Taking the Message to the World — Paul Washer

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Let's open up our Bibles to the last chapter of the book of Luke and While you're opening there, I would just really like to give thanks to the leaders and the members of this church and the opportunity to preach.

And one thing about it here, if you're not really concerned about planting churches, just become a member here for about two years and you'll want to go out and plant a church. That's what it's all about.

There's so many people. I stayed up till late last night just talking about people who have no church and they want to plant a church. Well, go plant one. Go plant one. Luke chapter 24, verse 36. While they were telling these things, he himself stood in their midst and said to them, peace be to you.

But they were startled and frightened and thought that they were seeing a spirit. And he said to them, why are you troubled and why do you doubt? Why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet that it is I myself.

Touch me and see for spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see, that I have. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet while they still could not believe it. Because of their joy and amazement, he said to them, have you anything here to eat?

They gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and ate it before them. Now, he said to them, these are my words, which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And he said to them, thus, it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day and that repentance for forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed in his name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem.

And you are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending forth the promise of my father upon you. But you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. Today, I'm going to teach upon the seven great requirements of the Christian missionary, the seven great requirements.

Let's just begin the first requirement. They must be totally, absolutely, completely convinced of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now, I suppose there was a golden age in the history of Christianity when this requirement did not need to be mentioned.

But I am sad to say that it's not the case today. The great and foundational doctrines of the Christian faith are being attacked on every side. They're being attacked from every side and not just from those outside of the evangelical community, but those who claim to be part of the evangelical community.

And so it is a great requirement that if you're going to be a missionary, if you're going to be a preacher, you must stand fast on the resurrection, the historical resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now, I want us to look at verse 36.

It says, while they were telling these things, he himself stood in their midst. Now, the Greek is very, very careful here putting the emphasis. It was Christ himself. Now, what is the importance of this?

It is simply telling us that this one who appeared is not another Christ. This is not another body. This is the very same Jesus who died. And this is the very same body that suffered the nails and the lance.

But now it is resurrected. Now, also something very important. If you look in verse 33 and 34, we see that this appearance here is placed in contrast with what we find that proceeds. Now, speaking about the men who were on the road to Emmaus and their return to Jerusalem in verse 33, it says, and they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them, saying, the Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon.

Now, what is important about this? Well, further on down in the text of verse 36, it says that he himself stood in their midst and all their midst. What is going on? The apostles testimony is now changing from second hand testimony to first hand testimony.

Prior to this event, the apostle said, Jesus has really risen and he has appeared to Simon. But now they're saying Jesus has really risen and he has appeared to us. We have seen him with our own eyes.

Now, what do we learn about that? If you are going to be a missionary or a preacher, you cannot rely on the second hand testimony of others. You cannot rely on the testimony of Calvin alone or Piper alone or even something you parrot from scripture.

You yourself must experience the resurrected Christ. You must be born again to testify of the new birth. You say, why do you say that to pastors? Because so many are not born again. You must be broken to testify of repentance.

You must believe to testify of faith. You must know something of the filling and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. If you're going to give testimony to the power of the spirit and you must know him to testify of him.

Now, I want us to look at at verse 37, the disciples reaction. It says, but why? But they were startled and frightened and thought that they were seeing a spirit. And he said to them, why are you troubled and why do doubts arise in your hearts?

Now, we must ask ourselves, why is Luke putting this in his account? It doesn't make sense. After all, Luke tells us in the first part of his book that his account, the credibility of it depends upon the credibility of his witnesses.

And yet he tells us here that his witnesses didn't understand anything. They misinterpreted everything. Why is he including this in the account? Well, first of all, because it really happened. If Luke was writing myth, he would not have put this in his text.

But you see, one of the great evidences of the validity of scripture is that the authors often include information that not only incriminate themselves, but incriminate their associates. Myth writers do not do that, but the Bible writers do.

Because they were serious about transmitting real history, real history. Also, it demonstrates who the real hero is. Now, I want you to know this. If I get a chance to be with Brother Jeff or Brother David or after this conference, well, I'll probably just go into the office and just laugh.

How did? I mean, what were we doing up there? How did how did we? I mean, how did all this happen? I mean, look at you. I mean, look at me. Well, shouldn't someone else have been up there? Who is the real hero?

This is what I love about every narrative of the Bible. There's only one hero and it's God. And I love that there are no great men of God. There are only weak, tiny, unbelieving men of a great and a merciful God.

That's why his brother Jeff said at the very beginning of this conference, any shape, form or fashion of hero worship is pathetic at best and blasphemous at worst. And be careful, reformed guys, because it's happening all over.

Now, this is the reason why I love reading C .S. Lewis over Token, because in Tokens, Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and all those other books that some of you say I shouldn't read, but I really enjoy.

The creatures always get in these terrible predicaments and they're able to figure out how to get out of the predicament by their own cleverness and wisdom. But in Lewis's works, The Chronicles of Narnia, the creatures get in horrible predicaments and they cannot get out until Aslan, who represents Christ, shows up.

I want you to know that's the history of the Bible. That is the history of the Bible, who the real hero is. It also demonstrates who is the real rock and foundation of the church. The church is built upon the testimony of the apostles and prophets in some way.

But it is only because Christ is the cornerstone and he's the one who holds them all together. When you trust in the apostolic witness, you are not so much trusting in the apostles as you are trusting in the one who holds the apostles in his hand.

The Book of Acts is not the acts of the apostles, but the acts of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, working through the apostles. When Moses interceded for idolatrous Israel, stood in the gap, God was going to destroy them.

Some lesser theologians would say that the entire destiny of the nation of Israel was being held in the hand of the man Moses. But they forget Moses was held in the hand of God and sustained by his grace.

It also shows us the nature of divine revelation, my friend. As the temple curtain was torn from the top to the bottom, so the revelation of God comes from him to the bottom. These were not clever men who figured these things out.

We look in chapter 13 of the book of Matthew with regard to the parables. They were no better off than the unbelieving crowd. They didn't understand anything, nothing. So therefore, what was said to Peter could be said to the rest of the apostles and could be said to the wisest among us here.

Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal these things to you. But my father who is in heaven, let me give you a maxim to write down. And it is this, unless Christ gives the interpretation, there will be no knowledge or wisdom or truth among men.

Christ is the one and knowledge comes not from the cleverness of intellect, but it is a revelation from God. And therefore, we ought to be very careful about boasting in such sharp minds because you can have a very sharp mind and a quite dull heart.

Now, I want you to look at Christ's great concern. Verse 39, see my hands and my feet that it is I myself. Touch me and see for spirit does not have flesh and blood as you see that I have. Now look at this.

It is amazing, amazing the extent to which Christ goes to prove his resurrection. He appeared in their midst. Verse 36, he showed them his hands and feet. Verse 39, he commanded them to examine him with their touch.

Verse 39, and he performed an activity that is almost always relegated to the physical realm. He ate in front of them. Now, why is he doing this? Why? He's guided by what motive? I believe there are three motives.

And don't think this is elementary or just simple. These are being attacked. He's wanting to prove that he really rose from the dead. Number one, that it was a real historical, physical resurrection, you say.

But we don't have liberals around us much anymore who are denying these things. If that is true, don't worry. They will be back and they are back. They're just clothing themselves in evangelical garb.

That his resurrected body was the same body that had died. Now, what does all this teach us? First of all, the resurrection is a foundational truth of Christianity. This entire event proves to us the essential nature of the resurrection.

Therefore, any pastor, any prophet, any scribe, any theologian, any so-called prophet who wavers on the resurrection of Jesus Christ has absolutely nothing to say to the church. It doesn't matter whether they call themselves liberal or neo-orthodox, evangelical or from a so-called emerging something.

It doesn't matter. We do need we do not need to learn from them. We do not need to understand them. We do not need to draw them into fellowship. They are not Christian. Now, another thing, it's the foundational truth of the gospel, the resurrection.

If you read like Luke's second book and look at the apostolic proclamation of the gospel, what you'll find is the resurrection is the primary theme. Listen to me, pastor, preacher, missionary. The resurrection is not just something you tag on to the end of a really good sermon about the cross.

And I would submit to you that if we would begin to proclaim with greater emphasis the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we would begin to experience a greater resurrection power in our preaching and in our congregations.

So the resurrection is quite important. Also, the resurrection is the source of the missionary strength. Missionary work is difficult. It is self-effacing, it is sometimes humiliating. You can go for your entire life as a missionary and not see much fruit.

And then there's your own weakness and sin. And I want to assure you as one who has been there, sometimes the only thing that will ever keep you going is that He has risen. He has risen indeed. He has risen indeed.

Your sins are gone. He has risen indeed. The world has a savior. He has risen indeed. The universe has a king. He has risen. And then, and one day, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with a trumpet call of God, you will too.

And I can't wait to see your beauty on that day. Second requirement, they must be convinced of their own peace with God. Look at verse 36. While they were telling these things, He Himself stood in their midst and He said to them, Peace be to you.

I want you to think about something. First of all, again, the missionary must be convinced of his own peace with God. Think for a moment about these apostles. Just think for a moment. They had denied and abandoned the long-awaited Messiah of God, the one who was the fulfillment of every Old Testament scripture, every Old Testament promise and every Old Testament type.

They had denied Him. Not only that, they had denied the one about whom Moses, or God through Moses, said this. I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put my words in his mouth.

It shall come about that whoever will not listen to my words, which he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. The prophet of whom God testified anyone who doesn't listen to him will be cut off from my people.

They did not listen to him. Not only did they not listen to him, they denied him. What trembling must have been in the hearts of those apostles. Think about this, they had denied the Son of Man from the book of Daniel to whom the Ancient of Days had given dominion, glory and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him.

Think about the mental state of these men knowing what they had done. They had denied the king of Psalms 2 that God installed upon Mount Zion, and about whom all the kings of the earth were warned to do homage so that he not become angry with them, and they perish in the way because his anger could flare up like that.

For a moment, these apostles must have been like the elders of Bethlehem. You remember them. They saw that the prophet Samuel was coming. And they came out trembling and said, Is there peace? At this moment, I believe those apostles could have joined the chorus of the demons who said, Lord, have you come to torment us before our time?

We know what we have done. We have denied the Holy One of God. Have you come to torment us before our time? And what a blessing it was when they saw their master, and the first thing that came out of his mouth was peace.

Peace! They had done a little better than Judas Iscariot, the son of perdition, of whom it was said it would have been better off that he had never been born. Yet they heard peace. They must have felt something like Joseph's brothers when he revealed himself to them in Egypt.

Yes, a type of Christ. They had denied their brother. They had thrown him in a pit. They had left him for dead. They sold him as a slave. And yet, when he reveals himself to his brothers, he does so with joy and gladness.

Oh, what grace came forth from that man we know as Joseph. And yet a greater than Joseph is standing here with these apostles. And much greater grace. Now, this revelation of the grace of God at this moment, in the appearance of Christ, was what I believe strengthened these men throughout the long years of their life.

First of all, we must understand that after the appearance of Christ, and after the day of Pentecost, do not think that these men were no longer in need of repentance or grace. They were still men of like passions.

They were not super-Christians. They were not superheroes. I am sorry to ruin your day, but they were just like you. Nothing to make an idol of. Just think about it for a moment. Peter, who had denied the Lord.

And then think years later. He and Paul have a confrontation. And Paul comes to Peter and rebukes him openly, saying, you are no longer walking straight forward with regard to the gospel. The pain that must have been in Peter's heart.

It must have shattered him in a million pieces. But could it be that on that day, when he realized he had denied the gospel, that he thought back and said, but there was a time many years ago, when I not only denied the gospel, I denied the Lord of the gospel.

And there was mercy for me on that day. Shall there be less mercy for me now? No, there shall be mercy. Mercy. Now, I submit to you that one of the things that propelled these men through the countless trials and countless battles, countless victories and countless failures in their life was this.

This one day right here in the book of Luke is the very day when Jesus Christ should have condemned absolutely every one of them. If Jesus Christ ever had a reason to appear to these 11 men and say to them, join Judas, join Judas, join Judas, join Judas in hell, it would have been this day.

But he said, peace. He said, peace. I'm reminded of the book of Romans where it says this, who will bring a charge against God's elect? God's the only one who has a right to do it. He is. And yet, he's the one who justifies.

Who is the one who condemns? The Lord Christ, the judge of all the world, has the right to condemn, and he alone. And yet, it says that it is he who died, yes, rather, was raised, who is at the right hand of God, and who enters seeds for his people.

I submit to you also that this is the thing that caused these men to so joyfully proclaim the gospel. Why? Understand this. If you understand nothing else, understand this. They did not carry the burden of the religious hypocrite who instructs others in a morality that they themselves cannot obey.

That wasn't their message. They were not claiming anything about themselves. They had no need to defend themselves. They were admitting that they were weak, they were sinful, and they were unworthy, but they were proclaiming a Savior who was mighty to save.

And in that is freedom. In that is freedom. In the same way, the missionary, the preacher, must be entirely convinced of the grace of God. Because every day when you get up and you look in that mirror, you know you are called to proclaim a message that you yourself cannot even live up to.

You need grace, you need grace, you need grace. But someone says, if you throw that much grace around, it will be a license for sin only among the unconverted church members. Oh, they will take it as an excuse for sin.

And the ungodly pastors will take it as an excuse for sin. But I want you to know this. The genuinely converted will say this. If grace be such, if it be so large and so wide, depths I cannot sound, then oh, let me be holy.

Oh, let me serve Him. You see, that's the difference between the unregenerate and the regenerated heart. Now, third requirement. They must have a personal, intimate, and I use this word on purpose for all you dry reform guys, experimental relationship with the resurrected Christ.

Experimental meaning experience. Now, look at what it says. Verse 39. See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.

And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they still could not believe it, because of their joy and amazement, he said to them, have you anything here to eat? Now, before we address this matter, I want you to know I do understand the context.

This is a unique event in the church that happened one time. And it was necessary because of the unique ministries of these 11 men in the establishment of the primitive church. And we should have doubt, to say the least, of anyone who would claim to have a similar experience.

Yet at the same time, there are principles to be learned here that can be applied to the 21st century Christian and the 21st century preacher. First of all, I will say this again. Beware, beware of giving testimony based upon the testimony of other men.

That doesn't mean we should not learn from other men. I have learned, I have never had, I think, an original thought. But the requirement that the Holy Spirit, that Christ impress that upon my life and make it a reality.

Beware of just learning a sermon from Dr. Piper and repeating it as though you were a parrot. Because the reality will not be there. Be careful of just reading books about men who pray. Go pray yourself.

Look at the Samaritans from that city. Many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, He told me all the things that I have done. So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them.

And He stayed there two days. Many more believed because of His word. And they were saying to the woman, It is no longer because of what you said that we believe for we have heard for ourselves and know that this one is indeed the Savior of the world.

You must know it for yourself. You cannot depend upon the testimony of your godly grandmother or your mother or even men around you so that you greatly esteem. You must know it for yourself. My goodness, some of us should just leave and get alone with God.

Patriarch Job says, I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see you. And look at this, Therefore I retract and I repent in dust and ashes. Notice how it is only this personal encounter that creates a response of the heart.

Learning just a bunch of knowledge and none of it being a reality to you will never create true piety in your life or a brokenness of spirit. But when God opens up your ear lids and your eye lids so you can both hear and see.

Whenever one is doing post graduate work and many of you have, you know this, don't use secondary sources. You will get in a lot of trouble using secondary sources. Go straight to the text, the original source.

And so men we ought to do with the scripture in one hand and on our knees seeking God. If you are reading a systematic, even Calvin's institutes, you would do well to read a bit and then get on your knees.

Now it is required that a missionary, that a preacher have an intimate, personal, experimental relationship with Christ. But how does that occur? It begins in the convicting and illuminating work of the Holy Spirit prior to conversion.

As the truth of our sin and the righteousness of God is pressed upon us. It continues on in the experience of the new birth when light shines out of darkness and we understand that we have been justified by faith and the great weight of sin rolls off our shoulders and we cry out, Abba Father, do you know that?

It comes from countless hours alone with God in the Word of God. Not simply to gain knowledge so that you become a better debater or not simply to prepare sermons but you are alone with God in the Word of God because you want to know God.

Thank you. It comes from countless hours alone with God in the night watch when men with better sense are tucked in their beds of being shut up to God. I learned that language from old men. Of being shut up to God.

Of being consumed by God. In communion with God where no one can save you from Him. It comes from empowerings and fillings of the Holy Spirit. I will not give that up though you call me charismatic. Empowerings and fillings of the Holy Spirit as He replaces the virtue that has gone out of you in ministry and proves once again that it was to our benefit that Christ leave us and go to the right hand of the Father so that He might send the ever-present all-powerful Comforter.

It comes from countless trials and a peace that has absolutely nothing to do with the natural. A peace from God. A peace that passes all understanding. It comes from countless victories over sin. Yes!

Believers ought to have victory over sin. It comes from great victories over sin and the joy of making progress in the Christian faith and of bearing fruit that endures. But it also comes from countless failures and terrifying revelations of self and bone-crushing discipline and bending and breaking and repentance and restoration.

A man of God when he reaches old age ought to be broken into a thousand pieces. Give us missionaries. Give us missionaries. No. Give us men who have been ravished and mauled by God and will have missionaries.

Fourth requirement. They must have a thorough grasp of scripturous testimony regarding the person and work of Christ and its application to men. Verse 44. Now he said to them these are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you that all things which are written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. You must have a high view of scripture. Don't even think about going to the mission field. Don't get up in this pulpit. Without a high view of scripture.

Notice here in verse 34 he says these are my words. The gospel is his word. And I want to tell you something. You can have a high view of Jesus Christ only to the degree you have a high view of his gospel.

And if you preach this truncated gospel for spiritual law thing that's going around I can assure you that it's because you have a truncated Christ. And if in the book of Revelation we are warned that if you alter add to or take away from this prophecy you will be brought under a curse.

How much more sir will you be brought under judgment for not giving men the gospel that is the gospel of Christ. Without being truncated. Without being edited. Without being adorned in order to make it palatable to your carnal generation.

Oh how we should fear in preaching the gospel. Secondly we must recognize and proclaim Christ as the only expected person and as the very context in which the Old Testament is to be interpreted. Now maybe you've never heard this before.

Proclaim Christ as the only expected person. Do you realize how important this is? Christ made it clear. He said I'm the fulfillment of everything. Now I want to read something to you from Lorraine Botner.

Listen to this. And this is true. In all the history of the world Jesus emerges as the only expected person. No one was looking for such a person as Julius Caesar or Napoleon or Washington or Lincoln to appear at the time and place that they did appear.

No other person has had his course foretold or his work laid out for him centuries before he was born. But the coming of the Messiah has been predicted for centuries. We can use that and we ought to use it more in our preaching.

He's the only expected person. There is no one else like him. But he's not only the only expected person he's the context of everything. Listen to this from the Expositors Greek New Testament. The gist of prophecy in the Old Testament, the gist of it is the suffering and the resurrection of Christ and the preaching in the name of the risen one to all nations of repentance unto remission of sins.

Now missionary you want to be encouraged then understand this. Not only the appearance of Christ was predicted not only his death and resurrection was predicted but also the scriptures of the Old Testament predict the missionary endeavors of the church and its success.

Yes I said success. So many people use this idea of election just because they don't want to go out and witness to anybody and they're convinced they're the only group that God's going to save.

No God always is successful.

He's going to call forth a mighty tribe of people. Look what it says in Psalms 22 after explaining in great detail the suffering of the Messiah in verse 27 and it says this, all the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord.

And all the families of the nations will worship before you. When you go on that mission field, I don't care how dark it is. I don't care how wicked it is. You stay there long enough, you preach true enough and somebody's coming out of there saved.

It's going to happen. Now I want to say this because there's a hyper in my opinion literalism going on. For example, I have been rebuked many times for finding Jesus Christ in the song of Solomon. They say I should not look for him there.

I want to tell you this, I count myself among the old men who look for Christ in every line of the Old Testament. If Christ be removed from the Old Testament, if everything there is not a picture of him, then I am left with nothing but moral stories.

The animal slain to cover the nakedness of our first parents, that was Christ. The ark that weathered the deluge, that was Christ. The ram caught in the thicket by its horns, that was Christ. The temple and its sacrifices, that was Christ.

He is the seed of Abraham and one greater than Moses and Joshua. When I read of Samson ripping up the gates of that city and throwing them down, I see Christ ripping up the gates of hell and throwing them down like they were the tiniest feather on the smallest fowl.

Let me tell you something, I know Paul Washer and I need more than proverbs and maxims and moral stories. I need a mighty God who can wrestle this man to the ground and save him. So when you take away Christ in the way that many would do so in the name of their great interpretations, you have taken away my Old Testament.

They must study the life and death and resurrection and ascension of Christ as it is revealed in the Old Testament and the New. Missionaries, some of you, friends of mine, on the day you're slaughtered in the foreign field and your blood comes out, I want you to bleed the gospel of Jesus Christ.

With all that is in me, I promise that we will take care of your wife and your children. Don't worry about them. BLEED THE GOSPEL! Your blood is not as precious, nor is mine, as the gospel of Jesus Christ.

You must study this gospel prayerfully. Verse 45, there again the great interpreter, he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. Oh, I appreciate men with clever minds and great brilliance. I've known a lot of them, many of them quite useful to the Lord, but it wasn't the cleverness of their mind.

It was the greatness of their interpreter. Christ must give the meaning. Now, in this day and age, I would also recommend that as you study the gospel, that you would compare your findings to those of my favorites.

Calvin, Owen, Bunyan, Flavel, Manton, Sibbes, Brown, Boston, Henry, Newton, Edwards, Whitfield, Gill, Spurgeon, Hodge, Boyce, Pink, Murray, and my beloved doctor, Martin Lloyd-Jones. I would also mention John Piper, but he's not dead yet.

In a sense, the missionaries that we send must be our greatest theologians. Missions is not to be defined or adapted by the cultural expert, the sociologist, or the anthropologist. Missions is to be defined by the exegete and the theologian.

It is a theological endeavor. So if you're going to study anything, and if as a missionary, you are going to train any other missionary, train them in the cross. Let me give you a few things to think about.

The attributes of God, so as to lay the context of the cross. The radical depravity of men, so as to make the cross necessary. The person and work of Christ, particularly His sin bearing and dying under the wrath of God, that God might be just and the justifier of those who believe in Christ.

Work hard on the doctrine of the regeneration and the conversion of sinners. The nature of true repentance and faith as opposed to their counterfeits. The offering of the gospel call as opposed to mere decisionism.

And biblical evidences of true conversion that lead to biblical assurance. Fifth requirement. There are three infinitives we see here. In verse 46, thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed.

The three great infinitives of the missionary endeavor is this. Christ is to suffer. Christ is to rise. And we are to proclaim. Now the word proclaim comes from the Greek word keruso. And it was used to describe the work of a herald.

And always suggests formality, gravity, and an authority that ought to be heard and obeyed. The gospel is not to be proclaimed with a frivolity that betrays its gravity. I want to give you something of the historical context.

In the Roman Greco world professional orators abounded. They were even venerated for their great ability to speak with eloquent arguments. But this word keruso and in the letters of the apostle Paul. I want you to look at something very important here.

In the letters of the apostle Paul he uses four words to describe the ministry of preaching. Evangelizo, keruso, catangelo, y marturreo. Now I want you to think about something. It's very interesting that none of these terms are rhetorical terms.

And none of them are found much, if at all, in rhetorical literature of the time. Dr. Liffin, the scholar, writes, no self-respecting professional orator would have used such verbs to describe his motus operandi, his profession.

He would have been ashamed to use these words. And Dr. Liffin goes on. Now listen to this. The herald, and that's what we are. We're heralds. The role of the herald was not to discover persuasive probabilities inherent in the message.

It was not to seek arguments that would have weight with the hearers. It was not to repackage or decorate the message so that it would be irresistible to the hearers. The task of the herald was never to create a persuasive message, but to effectively communicate the message already articulated by another.

What does that mean? I'll tell you what it means. The preacher's not a spin doctor. And he's not a marketing executive. He is only a faithful messenger of what has already been said by God, and he needs to say it just the way God said it, whether anyone likes it or not.