A couple of weeks ago, I ran a load in the washer. When the second spin stopped, I went in to transfer the clothes to the dryer and got a real shock. The washer was empty. I went back into the bedroom and sure enough, right there next to the hamper was the load I had intended to wash. I had started the water, added the detergent, and then become distracted with something else and completely forgotten to put in the laundry. What I had washed was water, which was useless when it comes to getting our clothes clean.
Have you ever thought about the job the preacher is required to do? It's one of the very few jobs in the world where a man is paid for telling people what is wrong with them. It is his job to put us in the laundry and clean us up. If he only preaches about things we are NOT doing wrong, and things we ARE doing right, how will we ever improve? He might as well be washing water instead of dirty laundry. Or are we saying we are already perfect and do not need to improve?
Have you ever heard the expression, "The hit dog howls?" Just imagine you throw a stick into a pack of dogs. How do you know which one you hit? The one that howls is probably the one you hit. If the preacher isn't getting any howls, what good is he doing? And, if you are howling, why don't you get out of the way of the stick? Why don't you listen to his words and improve yourself? Because it's easier to fire the preacher than admit I might need a run through the washing machine, that's why.
But getting rid of the preacher won't clean you up for your presentation before God on Judgment Day, will it? Ahab thought it would. "Is it you, you troubler of Israel?" he asked Elijah, when all the time it was Ahab causing the trouble with his refusal to repent. He, too, thought it was Elijah's job to just wash water instead of dirty laundry.
Our preacher recently presented a great series on parenting. There were some howls. Seems to me that isn't very smart. The howling dog is just showing everyone who the preacher hit with his words. If it were me, I think I'd keep my mouth shut.
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season [when they want to hear it and when they don't]; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, (2Tim 4:1-3).
Dene Ward
Have you ever thought about the job the preacher is required to do? It's one of the very few jobs in the world where a man is paid for telling people what is wrong with them. It is his job to put us in the laundry and clean us up. If he only preaches about things we are NOT doing wrong, and things we ARE doing right, how will we ever improve? He might as well be washing water instead of dirty laundry. Or are we saying we are already perfect and do not need to improve?
Have you ever heard the expression, "The hit dog howls?" Just imagine you throw a stick into a pack of dogs. How do you know which one you hit? The one that howls is probably the one you hit. If the preacher isn't getting any howls, what good is he doing? And, if you are howling, why don't you get out of the way of the stick? Why don't you listen to his words and improve yourself? Because it's easier to fire the preacher than admit I might need a run through the washing machine, that's why.
But getting rid of the preacher won't clean you up for your presentation before God on Judgment Day, will it? Ahab thought it would. "Is it you, you troubler of Israel?" he asked Elijah, when all the time it was Ahab causing the trouble with his refusal to repent. He, too, thought it was Elijah's job to just wash water instead of dirty laundry.
Our preacher recently presented a great series on parenting. There were some howls. Seems to me that isn't very smart. The howling dog is just showing everyone who the preacher hit with his words. If it were me, I think I'd keep my mouth shut.
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season [when they want to hear it and when they don't]; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, (2Tim 4:1-3).
Dene Ward
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