THE SHEPHERD FOR EVERYONE

PAUL KNEW THE WORD

In Acts 28:23 we read: “After arranging a day with him, many came to him at his lodging. From dawn to dusk he expounded and witnessed about the kingdom of God. He tried to persuade them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets.”

I hear from people quite often how they don't like or even know much of the Old Testament, and yet, here Paul was preaching Jesus from the Old Testament.  I started thinking about when was the last time I heard a sermon on Jesus preached from the Old Testament...and I'm talking about a "Jesus is the Savior / Son of God / You must be born again" type of Jesus message.  And you know what?  I can't recall that I ever have. Now, I have been around at the time of this writing for 55 years and the vast majority of those years have been spent in regular church attendance, as well as many years of listening and watching others preach and teach the Word whenever I have the opportunity....and I'm sure that I've heard someone preach Jesus form the Old Testament during all of the many, many, many sermons I have heard...but I don't remember it.

This tells me that it has not happened very often.

This tells me that as a preacher and a pastor, I have not done this often enough.

And maybe this is the reason that so many have a faith that is a mile wide and an inch deep.

People, our faith goes all the way back to the garden of Eden...it goes back to Genesis 1:1....it goes back to eternity past.  We should have a deep faith, because we have a deep Word.

For some reason, the word, "doctrine" has gotten a bad reputation in some churches.  I have heard some people say that they don't want to know doctrine, they just want to know Jesus.  Well, "news-flash" folks, Jesus IS doctrine.  When we get to know Jesus we have to know the "doctrine" of Jesus.  For instance, which Jesus do you want to know?  The Jesus of the Mormon faith that says he and Lucifer (the devil) are brothers?  Or the Jesus of the Jehovah's Witnesses who teach that Jesus and Michael the archangel are one and the same?  Or maybe the Jesus of the Muslim faith that teaches that Jesus was just a prophet, subject to Mohammed?

Well, for me, I'll go with the DOCTRINE of Jesus taught in the Old and New Testaments, that Jesus is one third of the Trinity, which makes Him God.  He took on human form, was born of a virgin, sacrificed for our sins on the cross, was buried, rose again on the third day, and it is by Him and Him alone that you and I must be saved.

Know the Word.

Know the doctrine.

I remember not too long ago, someone told me that they just weren't getting fed enough at their church....and that made me wonder...you know, maybe the problem is that we have too many believers showing up for church, opening their mouths and waiting for the pastor or teacher or preacher to not only cut the word up, flavor it, add a side dish to it, and put it on the plate for them, but then they expect them to put it on the fork and put it in their mouth.

Maybe it's time that those who go to church, take notes, go home, research what was said, meditate on it, discuss it with their families and other believers, let it sink deep into their hearts, mind, soul and life....in other words, maybe it's time to start feeding yourself.

Trembling and pierced by the Word,
Pastor Dave