Sr. Pastor Marvin W.Wills & Asst. Pastor William T. Grajeda
NEW BIRTH CHRISTIAN MINISTRY CENTER
Thanks you for partaking with us in the WORD of GOD via the Blog.
We welcome you to a HOLY GHOST Sunday service;
11:00 a.m.
21144 Mission blvd. Hayward Ca. 94541
JESUS loves you and we practice that love here at our home, come and see (Phil 2:2-5) in action.
"A servant of the LORD must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if GOD perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will" (2 Tim 2:24-26).
JESUS was born to die, but he lived to teach (Mat 4:23: Mrk 1:21; Lk 4:15; Jn 18:20; Act 10:38). Most of us in any long time circle of studying, fellowship or just listening to a preaching, have heard that saying, and as you may know there are some statements that we hear over and over again that never get old. We also heard that Christianity is "caught" as well taught. PTL! That is so very true; for I myself was caught by my MASTER's wooing words of the first seven chapters which HE allowed Matthew to write for HIM. Thenceforth I have been humbly taught by my MASTER's precious HOLY SPIRIT, and as far as I expect will retire being taught.
I am fond of the statement that says, "teaching GOD's WORD should be the magnificent obsession of every Christian." Isn't that awesome? "the magnificent obsession." That should be each and every one of our heart's joy, our heart's zeal...our heart's magnificent obsession!
The precious Holy Bible states in (Ezra 7:10) "for Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach statues and ordinances in Israel."
Ezra is a prime example of an ideal Bible teacher:
1. Ezra had prepared his heart to seek GOD's WORD. This shows each of us that we can not just approach GOD's WORD anyway we so desire. Nothing about GOD is arbitrary. HE made a way to come to HIM and we must seek that way.
2. Ezra seeked, Ezra, so to speak, laid the WORD of GOD out before him, got himself a dictionary and slowly started to struggle his way through it while taking notes and praying with a heartful desire of seeking.
3. Ezra then, after finding many things that seemed practical to life, applied that word to his lifestyle, finding that it worked, then started applying those things in GOD's WORD that didn't seem to make sense.
4. Ezra, finding that the WORD of GOD actually did change his life dramatically even those things that didn't make much sense, he began-with zeal- to teach others what he knew beyond a doubt to be true.
a) One's heart is prepared by GOD, it is up to you to reciprocate to the wonderful wooing of the ONE who has created the heart and continues to woo you.
b) To apply the principles of GOD to your life will be at first a very big struggle and you will fall flat on your face at times, but you get right back up and continue to press forward to a break through. AS our dear brother Paul says, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the Law is good. As it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work:When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in GOD's (Rom 7:15-25).
c) It is through this experience of falling and getting back up that you look back and realize that you're not falling as often and a change has most definitely taking place.
This is the Bible Teacher's experience; one that has personally walked and continues to walk the road of application.
Teaching GOD's WORD is a very great responsibility. We are warned in (Jam 3:1), "my brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we will receive a stricter judgement." Yet, in (Heb 5:12) another admonition is giving; "for though by this time you ought to be teachers..." In other words he is saying, "look, when I left you you were all on your way with zeal to becoming mighty men and women in the knowledge and wisdom of GOD our SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST what hindered you? By now you should be fathers and mothers of teachers who are now teaching their own students!" These two passages blend and simply mean that it is a very serious responsibility to teach the WORD of GOD and by no means to be taken lightly, but one that must be taken up.
William Barclay interprets this verse as; "my brothers , it is a mistake for many of you to become teachers, for you must be well aware that those of us who teach will receive a greater condemnation.
In the New Testament itself, we get glimpse of teachers who failed in their responsibility and became false teachers. There were teachers who tried to turn Christianity into another kind of Judaism and tried to introduce circumcision and the keeping of the Law (Act 15:24). There were teachers who lived out nothing of the truth which they taught, who's lives were a contradictions of what they taught and who did nothing but bring dishonor on the faith they represented (Rom 2:17-29). There were some who tried to teach before they knew anything (1 Tim 1:6-7), and others who pandered to the false desires of the crowd (2 Tim 4:3).
But, quite apart from the false teachers, it seems to me that it is our brother James conviction that teaching is a dangerous occupation for any one. The instrument of teaching is speech and its agent is the tongue. As J.H.Ropes puts it, James is concerned to point out 'the responsibilities of teachers and the dangerous character of the instrument they have to use'.
Beloved, there are two dangers which all teacher must avoid. Because of the position, you will be teaching either those who are young in years or those who are children in the faith. You must struggle, therefore, throughout your lives to avoid two things. You must take every care that you are teaching the truth, and not your own opinions or your own prejudices. It is fatally easy for teachers to distort the Truth and to teach not God's version but your own. You must take great care that you do not contradict your teaching by your lives, continually, as it were, having to say not 'do as I do' but 'do as I say.' Listen dear heart, we must never get into the position where scholar and student cannot hear what they say for listening to what they are. As the Jewish rabbis themselves said, 'not learning but doing is the foundation, and he who multiplies words multiplies sins.' (saying of the fathers, 1:18).
Beloved, there are two dangers which all teacher must avoid. Because of the position, you will be teaching either those who are young in years or those who are children in the faith. You must struggle, therefore, throughout your lives to avoid two things. You must take every care that you are teaching the truth, and not your own opinions or your own prejudices. It is fatally easy for teachers to distort the Truth and to teach not God's version but your own. You must take great care that you do not contradict your teaching by your lives, continually, as it were, having to say not 'do as I do' but 'do as I say.' Listen dear heart, we must never get into the position where scholar and student cannot hear what they say for listening to what they are. As the Jewish rabbis themselves said, 'not learning but doing is the foundation, and he who multiplies words multiplies sins.' (saying of the fathers, 1:18).
It is are brother James' warning that teachers have of their own choice entered into a special position and are, therefore, under the greater condemnation if they fail in their task.! The people to whom James was writing coveted the prestige given to the teachers; James demanded that they should never forget the responsibility.
Yet, beloved, teaching is a joy and a privilege. John wrote in (Rev 10:10), "then I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter." look, it was a really sweet thing to be entrusted by GOD with that WORD of GOD, and yet dear heart, as our brother John realized the many different layers of GOD's wrath upon the ungodly, it became a bitter thing. IT WAS A SERIOUS RESPONSIBILITY. PTL!
The prophet Hosea wrote, "MY people are destroyed for lack of knowledge..." (Hos 4:9), but sometimes we fail to continue to read in that same Book: "oh Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself..." (Hos 13:9). Beloved when we as people lack the knowledge of GOD it is because we have rejected the knowledge already received, which could lead us to ,GOD "unto you that hear shall more be given" (Mrk 4:24). GOD says that Israel went into bondage because of their ignorance (Is 5;13), "therefore MY people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge." Listen beloved, its not because they had no one to teach them. Israel from the time GOD gave her birth has sent, by GOD, prophets, preachers, teachers and servants, one after another. dear heart, when I read the WORD of GOD and it tells me that "Noah was a preacher of righteousness, who preached for one hundred years and only eight people were saved," or Jeremiah who said that "this is the twenty-third year which the word of the LORD has come to me; and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you have not listened" (1 Pet 2:5; Gen 5:32; 7:6; Jer 25:3). When I read Scripture like that I have to wonder if I have the tenacity, am I that determined? One hundred years and only eight saved? Twenty-three years and none listened? One preacher after another but, alas! GOD's good news was in fact their bad news. It was the marvelous light that exposed their dirty dark deeds and they were not having any of it. "For GOD did not send HIS SON into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through HIM might be save...for everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed..." (Jh 3:17-20).
Beloved, America is in the anguish of the all-time worst spiritual bondage in our history because so many people are ignorant of GOD's WORD. JESUS our MASTER said "and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free" (Jh 8:32).PTL!
There is this most wonderful verse in the Bible which every time I recite it or have the pleasure of receiving a recitation of it, my heart-so to speak-gets a lump in it. It is (2 Cor 5:14-15 AMP), " for the love of CHRIST controls and urges and compels us, because we are of the opinion and conviction that [if] ONE died for all, then all died; and HE died for all, so that all those who live might live no longer to and for themselves, but to and for HIM Who died and was raised again for their sake." "The love of CHRIST compels us." The love of CHRIST compels, controls, urges our inner being. Christians are compelled to teach! This very love is a vital element in the live of the reborn person. Again in the language of (1 Jh 4:7-8) "he who loves is born of GOD and knows GOD. He who does not love does not know GOD; for GOD is love." The love to which GOD speaks of is called agape #25. Agape is the original Bible Greek word and this kind of love is an outgoing love that has replaced self-love (the natural condition of sinful man) with the love and devotion to GOD through our LORD JESUS CHRIST. It also is a love that reaches out to other persons whatever their status or situation is. The regenerated person beloved, accordingly, is at last in the position to fulfill his or her great mandate to "go therefore and make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the FATHER and of the SON and of the HOLY SPIRIT, teaching all I have commanded you..."(Mat 28:19-20).
One of the greatest teaching verses in the Holy Bible is (2 Cor 4:13), " I believe, therefore I speak."
Look dear heart, if we really, truly, I mean to the core of our soul really believe the Truth of the Bible (I am the way, the truth, and the light Jh 14:6), then we will beyond a doubt, have to tell others about it. Perhaps one of the greatest qualifications of the ideal Bible teacher is to have his or her head and heart so full of the WORD of GOD that he cannot keep from teaching.PTL!
Look dear heart, if we really, truly, I mean to the core of our soul really believe the Truth of the Bible (I am the way, the truth, and the light Jh 14:6), then we will beyond a doubt, have to tell others about it. Perhaps one of the greatest qualifications of the ideal Bible teacher is to have his or her head and heart so full of the WORD of GOD that he cannot keep from teaching.PTL!
Let us look at Jeremiah in chapter one of his book, he is perhaps as young as eighteen when GOD called him to preach and teach with the promise of protecting him and since that initial calling: Jeremiah has been tossed up, beat down, thrown into a hole, thrown into jail, and excommunicated, etc.. We see as soon as chapter 20 of the 52 chapter book that Jeremiah is on the verge of just giving up, his soul is so much in despair as he says in (Jer 20:9) "I will not make mention of HIM, nor speak anymore in HIS name. But HIS word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary of holding it back, and I could not." In other words; "I just sit back and watch you people ignorantly walk headlong into eternal hell and damnation without telling you about the Good News of JESUS CHRIST and HIS grace of repentance, and forgiveness." Beloved, the WORD of GOD simply cannot be quenched for one who truly loves GOD and HIS salvation and realizes what HIS WORD has done for his or her life and what it means for a lost world. The greatest evangelistic refrain of (Jer 22:29) should fill the heart of every Bible teacher. "O earth, earth,earth, hear the word of the LORD." And again he wrote in (Jer 23:29), "is not MY word like fire? Says the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rocks in pieces?" The revealed WORD of GOD is very prominent and has great power to convict sin and shatter pride and complacency.
In (Eph 6:17) we have a powerful weapon, "the sword of the SPIRIT, which is the WORD of GOD," that we must wield properly. And in (Heb 4:12) that word "is living and powerful sharper than any two-edged sword." Beloved, there is an urgency about this teaching (Ps 89:47-48) tells us point blank, "remember how short time is...what man can live and not see death? can he deliver his life from the power of the grave?" And (Ps 103:15-16) says, "as for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes, for the wind passes over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more." We do not, at all, have much time on this earth. That is why our brother Paul beseeches [begs, pleas, implores] us in (Eph 5:16) that we should capitalize on every opportunity to teach others what we have learned from the WORD of GOD. The number one thing that we must teach to a dying world is that we are great sinners, lost and hopelessly, helplessly under sin and that there is a GREAT SAVIOR who is able to redeem us from such vileness that pleases the wicked one. "Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But GOD be thanked that through you were slaves of sin yet you obeyed from the heart that from of doctrine [teaching] to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness" (Rom 6:15-16).
There is this commercial that comes on television once or twice a year, it's a wholesome commercial from Hallmark. Its about a woman coming back to visit the university that she graduated from some years ago. She enters her old professor's office and sees that it is in a disarray, for he is retiring his tenure, boxes everywhere, and the man who taught her as a young lady was now much older than she'd remembered. She says, "hello, you may not remember me my name is Copper, I used to be a student of yours." He says wittily, "no, it doesn't ring a bell , my apologies, I hope I didn't ruin your life." The remark set her back a bit but before she had a chance to answer he asked her, "Copper where do you stand on Bonsai trees?" He rambles on for a spell, then she says, "I was thinking of you and wanted to give you this card." She hands the card to him. He then claims not to remember where he laid his glasses down at in all the mess his office was in and hands it back to her to read to him. Now she thinks that the professor may have become a bit senile, but you can tell that this old coot is still sharp as a whip. She removes the card from the envelope and starts to read it; I'll paraphrase it. "Who in life hasn't planted a seed and hope it didn't grow? The seed that was planted in me sprouted, and I thank you for the time in my life." You can see his face slightly change. She hands the card back to him and heads for the door, about half way there the old teacher starts to recite her dissertation, now her face is in total shock. "You remembered?" He answers, "in my 35 years of teaching only three students have made me proud to be a teacher, you're one of them Copper." She starts off again to leave and right when she gets under the door frame he asked her, "Copper. so what did you become, one of those Starbucks computer gurus?" She replied with a solemn face, "no, a teacher like you." Now his face was in total amazement...
A good teacher plants and waters the student with the truth, for the truth does not change nor does it bend, neither is it supple. The truth is consistent, unlike a lie which continues to grow and is hard pressed to remember.
This brings me to the next point; What Is The Bible Teachers Qualification? Well, first of all you must have a profound respect for GOD's WORD as the writer of (Ps 119:97,130) so eloquently puts it, "oh, how I love YOUR law! it is my meditation all the day...the entrance of YOUR WORD gives light." That reminds me of (Rev 3:20) "behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears MY voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him and he with ME." When JESUS speaks of the door HE is speaking of your heart. When you open up your heart to JESUS HE comes in and sets up-so to speak- a lighthouse containing a beacon of pure light to warn all the vile blackness that abides in the innermost darkness of your heart that it has to leave , and there you are with the HEALER of your soul JESUS dining under candle light. This, beloved, is a certainty that CHRIST is not dead as some teacher spue out but alive "CHRIST in you," says Paul is "the hope of glory" (col 1:27). It is the certitude of HIS resurrection from the dead and His continuing reality.PTL!
I once read where a Bible teacher had taken all his students to the Metro Dome to prove a point. He arranged for all the windows to be closed and the Dome itself shut, he then placed his students in various places of the lower and upper decks of the Dome,while all this was taking place there was a man in the middle of the field on the 50 yard line. On the Bible teacher's word the lights went out. Some of the testimonies that I heard from the students were: "I could not even see my own hand." Another said, "if I had to find my way out of here I would of just sat down and waited for someone to find me it was so dark." Beloved, I've been in that kind of darkness, it was for fun of course, I remember that it was so dark that I started to play a game with my eyelash seeing how close I could get to it before touching it, you see, I couldn't even see my finger just millimeters away. This is how dark the Dome was, and all there agreed to that fact. Then on the Bible teacher's word the man on the 50 yard line lighted up a plain paper match which burned for four seconds and went out. Every single student there testified that they saw the light, and get this, every student had taken a step forward! PTL!
"The entrance of YOUR WORD gives light, it gives understanding to the simple." (Ps 119:130). This testimony of the psalmist should convict us today. He had only a small portion of scriptures to study, much of which were portions that many of us modern day Christians don't read at all, whereas dear beloved, we have GOD's complete revelation.
Look, unless we have a deep respect for the WORD of GOD, and believe within all our heart that (2 Tim 3:16), "all scripture is given by inspiration of GOD," and that (2 Pet 1:21) "the holy men of GOD spoke as they were moved by the HOLY SPIRIT," and that it is in truth (2 Thes 2:13), "not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the WORD of GOD." Then we are not fit subjects for the KING of kings and the LORD of lords JESUS CHRIST...then we are not fit subjects to be teachers of GOD's WORD! As JESUS said in (Mat 4:4) " man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of GOD." Dear heart, Scripture is the result of GOD's precious intimate touch- HIS "moving" HIS "breathing"-upon those who set forth HIS truth.PTL!
The ideal Bible teacher my beloved must have a deep regard for GOD's WORD because he or she has a deep regard for GOD. So we equip ourselves to be "ready to give a defense [apologia #627] to every one who ask you for a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear" (1 Pet 3:15), as we "rightly divide the word of truth" (Tim 2:15). The teacher seeks to provide, insofar as possible, a rational defense of the Christian faith. The teacher is directed to the world of unbelief and attempts to establish certain aspects of Christian faith-for example, the truthfulness of Scripture, the existence of GOD,the deity and resurrection of CHRIST, and the immortality of the soul- as true on the basis of rational and empirical evidence only (that is what you teach originated in/or was based on what you have observed and experienced so it is capable of being verified or disproved by observation or experiment).
You know, there is this statement that I agree with, I don't quite know who said it whether it be Sir Walter Scott, or Charles H. Spurgeon, one of them said of men and the Bible: "better had he ne'er been born who reads to doubt or reads to scorn."
I will now take my leave with this last point and may the precious HOLY SPIRIT open our spiritual-understanding for JESUS sake.
We must live consistent with GOD's WORD. We must not only affirm our belief in the precious Holy Bible, but we must live in harmony with it! (Phil 1:27) says, and listen real good because this little verse is one of the deepest verses in the Bible. "Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of CHRIST..." That is deep. "Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of CHRIST." In other words dear saint, we must "practice what we preach." We must let our civic behavior be becomingly to our allegiance to the gospel. Christians are to be "the salt of the earth" and "the light of the world" (Mat 5:13-16). It is still true that a person can not teach what he or she does not know. You also can not lead where you don't go. We must be happy, joyful, optimistic children of GOD. Many act like it is just killing them to live the Christian life-then they wonder why they can't win anyone to Christ! They come up to me and say "brother William, you're always pointing someone to CHRIST, I don't know why I can't." Listen, not only must we know the WORD of GOD, but the Christian teacher must share that WORD - longingly, lovingly and willingly. We have, like our brother the apostle Paul, been "entrusted with the Gospel" (1 Thes 2:4), and say with him, "woe is me if I do not preach the gospel" (1 Cor 9:16).
