Paul Washer | Teaching for the Church in Frankfurt - Germany

okay are you going to translate in German or does everyone speak English oh wow you Germans are so smart well to all of you it's a great privilege for me to be here and I always counted a blessing especially to do anything associated with Peter and Nathanael we have such great respect for them and for their ministries and today things that I will teach you they may not be something new or some of you may not think it's very profound but I can assure you that very few ministers even Bible believing ministers today actually practice the things that I'm going to talk about and even those of us who do attempt to practice them we are always growing hopefully as the Reformers used to say in Latin simple Amanda were we're always beginning to see places where we're really not as biblical as we thought and that's how we grow and so I want us to look at a passage to begin with in 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 and we'll begin reading in verse 1 Paul says as you know in the background here Paul is having trouble with the church in Corinth and many of the problems I believe in the Church of Corinth is not just coming from the city it's not just coming even from the congregation but I believe that there are teachers behind many of Paul's problems that there are men who have come in who are probably have a more how can I say influential physicality they're bigger than Paul more handsome than Paul they speak more eloquently than Paul and they seem to be very astute and the type of people who can really draw people to themselves to their personalities and I think that that this group of men maybe a small group maybe just two or three are the reason behind many of Paul's problems now he says in in chapter 10 of second Corinthians verse one now I Paul myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ I who am meek when face to face with you but bold towards you when absent I asked that when I am present I need not be bold with the confidence with which I proposed to be courageous against some who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh for though we walk in the flesh we do not war according to the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses we are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and we are ready to punish all disobedience whenever your obedience is complete then he goes on to verse seven I just want to mention this because it's part of the context you are looking at things as they are outwardly this is very very important and lets us go to the Lord in prayer and then and then we'll begin to look at this text father I thank you for this great privilege to be here today to speak with these men and to offer something that I pray that you will make a help to your people father help us all to live in greater conformity to your word your infallible inerrant sufficient word in Jesus name Amen now in verse 1 Paul says again he says now I Paul myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ one of the things that it is apparent here is that these men who seem to be opposing Paul they are not meek or gentle they are intimidating men and they are intimidating people and they are probably trying to intimidate Paul and what I want you to see is that Paul is not going to fight fire with fire Paul is not going to change his personality and and stop being meek stop being gentle he is going to speak the truth and he's going to allow the truth and the Spirit of God working through the truth to fight for him and I think this is very important because sometimes when we're faced with men who are not acting godly we have a tendency to attack them the same way we have a tendency to try to fight fire with fire now in all cases the minister of Christ must be firm he must be strong he must be willing to sacrifice he must not back up he must not compromise but we should never cease manifesting the fruit of the Spirit and so Paul he says I urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ I who am meek when face to face with you but bold towards you when absent now I don't believe this was the case at all I believe this is what people were saying about Paul when Paul was with them he spoke the same truth and he spoke it in meekness and gentleness when he wrote his letters again he spoke the same truth but his enemies were accusing him of this I don't think Paul ever changed from being meek and gentle you and I never have an excuse to act like the world to act like the fleshly man in order to fight the fleshly man we must always fight the battles in the church with christ-like character with the word of God and trusting that the Word of God will be used by the Holy Spirit to do its work now he says in verse two I ask that when I am present I need not be bold with the confidence with which I proposed to be courageous against some who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh now there are some people that are in this congregation that are saying Paul walks according to the flesh and Paul's going to have to deal with them but he's giving them an opportunity here he doesn't mean that he wants them to repent or he's going to come there and be very angry and attack these people that's not what he's saying but he is saying this he he acknowledges that he is an apostle he acknowledges that he has Authority and he's going to work as an apostle he's gonna deal with the situation as apostle he's gonna deal with it with great Authority but it doesn't mean that he is gonna lay aside his humility his meekness and his gentleness now as ministers of Christ we must speak with authority but our authority comes from our conformity in our speech to the Word of God our conformity in our character to the Word of God our conformity of our disposition to the Word of God always remember that in the United States a sometimes that when a man's getting ready to fight he sticks out his chest and tries to make himself look bigger that's not what we do in the ministry when we have to deal with difficult situations and in timid people they ought to see something of a contradiction in us on one hand they ought to see humility and gentleness on the other hand they ought to see Authority by the way we use scripture that almost makes them afraid they ought to see Authority in the fact that we refuse to back up one step yet at the same time we're not going to turn from a christ-like disposition now he goes on in verse three for though we walk in the flesh we do not war according to the flesh now this is very very important there there is many ways in which many of the more charismatic teaching has done us great damage there there's many ways in which the charismatic teaching has robbed us of our inheritance what you need to realize is this if you're a Christian you are supernatural your life is supernatural if you're going to grow as a Christian you will grow supernaturally if you are to minister in this world you are to minister super naturally above nature that is not a bad word that's a good word it's just many times people have taken that word and filled it full of fanaticism you and I can accomplish nothing in the kingdom of God by human means you and I can accomplish nothing in the flesh we can accomplish nothing with clever strategies we can accomplish nothing with personality we can accomplish nothing with an impressive intellect if we are to be used of God to accomplish something in his kingdom it will be through our submission to his word our proclamation of his word an intercessory prayer it will be through dealing with carnal men not as carnal men but as godly men who have authority because of their knowledge of the scripture and their submission to it now we live you know I don't know how it is in Germany but the United States is a country of pragmatism we are a country of it doesn't matter how you do it just make sure you get the job done you can use any way you want but make sure that it works as long as it works it's good that has carried over into the ministry so if someone has success in or called success in building a church that's 5000 people everybody wants to know how did you do it and normally it comes down to a person writing a book about their leadership skills and that is so very wrong that right there demonstrates pragmatism because the only thing that matters is not how someone built a large church but what does scripture say about the duties of a minister of Christ how is he supposed to live how is he supposed to minister that's all that matters nothing else so please do not read books coming from America written by pastors who have grown mega churches if you want to really do well avoid those books at all cost and read the scriptures and determine what God has commanded you to do as a minister of Christ and then let him take care of everything else now look in verse 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh another way of saying this you see when you and I hear the word flesh we automatically think of something that's wicked and that can be the context here but I also want you to look at something else he could be saying for the weapons of our warfare are not human they're not human there is nothing that humanity in itself your humanity even your talents there is nothing you can do to advance the kingdom of heaven so the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh they are not human but divinely powerful now this phrase divinely powerful literally means mighty before God and that can mean that it's God who empowers them but it also indicates that this is how God sees power men will look at certain talents and gifts that a person has and think they're very powerful but we need to determine what God sees as powerful and this is very very important God does not see your personality as powerful he doesn't see your cleverness as powerful he doesn't see your good looks as powerful none of that is powerful so we need to determine what is powerful before God and we will see that it is the weapons that he has given us God has given us certain weapons and you have to make a choice not only as a minister but as a Christian and this is the choice are you going to use God's armor or are you going to use the armor of King Saul what armor are you going to use King saw his armor and his weapons were very very impressive if you want to do that go ahead you want to use the world's weapons go ahead they can look really impressive but they'll never beat Goliath David laid aside the armor and the weapons of Saul and what did he do he pulled out the weapon of choice a few little stones a slingshot people would have thought that was absolutely insane well today if you reject the weapons the pragmatism of modern day evangelicalism and you determine to only use God's weapons people are going to think you're foolish they're going to think you're not practical and you have to make a choice he says for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh they're not human so when I read of some missionary strategy or church growth strategy that's been invented by a man and that looks like something Walt Disney uses then we're not going to use it because it's of men it is of the flesh it is of the arm of the flesh and they have no power the weapons that Paul used were divinely powerful you need to use the weapons that come from God and the weapons that are infused with God's power only they can destroy fortresses only they can destroy the fortresses of a fallen humanity and a fortress that is demonic only these weapons that God gives us I want you to think about an illustration from Joshua it's says this about Jericho that Jericho was tightly shut up no one went in and no one came out it was tightly shut up some archeologists say that the wall surrounding Jericho was so wide that you could race three chariots on that wall there was no power on earth that could bring that wall down none how did they bring it down the only way possible the power of God but how did that power of God manifest itself in something that appeared very very weak people simply obeying God walking around Jericho finally blowing a horn and shouting and it wasn't the sound of the horn and it wasn't the stomp of their feet that created an earthquake horns and stomping feet will not create an earthquake that it will bring down a wall of that size I don't care how many people there are it was a miraculous work of God now the things that you have to do as a Christian as a minister I want you to understand this they are utterly and totally impossible and if you don't believe that then you're in trouble from the start you must believe that everything you're called upon to do in ministering and advancing the gospel is an absolute human impossibility you must believe that there is absolutely nothing you can contribute to it did all your so-called intelligences and talents and everything they add up to zero and that is why so many times throughout church history God has used men who no one in this world would have ever chosen in order to demonstrate that the power was all of God if you study the scriptures from the Old Testament on what do you see every time God chooses means that will prove that the success was his doing and had nothing to do with man you know look at Gideon who does God go after to defeat the Midianites someone who is hiding from the Midianites and then when he gets an army it's too big why is it too big because God says if you won with this army you would think that you'd done it so I'm going to reduce it down to where you're going to go against the Midianites with an army that is so small it will be impossible for you to defeat anyone and then I'm going to step in and I'm going to defeat it that that applies throughout all of Christianity it enters into the New Testament it's it's everywhere it's in church history god uses the man who cuts off cuts himself off from the arm of the flesh and trusts only in the power of the Living God and let me say this is very important ministry requires more than just good theology ministry requires more than you being able to recite it to to memorize and recite a confession ministry requires more than your massive intellect and knowledge of theology ministry requires power power and it requires that we use those weapons that are powerful now in verse 5 he goes on look how Paul describes his ministry and probably is including here the apostolic ministry those who were with Paul he says we are destroying speculations I mean there are people with views so different from Christianity that you would think they were never be converted and Paul says we're destroying their speculations we're destroying every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God he's not only doing it in his own life but he's also doing it in his ministry and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ now Paul is talking now this is a man who's been called humble ignorant afraid he's not much a loser even church history tells us that Paul's appearance probably was anything other than impressive his speech Paul himself says he wasn't an eloquent speaker but the power of God was manifested in his life you see it is it is advantageous not to have many gifts what do I mean by that I was never the smartest I was never the quickest learner if I go up to a pulpit and I start preaching and the power of God is not there I will look like an idiot I do not have anything to fall back on if God does not move on my behalf even when I'm witnessing to some little teenager in the park if God does not help me I can do nothing I have no talent to fall back on I have no great intellect I have no great ability to argue anything and if I use any weapon other than the weapons God has given me I will look like a fool and I will bear no fruit so I think I praise God for my weaknesses I praise God for my inability I praise God for my even my lack of a mighty intellect because it causes me to cling to the only weapons I have and that's why I pity so many men who are so brilliant but no one's being converted lives aren't being changed because brilliance is not enough and I want you to know expository preaching is very very important but expository preaching is not enough this is a supernatural work of the Spirit of the Living God and we must cling to that we have nothing you know the illustration that's always used but it's very good I will give 1 million dollars I will give 1 million dollars to anyone of you who will go out to the graveyard and I'll give you I'll give you a year you go out to the graveyard and you preached all those tombs all those dead people and if one person comes out of the tomb I'll give you a million dollars you know it's not going to happen you know you cannot do that only God can raise the dead but what you've got to see is the very same thing applies in preaching and ministry and evangelism no one is going to get saved unless God moves no one is going to grow unless go moves and ministers are a hindrance to the salvation of people and ministers are a hindrance to the sanctification of believers whenever they either do not use God's weapons or they use God's weapons and they use other weapons that are of the flesh the more a man separates himself from the worldly weapons that most evangelicals use the more that man will see the power of God and that's just a fact that is a fact now we've talked a lot about weapons what are they well we could probably talk about this for several weeks we'd go through every passage they dealt with it but we don't have time for that I want to give you the principle weapons that are given to every Christian and especially every minister of Christ number one the Word of God the Word of God number two intercessory prayer number three a godly life number four a sacrificial life a costly life now let's look first of all at the Word of God go with me for just a second to second Timothy to a passage that you all know 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse 15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus there's no other book there's no other writing there is nothing on this planet that can give a person wisdom leading to salvation except the Word of God we don't need culture we don't need psychology we don't know it need the insights from some other religion we do not need to pollute our ministry without side sources there is only one source and it is the Word of the Living God the Scriptures the Bible I mean look look at look at Germany look at Europe look at the United States when when was their powerful moves of God when were there people masses of people fearing God and walking in holiness when it was when the ministers of Christ were truly converted and believed that every word of the book was the word of the Living God when did all that decline what was the moment that it declined what was the moment that it started falling away the moment the ministers of Christ betrayed Christ and doubted his book or added something else to his book and those men are no better than Judas and they destroyed society's ungodly unbelieving ministers have done more damage to Germany and Europe and the United States and the world than any other doctrine or or belief system that's out there and notice too that these men who do not believe the Bible to be the Word of God they never build a church they never plan to church they go into a church and a church building that has been planted by godly ministers who believe the Word of God and they take it over and they destroy it and they turn it in to a wasteland of nothing but jackals and if you if you do not adhere to the Word of the Living God then you have no business in the ministry you're a tool of the devil I can tell you that you are a tool of the devil if you doubt this book if you believe a part of it please go away to some Island where there are no people and preach to no one it's only this book and look Germany in your own history the world was changed was changed by what happened in Germany was it not it was and what were those men like they were men who stood on the Word of God and would die before they would betray one word of the Living God and those are the type of men we need to be it's amazing here in the United States those of us who love Jesus we don't study your liberal theologians we don't study your textual critisism guys we don't read their biographies we don't care we studied the Germans who believed that the Word of God was the Word of God and we're willing to die for it that's who we study we have pictures of Germans hanging in our offices the ones who believed in God's Word and that's the type of men I want to be and it's the type of men all of us must be now he says here all sprit all Scripture is inspired by God it's God breathed came out of the mouth of God if anyone says anything else they are not a Christian because how can you be a follower of Christ and not believe Christ Christ himself in the temptation said that a man will live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God and that's the Scriptures so the scriptures here it says that they are inspired if you don't believe that you cannot be a minister of Christ but also I want you to know if they are inspired or since they are inspired there are two other words we can use they are inerrant and they are infallible inerrant means that they have no error infallible they are not capable of error so he goes on and he says this all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching we need to teach the Bible no one needs our wisdom no one even needs our experiences no one needs to hear about our life stories God needs a group of men who stand before other men and when they open up their mouth they have one purpose to proclaim what God has said and to make it known to explain it it's good for teaching but it's also good for reproof and for correction any minister who does not clearly rebuke people and correct them is a coward and is loveless he loves himself more than he loves the people he wants people to like him and that's his goal but we must teach the truth we must also tell people they are wrong and then we must tell people what they must do to be right that is it our task and that is why in many cases the world hates us do you know why Europe hates Christianity true Christianity for the same reason the United States hates true Christianity because we're the only ones telling it it's wrong and that's the greatest crime you can commit today Christians ministers of Christ that are true are standing up and telling the world you are wrong and they hate us because when they're all together their conscience is not afflicted and then we show up and tell them they're wrong and the Holy Spirit convicts their hearts and they hate it that's why the two witnesses in the book of Revelation when they die the world is happy because finally the Word of God is silenced and no one is afflicting the conscience of the world anymore there's peace peace because the witnesses of Christ have gone away now we can live in our sin and live in our rebellion and we don't have to have any affliction of heart because there's no voice of God on the planet what's sad is that many people can go into an evangelical church and experience the same the minister may even teach good theology but he never tells people they're wrong he never corrects them but that's part of teaching and then training training training teaching people how to live these things let me give an example we use so many phrases that are biblical but because we do not explain them it's like empty rhetoric what do I mean we say things like keep your eyes on Jesus or it's all about the gospel or walk in the spirit but if we're not able to explain biblically what that means it'll be nothing more than empty rhetoric that the congregation will never be able to live out when I was a young Christian I went to hear a preacher and he preached adamantly for about an hour and a half about how we should walk in the spirit and he rebuked us for not walking in the spirit and he preached very very strong after the sermon I went up to him and I said dear sir I appreciate what you said I agree I want to walk in the spirit but I'm not sure what that means or how to do it and he got very angry with me and accused me of being divisive fortunately there was an older believer standing behind me and he put his arm on my shoulder and he pushed me out of the way and he confronted that preacher and he said that young man was not divisive he asked you an honest question he asked you what does it mean to walk in the spirit you did not answer him because I believe you could not answer him you were telling us to do something that you don't even know what it means we don't want to be guilty of that as ministers of Christ when we tell people what they're supposed to do we ought to tell them what it means and how it is to be done and how they can grow in it that's why the minister of Christ spend so many hours a day alone studying Scripture because many of God's people who love Jesus Christ do not have the time because of their other professions to do so and so God has entrusted that to us now I want you to look at verse 17 so that the man of God may be adequate equipped for every good work now the one thing there's so much here but the one thing that I want to teach you is this the scriptures if you tell me that you believe the scriptures are inspired if you tell me you believe the scriptures are inerrant and infallible let me share something with you I will not be impressed because there's one more thing that you're going to have to tell me because if you do not tell me that one more thing than all the other things you've told me mean nothing they won't work themselves out in the practical life you must believe that the Scriptures are inspired that they are inerrant that they are infallible and you must believe that the Scriptures are sufficient do you hear me sufficient you do not need to add to the scriptures and you have no right to do Church according to the way you think you ought to do Church you have no right to let the people do Church according to the way they think church ought to be done it is the Church of the Living God and he has not asked you to design it it is the Church of the Living God you are a Stewart and nothing more and it is required of a Stewart to do only one thing to clearly communicate the commands of his Lord the minister of Christ does not need some extra philosophy they do not need special evangelistic strategies or missionary strategies from the United States and we do not need to go around learning different social constructs in order to be able to minister to people correctly we believe the Scriptures are sufficient sufficient for faith and practice now I am a man who suffers many maladies I live in chronic pain my knee is down here right now really hurting I've just had my knee replaced I've had both hips replaced I have metal in my arm I'm in my wrist I need doctors for that in the physical realm in the medical realm I do need doctors I need accountants I need lawyers I need all sorts of things but when it comes to faith and practice and the church I need the scriptures and nothing should be taken away from Scripture you have no right to not do something Christ has commanded in the church and you have no right to do something he has not commanded and that is extremely important gentlemen everything we say we believe about the Scriptures does not matter if we do not practice sufficiency of Scripture I go to churches and they claim to be biblical I look at their elders and they're not elder qualified I look at their members and realizing they're not practicing church discipline I listen to their worship and realize that it's extremely worldly and it plays upon the emotions of people yet they claim to love the scriptures and I think they do but they don't understand that the one who says the Bible's inspired is not the one blessed by God but the one who practices the inspired work let me show you something in a first Timothy go with me to first Timothy chapter 3 now Paul in verses 1 through 13 is talking about the qualifications non-negotiable qualifications of an elder and non-negotiable qualifications of a deacon then he goes on in verse 14 and he says I am writing these things to you hoping to come to you before long now 15 is the important part but in case I am delayed I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God now I want you to look at this the church is called the household of God it is not your household it is not your church you are a Stuart and nothing more now the question is how can a man know how to conduct himself in the household of God there's only one way Paul says it here I write these things to you we can know how to conduct ourselves and how to conduct the church only through what is written that is it not through clever leadership strategies not through clever church growth strategies we don't make a church look really worldly so that it it attracts worldly men we don't throw out the things we're supposed to do in church because carnal people don't like them in our church here in in radford Christ Church of Radford the elders have ordered the service in such a way that you're going to know there's only one thing you're going to really get in our church and that is Jesus Christ our church starts on Sunday morning at 10 o'clock and it begins with one hour of a prayer and then the singing of hymns and then one hour of exposition and then a meal so many people have told us man your church is wonderful but that hour of Prayer it's just you know you guys pray on Sunday you have prayer meetings on Wednesday you have special meetings of Prayer and you know just that that's just too much but Jesus said his house would be a house of prayer and so we're not going to make the church according to what the carnal heart desires but according to what God has commanded now that doesn't mean you have to have an hour worth of Prayer my only point is this so many people will come to church if you will entertain them so many people will come to church if you move their emotions if you meet their needs and so many will walk away when you determine you're going to give them Christ and he's going to be the attractant and no one else nothing else so this is what he tells Timothy and it's so important Timothy if you want to know what you're supposed to do in the church it is through what I have written now I want to go quickly the other weapon that is so extremely important so neglected is that of intercessory prayer brothers someone asked me one time a question and I remember answering them this way the flesh is a really good indicator about what you ought to be doing as a Christian minister the flesh is a really good indicator and guide with regard to what you should make a priority in your life and the believers the young men I were that I was speaking with they said how can that be how can you say that that the flesh is a good indicator of what we ought to be doing and I said well just find the things that your flesh hates the most find the things that your flesh hates the most and pretty much that'll be what God wants you to be doing but it's clear in the word we are to devote ourselves to the study of Scripture and the proclamation of Scripture and we are to devote ourselves to prayer in Acts chapter 6 the Apostles cared about the needs of the widow's but they did not lay down their ministry in order to wait on tables they said we will devote ourselves to prayer and the word and notice they said prayer before they said the word I think that's very very important it doesn't mean that prayer is more important than Scripture but it we have a tendency to study the Scriptures a lot and pray very little and it helps us to see no they are on equal footing we shouldn't abandon one for the sake of the other if you pray all the time without the scriptures eventually you are going to go to go astray and fall into fanaticism if you study the Scriptures all the time and do not pray you're going to become cold and powerless we need to be men who devote ourselves to the study of Scripture and to intercessory prayer now I want to divide prayer up into two different categories communion and intercession so many people will tell me you know prayer is so hard and I say to them well tell me what your prayer life is like and they'll say well you know interceding for people and I said well that tells me why your prayer life is so difficult why it's so hard intercession is hard work intercession is warfare intercession is fighting intercession is blood sweat and tears if all you do is intercession you will not develop a proper prayer life and in time you will not even be praying intercession is important part of prayer but it's not all that prayer is prayer is also communion with God walking with God talking to God drawing near to God taking your needs to God crying out to God constantly for greater manifestations of his spirits life and power in you that's your legacy according to the new covenant not just being able to understand God's Word but the fullness and the power of the Holy Spirit and just because many charismatic s' twist that and turn it into fanaticism it doesn't mean it's not in Scripture you and I should be constantly seeking deeper communion with God and you and I should be crying out constantly for greater and greater measures and manifestations of the life and power of the Holy Spirit we should commune with God walk with God wake up in the middle of the night if we can't sleep we should be communing with God on our beds but then there's also intercession brethren God answers prayer and you have not because you ask not I I am confessional I hold to the 1689 London Baptist confession I appreciate many other confessions I believe in the sovereignty of God I believe in the decrees of God according to the confessions the strictest confessions yet I also believe as the confessions do that you have not because you ask not I know a case in in history and I'm not going to mention names because it wouldn't it wouldn't be dignified it wouldn't be noble but there was a ministry a great preaching ministry and it went on for years and years and years and the preacher finally retired and passed away if I mentioned name you would know him he was replaced by another man and I believe that that other man failed and I believe that he failed for this reason when he got in that pulpit after he preached all his best sermons he realized he did not have what it would take to fulfill that pulpit to fill that pulpit he did not have what was necessary he did not have the knowledge the anointing the power to fulfill that ministry and what did he do he ran after strange fire he really did and because of it the church just fell apart what should he have done recognizing his weaknesses he should have gone to God day and night crying out God I do not have what I need I lack so much to fill this great pulpit of a great man of God please guide me in my preaching strengthen me and bribe preaching give me the power and the life I need give me uncle do whatever is necessary but instead of going to God and God alone he went to strange fire to the detriment of the entire church you and I are constantly going to be in situations where we are not adequate and we can go and we can build we can use false tools we can use worldly weapons we can even apply strange fire but none of it will work but if recognizing your weakness you will go alone and be with God and cry out to him Lord you've put me in this place Lord you've given me this ministry Lord I see that I do not have the ability to carry it out you've got to help me rend the heavens and come down not just for five minutes not just for a day but persevering and believing prayer and go honoring God will honor it any man who is mightily used of God it's because God made that man something more than what he is it's not because of the man it's because of the Spirit of God but there is so much brethren that you and I do not experience there's so much usefulness that we'll never see because we do not cry out to God and then not just for us but everything in the church God is a God of miracles and just because there's so many people today lying in and fraudulently making up miracles and calling things miracles that are nothing more than emotion that doesn't mean God is not miraculous that doesn't mean God doesn't answer prayer he does in extraordinary fashion he will answer your praying he will answer the praying of your congregation if you'll teach your congregation how to pray that's a weapon of our warfare brethren prayer and how do you learn to pray how do you learn how to ride a bike you pray two things just read through biblical prayers now I'm not saying read through them memorize them and repeat them word for word I'm saying renew your mind in the scriptures just read through biblical prayers in the Old Testament in the New Testament in the Book of Psalms and in the Beatitudes pull in Ephesians chapter one and three read through biblical prayers and in time what will happen is you will be cultivating a christ-like mind with regard to prayer renew your mind in the Word of God so that you will know what the will of God is and pray according to that will there is so much that's the will of God that we don't see in our churches because we do not ask there's so much sanctification that is not in our churches today why because we're not asking we're not believing we're not sabirah brethren even some of the greatest greatest men greatest pulpit ears many of them on their deathbed say they lamented the fact that they didn't pray as much as they should have I have never met a man dying on his deathbed who was sad that he prayed too much but I have met many men who were sad because they prayed too little oh the promises of God are far beyond anything his willingness to show himself strong to those that will that will hide under the shadow of his wing expect great things from God according to his promises and fight in prayer call out to him he delights when the Watchmen give him no rest Matthew 18 the unjust judge the woman wore him out how much more will God do righteously answer the prayers of his people but when Jesus comes back will he find anybody believing these things will he find you with really really good theology and really really good exposition but you're not believing him and you're not believing him because you're not asking oh brother and I'm preaching to you I'm preaching to me let us give ourselves to prayer and then finally with the shortness of time a godly life you know I was at a I was at Masters seminary a few years ago in California and I heard something that I've kind of toyed with it a little bit added few words to it but I heard something that was so powerful this is what was said to the young men who were preparing for the ministry basically what the person said was this you are here to study the Word of God to live the Word of God and to proclaim the Word of God that's why you're here that's it now that's really close to estra he set his heart to studying the Word of God to obeying it to teaching it to making it known throughout all of Israel and that middle thing there is so important Jesus said teach them to observe he didn't say teach them to observe all that I commanded them he said teach them to observe all that I commanded you so you and I we must study the Word of God we must live the Word of God we must proclaim the Word of God and not just in the context of public ministry but especially in our hidden lives especially with our wives and our children obedience obedience oh dear brethren I know I've said a lot today but these are the things that the lack of these things is what destroys any true work of God give yourself to this give yourself to only those weapons and God will mightily use you the Word of God intercessory prayer and a godly life one man who devotes himself to that is better than ten thousand with all their silly church growth strategies and methodologies of ministry that's nothing more than pragmatism learned from the secular world all right well I'm finished brother Peter are you there yes long as my boys [Music] yeah that's a very good question he never changed his message he did not give the Jew one message and the Gentile another message now based on what Paul said you know if you go study at a mission school they will spend so much time teaching you about culture and how to you know just everything about culture and I appreciate that we need to know about culture but but here's what I've discovered brother it's really not that complex we are commanded to teach the truth to speak the truth but how are we to speak it especially to the world in love in love and so if I do not understand all the culture around me but I'm filled with the Holy Spirit and I'm bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and so control then when I sit down with a person I'm going to listen to them I'm going to discern where they're where they are I'm going to realize that there are some things at this moment they're probably not ready to accept I'm going to teach them the truth without compromise and I'm going to be very very careful and very very sensitive to their needs I think that in in second Timothy it says here in verse 23 but refuse foolish and ignorant speculations knowing that they produce quarrels I'm not going to quarrel with someone about some even big issue but that's not why I'm there I'm not there to talk about society or politics or all the things that are so important to the world I'm not going to sit down with someone who maybe you know is doing drugs and dressed in a horrible fashion and saying all kinds of curse words I'm not going to sit down with that person and and say stop cussing I'm not going to talk to them about all those types of things what am I going to do I'm gonna listen to them and I am going to speak the gospel into their life according to the wisdom that the Spirit gives me with gentleness he goes on the Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome but be kind to all be kind able to teach patient when wrong with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition and so you know I am 58 years old and I am NOT from a major city I'm from a rural area and a farm but they asked me every week to go to the University and teach students I don't have to try to dress like them I don't even have to know what are all the trends and fads and of student culture I just have to be a man who loves people regardless of where they are whose gentle who's listening who's sensitive always the same message always the same message never allowing myself to be pulled into arguments that are just going to lead to more arguments but with one sole purpose to communicate clearly the gospel of Jesus Christ and that's the way I deal with it that's a great question you know that's that's a great question and I wanted to address it a bit more I was a little bit worried about making that statement without coming back and talking about sometimes we have to be forceful but first of all let me give you something that I think is very very important usually when we sought to see a man whether it's myself or whoever especially younger Minister we are given two extremes aren't we there are some men that are just they're fighters and that seems to be the thing that you always see in them whenever they're preaching then there are men who are very gentle and maybe to a fault because they do not confront they do not fight but if you go to the book of Jude first of all I think we need to lay this foundation in the book of jude verse 3 he said beloved while i was making every effort to write you about our common salvation so what was what was the norm for Jude's ministry what did Jude what did he desire to do all the time and what was it that you was most prominent in Jude's ministry it was this he loved and wanted to talk about our common salvation okay that that's what he did that's what characterized his life was talking about our common salvation teaching people the gospel and the Word of God he was not a contentious man you see that but then he goes on and he said I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the Saints now Jude I think gives us a perfect example of what we see in Jesus Jude was not a contentious man Christ was not crying out in the streets Jude was not a contentious man if you looked at his life and ministry it was one of simply making known the salvation of God in the gospel but there were times Jude said but now at this moment I see the necessity to tell you you must contend and then he says some very very hard things about the false prophets and the false people who had snuck into the church and so if if I see a man who every time he teaches it is contending it is fighting it is just that's all he does that's a red flag for me but if I see a minister who is never contending and never fighting and never standing his ground and never in conflict that's a red flag also we ought to be marked as men who are gospel men who are loving men kind men who will go the extra mile but every once in a while we have to draw a line in the sand and we have to fight now I remember one time I was asked to go to this very large church that we had really blown up it was it was a really terrible situation and after being there for a few months trying to fix everything I called a friend of mine who's older than me and I said I met a crossroads if I do this they've threatened a lawsuit against me if I do this many people in church are gonna leave if I do this this is gonna happen and my friend wisely said to me you are already wrong you're wrong and I said what do you mean he said it doesn't matter if they bring a lawsuit against you it doesn't matter if many of these people leave it doesn't matter this other thing the only thing that matters is you do what God commands in Scripture that's all that matters I was younger then he was right yes brother there are times when you must stand your ground I remember as a young minister in Peru a pastor I was a pastor I wasn't even 30 years old and these three men walked into my congregation and they looked at me they were very intimidating very very frightening and and they said where's the pastor and I said I'm the pastor and I could see that they laughed you know you're a little boy this that and they've tried to intimidate me from the very beginning and they said we're prophets and we've come here to prophesy on your church and I said that is absolutely wonderful and so they got all excited and I said here's what we're going to do you stay here in our church for six months to a year and when I can observe your fruit and see that you are truly a man men of God then maybe you can say something to the congregation and they I thought they were going to get violent but I had to stand my ground until finally some other men got around me and we moved him out of the building I was preaching at another time and a cult walked into the church while I was praying in front of the people while I was praying a man much larger than me I felt somebody tugging on my arm while I was praying I looked up and it was a man much larger than me I looked up and he said we've come here to basically take over the church we're prophets and we're we've come to do this and I said I don't care who you are you're only gonna do one thing you're gonna get down off this platform right now or I will take you down from this platform I was wondering how I was going to do it but yes you have to stand your ground you have to stand your ground against evil and it may cost you everything and know this that when you do stand your ground getting beat up will not be the painful part do you want to know what the painful part is going to be slander slander when they take your good name and they twist everything about you and communicate it to the world you must stand your ground but if you're a man who's always fighting you've got a problem that's a great question a big German yes I will but I'd like to say this since since our last conversation Peter in Spain I guess it was I want you to know that you've made me think about a lot of things and you really helped me and I just praise God for you and for Tobias and your desire to in good conscience do what you think is Scripture and I just want you to know that I watch from afar and you have really you've you've really been a great influence thank you so I appreciate that you too Tobias father I thank you so much for this great privilege so much lord bless these men Lord such a legacy in Germany so many men you have raised up to be a blessing to the world I pray Lord that you would repeat that pattern that men that trust in nothing but you and your word and proclaim your word and make Christ preeminent in their lives and ministries please Lord raise up men like this in Germany in Europe the United States the world and father help us by your grace that we finish the race as we ought we are so needy Lord in Jesus name Amen

Channel: HeartCry Missionary Society

Views: 19,643

Rating: 4.9274755 out of 5

Keywords: paul washer, heartcry, jesus christ, missions, bible, sermons, gospel, missionary, society, god

Id: 44nJ5kOMYn0

Length: 77min 2sec (4622 seconds)

Published: Tue May 05 2020