If you wake up and attend a local church today which places the preaching of Scripture in a primary place then you are part of a diminishing minority. Throughout church history up until about the midway point of the last century, the teaching of the Bible held prominence when God’s people gathered together on the Lord’s Day to worship. Now, in the height of arrogance, the last couple of generations up unto the present one has decided that we have discovered a better way which effectively minimizes God’s Word and instead emphasizes pragmatic issues to the near removal of expositional truth. Yes, we have become a clever lot, have we not? Awakening today I found myself humbled in the awareness that God has placed me in an assembly that could not accept such a thing. Meadow is comprised of people who love the Lord, His Word and other people. May He ever leave it that way or may He take away our lampstand so we do not shine a fraudulent light in a dark world that already has enough neon without the church joining in.
“So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat. And he said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.” Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey…Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great earthquake: “Blessed be the glory of the Lord from its place!” – Ezekiel 3:2-3, 12 {ESV}
Like Ezekiel, some of you have learned that the Word of God is good, even sweet to the taste. This is not to say that it is always easy to swallow because it constantly reveals to us who God is in His holy perfection while, simultaneously, it reveals us as we are in our sin and need of constant rescue by this willing and capable God. When we come to Christ it is imperative that we begin to cherish His revelation to us because our appetites in life are powerful and direct us daily along a pathway in life. Ultimately, you will pursue your greatest inner desire and it becomes a compass to you. God’s truth has the power to save us, enlighten us, make us wise, defend us against all attack, free us from our past, fill us with holy confidence for living, enthrall us with our glorious King, motivate us in the present hour, transform us into new creations and deliver us as proven overcomers in the end. There is nothing else upon earth that can accomplish this for you. Nothing else! God’s Word, activated by God’s Spirit in a submitted mind, will produce all manner of unprecedented fruit in the individual being taught. This is where your destiny is anchored and from here it unfolds for the glory of the One who has saved you. It is not about us, it is about Him. Yet it does include us and this brings us great joy.
It is Sunday and I intend to preach three times today – preach, not chat or teach or share. He has commissioned me to preach. The messages will seem long to some as they usually last fifty minutes. Imagine that: fifty minutes of God’s truth being communicated now seems intolerable for some who name the name of Christ. One sermon is not even 4% of a single day of one’s week but it has been made unappetizing in the minds of some who actually profess the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Others who have been graced of God to cultivate a desire for truth will come and wish the sermon had gone further, longer deeper. The attitude toward the Word all depends on the appetite with which one approaches the table. My call is to joyfully feed the hungry so I spent this last week assembling ingredients, placing them in the pot, preheating the range, cooking the meal and today I am unspeakably blessed to serve it up to whoever shows up.
I hope they will come hungry. Like Ezekiel, I’ve tasted the scroll and it is, indeed, sweet to taste.
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