MEMORY VERSE: “And He ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach.” Mark 3:14
BIBLE PASSAGE: Mark 3:13-14
INTRODUCTION
What does God first do to anyone He might choose to send forth to preach His Word? God makes no mistake – He will not send out a man He has not made ready for the task. The place where He makes men is at His feet where his servants learn of Him. We see Mary, who sat at the feet of Jesus to learn of Him, of whom the Lord said, “…but one thing is needful and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her” Luke 10:42. God approves a ‘workman’ irrespective of gender or age who has studied at the feet of the Master, and who is able to rightly divide the Word of truth 2 Timothy 2:15. This means that a workman who is not approved of God will wrongly divide the Word of truth. How then does a workman become approved unto God? What does God do to His workmen before they qualify to be sent out to preach? This study will help us see what God is looking for, and how He makes His workmen worthy of preaching the Word of Life effectively.
OUTLINES
- CALLED TO BE WITH HIM FIRST
- FIT FOR GOD’S USE
CALLED TO BE WITH HIM FIRST
The Lord expects those He uses to first be with Him as their primary calling. As they learn of Him, He makes them, and then decides whether to send them out to preach. He first called His disciples to be with Him in fellowship and communion Luke 5:10-11. After a while of growth and development, He sent them out to preach, heal and cast out demons Luke 9:1-7 They came back rejoicing with great results as demons were subject to them, but the Lord pointed out that their rejoicing should rather be that their names are written in the Book of Life Luke 10:20.
The Lord is looking for men and women who can be with Him, not those who can do things for Him. For someone’s name to be written in the Book of Life, being with Jesus and being personally known by Him is a Many do things in His name without Him knowing them They will confront Him on that day saying they preached and healed in His name, but He will say He never knew them. Matthew 7:22-23. What does it mean to be with the Lord? It means to come aside from the busy schedules of life to study and meditation of the Word of God, and to be In the place of prayer.
- Call to Communion – To commune with the Lord is to have a dialogue with Him and reason together in discussion as Moses did Exodus 24:18; Exodus 31:18.
- Make a priority the one thing that is needful – Being with the Lord requires one thing: persistently sitting at His feet to learn of Him more than you would of any other person. Mary prioritised this despite being called to do other urgent things; this must be your daily pursuit too Luke 10:41-42
FIT FOR GOD’S USE
The only life that can preach the Word of God is one who bears the Life of Christ Matthew 11:28-29. Only Christ in an individual can preach the Word of God effectively. Jesus calls out to anyone struggling with the issues of daily life to come to Him first for rest by receiving His Life. After this, you should begin the learning of Him by taking His yoke or burden of responsibility for the Kingdom of God. Learning of Christ means learning His life of gentleness, meekness, and lowliness of heart. By doing so, we become effective ministers of God’s Word like Apostle Paul Galatians 2:20. Christ Himself is the Word of life; without Him indwelling in any preacher, there is no way such preaching of the Word of Life can shine forth with the light of the spiritual Life inherent in the Word into the darkness that continues to hold people bound John 1:1-5.
CONCLUSION
The only way a man can preach the Word of God is first to allow Jesus Christ to break His Word into their life in the place of communion and study of the Word.
Without Christ’s Life in us, there is no way we can serve God 2 Timothy 2:15.