March 10, 2012

Being an Example of His Message

Preach the word! —2 Timothy 4:2

We are not saved only to be instruments for God, but to be His sons and daughters. He does not turn us into spiritual agents but into spiritual messengers, and the message must be a part of us. The Son of God was His own message— “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). As His disciples, our lives must be a holy example of the reality of our message. Even the natural heart of the unsaved will serve if called upon to do so, but it takes a heart broken by conviction of sin, baptized by the Holy Spirit, and crushed into submission to God’s purpose to make a person’s life a holy example of God’s message.

There is a difference between giving a testimony and preaching. A preacher is someone who has received the call of God and is determined to use all his energy to proclaim God’s truth. God takes us beyond our own aspirations and ideas for our lives, and molds and shapes us for His purpose, just as He worked in the disciples’ lives after Pentecost. The purpose of Pentecost was not to teach the disciples something, but to make them the incarnation of what they preached so that they would literally become God’s message in the flesh. “. . . you shall be witnesses to Me . . .” (Acts 1:8).

Allow God to have complete liberty in your life when you speak. Before God’s message can liberate other people, His liberation must first be real in you. Gather your material carefully, and then allow God to “set your words on fire” for His glory.

要有言教,更要有身教

務要傳道。 (提後四2)

我們得救,並不單是做[導管],乃是做神的兒女。我們不是變成屬靈的媒介,乃是屬靈的使者;所傳的資訊必須是我們本身一部分。神的兒子本身就是神的資訊,他的話就是靈和生命。我們作他門徒的,生命必須成為資訊的印證。人天然的心喜歡做許多的事奉,但是要心靈真正在罪的自責中破碎,被聖靈澆灌,被搓揉進神的旨意裡去,這時生命才成為資訊的印證。

作見證與講道原有分別。傳道人是有神的呼召,決志竭盡一切傳神的真理。神把我們從自己的觀念裡領出來,把我們陶冶塑造,加以使用,正如五旬節後的門徒一般。五旬節並沒有教導門徒什麼,神只是把門徒變成為他們所傳的資訊——[你們要作我的見證]。你說話的時候,要讓神有絕對的自由。神的話釋放別人靈魂之先,必須先釋放你。然後將你所經歷的說出來,為主發光。

祈禱◆無所不知的主神,求你在今天將智慧賜給我,讓我的敬拜、正確的行為都討你的喜悅。主啊,求你在你的完全和美善中,不斷向我述說你自己。妙!

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