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In this blog, I provide encouragement and biblical teaching on the nature of our Good Shepherd, and how that relates to being a shepherd of His sheep. As the our Lord said:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." (Joh 10:7-10)

"I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. "He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. "I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. (Joh 10:11-15)

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep." (Joh 10:1-2)

Some of the topics covered include the the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who is the Good Shepherd and our Senior Pastor, the shepherding role of elders, the need for pastors to provide good care for the sheep, the servant-hood of elders, the need for people to hear and recognize the Lord's voice, direction on how to teach and preach the Word, the significance of the seven angels of the seven churches of Asia in Revelation, church government, the purpose of structure in the Church, the proper way for disciples to treat their leaders, the need for biblical submission to authority, dealing with persecution against leaders, accusations against leaders, the distinction commonly made between clergy and laity, women teaching men, the need for leaders to be accountable, correctable, and teachable, the use of titles, as well as love, mercy, holiness, righteousness, true success as a minister, and raising the dead.

The Lord, Our Shepherd	The Shepherding Role of Elders	The Servant of the Lord
Our Senior Pastor	Accountable, correctable, and teachable	Success in God's Eyes
How to Treat Leaders	Clergy-Laity Distinction unbiblical	No One to Intercede
Jesus Christ the Nazarene	The Priesthood of All Believers	A Personality Profile of the Apostle Paul
A Tale of Two Kings	Leadership Approach Reveals View of God	Wisdom for Wealthy Preachers and Prosperity Teachers
Local Church Leadership	A Word to the Wise and Learned	The Great Shepherd of the Sheep
Women Teaching Men	How to Preach and Teach the Word	The Pros, Cons, and Purpose of Structure
Raising the Dead

Attribution notice: Scripture quotations taken from the NASB and from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®, unless otherwise noted.

Author's note: You may also access my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master. 

___________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

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Doulos Missions International now offers discipleship training online through the Doulos Training School (DTS).  Please visit the DTS online at Doulos Training School to find out more about how you or someone you know can participate.

___________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org. Partner with us online by giving to DMI.

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Raising the Dead

I want to talk you about raising the dead. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb 13:8). He said we would do the works He did and even greater works than these we would do (Jn 14:12). He said, "You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it." (Jn 14:14). So that includes raising the dead, since Jesus and the apostles did this, as well as the prophets Elijah and Elisha.

- One of our past students did raise the dead once, which I have written about. (link)

- And one of my friends in Bulgaria raised her husband from the dead. (link)

- The wife of Daniel Ekechukwu in Nigeria brought her dead husband to the Reinhard Bonnke crusade meeting in an ambulance after he had been in the morgue. The people in the lower floor of the church, beneath the sanctuary, prayed over him in his coffin and the Lord raised him to life. (link)

- Henry Gruver's daughter raised her father from the dead when he was killed in a serious auto accident where he had a hole in his head (link). And they went to his other daughter's wedding immediately afterward.

I will talk more about those later. But first, it's important to look very carefully at how Jesus did it and how the apostles did it. Here are some biblical examples that we should study and be prepared to follow the biblical approach the Lord and his apostles used to raise the dead by faith in the name of Jesus!

Old Testament Examples

Let's look first at a few examples from the Old Testament.

Widow of Zarephath’s Son: Raised by the prophet Elijah (1 Kings 17:17–24).

After the boy died and the mother cried out to Elijah in grief, he said “Give me your son,”  

“He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed.” 

The prophet brought the boy to his own room in the woman’s house where he was a guest, and laid the boy on his own bed. So we see the seclusion from the woman’s fear and any unbelief that she had. We also see that the boy’s body was now in contact with the bed the prophet slept on, so there was a point of contact with something that had been in contact with the anointing that was upon the prophet.

“Then he cried out to the Lord, ‘Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?;” (v. 20)

The prophet prayed a desperate to the Lord.

“Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, ‘Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!’” (v. 21)

The prophet prayed to the Lord explicitly asking Him to let the boy’s life return to him.

The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. (v. 22)

It was a simple process with great faith and a miraculous result. 

Shunammite Woman’s Son: Raised by the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 4:18–37).

A major key to this miracle was the faith of the boy’s mother. She went to the prophet and was determined to reach him at any cost. When she did, she had faith that he could heal her son. Although the prophet sent his servant with instructions to lay the prophet’s staff on the boy’s face, that was not what the mother had faith for and not the way the Lord chose to raise the boy. So the prophet traveled with the woman to her house.

“He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord.” (v. 33)

Notice that he shut the door so that he was alone in the room with the dead boy, and notice how he first prayed to the Lord, which is a key in other examples of raising the dead. 

“Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out on him, the boy’s body grew warm.” (v. 34)

The prophet made direct contact with the dead body, even matching up the parts of his own body with the boy’s. This began the process of the boy’s spirit returning to his body, evidenced by the warmth that returned.

“Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out on him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.” (v. 35)

Perhaps he continued praying, but also gave some time for the body to warm up. But since the process was still not complete and the boy had not returned to consciousness (i.e., awoken from the sleep of death). Elisha repeated the process he did at first, using direct, body-to-body contact. This was done by faith in the Lord, and could be likened to laying on of hands in the New Testament, using the prophet’s body as a point of contact for the power of God to flow into the dead body. 

Man Raised in Elisha’s Tomb: A corpse touched Elisha’s bones and came to life (2 Kings 13:20–21). 

The anointing that was still on the bones of Elisha the prophet caused a man’s spirit to return to his corpse. The bones were a point of contact, just as our hand can be, or a piece of clothing we have worn, such as the aprons that touched the apostle Paul’s body were a point of contact that brought miraculous healing to those who touched them.

New Testament Examples (by Jesus)

Now let's look at how Jesus raised the dead and learn from His approach.

Widow of Nain’s Son: Jesus raised a young man from the dead during his funeral procession (Luke 7:11–17).

This was an act of great compassion on the part of our Lord, because the woman did not even ask for help. But the Lord knew that she had lost her only son, and being a widow, would be destitute without anyone to support her, not to mention her magnified grief of being left all alone without her closest loved ones. So the love that was in the heart of Jesus was a key to this miracle and any raising of the dead.

“Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, ‘Young man, I say to you, get up!’” (v. 14)

Some versions call it a bier and some translate it coffin. The Greek word is “soros” meaning a “coffin” or by analogy a “bier”. A bier is a stand or portable frame used to support or carry a coffin, casket, or shroud-wrapped body during a funeral service or viewing. Whether it was a coffin that he touched or a bier, we see the key being his point of contact that he made with that which was holding the body of the dead man, allowing the power of God to flow through his hand into the body. In addition to that point of contact, He simultaneously spoke to the young man by faith as if he were simply asleep, and with authority commanded him to arise by saying, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” 

“The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.” (v. 15)

There was no great fanfare. It just instantly happened once the man’s spirit returned to his body at the Lord’s command. 

Jairus’ Daughter: Jesus raised the twelve-year-old daughter of a synagogue leader (Mark 5:35–43, Luke 8:41-55).

The father of the girl had faith that the Lord could heal his daughter, even though she was obviously dying; so this important ingredient of faith, which is necessary for any miracle, was already present at the beginning. As Jesus went with him, and was delayed by the healing of the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years, a man came and reported that the girl had died; but Jesus ignored the man, and told the father not to be afraid, but only to believe. So this demonstrates the need to reject all bad reports from other people, maintain your faith, and encourage the loved one not to be afraid, but simply to believe the Lord for a miracle. Fear is the enemy of faith, so everyone needs to focus on not being afraid and just believing God. 

When Jesus went to raise the little girl from the dead, he took only the 3 closest disciples (Peter, James, and John) with him and closed the door. He put the mourners outside. He was not going to do this with the atmosphere being heavily laden with a sense of hopelessness or bring anyone with him into the room that may have some unbelief. 

Lazarus of Bethany: Jesus raised his friend Lazarus after he had been dead for four days (John 11:1–44).

Jesus first made sure that his apostles and the immediate family had faith, which is why He told His apostles that Lazarus was asleep and that it was for the glory of God. It’s also why He asked the dead man’s sister Martha if she believed that her brother Lazarus would rise from the dead, and it’s also why He told her that He is the resurrection and the life.  He said that anyone who believes in Him would live even though he dies, and whoever lives by believing in Him would never die. So He made proclamations of truth pertaining to resurrection of the dead in order to build up their faith. He also demonstrated sympathy and compassion for the grieving loved ones, as we see in the way He spoke with the sisters of the dead man and the way he wept. 

Before Jesus actually raised Lararus, He first prayed to the Father in heaven for the power to raise him from the dead, giving thanks that the Father had heard him. He then had them roll away the stone, so that Lazarus could come out when the Lord called him forth and perhaps also so that Lazarus could hear him calling. He called Lazarus’ name and commanded him with authority to come forth. Once he came out of the tomb, he directed the bystanders to take off his grave clothes.  

New Testament Examples (by Apostles)

Next let's learn from the way the apostles raised the dead.

Tabitha (Dorcas): Raised by the Apostle Peter in Joppa (Acts 9:36–42). 

Peter responded to a request by the friends of the dead woman to come immediately. They showed him the things she had made when she was alive. The fact that they did these things indicates that they had faith for her to be raised from the dead, otherwise their actions would be pointless. So he didn’t have to do much to build their faith, since it was already evident. Peter went into the room alone, closed the door, got down on his knees and prayed for the power to raise her from the dead, then looking at the woman, he simply called her name and told her to "Get up." This is similar to the way Jesus raised the little girl, closing the door behind him, calling her name, telling her to get up. And likewise when he raised Lazarus, he called his name and gave a simple authoritative command for him to come forth.

Eutychus raised from the dead: Raised by the Apostle Paul after falling from a window during a long sermon (Acts 20:7–12). 

Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “He’s alive!” We don’t know exactly what he prayed or said to the young man. But we can assume he was praying in his heart as he went down the stairs to the young man’s dead body. We can also assume that when he put his arms around the young man laying on the ground that he may have spoken the name of Jesus and called the man’s name. We don’t have that specific info, so we can only deduce it from other passages about the way the Lord and Peter raised the dead. This particular example has similarities to the way Elijah the prophet stretched himself out on the dead son of the widow of Zarephath. 

Extrabiblical Examples

Lastly, at the opening of this article, I mentioned four modern examples of raising the dead, although I have listened to testimonies of many, many more than that. But let’s look at some of these extrabiblical examples and see what we can learn from them. 

Boy raised from the dead in Uganda: One of our past students raised the dead once, which I have written about. (link)

This former student of mine in Uganda, whose name is Justus, testified about the miracle saying, “As l ministered to the family from Rev 5:5, the [dead] boy began to sweat. Life came back [into him], when I was holding up the boy on my chest.”

He was ministering to the grieving family from a verse that tells us not to weep, because Jesus Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed, and He is able. It says, “Then one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.’” That’s a powerful verse about the triumph of Jesus Christ. Since He has triumphed over death, hell, and the grave and has overcome the world (1 Co 15:55-57; Rev 1:18; Col 2:15; Jn 16:33), He is easily able to raise the dead.

He was not only showing love and compassion to the parents by comforting them from Scripture, but also for the dead boy, by holding his cold corpse in his arms. He was also building up their faith in the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, because of His complete victory, and encouraging them not to weep.

Bulgarian pastor raised from the dead: And one of my friends in Bulgaria raised her husband from the dead. (link). 

My Bulgarian friend, whose name is Zlatka, had just been informed by the doctor who had been operating on her husband, Haroutyun, that her husband had died. She didn’t feel well. In fact, she almost died of shock right on the spot, but the Holy Spirit came upon her with power and she said, “I demand he come back to life in the name of Jesus!!” At that same moment, he came back to life. They saw his pulse in his neck! 

The Holy Spirit came upon her with power and she made a bold declaration of faith in the name of Jesus, demanding that her husband come back to life. 

Nigerian pastor raised from the dead: Daniel Ekechukwu in Nigeria was raised from the dead at a Reinhard Bonnke crusafe in Nigeria.

The wife of Daniel Ekechukwu in Nigeria brought her dead husband to the Reinhart Bonnke crusade meeting in an ambulance after he had been in the morgue. The people in the lower floor of the church, beneath the sanctuary, prayed over him in his coffin and the Lord raised him to life. (link).

While he was dead and experiencing hell, his wife was crying out for God to bring him back to her.  She got his corpse out of the morgue, where he had been for three days after being embalmed, and brought it by ambulance to a meeting being conducted by evangelist, Reinhard Bonnke. Through the prayers of some pastors and others in the basement of the church, Daniel was raised from the dead. 

His wife was praying to the Lord for her husband to be raised to life. She had faith in Him to do it. She acted on her faith by bringing his body in an ambulance to a Christian evangelistic crusade to be prayed for, and he was indeed prayed for by a number of people while still in his coffin. 

Her faith was so great that she intended to bring the coffin right down the aisle to the preacher to do a miracle in front of the entire congregation, but the security guards would not allow it, so she was redirected to bring the body downstairs to a room where others prayed for him while massaging his dead body. So tenacious faith, laying on of hands, and prayer to God were key aspects in this miracle. 

American preacher raised from the dead: Henry Gruver's daughter raised her father from the dead when he was killed in a serious auto accident where he had a hole in his head (link). And they went to his other daughter's wedding immediately afterward. 

While his body was laying dead on the ground with a hole in his forehead next to the wrecked vehicle that he was thrown from when it crashed, after all attempts by the forest rangers to resuscitate him using CPR, his fifteen-year-old daughter, who stood beside his corpse, said this: “Devil, that’s my Dad! You can’t have him. I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.” Even though his spirit was already soaring through the stars of the galaxy on his way to heaven, his spirit immediately returned to his body and he came back to life. 

His daughter obviously exercised faith, and in the name of Jesus rebuked the devil, which was a spirit of death, refusing to let him have her father. 

When to Raise Someone from the Dead

You may be wondering how we can know when it's appropriate to raise someone from the dead, since everyone must eventually die sometime (Heb 9:27). You may be thinking that perhaps it was God's will that the person died at the particular time he did. Therefore, please let me give you a guideline to help you know when to attempt to raise the dead. Unless you know for certain that the person was a believer in Jesus Christ, who was ready to meet his Maker, and who finished his work on earth for the Lord (Phil 1:23-26; Ac 13:36; Col 4:17), then you should assume that it was NOT his time to die, and he qualifies as a good candidate to be raised from the dead.

Who Should Raise the Dead?

Maybe you are thinking that this is only for certain people with a gift of raising the dead. If so, then let me remind you that Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." (Jn 14:12). Since Jesus raised the dead, then if you believe in Him, you will do the same thing and even greater things than that. If you don't believe that, then you make Him out to be a liar. He also said, "All things are possible for him who believes" (Mk 9:23). All things includes raising the dead. And remember that the Lord is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34), so this is not just for some believers. 

However, it's best to first be baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire before you attempt to operate in this realm (Mt 3:11; Lk 3:16; 11:13:24:49; Ac 1:5,8; 2:4, 38; Jn 7:38; 20:22), because you will need to have a powerful anointing from the Lord, without which you will have limited success. If you have not received this anointing, then please pray and ask the Lord to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Please see Baptized with the Holy Spirit and The Holy Fire Series. 

Closing Words 

Some of the key points here in these biblical and extrabiblical testimonies are the need for faith in our own hearts, faith in the heart of the grieving loved one(s), encouraging them not to be afraid or to weep but to believe, as well as praying first for God’s power, closing the door to shut out any unbelief or hopelessness, speaking the person’s name while looking at them, boldly and directly rebuking the devil or spirit of death in the name of Jesus, refusing to accept the person’s death, operating in love, and authoritatively commanding them by faith in the name of Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit to get up. In some instances a point of contact may be used such as laying on of hands or putting arms around the dead person, but it is not always necessary. 

We also as believers in our Lord Jesus Christ should all be prepared to raise the dead whenever it may become necessary to do so. We must gird our mind for action, remaining prepared at all times, because we never know when the need to do so may arise. 

Attribution notice: Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible NIV, copyright Zondervan, used by permission.

Author's note: If you enjoyed this post, you may also like the other posts in this blog available through the Home page, such as A Tale of Two Kings, The Servant of the Lord, The Shepherding Role of Elders, Success in God's Eyes, Accountable, correctable, and teachable, A Personality Profile of the Apostle Paul, Persecuted or Popular?, and Having a Servant's Heart. You may also access my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."

___________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org. 

Ministering from the Overflow

Dear friends,

Let me encourage you today from Scripture. David said, "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows." (Ps 23:5). In other words, the Lord His Shepherd had blessed him with more than he needed and more than he could contain, so that he overflowed.

The same is true in our lives, when we come to know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. He blesses us with more than we need and more than we can contain -- more love, more joy, more peace. more of His presence, etc. -- so that we overflow. His anointing and His blessings are literally overflowing in our lives. And it is out of that overflow that we are able to minister to others, which is especially important for us to understand as ministers of the gospel. 

To illustrate this, picture a teacup in a saucer. You pour tea into it until it reaches the brim and you keep pouring until the tea overflows the cup, collecting in the saucer beneath the cup. The contents of the saucer that overflowed from the cup are what we call the overflow. 

Now consider that overflow to represent the overflow of God's anointing and blessings in your life. It is out of that overflow that you should minister to others. If you try to minister to others from a place of emptiness, you will have nothing to offer and nothing to give. You will be striving. That's why it is important to be filled with the Holy Spirit and be continuously filled on a daily basis (see Baptized with the Holy Spirit). That's why your personal time with the Lord is so important and must be guarded along with your heart, because if you become drained or your heart becomes weighed down with dissipation (i.e.., the scattering, wasting, or gradual disappearance of energy, resources, or substances), you will have nothing to give to others. 

But when you minister from the overflow, you will always have something good to give to others, as long as what fills your heart is good. That could be an exhortation (word of encouragement), a teaching, a prophecy, your time, godly counsel, a listening ear, a gift of some kind -- monetary or non-monetary (eg., clothing, food, other goods), love, kindness, some kind of help, or hospitality. Whatever you give, let it be from the overflow in your own life.

Jesus said that from the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. "A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of." (Lk 6:45). This teaches us that spoken words reveal whether a heart is filled with goodness or evil, as the mouth inevitably overflows with what is stored within.

Living Waters Flowing from Within You

The Lord also said, "'Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.' By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified." (Jn 7:38-39). Once again, He promised there would be a flowing of His Spirit through us, indicating the way in which we are to minister through the overflow of the Spirit.

Closing Words

The Lord Jesus, our Good Shepherd, promised to give us abundant life, and that is the life that is so full that it overflows (John 10:10). Stay close to Him, guard your heart, stay in the Word and in prayer daily, and continually be filled with the Holy Spirit, so that you are always in that place of enjoying the abundant life, and then you will always have overflow to share with others and from which to minister to them.

Attribution notice: Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible NIV, copyright Zondervan, used by permission.

Author's note: If you enjoyed this post, you may also like the other posts in this blog available through the Home page, such as A Tale of Two Kings, The Servant of the Lord, The Shepherding Role of Elders, Success in God's Eyes, Accountable, correctable, and teachable, A Personality Profile of the Apostle Paul, Persecuted or Popular?, and Having a Servant's Heart. You may also access my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."

___________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

How to Preach and Teach the Word

While many books have been written and courses have been taught on the subject of Homiletics, or sermon delivery, the purpose of this brief article is not meant to duplicate those or be an exhaustive reference on the subject. Instead, it is meant to be a brief bit of guidance for those who are new to preaching and teaching the Bible. However, though it may be brief, it is meant to provide the most important points you need to know, especially from the Lord's perspective, from one who has been preaching and teaching the Word for nearly forty years. 

The most important sermon preparation is the preparation of the preacher. Here are some of the most important preparations of the preacher:

A Deep, Personal Relationship with Jesus

You must first know the Lord for yourself in a very deep and personal way, before you can expect to speak for Him. So you need to get saved, becoming born again, and spend plenty of quality time with the Lord daily in prayer and Bible reading. Your constant daily attendance upon God’s Word in your private time and your daily prayer life is your preparation for your public preaching and teaching. To have prayed well is to have studied well. 

Constant study of the Word of Truth

As I have just stated, it's very important to constantly study the Word of God to show yourself approved, so that you can correctly handle the Scriptures. "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15).  It's vitally important that you maintain both a sound doctrine and a godly life: "Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers." (1 Tim 4:16). For more on this, see Read the Bible for All Its Worth!

Don't Seek to Become a Pastor or Teacher

Don't seek to become a pastor or teacher, as pastors are accountable before God for the souls of all the people under their care. They will stand before God one day and give an account not only for themselves but all the sheep in their flocks. "Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly." (Jas 3:1)

Speak to Bless, Not to Impress

The whole purpose of the five-fold ministry gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers is to equip the saints for works of service. So when you speak for the Master, don't seek to impress people or receive any praise from them, but to bless them so that they may be prepared to do the works the Lord created them to do (Eph 4-12-13).

As Jesus said, "He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him." (Jn 7:18). Therefore, don't speak on your own to gain honor for yourself, but speak for the honor of the Heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Spirit-filled Life

It's important that you receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, according to Acts 1:4-5 and 8, as well as Acts 2:1-4 and 38 (cf., Mt 3:11, Lk 3:16, 11:13, 24:49; Jn 7:38). Be being filled with the Spirit daily (Eph 5:18). The Greek in this verse is a continuous action of being filled, not a one-time thing. I cannot emphasize enough the importance not only of being Spirit-filled, but also Spirit-led (Rom 8:14), Spirit directed, and Spirit-controlled (Rom 8:6) at all times and lead one's life in this fashion.

Receiving a Message from the Lord

You should pray and ask the Lord, “Please give me a message for the church. What would you say to this particular church at this time, Lord?” Your constant prayer should be, “Make me a mouthpiece for you, Lord. Bring forth your oracles from my lips.” 

The Importance of the Unction of the Holy Spirit

It's important to be prepared. You should have some notes from your study throughout the week, and then you can create a rough, short outline to use when you preach, which highlights key points and verse references you will speak about. You can use these notes as a guide to remind you of what you intend to say, but don't be bound to your notes when you speak. 

Let the Holy Spirit flow through you. And if the Lord changes your message just as you are getting up to speak, be prepared to let go of your notes and your message and let the Holy Spirit speak things through you that you had not even planned to say. Before you begin speaking for God, you should always pray first. Ask the Lord, “Please let the unction (anointing) of the Holy Spirit come upon me now Lord as I proclaim your Word.” 

Topical Message or Exegetical One

You can deliver either a topical message about a given topic the Lord has given you to preach on (eg., Doing the Will of God, or Walking in the Spirit), or you can deliver an expository message whereby you preach in a line-by-line fashion from a passage of Scripture, explaining each verse, one at a time. If you choose to deliver a topical message, it should be directly based on the Scriptures and using the Scriptures to deliver the message. You should not preach your own opinions or without using the Bible.  And avoid using a single verse merely as a spring board to jump off into sharing your own thoughts without coming back to the Word.

Make your point, make it well, drive it home, but be concise. 

The Goal of all Preaching and Teaching

Your goal is "to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." (Eph 4:12-13). Ultimately you are to seek to present everyone to the Father perfect in Christ. As Paul said, "We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ." (Col 1:28). 

Use Illustrations

It's often helpful to support your points with an illustration or two from the Bible based on stories about Bible characters (eg., Jesus, Peter, Paul, Samuel, David, Elijah, Noah, Moses, Abraham, Joshua, etc), which helps make the point of the message more clear to the listener. 

Closing Words

I hope this brief bit of guidance has served to better equip you to speak for the Master. As you may have noticed, most of what I shared was about preparing the preacher, rather than preparing the sermon or delivering it. While delivery is important, it will be hollow and empty without the power of the Holy Spirit. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk, but of power.

Attribution notice: Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible NIV.

Author's note: If you enjoyed this post, you may also like the other posts in this blog available through the Home page, such as A Tale of Two Kings, The Servant of the Lord, The Shepherding Role of Elders, Success in God's Eyes, Accountable, correctable, and teachable, A Personality Profile of the Apostle Paul, Persecuted or Popular?, and Having a Servant's Heart. You may also access my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."

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Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

The Pros, Cons, and Purpose of Structure

I want to share a very important point with you about structure. In this article, I will cover some of the pros and cons of structure, as well as the purpose of it. Structure is important in a church, but there should only be enough structure to support life. The whole purpose of structure is to support life, but if there is too much structure, it will have the opposite effect, killing whatever life was there to begin with. 

Take for example the human skeleton, which is a type of structure that God created to support human life. A human skeleton is very beneficial, in that it provides support and stability to the body, without which we would be blobs of flesh on the floor unable to stand up, move around, open our mouths, or do anything. We would be helpless and useless. So we can all agree that structure is a good thing. But if we have too much structure, then it becomes detrimental to life. For example, if you were to put an adult human skeleton on a baby, its weight would crush the baby and destroy its little life. That is why the Lord in His wisdom has so designed it that at every stage of human growth from an embryo in the womb, to infancy after birth, to childhood, adolescence, and into adulthood, the human skeleton is only big enough to support the life, but not so big as to crush the life. 

It's the same way with the Body of Christ. As we plant churches and build, let us be very careful that in seeking to bring structure that we do not create too much structure. For it is possible to create more structure than is needed to support the life of the Body, thus having the opposite effect than what is intended and destroying the newly planted church. Therefore, the amount of structure should only be in proportion to the life of the Church, and as the life grows, so does the structure grow proportionally.

The types of structures that can be helpful are discipleship structures for example, like Life Transformation Groups (LTGs) and leadership structures like elders to oversee the fellowship. As a church grows, we can also implement leadership and accountability structures, such as boards of directors, boards of deacons, or committees, such as missions committees. We can build organizational structures as the staff grows. We may also find it helpful to create program structures to support various programs like children's ministries, homeless ministries, or other such programs. Some house churches eventually become large enough to need public buildings, which are a type of physical structure. All of these structures are fine in their proper place and at the proper time. But let's keep it healthy and not add any more structure than is necessary. 

That's why we should always remember what the core of the Church is. The core of the Church is the minimum (core) requirements in order for it to still be considered the Church in the sight of God. The core of the Church from a biblical perspective is present whenever two or three people are gathered in Jesus' name (Mt 18:20), who are carrying out the Great Commandment (Mk 12:29-31; Lk 10:27-28) and the Great Commission (Mt 28:18-20; Mk 16:15-18). Let's always remember that, so that we don't lose sight of what the minimum is for the Church to exist in any given place, and be sure that any structure we create does not become detrimental to it. 

Let us remember that the Body of Christ, the Lord's Church, is an organism, not a machine or a business. We must never try to run the Church like a business or operate it like a machine, but instead always use the organic principles found in Scripture and in nature. Let us always remember that when our Lord described what the kingdom of God is like, he used a lot of organic things, like seeds and yeast, to do so. Therefore, we should seek to operate as Jesus did, according to the organic principles He laid out for us and that He and His apostles demonstrated by their example. 

I'm afraid that many churches today have too much structure and very little life. They may be running like a finely tuned machine, but they are missing some of the basic elements necessary to be considered the true Church. For example, if they are not loving God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, then they are no longer the true Church, at least not a healthy one. This is essentially what the Church in Ephesus was rebuked for by the Lord in Revelation 2:1-7. Likewise, if a church is no longer loving their neighbor as themselves, then they are not a healthy church. and the same can be said of a church that is not obeying the Great Commission by helping to complete it. It doesn't matter how much structure they have, including a large staff, a great big, beautiful building, or a board of directors made up of prestigious members of the community, because if the basic life of the church is impeded, suppressed, hindered, missing, or found lacking in any way in the sight of God, then they are no longer healthy and pleasing to Him. In some cases, their structure may have become a burden to the members of the church, like a yoke of slavery (e.g., see Unbiblical Hierarchy of the Church of England). 

Let us not forget that Jesus didn't die to save the structure, but rather His people that He created in His own image. Let's be careful that as we plant churches we only create enough structure in each fellowship to support life, and not more than is necessary.

Attribution notice: Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible NIV. Image taken from Organizational Physics may be subject to copyright, used here per the Fair Use Act for educational and commentary purposes only.

Author's note: If you enjoyed this post, you may also like the other posts in this blog available through the Home page, such as Unbiblical Hierarchy of the Church of England, A Tale of Two Kings, The Servant of the Lord, The Shepherding Role of Elders, Success in God's Eyes, Accountable, correctable, and teachable, A Personality Profile of the Apostle Paul, Persecuted or Popular?, and Having a Servant's Heart. You may also access my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."

___________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.