, I realize I am scratching the surface of where the Lord wants us to go. But he made that distinction: not merely being a minister of God’s Word, but being able to minister Christ through God’s Word.
John the apostle gained this reputation and, I think, glory: he was exiled on the Isle of Patmos “for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus.”
This twofold ministry of our brother John had such great power that it threatened the very Caesar of Rome. Think about that. It was because the Word of God was virtually living in him, and the testimony of Jesus was so real that when he spoke the Word of God, he spoke Christ through the Word.
What a tremendous testimony this would be in anybody’s life. I pray for men of God who can minister Christ through His Word.
We see even Jesus ministering Christ through His Word. It is interesting, is it not? After He rose from the dead, He gathered with those disciples. They had not seen the Messiah suffering in all those Scriptures in the Old Testament—in the Law, through the Prophets, and through the Writings.
Then here was Jesus ministering Christ through the Word. He brought Christ out of the Law, out of the Prophets, and out of all those predictions and things.
Oh, I think it must have been like the Fourth of July—firecrackers going off everywhere. Those disciples must have been saying, “Wow! Psalm 2. Wow! Psalm 110. Wow! Isaiah 53.”
Jesus Himself ministered Christ through the Word. But we also have examples before us.
Here is our dear brother Philip. He ministered Christ through the Word. This eunuch was riding in the chariot, reading from Isaiah 53. Can you believe it?
Because Philip had at some point been reading the scroll of Isaiah and came to that passage, saying, “That is Jesus,” an opportunity came when this man asked, “Of whom speaketh the prophet this?”
Starting from that Scripture in Isaiah, Philip preached Christ to him. Ministering Christ through the Word—what a wonderful thing.
Paul speaks in more detail about the process through which he came to minister Christ through the Word. It began when he was saved by the grace of God and Christ was revealed in him. That was the beginning.
He saw Christ in him as central, as Lord, as Master, as Messiah. Then he went through a second stage, when he went out into the desert. For some years—we can only imagine, because he does not spell it out—he took the Old Testament scrolls, and the Holy Spirit preached Christ through the Old Testament to Paul.
Paul’s writings and epistles are full of Old Testament fragments where Christ can be clearly seen.
Then, even with all of that, Paul says there was a process involving a number of years in which the Lord sent him home to Tarsus. During this hidden time, before he was ministering all the time and ministering the Word, the Lord was adjusting his life, his soul, and his flesh to the things he had seen.
In the end, Paul was not only a minister of the Word of God. Because his life was so conformed to Christ and he was such a bondservant, the Lord gave him special status as a steward of divine mysteries hidden since the ages began, but now revealed in Christ.
He could minister Christ through the Word and share God’s eternal purpose. Paul not only had the mind to understand and the heart to explain; he had a life behind him that was given to this ministry of Christ through the Word.
In our contemporary, modern age, I want to say something. I am sorry, but I like to say things when I think they are really true.
Our brother Stephen had a commission. I do not know exactly how the Lord spoke to him, but he began to translate all those books by Watchman Nee that were in Chinese and, by God’s blessing, gave them to English-speaking people. Certainly, those books have touched many ministers and many God-fearing, Christ-loving, pursuing Christians in every denomination.
Those books have been a great blessing. But I think the record will show that one of the great stewardships of our dear brother’s life was God Hath Spoken. I think it is three volumes: a distillation of seeing Christ through the Bible.
I do not know if you have a copy, but if you do not, you should get it. He takes every book of the Bible—all sixty-six—and shows where Christ is at the center of them. It is a most marvelous work.
I was captured by this while I was living in Raleigh and pastoring a church. Brother Stephen would visit Raleigh and was in the process of sharing Christ in the Old Testament. Every ministry I heard was something I had never heard before.
Mind you, I had thirty-five hours of Old Testament studies in seminary, but I had never heard Christ in the Old Testament presented in such a way.
This stewardship, this book, in the hands of every aspiring servant of God, will help us as we learn how to minister Christ through the Word.
Could we think of this as higher ground? Not merely ministering the Word of God, which is where we usually begin, but coming to the place where we minister Christ through the Word of God. This is high ground, and I hope it is a place we can come to as we are faithful to the Lord.
It has been said already, but of course God could speak through anything, could He not? He could speak through earthquake, wind, and fire. He could speak through angels coming down and telling us what to do. But He has chosen us.
We are all just earthen vessels, but He wants to do that alchemy which only His Spirit can do: enlightening us to Christ in His Word, preparing us by the Spirit, and dealing with us.
All the time we go through this process in which we say, “I must decrease; He must increase.” As He breaks our hearts, He binds our hearts with a greater freedom of heart to express than we have ever known before.
We must always remember that when God deals with His servants, it is true that He brings us the cross, discipline, breakings, and trials. But He also brings us blessings, building, strengthening, and encouraging situations where we experience more of Christ.
It is not just a breaking down. It is not His purpose to break you all down. His purpose is that you may be strengthened by the Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts and you, along with all the saints, may comprehend the length, height, breadth, and depth of Christ.
There is a great building-up work that the Lord is trying to do in our lives. May we be faithful. I hope that you have taken seriously your consecration. I hope some of you feel that you are called of God.
As I said last night, ministry really begins, in one sense, when we consecrate ourselves as living sacrifices. The Lord takes that consecration, sends the fire down, and we find ourselves in the body of Christ with a desire to love and serve God’s people.
Sometimes the first expression of ministry in our lives is as a royal priest. As soon as we are saved, we are made and called to be royal priests.
I hope there is not one brother here who does not stand up and praise the Lord during the breaking of bread. I am talking about back home. If you are not a priest before the Lord’s table, how are you ever going to be a servant of the Word of God?
If you are going to sit there and not speak up, not praise your God, not humble yourself, and not give glory to God when you are in the meeting, why do you think the Lord would want to use you?
Our highest calling is to be worshipers. We are priests unto God. The more you are heart-given to worship, the more the Lord can begin to use you in a ministry beyond simply being a worshiper.
If you are a man of God and feel a calling on your life, brother, I want to challenge you. I tend to be confrontational, I suppose. I do not think of myself that way, but I guess that is the case. But I am going to say it.
Brother, if you want to be a servant of the Word of God, why are you not in the prayer meeting?
Some of the first discernment of a gift in a saint often comes as they are unconsciously praying before the Lord. The Lord gives them a word or something to say.
In our own assembly, both in Flushing and in Manhattan, I hear more prophecy in the prayer meeting than anywhere else. Somebody gets an impression and prays something that is absolutely from the Lord.
We do not make a big deal about it: “Oh, that was a word of prophecy.” The person praying does not say, “Thus saith the Lord.” But as they pray, they speak something the Lord wanted to say, and we hear it and say, “Ah, that is it.”
Did you know that can come to the youngest child of God who gives himself in the prayer meeting? He says, “Lord, what do You want to say about this? What is Your heart regarding this matter we are praying about?” Sure enough, He gives a scripture or something, and you share it. You have begun ministering in the body of Christ.
So, brother, if you do not go to the prayer meeting, how do you think you are going to become a minister of the Word of God? If you are not a priest, how can you be a servant?
I know you have busy schedules. Some of you say, “I do not want to go there because we have a dead prayer meeting. We pray about the same thing all the time.” Well, you can make it a living time.
This is where our ministry often begins: very simply, as a servant and as a priest in the house of God.
As we begin to grow a little as Christians, sometimes we are asked to share our testimony. I hope everybody here has shared his testimony, perhaps in a gospel meeting. Ministry often starts in the gospel. We witness; we preach the gospel.
I am delighted to see, in recent days, some of the younger brothers in our assembly in Flushing stepping up and sharing the gospel in our gospel meetings. This is often how your ministry of the Word will begin. The gospel is our first step and the first thing we should be able to express.
Many times, those who later serve the Lord began by witnessing and preaching the gospel. You may share in some smaller way—witnessing to your friends—but the Lord wants to get your mouth speaking of the greatness of the Lord Jesus.
Maybe you then come to a time when you are asked to open for the Lord’s table. This is a wonderful time. We see many brothers getting their feet wet there.
We find out very soon whether they have a ministry. As they share before the table, we see whether they have direction and focus, whether they know what they are saying, and whether they are lifting up the Lord.
If you are a brother and have something in your heart, it would be wonderful if perhaps you said to the responsible brothers, “Could I open the Lord’s table? Could I open the meeting?” Thus you express the beginnings of ministry.
The main thing, as was true with the disciples and should be true of us, is that the Lord would have us sit under the ministry of the Word for a while—hearing and receiving before we run out to give it.
When Jesus called His disciples, the first thing it says is that He called them to be with Him: to watch Him, to see how He preached, to see how He ministered, and then to send them out to minister.
Our Lord Jesus is not with us in the flesh, but in the body of Christ we have the opportunity to sit under ministry—hopefully living ministry. We learn more, in one sense, by imitation than we do by reading books that say, “Here is how you do a sermon: three points, a poem, and one joke.”
If you watch a man of God minister, then, as Paul says, imitate that which you see in him that is of Christ. There is real wisdom in that.
As you hear ministry in the body of Christ, you begin to understand: “I see where he is going. I see why he is burdened to share that way.” You will learn much by listening to real men of God—perhaps through recordings from Christian Testimony Ministry.
That is a stewardship that has been a great blessing. Sit under that ministry and write notes as you hear the message. Do not use it as background noise when it is nap time. If you listen to good ministry, you will learn more.
Can you imagine walking with Jesus for a little while? If you had the idea that ministry should be like the scribes—long-winded and self-righteous—all of that would be blown out of the water when you saw Jesus: so humble, so loving, receiving children, saying things briefly, sharing parables, causing people to hunger, ministering the love of God.
That is what you and I are supposed to be—not long-winded scribes. But we have to see it from the Master. That involves being in the body of Christ and receiving ministry for a period of time.
Sometimes somebody newly gets saved and is immediately put on a platform. Honestly, I pray for Kanye West, because he seems genuinely to have been touched by the Lord. But he was being vaulted into a place that I thought might not be good.
I understand he has a pastor who is a grounded man. But the principle is this: we take stars and football heroes, push them up front as soon as they are saved, and then the next thing we know, they fall away.
No, we need to be under the ministry of the Word. Let it affect us until we come to the point of which Paul speaks:
And the things which thou hast heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
—2 Timothy 2:2
That moment comes when the Lord says, “Now you have heard many things. I want you to pass some of those things along.”
Our life in the body of Christ is fellowship. We receive life from brothers and sisters. Perhaps it is in a Bible study at home, where people share and you receive things and write them down. There comes a time when the Lord may say, “Now pass that along.”
Perhaps not much has gone down and been digested—we are talking about a deeper work—but sometimes it is enough simply to pass along the things you have received.
The Lord builds people’s lives through that kind of fellowship in the body of Christ. We take what we have received and disciple new believers. We pass along the simple things we have received, the blessings and things we have heard as people have prophesied and prayed.
It is wonderful to have fellowship in the body of Christ. In the midst of that fellowship, as we share all things in common of Christ with one another, we discover whose grace is becoming a gift.
If somebody has a gift of ministry, it is only proven when your mouth is open. If you wait ten years with your mouth closed, saying, “I believe I am a prophet, but I am going to sit here until I feel the anointing,” it is not going to happen.
If you share what the Lord has given you, however, someone may recognize that there is something special there. They have a gift. There is something wonderful there. Thus, a person’s ministry begins because the gift is recognized.
We have that wonderful little vignette about Timothy. On Paul’s first missionary journey, Timothy was saved there in Derbe. Paul returned to Antioch and came back about two years later.
When he visited Antioch, Iconium, and Derbe, he heard news about someone. They said, “Do you know Timothy?” Paul said, “No, I do not remember.”
They said, “He was saved when you were here before. Even though he lives in Derbe, up in Iconium and Antioch we have asked him to come and speak a number of times. His grandmother and mother taught him the Word of God, and now he is seeing Christ through the Word of God and teaching us things.”
Even though he was a young man, he had a good reputation among them. How did that happen? Timothy did not have apostles teaching him. It was just the brothers in Derbe, Iconium, and Lystra.
Yet there was some spark there. Timothy was probably scared to death—he sweated more than some of you did—but he had the Word of God in him. His grandmother and mother had taught him, and it was there.
Now the Lord was revealing Christ through that Word. His words were precious to the saints in that Galatian region. That is how it begins: you are willing to share.
Some people only come to a level where, as Paul says in describing an overseer, an overseer should be “apt to teach.” That is a general way of saying that he may not be a preacher or great teacher, but he knows the Word and the mystery of Christ sufficiently that he is able to teach.
Some are overseers but do not have a public ministry of the Word. Yet one on one, because they have the Lord in them and know the Word, they are able to minister.
Some people are good one on one. Some are good in small groups or a Bible study, but not beyond that. Some brothers are good at opening the Lord’s table, but not in a Sunday message.
According to measure, according to faithfulness, and according to God’s grace, those who have a gift begin to be recognized among the saints. You find out because they ask you to do it again. You also find out when they do not ask you to do it again.
Some people become wonderful Sunday school teachers. If that is the extent of your ministry of the Word, do it with all your might for the glory of God. Let your Sunday school class receive living words. That is wonderful.
But the Lord has need of those who can minister the Word of God in the assembly, and even beyond as workers, to build up the body of Christ on a larger basis. The only way you discover this is by being willing.
Have you ever said to the Lord, as our brother shared about Isaiah, “Here am I; send me”? Have you ever said that and meant it? Seeing a need in the body of Christ, have you said, “Lord, send me”?
The Lord may take you up on it, and you will learn wonderful things. This is how ministry begins.
I was saved in a Baptist church. I love Baptists because they preached the gospel. I was so alive that they asked me to teach a Sunday school class. The children got all worked up because they loved the way I taught it.
The next thing I knew, they asked me to speak one Sunday when the pastor was out of town. I spoke, and then they said, “You know what? I believe you are supposed to be a preacher.”
That is the way Baptists do it. They gave me a license, and I went off to seminary to learn how to be a preacher.
We do not have that system among us, but here is what we have: you must be willing to serve in the body of Christ and allow the body to recognize your ministry. That is a much safer thing, believe me.
When I went to seminary, there were twelve hundred students. First of all, three hundred of them were there to dodge the draft. It was during the Vietnam War. Some of those fellows were not saved, and some definitely were not called to preach.
I had to go through two semesters of preaching class where we heard everybody preach. Believe me, my head was between my legs with half of them. They obviously had no gift at all.
Our seminary emphasized that a pastor should be a psychologist and counselor. They taught psychology, and many fellows liked that, so that was why they became pastors—not because they could preach.
Why am I telling you this? It does not make any difference.
What I want to say is that you are in the seminary of the Lord in the body of Christ. There are no rewards, no pay, and no titles. You are not called pastor, apostle, or elder. You are just a brother.
But there is nothing more glorious than a brother who sacrifices for the sake of the Lord and prepares a living word. That is the highest honor.
In the larger scheme of things, the brother who shares an opening at the Lord’s table is just as important as an apostle. The Lord’s life comes through a chain of brothers and sisters, members in the body of Christ, all serving together.
It does not work if you have brothers at the top and nothing underneath. The Lord wants every brother serving in some way, though this ministry of the Word will be given to certain ones.
Now I want to talk about three things. I think it was Brother Stephen’s book that spoke of revelation, inspiration, and perspiration. Let me do my bit regarding these things.
First, I want to explain why I think vision is so important. I hope you have a notebook, because perhaps you will want to write these things down.
When you come to the Word of God and see it, unfold it, understand its precepts, and understand what it says in context, what is necessary in our lives is a broader perspective in order to minister Christ through His Word.
Without that broader perspective, our ministry is narrow. We need a deeper field of vision regarding the things of God, because it brings depth to our ministry.
When the apostle Paul saw Christ on the road to Damascus, that vision forever changed his concept of the Lord’s will, the Lord’s ministry, what the Lord was doing, Who was Lord, and who was a servant.
After he saw Christ, Paul never again understood the church as an organization that he was going to persecute. He understood that the church was a living being. When he touched the brothers in the church, he was touching Christ Himself.
That revelation changed Paul and made him a different kind of apostle, because he knew he was dealing with a living, breathing organism called the church.
The same was true of Isaiah, as we heard this afternoon. When Isaiah saw the vision of the Lord sitting on His throne over Israel, it forever changed his point of view as he looked at the nations around him.
He began to prophesy regarding all the surrounding nations, but with each prophecy he shared the Lord’s viewpoint: the Lord on His throne. The Lord is Lord over Egypt. The Lord is Lord over Babylon.
Thus Isaiah brought all those foreign countries under judgment according to the throne of the Lord that he had seen. That vision changed his whole perspective. His view of what a prophet was expanded exponentially, because he understood that the throne of Jesus is over the whole world.
What a wide vision this must be. As we study the Word of God, the Lord wants to make our perspective bigger and wider.
How many of you have read, besides the one book Prophetic Ministry, a good bit of T. Austin-Sparks? Many of you have not. But you should read those books.
I do not know if I have ever read or heard anybody with a broader view who could bring Christ through the Scripture. He could take a fragment—a half verse, a verse, or a couple of verses—and through that little fragment draw in the centrality, universality, and supremacy of Christ Jesus.
Can you imagine that? The centrality, universality, and supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ seen in a little fragment of Old Testament Scripture.
Every scripture he spoke on, he brought that in. He made even fragments that you might think are uninteresting—“Who wants to read Ezra? Who wants to read Nehemiah?”—come alive. You should read what our brother Sparks saw in Ezra and Nehemiah.
He could minister Christ through the Word with such breadth of perspective.
Brothers, I want to encourage you to be expanded in your perspective. I want to give you eight areas of revelation that, to me, are vital for a minister of the Word of God to be able to bring Christ into the Word of God.
Those who would preach the gospel must have seen a revelation of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.
This is a reference to Jesus speaking in Matthew 13. In that chapter, He gives seven parables—or perhaps eight, if you prefer. What are the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven?
Jesus said that to His disciples it had been given to know, but those outside did not know. Until you understand this mystery of the kingdom of heaven, you will misunderstand the parables.
Those who do not see this mystery think the parables are always about those who are saved and those who are not saved. They read the parable of the seed and say that only some are saved and the rest are not. That is the limitation of their understanding.
They do not understand, nor can they convey to the saints, that we are not only in the body of Christ but are servants in the kingdom of heaven. This is a larger vista than merely our present concern.
The kingdom of heaven is a large matter. It brings in the Jews, the purpose of God, things occurring throughout the world, and our service in that kingdom. Yet people who do not see this mystery do not understand the rewards and judgments of the millennial kingdom.
They have no idea what it is talking about. That is why many who do not understand this mystery are amillennial. They think the kingdom of God is now; they think the millennial kingdom is now.
Pursue this mystery. Discover it.
A student of the Old Testament who wants to preach from the Old Testament can be baffled by the apparent inability of God to keep His people. He gives covenants and mercies, but the people keep falling apart and failing.
From one viewpoint, the Old Testament looks like complete disaster and failure. Then one day you see there is a hidden, chosen remnant throughout the Old Testament—those who stand faithful to God amid the unfaithfulness of God’s people.
When you see that remnant in the Old Testament, suddenly you see it everywhere. Then you understand what is going on today in our New Testament age regarding the overcomer.
The overcomer is an extension of that sovereign, chosen remnant of people whom God has chosen and kept for Himself. This matter of the remnant changes your whole view of what is going on in the Old Testament and of the overcomer within the church in Revelation.
The Gospel of John is a gospel of salvation, with many testimonies and stories of Jesus and people being saved. But we come to a place where the Lord wants us to see why John starts by calling Jesus the Logos.
The Lord wants to reveal a second layer of the Gospel of John: the recovery of spiritual reality to the church.
Many people do not see that layer, but it is there. John was writing a gospel of recovery to the church that had lost its spiritual reality. They were breaking bread but did not know the Bread of Life. They were drinking wine but did not know the wine of Christ.
The Gospel has a second layer of spiritual reality that the Lord wants to bring in.
Until the minister understands—and has gone through in some measure—the experience of being crucified with Christ, a minister of the Word will often badger the saints with exhortations and the letter of the Word.
He says, “You should resist temptation. You should walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh. You should overcome. You should resist. You should give yourself to Jesus and not sin.” The more the saints try, the more they fall into bondage.
They do not understand that their old man has been crucified with Christ. So they receive a letter. So many messages are well-intentioned letters, badgering the saints to be holy, righteous, and faithful, while they are trying in themselves and in their own flesh.
The brother needs an experience that causes him to realize, “It is not I, but Christ living in me.” Only Christ can do those things.
Paul’s vision of the church as the organic body of Christ, in union with Christ, forever sets us free from thinking of the church as an organization.
I remember the day when, as a pastor, I was treating some church people like members of my gym. I was angry and upset with people who were not doing what I thought was right.
The Lord opened the curtain and said, “Do you know something? That person is Me. You are dealing with them as though they are merely themselves. You do not see that they are Me, but you are touching Me. You are yelling at Me, and you are hoping I will leave the church.”
I was done, because that was exactly what I thought.
The Lord said, “The church is Mine, not yours. If they are born again, they are part of the church, and you cannot get rid of them.”
We get the feeling that we are some kind of executive, firing somebody and hiring somebody as if we have any choice in it. It is the Lord’s choice. His body is organic. It is Him. He is the Head.
There is only one Head, and we hold fast to Him. We do not hold fast to leaders and put people at the top. The buck stops with Christ, with no human being on this earth.
Paul understood something the dear saints in Corinth did not understand: we are all part of a whole. He may have been a planter, but others watered and cultivated; God gives the increase. We are all in it together.
The Corinthian saints said, “I like Paul. I like Peter. I like Apollos.” They were choosing and saying, “We would rather be smaller and narrower. We like Peter’s style; we do not like Paul’s style.”
But Paul said, “Do you not know that the Lord is giving you Peter, Paul, Apollos, and everything? Everything is yours.” It is all part of a whole. Do not merely hold on to one ministry and despise another. They are all there for a purpose.
Some serve you ice cream when they preach, and some serve you broccoli. You need broccoli, not just ice cream.
The fullness in the body of Christ comes when those with different measures of Christ minister in fullness. It is not one person all the time, giving the same thing until everybody becomes a robot just like him.
We need to see in Paul’s epistles, and in Paul’s own testimony, the distinction between children of God saved by grace and forever secure, and sons of God pursuing predestined glory.
When Paul talks about pursuing, pressing on, and gaining the mastery so that he might not be disqualified, if you do not understand the difference between eternal security as a saved believer and the importance of pursuing the Lord as you mature into sonship, you will misunderstand him.
You will think that when Paul speaks of being a castaway, it means that you may be a Christian or you may not be. Much of Christendom thinks you will only find out when you get to heaven and go up on the big scales of good works and bad works to see whether you are gooder than bad.
They have never understood the difference between the Great White Throne judgment and the judgment seat of Christ. Therefore, they are afraid they may lose their salvation.
It is a terrible thing to say, “I am a Christian, but I do not know whether I am really going to stick. What if I have tasted and touched and then fall away? Does Hebrews 6 mean that I lose my salvation?”
But that is not what Hebrews 6 is talking about.
The key that unlocks Hebrews, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, and James is understanding that when they speak of the salvation of the soul, they are speaking of sanctification, not gospel salvation.
The saving of the soul is the Lord’s work in our mind, will, and emotions. The Lord separates those things from the world and produces a purified saint—spirit, soul, and body.
That sanctifying process Peter calls the salvation of our soul. But many Christians think it is referring to gospel salvation. This revelation is very important.
The last one I want to mention is humongous: may the Lord open the door of the Book of Revelation to you.
There is so much there that is important to see. First and foremost, it is all about a glorious Jesus, given in sevenfold vision throughout the book. It is not all about beasts and all that stuff. That is background material.
You need to see the conquering Lamb in the Book of Revelation if you really want to understand what Revelation is about.
Beyond that, you need to realize something that is sobering. The Book of Revelation is revelation given to His bondservants. If you are a bondservant, one day you will see that the Lord Jesus is now in the midst of His churches, inspecting them.
He sees them, despite how you see them, as golden lampstands. There is a lot to see in that.
There is also a terrible unveiling of the real situation of the church today. Revelation 2 and 3 are not monkeying around when they show how far astray the living testimony of new covenant life has gone.
We are also in real spiritual warfare. Some Christians do not really believe it. But as soon as you begin preaching the gospel and pressing forward in service in the kingdom, you will see there is a great and tremendous spiritual conflict going on.
We must overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony, and we must not love our lives even unto death.
Finally, when you see the depth of revelation in the Book of Revelation, you have a revelation yourself: the Lord is near.
That is throughout the Book of Revelation. There is no metaphor about the Lord coming soon. When you see that Revelation is talking about our contemporary reality, you have that earnest urge: the Lord is coming soon—very soon. Are you ready?
Do you see what I am saying? There are eight areas where seeing these things gives you a wider perspective of what a particular verse, passage, or context is really saying. It comes from these larger purposes of God, which can be seen as the Lord opens our eyes.
My simple point is this: when you are going to share the Word of God, do you see something more than merely what is on the surface? Do you see something beyond what you can understand with your mind?
Do you see how the word you want to share fits into God’s larger purpose? Do you see the Lord in the verses you are about to share?
Anybody can string verses together. Our brother Stephen was preaching before he was even saved.
You can go online and get all kinds of ideas and sermons, but it is a dangerous place if you do not know what you are doing. There is more heresy online than truth. Those preaching heresy are often more ardent to get their material online.
Google the return of the Lord, and you will find all kinds of things that are absolutely non-biblical. Be careful of your sources.
There are books you should read. But the first book, as I said before, is the Bible. I hope all of you have an actual Bible.
I do not want merely a virtual Bible. I do not want merely an iPhone Bible. I do not mind you using one at a prayer meeting if that is what you have, but at home I want you to have some leather and some words.
It has been proven that you retain, understand, and obey more readily that which you see tangibly than that which you merely thumb through.
I hope you will be a man of the Word. Even when you go to a meeting on Sunday, take the Word of God with you.
I saw Dora’s Bible this morning. I do not know whether it was Stephen’s or Dora’s, but they were having devotions, and she opened her Bible. I do not think there was a verse that was not underlined in one color or another.
There was yellow, red, blue, and everything. I do not know what her code was. I think there was one verse left unmarked. That is it.
We should have marked Bibles—study Bibles, Bibles we really use.
When I first came to the Lord, I began reading books by G. Campbell Morgan, Oswald Chambers, Ian Thomas, Andrew Murray, and various Keswick writers.
Then I met Watchman Nee while I was in college, as I told you. I still reread his books. Even with The Ministry of the Word, which I was reading just the other day, I found myself saying, “I never saw this layer before. Where did this come from?”
Praise God, the Lord had a ministry through him, through Brother K. H. Kong, through Brother Lambert, and through the books they wrote.
I also came to enjoy more and more of the Brethren writers: Pember, Mackintosh, Govett, Lincoln, G. H. Lang, Dennett, and Coates. I love those fellows. They give such an angle because they saw so much, even back in the nineteenth century.
Can you believe that some twentieth-century commentators lost that vision? I am reading eleven commentaries on the Gospel of John right now because we are doing a Bible study in John. Many of the modern ones simply repeat each other.
Then I take up a little slim book, open it, and find two pages on a chapter. Every word is gold. You should find those gold books.
I have only one Chinese book on my whole library shelf, and it is called Bring the Parchments. Our dear brother Christian Chen stored up treasures. The book was originally written in Chinese, though they added some English material.
He has gone through all sixty-six books and recommends the best commentaries. My goodness, if he read all the commentaries listed there, I am not surprised his brain drops out once in a while.
It is up there on my shelf. I have no idea what all the Chinese says, but I know when I open it, I can find Obadiah and see the four commentaries he recommends.
You should get that book if you are a serious student of the Word, because it will really help you. Our dear brother has more treasures than we can ever know about.
Having come to revelation, we come to inspiration.
When we minister God’s Word, it is only by grace. Only God can give you the word, and He gives it to those who say, “Lord, hast Thou not one word for me?”
We wait before the Lord, and something begins to come to the surface. Brother Kong, in his book, mentions several ways, but only the Lord can truly put a burden in your heart.
He will not put that burden there if you do not have a vital relationship with the Word of God. Again, brothers, this should be your seeing of Christ day by day.
The Lord sends His burden and His word to us in a number of ways. I will mention three.
First, He gives us a burden as we live a consecrated life in the body of Christ. If you live and serve in the body, you begin to see needs and problems. You pray about them, and sometimes the Lord gives you a word.
As our brother mentioned in his book, it is because of your high-priestly ministry that the Lord gives you a burden to share in the body of Christ.
Second, as a diligent student of the Word, you may be studying a particular book or some verses, and something pops out. When that happens, write it down. The Lord adds to that revelation, and from those initial verses He begins to build a message.
Perhaps it was devotional reading. You read something and think, “Oh, I had better look that up.” Perhaps you heard a message and said, “What was that he said?” Write it down. Go home and research it.
The Lord shows you that burning bush. Are you willing to turn and look at it? It could be your clue.
Third, sometimes the Lord gives you a topic to share. This is a real matter of discipline. Every year I go to Toronto for the youth conference. They have already given me the theme. I have no choice.
I have nothing. “Lord, hast Thou not one word for me?” But it is discipline. As you go into the Bible and begin looking at things, the Lord gives you something.
When you receive that word, you need to hold on to it until further light is gained. Often that word is only a little flicker of light. You can get a burden from it, but you need to hold on to it.
Practically, number one: write down the few words the Lord spoke to you.
Number two: do not wait until Saturday night to prepare for Sunday.
It takes time to digest something and make it yours. It takes time for the real point of your message to become clear.
If you know you are being asked to share, or if you have a verse, an initial burden, or some word, it is all right to take three weeks to develop it. A little bit a day is better than all of Saturday night.
Go into your little study, or somewhere, for ten minutes. Look at that word and say, “Lord, is there something more there?” Write something down. Then perhaps you have an hour on Saturday and something begins coming together. Set it down, and then come back Monday night and look at it again.
If you do that, the Lord will begin to shine on it, give you a message, and build it out. If you do it all on Saturday night, you are flying by the seat of your pants. You are making up things and saying, “Let’s see, where is my poem?” Then you start looking through famous literature and all that kind of thing.
When I say you are called to be a serious minister of the Word of God, I do not mean you need to quit your job. But no matter how busy you are, the Lord can build a crafted, heartfelt ministry for you to share.
It may take one week, two weeks, or three weeks—a little bit at a time, a little light at a time. Then you change something: “No, no, that is no good, but this is where I am going.” You would be amazed how much the Lord changes your message.
The Lord does not want you merely to talk off the cuff. I know that is popular today. People talk confessionally: “I had a tough day at the office. I do not have much to say, but I want to tell you Jesus loves you.”
There is a lot of casual ministry that is acceptable these days. Throw out a few verses, get people excited, and that is about it.
Our dear brother Stephen writes down every word of his message—word for word, every word. He comes up and shares, trusting the Lord to bring it to remembrance.
That worked well for many years in his life. He would come up with that little tiny Bible of his and share for an hour or two. But do not believe he did not write notes and copy down verbatim what he wanted to say.
I do the same thing. I do not merely have a few rough notes. I have written down every word I am hoping to say. The Lord often alters it, changes it, removes this, and adds that.
Even as you craft a message, you find the Lord changes something: “This should go here. This should be out. This is the wrong direction.”
Our young brother Calvin is here. There is something in our brother Calvin that is a gift from God. But because he is busy and has children, he may need three weeks to develop one message. He should not require himself to do it Friday and Saturday and have it ready for Sunday.
Do not wait that late. That is why we get half-baked sermons. Give it time. Let it develop.
There is a process we have read about in these books. The Spirit of God takes the word you have, peels off the husks, and brings logos into rhema. Then you have the kernel: this is what the Lord is really trying to say this time.
That sometimes takes time. Here is an interesting thing you can see in the prophets: because we are fallen human beings, the first thing we see regarding a burden is often negative.
You see something wrong and say, “Those people ought to get out of here. Those people ought to change.” At first we see things negatively.
Habakkuk is perfect for this. The Lord showed him the Chaldeans coming down in a vision and destroying Judea. Habakkuk said, “What are You doing, Lord? How can You beat up on Your people and let the Chaldeans get away with murder?”
Habakkuk became very negative about what the Lord was doing. He told the Lord, “It is not right. What You are doing is not right. How can You call Yourself holy and let Your holy people be creamed by these Chaldeans?”
Then he said, “I will go up on the watchtower and wait to hear what the Lord has to say about this.” The Lord turned it around.
For though the fig tree shall not flourish,
Neither shall fruit be in the vines;
The labor of the olive shall fail,
And the fields shall yield no food;
The flock shall be cut off from the fold,
And there shall be no herd in the stalls:
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength.
—Habakkuk 3:17-19
That was the prophecy the Lord wanted to give: to enable those with hind’s feet to walk in high places during difficult times.
It started out negative, but we see things negatively. Even the term “burden” sounds negative.
There is a lot of negative, but if our message only brings up negative things, harangues people negatively, and has no answer from the Lord, do not give that message.
It used to be the compliment of compliments for people to say to a pastor at the door, “Oh, pastor, you stepped all over my toes.” Down South, they say, “You have gone to meddling.”
But that is probably what I did. You must understand something very practical: the Lord’s burden is not to press down the people, make them discouraged, or make them feel that it is hopeless.
As one famous preacher said, your job is not to club the goats; it is to feed the sheep.
A pastor may get up on Sunday morning and harangue about church members who should be there but are not faithful. Of course, he is preaching to everybody who is there—those who are faithful. Duh. He is trying to club the goats, but they are not even there.
Why not feed the sheep?
When we receive a burden, at first it may be something negative. We feel there is a lack, a need, or something wrong. There is. But what does the Lord want to do about it? What is He doing about it? Can you reveal that to people? It would surely be an encouragement.
Now we come to the last section: perspiration—practical things.
After the Lord puts a word in your heart, first, be sure it is scripturally correct.
We are to rightly divide the word of truth. In Greek, the student is to cut straight the Word of God. Check it out. Make sure your word is not simply something you have taken out of context.
I heard a brother preach once, and I almost went crazy. He preached on the passage about two or three gathered together in agreement, and he basically said, “Christians are always fighting with one another. Nobody can agree. The Lord says, ‘If I can just get two of you to agree, I will do it.’”
That is not what that says. Yet he gave a whole sermon about it: “Let’s agree about some stuff. Number one, I want a Mercedes-Benz. Can you agree with me, brother?”
I heard another man preach a sermon entitled, “What to Do If You Are Left Behind.” What kind of message is that? Are you assuming the saints are not going to be in the rapture? “Look, I am going to be gone, but here is what you should do.”
It is absolutely ridiculous.
Be sure you are scripturally correct. The organization of your message should be basic: there should be a beginning, a body, and an end.
Honestly, sometimes what you need to work out the most, once you have your basic corpus, is the beginning. The beginning is so important to a clear message.
It has to have the right scripture, the right illustration, and the right example. Some brothers gave wonderful examples here—bingo, and you were immediately in on what they were saying.
The beginning is very important. You do not simply schlump into something with nine scriptures and then go. There is a craft in finding out how the Lord wants to open the whole matter up.
The body, of course, is a body the Lord has to put together with you, and that takes time. The ending is important as well.
A lot of times we run out of time or do not know what to do, and the ending fizzles out like a popped balloon. A brother shares nine scriptures and then says, “Oh, you see, brothers, we should be faithful by the grace of God. Oh, I see my time is up.”
Other brothers have no more material but cannot stop, so they begin circling. Have you ever heard a brother say “finally” nine times? You realize that “finally” is going to take you back around to the shore of Egypt because he does not know how to stop.
You need to know how to stop. Is there an application? Is there some end to the matter? This is very important.
Another practical matter in preparing a message is its length. You should be conscious of time.
I say that knowing that when you first start ministering, you are so self-conscious that you are not conscious of time. Many brothers go way over time and have no idea.
But in the long run, you should be conscious of time. Believe it or not, I am conscious of time. I know how much time I have been given, and I may have to slice something out.
I spoke with Brother Christian Chen once when he was going to cover the eleven stations from the Red Sea to Mount Sinai in one session. He got to three, and time was up. He had already spoken for two hours.
I said, “Brother Christian, what are you going to do with the other stations?” He said, “That is okay. They did not eat it.”
We need to be aware of time. Forget the traditional method: “I have from 11:05 to 12:15, so I have to fill the time. I must preach for an hour and ten minutes.”
You are going to kill the saints. You are going to kill them. It will be like the valley of dry bones when you are done.
Especially if you are beginning to minister the Word of God, do not try to minister beyond twenty minutes. When there is life, people will say, “That was the best twenty minutes I have heard in a long time.”
But have you seen brothers who give twenty minutes with life, and then the other forty-five minutes are death? They left their message and went off into “scripturedom.” They went off somewhere.
Length is an important consideration. You do not want to exhaust the saints. As Ecclesiastes warns us, we become weary with overmuch speaking—especially if it is only speaking.
When there is life, it is different. If you really have life, and the Lord gives you an anointing of life, you may go two hours.
The first time I went to India, I went to Hyderabad and Hebron, where Brother Bak Singh was still alive. What impressed me was that their Sunday meeting lasted six hours.
A man preached the gospel, then they worshiped for an hour. A man preached about what the breaking of bread means and invited people to be saved. Then they took the Lord’s table, sang songs, took up an offering, and then another brother preached his message.
There were three different messages. It took a long time, and the people sat there happily. They have a lot of patience there.
I do not know about where you live, but in New York City, if you preach for six hours, you will be hanging by a noose outside the building the next Sunday. The saints do not have the soul strength for that.
But if you preach and there is life, it is all right. Sometimes we run over, but it is living. Praise God for that.
Your speech and your voice are also practical considerations. Spurgeon, in his Lectures to My Students, really emphasizes this: you need to speak up when you are speaking.
None of this whispering, none of this overly conversational tone. There were two or three this afternoon who mumbled and went down too low and too soft at certain points. You could not quite understand what they were saying.
You should be clear. Realize that some people do not hear as well as others. Speak clearly. Remember that, brothers. It is so important for people to hear. That is why you are speaking.
Speak up with your voice. The speed with which you speak is also important.
I do not know why the goal today seems to be to speak as fast as possible. Among millennials, they almost speak in tongues to my ear. They are speaking so fast.
When you speak too fast, nothing can sink in. I am not telling you to speak slowly as I do, but let things be able to sink in. Do not be so quick to speak.
Brothers, I am going to get after you about diction. I know that for some of you English is a second language, and you struggle with certain words, but diction is important. People need to understand.
If you slur over words, people miss important things you are saying. Work on your diction and on how you say things. It is very important in practical ministry.
Let me say one word about reading the Scriptures. Too many times I have heard people read the Scriptures before speaking as though it were something to be done quickly.
When we have hymns, the words express a certain spirit. Hopefully, a tune has been joined to those words that brings out their spiritual expression.
Have you ever seen deep words with a ridiculous tune? The words are beautiful, but there is a tone that not even an opera soprano could sing.
When the tune and the spirit mesh, it is something beautiful. The Word of God is living and active. If you speak it as the words of God, and if you have the feeling and spirit appropriate to the Word as you speak it, it leaves an impression in people’s souls.
Our dear brother Lance Lambert would read Scriptures, and they stayed in my mind partly because of his English accent, but also because he spoke those words in the spirit in which they were given.
Think about that. Do not merely read quickly. Take your time with Scripture.
One of our dear brothers in Flushing, who comes from Fuzhou, told me about an evangelist in Fuzhou. I asked, “How does he evangelize?” He said, “All he does is read gospel Scriptures in the power of the Holy Spirit, and people get saved.”
I said, “Why? You mean he does not give a message with three points and a poem?” He said, “No, he reads the Scriptures in the Spirit so powerfully that people are convicted just by hearing the Scriptures.”
Is that not an amazing testimony? It means that man has the Word in his heart. When he shares it, it comes out as if he himself were saying it, even though it is the Word of God.
It is important to read the Scriptures. It is partly a matter of respect. When you read the Scriptures in the right way, it is very important.
Before sharing, after you have your message together, I suggest you ask some questions of the message.
Am I preaching as one who says, “I know it all, and you need this”? Is it “I and them”? Or is it “us”?
Are you humble? Are you a know-it-all? Are you one who says, “We have discovered the secret in Christ”? Or are you one who says, “I have the secret you need”?
Many times, a message that otherwise would be good is shared from such a self-centered perspective that you cannot get past the medium in order to hear the message.
What is our point of view? Is it the Lord’s point of view? Is it the Lord’s burden?
A few pitfalls should be avoided.
First, am I simply raising questions and problems without answering them? That would not be a good message.
Second, beware of chasing side issues, which those who think a lot can easily do. We become like Job’s friends, making misery for Job.
Third, before you speak, deal with your sense of inadequacy and your sense of guilt. Do not get up and start apologizing.
Do not say, “I know this is a crummy message. I did not have much time. I kind of ran out of time last night. My wife said this, and anyway, I am not really sure I understand what I am going to be talking about.”
Do not begin with, “Brothers, I just want to confess my sins before you. I am totally out of it.” Do not make excuses.
We all know you are inferior, so settle it. You are an earthen vessel. We are all inferior.
The fact of the matter is, we are all broken; we just do not realize it. So get over it. Do not spend a lot of time on yourself, because that simply turns the spotlight on you: “Oh, poor little me.”
No. Just speak the Lord.
Do you allow somebody to critique your message? Do you ask for help? This is the body of Christ. Why not ask somebody, “What did you think of my message? Was there anything? I felt a little weak here. What do you think?”
I do not give everybody who speaks a message a critique. But if they ask me, I will try, because people need help as they are finding their way.
Do you accept that help, or are you too proud? Some people are too proud or too afraid to ask somebody. Of course, if they are married, they get it anyway.
We are out of time, and I am aware of time. Let me give you a couple of final thoughts.
There is nothing more wonderful than being a minister of God’s Word, especially when you come to the place where you minister Christ through His Word.
The word you speak, as weak as it may be, does not return void. It accomplishes its purpose in the congregation and even in your own heart as it comes back into your experience.
It is a tremendous thing to be a servant of the Word of God, because it is living and active. It sanctifies us by the Word, and it sanctifies the people as well.
It is a great honor to serve the Lord in this way. Whether you plant, water, cultivate, or harvest by the Word, it is the Lord who gives the increase.
As we begin in Romans 12 with consecration, do not think too much of yourself.
One time I was with Brother Stephen, and he shared a message, but the people were not very open. I said, “Brother, they did not seem very open to the message.”
He laughed out loud and said, “Only the Lord can change hearts.”
That is where we are. We share, but we cannot force. Only the Lord can change. We share what we can, and we trust the Lord.
Finally, remember: if you are serving the Lord, the Lord is glorified, and the Lord remembers you.
One thing you find out about the Lord is that He is not beholden to anybody. When you give, He gives liberally. He has a memory longer than you could imagine.
“I know thy works. I remember your faithfulness. I remember your sacrifice.” The Lord remembers you. He takes note of you because you have desired to glorify His Son. The Lord takes care of you.
We want to be faithful ministers of the Word, allowing the Word to be understood and to work in our own lives. The Lord will bless you as you serve.
The more you serve, the more you will see that He takes seriously the fact that you are His servant. You will never find the Lord treating His servants badly. He is merciful. He cares for us. He builds us up. He excuses us. He forgives us. He teaches us the higher way.
He is a wonderful Lord. You are about to engage in a wonderful ministry of His precious Word.
May you go from being a minister of God’s Word to being a minister of Christ through His Word. What a recovery, what a restoration, what light, what reviving in our midst. May the Lord help you.
Lord, You have come up with this whole scheme of using human vessels to minister Your Word. So we say, “So be it, Lord. Do Your will.”
Take these vessels who have offered themselves even this weekend, and make them serious craftsmen who take the word You give them, bring it before You, wait before You, add little bits to it, and learn as they are growing and working.
As they produce something, may it be something useful—useful vessels sharing the Word of God.
We know that the Lord knows those who are His own. We are thankful that we can give ourselves to this process.
Oh, Lord, work upon us by Your Word. Heal our hearts by Your Spirit, and send us back to our assemblies with life—rivers of living water that come from the Holy Spirit’s indwelling life within us.
What a high and noble ministry this is. Help us to take it just as seriously as if we were being paid half a million dollars a year and called grand poobah, pastor, great priest, or high reverence.
We will not accept the titles, nor will we accept the money, but we want to be acceptable in Your sight.
Oh, Lord, bless us as You scatter forth Your Word across this earth in these very last days. We pray in Jesus’ precious name.