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9. La carga de la palabra y la formación del ministro | Escuela de Teología Pleroma Dabar | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: 9. La carga de la palabra y la formación del ministro
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Video Transcript
Welcome to this ninth
class, the ninth video in the course The
Ministry of the Word of God. On
this occasion we are going to touch on a topic
that I hope will be not only interesting, but
also important to you. It also
has to do with the burden of the word
and the formation of the minister of the Lord.
What do we mean by this
burden and what does it have to do with the
ministry of the word?
Well, when we read the prophetic books,
prophetic books,
we're going to find that many times a
word that's used for prophecy or
God's message is the word burden.
Here we have, for example, in Isaiah 13
verse 1, the prophet says or writes
the burden of Babylon, that is, the
word of God, which the prophet
felt as a burden and he had to
convey it about Babylon.
In the book of Naum it begins, there are two or
three prophetic books, it begins this
way too, right? In the Reina Valera,
but in the original Hebrew text it says
the burden of Ninebeth, that is, the
prophetic message from God that Nahu
receives with a burden and he has to
announce that word.
We can also look at Jeremiah 23,
verse 33, it
says, "When this people or
the prophet or the priest asks you, 'What
is the burden, what is the prophetic word
of the Lord?' you shall say to them, 'What burden shall
I leave? I will leave you,' says the Lord."
So this word, which in Hebrew is the
word masa,
communicates to us the concept that the
word of God becomes a burden
for the servant of God when he has to
preach the word to others.
Now, here we face this interesting challenge.
challenge.
When God reveals himself
to a pastor, a preacher,
he reveals that word, the pastor
feels it with a burden.
I imagine many of you who
preach have felt that from time to time.
time.
During the week, they begin to feel that
they have a very clear word from God
for the church and they begin to feel a
sort of emotional, spiritual charge
within them.
And it must be said, brothers, that if the
preacher does not feel that burden,
a true ministry
of the word will not occur.
He may speak, he may teach, he may
convey certain truths, but he
will not be a true ministry of the
word in the full sense of that
word. That is, he will not have reached the
level of preaching
expected of a pastor. It
is essential
that the preacher feel a burden in order to
preach. Or we change the metaphor
using a figure that the prophet Jesse
Jeremiah used.
The word of God has to be like a fire
fire
burning inside the preacher
to the point that he cannot contain it and he
has to go before the church on Sunday
and proclaim the word of God. I hope you
understand that concept.
Now let's think first about
how we receive that load. It
actually happens when God
reveals something to us as we study
the Scriptures.
We are reading a passage from the Bible
when suddenly the Holy Spirit
makes us feel the importance of a text.
We feel the impact of that revelation from God.
God.
And it is when we feel that impact of a
text, a word, a verse in the
Bible that the generation of the
burden begins. It is not yet the charge itself, it is
simply the seed that will give
rise to the charge.
What the preacher has to do next
next
is continue studying that subject under the
direction of the Holy Spirit. This is where
human responsibility comes in. God doesn't
do everything for us.
He begins the process by giving us a certain
revelation, a certain indication of what
he wants to teach us to communicate to the
church. Then comes our
responsibility to study this
subject thoroughly under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit.
And when this is happening correctly,
correctly,
as the study progresses, you
begin to feel a growing responsibility
responsibility
to communicate the teaching
that the Lord is placing in your heart.
heart.
In this way, through study,
meditation, and prayer, the burden increases,
increases,
and the preacher begins to realize
that he will not find relief from that burden
burden
until he can preach.
Preaching is the way and the time
in which he will unload that burden.
So let's move on to communication.
of the burden of the word of God.
Obviously to discharge that
responsibility the preacher has to
use words. He's going to be in the
pulpit and he's going to speak.
These words he uses allow him to
synthesize the burden and transmit it to the congregation.
congregation.
Obviously the preacher's main goal
is not simply to relieve himself
of the burden personally; that would be very
selfish, wouldn't it? What he wants to do is
transfer that burden from himself to the congregation
congregation
so that the church leaves, the
congregation leaves the temple feeling
that they have heard the word of God, that they
now have a burden, a
responsibility to put into practice
what God has said.
Now, sometimes you have to admit that the
pastor can't find the right words.
right words.
When that happens,
he finds that when he preaches he fails to
communicate the burden appropriately.
And that's sad.
And when that happens, the pastor
realizes that after
preaching he doesn't feel that relief, he feels like he
failed to convey that burden and
therefore he carries it himself.
The congregation also realizes
something and feels the message is a bit light.
because they do not leave with a burden of having
heard the word of God and are
aware of that absence in the
preaching. I imagine you
have experienced this many times
when listening to a sermon.
They've gone to church with
great expectations. They've listened to the preacher,
preacher,
he's been hard-working, eloquent, and emotional,
emotional,
but in the end, it all seems a bit light,
light,
and they leave the service unclear about what
God has told them.
Now, sometimes the problem is lack
of experience.
sorry, there was a small problem.
We'll share the video again and
continue where we are with you.
Very good. Sorry for the momentary interruption.
momentary interruption.
As I was saying, there are preachers
who, when they try to convey the
word of God or try to put
that burden into words, fail to
convey it effectively. They
talk a lot and the listeners do not understand this
burden clearly
and the result is frustrating
for both the preacher and the listeners.
listeners.
At times, the church senses
that the pastor truly had a burden,
wanted to communicate something important,
but they feel the pastor didn't find
the right words to convey
that burden. And that's why the church leaves the
service, not feeling that they have heard
the word of God well. At least the
Now,
on this matter of receiving the word to
transmit the burden, let's read what the
apostle Paul says in First Corinthians,
chapter 2. Will you remember that passage? It
isn't true? Paul says, "We
have not received the spirit of the world,
but the Spirit who is from God."
So that? Note these words, so
that we may know what God has granted us.
granted us.
There is the moment of revelation.
When God gives a person a burden to
study the scriptures, God has
given him something, a word, a burden.
Now, how are you going to communicate it? Well,
Paul goes on to say, "Which we
also spoke about."
That is, we speak what God has granted us.
granted us.
And how do we talk?
Not with words taught by
human wisdom, no,
but with words that the Holy Spirit teaches,
teaches,
accommodating spiritual things with spiritual things.
spiritual things.
Here the preacher has
a great ally in the Holy Spirit.
First, the Holy Spirit uses the
Scriptures to reveal something to you, the
germ of an idea.
Then you continue to study and deepen
that idea until you feel a burden on
your heart. What God is
showing you is very important for the
Christian life, perhaps very important for the congregation.
congregation.
Now, the big question the pastor
begins to feel, how do I communicate this to
the church? How do I convey this to the
church? And there the preacher begins to
cry out to the Holy Spirit. Give me words.
Help me to be able to transmit well this
burden that you have given me.
Now let's explore this
process of converting charge into words a little further.
words a little further.
Obviously, when God first
reveals something to us in the Bible, we
grasp it in our minds,
but often what we are grasping is not very clear .
.
For example, sometimes, and I'm sure
this has happened to you many times, we are reading the Bible when
suddenly the Holy Spirit leads us to
But it's not clear why he's doing it.
doing it.
There begins our responsibility to
take time to reflect and meditate
on the essence of the truth that God
is revealing to us.
Now, in this process it is important to
seek God's help,
not to rely on our own
abilities or knowledge. Sometimes
this is the mistake that many preachers make. They
preachers make. They
are reading the Bible one day, they
feel the impact of a text, a verse,
verse,
and without further ado they trust that that is enough
to preach. Maybe they are in a hurry, don't
have much time, feel that God
has told them something and mistakenly trust
that this is enough.
What happens when they go to
preach? Well, they put the pulpit in,
they read the scriptures, now they try to
communicate that first impulse that the
Holy Spirit gave them, and what they find is
that they go around and around the
issue and fail to clearly convey
what they felt in their hearts, and
the church ends up a little confused.
We are relying on our own ability
instead of investing time and asking for the
help of the Holy Spirit.
And here, brothers, how important it is to
have a broad knowledge of the
Bible and theology
to pass all these thoughts
through the biblical and theological filter.
To do this, we often need to
continue studying and
meditating on parallel passages,
trusting that God will clarify that
initial concept so we can communicate it
well to the congregation.
Now, the apostle Paul himself did
not trust himself.
He said to the church in Ephesus,
pray for me
that when I open my mouth to
preach, I may be given the word to make
this mystery known boldly.
So here the preacher has to
rely on a double help from the
Holy Spirit. First, the
Holy Spirit reveals a truth, and then the
Holy Spirit gives words
to expand on that truth and
convey the burden to the listeners.
Let's give an example. A
few days ago I was reading the book
of Genesis and my devotional. And I came to
chapter 26 of Genesis, verses
15 and 18. Let me read these
verses. You can look it up in your
Bibles too. Genesis 26 verses
15 and 18. And I noticed something interesting here.
Verse 15, speaking of
Isaac's experience,
says, "All the wells that
the servants of Abraham his
father had dug in his days, the Philistines
stopped them up and filled them
with earth."
And then I read verse 18.
And Isaac dug again the wells of water
which had been dug in the days of
Abraham his father, and which the Philistines
had stopped up after the death of
Abraham, and he called them by the names which
his father had called them.
So when I read that passage, I felt the
Holy Spirit in my heart. Here's
something important to note.
First of all, why did the Philistines
stop up those wells?
Humanly speaking, it's a bit senseless,
isn't it? The Middle East, water
was so important. Who will cover
the wells that Abraham dug? But that's
what the Bible says.
And then Isaac is looking for water, where does he go?
go?
to the wells that his father had dug,
but which were now covered up. Isaac
has to uncover those wells. Note that
they are more than one.
Another detail says, Isaac called them by
the names his father had given them.
Now, let us remember that all scripture
is inspired by God.
Every word is important.
So here when we read that each well
had a name,
Isaac obviously knew the names
because he had accompanied his father and now
Isaac renames them back to the
original names. Now, why is
that in the Bible?
That was my question. What is God
trying to tell us?
So I continued reading, verse 19.
But when Isaac's servants dug
in the valley and found there a well of
springing water, the herdsmen of Gerar
quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen,
saying, "The water is ours."
Therefore he called the name of the well Esek,
because they had quarreled with him.
And then they dug another well and
quarreled over that one also, and he called its name Sidna.
Sidna.
And he moved away from there and dug another well,
and they did not quarrel,
and he called its name Rebot. Now, what
is the Holy Spirit saying in all of this?
this?
Let's move on to verse 32.
On that day
Isaac's servants came and told him
about the well they had dug.
They told him, "We have found water." And he
called him Seba. For this reason, the name of
that city is Verba, the well of water.
water.
Now, Beersheba became an important place,
important place,
so I was left with the question, what
is the Holy Spirit
trying to teach us?
through these seemingly
seemingly
everyday incidents that have no
spiritual significance, but are here
in the Bible.
So the Holy Spirit gave me that curiosity,
curiosity,
what is my responsibility now? Now I
have to begin the process of study,
researching in more detail,
trusting that the Holy Spirit will guide me.
guide me.
to what was happening. Why did they
cover those wells? What was
Isaac doing looking for more water? Why did he give them
the names he did? What does it mean
when they stopped fighting with Isaac?
Brothers, here there will be a very
important lesson to learn and perhaps to
communicate to the church. I hope you
realize this example. It's
one thing to grasp the initial idea.
The Holy Spirit gives you the burden to
understand something. It
doesn't reveal everything to you at once, no.
That's why we have to study,
research. But we don't do all that studying
in the flesh, we don't do it
trusting in ourselves, we do it
trusting that the Holy Spirit will guide us.
guide us.
Therefore, I repeat, sometimes we feel that
God is telling us something in his word,
but sometimes
a closer study of the text does
not confirm it. I
mean, many times we can have an
initial idea about something
and an idea catches our minds and
we think God is telling me something.
But when I start studying, I
realize that I was wrong for some
reason, that that word doesn't mean that
or that I wasn't grasping the
context correctly, whatever.
Brothers, listen carefully.
How important is it to have discipline?
to put that idea aside
and accept that maybe it
wasn't a revelation from the
Holy Spirit, but rather my own thinking.
thinking.
And the most dangerous thing of all is falling in love
with that idea that I had.
And although we can't
clearly confirm it in the Bible, we are so
in love with that idea
that we take it to the pulpit to preach,
insisting that the church has to
listen to what I feel and what I think.
think.
And brother, frankly, not only is this a
grave error,
but sects or heresies come from this . For
. For
example, we
might be reading Deuteronomy 28,
verse 13.
We read these familiar words: "The
Lord will make you the head and not the tail."
And how many people reading that have
suddenly jumped to the conclusion, God
wants to make me personally
tremendously successful so that I can
climb the ladder in the company
or whatever and eventually become the CEO.
CEO.
and we begin to fantasize that God is
giving me a word
or that the church where I am working
should not remain a small church.
Rather, that church must grow and grow
until it becomes the largest building in the entire
city, and we are filled with great
ideas and want to justify it in light
of the Bible.
But further biblical and theological reflection will
show us, first of all, that
this word is a promise of the old covenant,
covenant,
not the new covenant.
That old covenant was made with a
political nation Israel, it
was not made with the church
or with believers personally.
That is why it is applied to the nation of Israel
in the Old Testament. God did not want
Israel to be a small nation, but
a great nation and this was fulfilled in the
kingdom of Solomon.
But we cannot apply it to the church or the
believer today. Why
not? Well, first of all because
and the new covenant has other promises.
Furthermore, this contradicts certain
principles of the New Testament. For
example, if we go to First Corinthians,
chapter 1,
we're going to read that the apostle Paul says,
"The Lord has chosen
what the world despises and I saw it and
what is not."
And in that passage the apostle Paul does not
say, he does not say that he chooses those people
and then makes them tremendously
great so that they are impressive.
impressive.
No, what Paul is saying is that God
purposely does this and puts his tremendous
treasure in a clay vessel
so that the excellence of the glory will not
be ours.
but of God.
In Matthew 19, do you remember? The Lord
warned the Jews that they always
sought the highest positions,
they wanted to be the highest, the most
important, and Christ turned everything upside down.
down.
He said, "Do not seek the first
places. Do not seek to be the head, but be
at the tail, says the Lord." How
interesting. Totally the other way around, isn't it?
it?
And if we read that passage in First
Corinthians 4, the apostle Paul describes
his apostolic ministry
and Paul clearly says,
"The apostles, what are we?
The best, the most important, right?"
Paul says, God has put the
apostles in last place
so that the church and the believers would
go forward and the apostles would be reduced.
reduced.
Of course, Paul is speaking ironically
in a certain way to the Corinthians,
but Paul never had the idea that he
wanted to be the head and not the tail.
So, how much error has been caused in
the church
when we have misinterpreted
biblical texts, especially from the Old
Testament, and we pretend to apply it to the
Now, in this process of finding
words to transmit the burden, we
must take this thought. The words
of God
in human words is what the
preacher has to do. During the
week he receives the word of God, right?
right?
But on Sunday he has to transmit
those divine words with human words.
human words.
Mostly when God reveals himself, he is going
to use divine words, that is, we are going to be
studying the Bible. I have used
the example of Genesis 26.
I'm talking about biblical words like
well, Isaac,
Abraham, the Philistines.
All of that comes from Scripture.
But when I receive a burden on that
passage to preach on Sunday, I'm
not going to limit myself to using those biblical words.
biblical words.
Why not? Because the church needs to
understand how it applies to their
personal lives. Because, brothers, if we don't
do that, I can give a whole
sermon about Isaac and Abraham and the
Philistines about something that happened almost
4,000 years ago
and it all remains as something historical.
The church doesn't gather to hear
Bible history. That's
why I have to find the
right words to interpret this
passage and apply this passage to the congregation. I
congregation. I
have to be able to answer the question:
Isaac, who does he represent?
Abraham, who does he represent? The
Philistines, who do they represent? What do the
wells of water represent? It's
a lot of work, isn't it? A lot of
reflection, a lot of thought,
and I have to know the vocabulary of the
congregation to use words that
they will understand. They will understand.
understand.
Because if I use Very sophisticated words,
technical words perhaps from books
I've read, the church will not grasp
the word of God. Do you
realize, brothers? Preaching is not a
simple thing.
Preaching is very complicated. It
has several stages, several processes,
and we have to be skillful
in going through these processes.
I emphasize, not trusting in
ourselves, not trusting in my
experience or my spiritual gift,
but trusting in the help of the
Holy Spirit in this entire process.
Now, when we go to the Bible, this is
exactly what we find.
If we read the letters of Paul, Peter,
John, James, we will find that
each one has his own way of speaking and his own
particular vocabulary.
They all transmit the word of God,
but in Pauline words, in
Petrine words, in Johannine words, or in the
words of James.
And the truth is that sometimes another apostle
found it difficult to grasp what another
apostle was saying. The apostle
Peter, for example, 2 Peter 3:16,
he confesses
that there were things in Paul's letters
that were difficult for Peter to understand.
In part, I I imagine, because Peter didn't
have Paul's mind or
Paul's vocabulary.
And Peter confesses very honestly,
there are certain things in what Paul
writes that are difficult for me to grasp.
grasp.
And brothers, we are not surprised because the
biblical authors themselves
found it difficult to communicate the
burden of God's word,
in this case due to problems within the congregation.
congregation.
For example, haven't you felt,
reading First Corinthians 3:1-4,
a certain frustration on the part of the apostle Paul? He
wanted to teach the Corinthians profound things,
profound things,
spiritual things.
But Paul says, "I cannot speak to you or
write to you as spiritual
because you are carnal, you
are dividing yourselves, there are fights among
you. And if I try to put the
word of God in
spiritual terms, they're just not going to get it."
get it."
And Paul was feeling frustrated.
The author of Hebrews too, if you read
Hebrews 5, verse 11 through chapter 6,
verse 3, the same thing. The author of Hebrews
Hebrews
says, "I wanted to teach you, to give you
meat, to give you deep things from the
word of God,
but I can't because you, having
been believers for so long and
ought to be teachers, have become again
like babies, needing spiritual milk."
spiritual milk."
And in chapter 9, the apostle Paul
mentions various aspects of
Old Testament worship.
And the author of Hebrews, sorry. And the
author wanted to explore and explain the
spiritual meaning of each element
of the tabernacle,
but he realized that the readers
couldn't grasp it.
So sometimes as pastors we notice that problem.
problem.
We want to convey something profound to the church.
church.
The church is not always in a
position to accept it
and it is a struggle that we have and we must
ask the Holy Spirit to help us.
Now, whenever we look for our own words
our own words
to convey a teaching Biblical, we
should always strive to use biblical words.
biblical words.
In what sense?
If we look here, brothers, at the books of
the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation,
we have an incredible variety of books,
books, experiences,
experiences, teachings,
teachings,
illustrations, and characters.
characters.
And obviously, when we are going to teach something
from the Bible, it is best to use examples
from the Bible,
illustrations from the Bible, to
soak the preached word with the Bible.
Of course, that requires a
broad knowledge of the Bible. We
have to know the Bible very well
from Genesis to Revelation, to have all that
information at our fingertips, in our minds,
minds,
so that the Holy Spirit makes us remember
remember
what we have read.
Brothers, I confess, my
experience as a preacher is beautiful.
How many times have I been reading, studying the
Word of God, and suddenly the
Holy Spirit makes me remember a text, a
passage, a story, a
biblical illustration? And how wonderful it is to be able to
fill that sermon with many
biblical examples. That is the ideal way to express
the burden that God gives us.
But apart from knowing Well, the Bible, there
is one more very important element
in this whole process of selecting
words to transmit that burden, that
revelation of God, and these are the
The reception of the burden
and the transmission of it
depend on the kind of person we are.
are.
And here, brothers, we have to start
being very honest, each one of us, even though it may
hurt and make us uncomfortable. I repeat,
the reception of this burden, that is, the
ability for God to speak to me
and for me to speak to the church,
all depends
on the kind of person I am.
Light people, in quotes, are
only going to receive light burdens. God is
not going to give them more because people
cannot receive more.
Their soul, their spirit is not
big or deep enough to
receive a deep burden.
Imagine, let's compare the
revelation of God to a tank
with perhaps 1,000 L of water,
and it is not as lifeless as a 1 L bottle.
L bottle.
That 1 L bottle cannot receive 1,000
L of the tank.
What we are going to receive from God depends directly
directly
from the greatness or smallness
of my soul, my heart, and my mind.
Now, brothers, you will understand why
so many messages in the churches seem light
light
or superficial.
And brothers, even in large churches,
I confess, even great televangelists, I
hear them preach and I wonder,
how in life do they have so many listeners?
Because they haven't said anything?
That message has been totally light,
flabby, as we say.
Dear brothers,
in order for us to be good ministers of
the word, God will have to form us.
God will have to deepen
our soul, our spirit,
so that we can grasp God's revelation
and God's burden. Let's
listen to what Watchman says about this.
about this.
The kind of person we are
determines the kind of words we speak.
we speak.
How interesting.
The kind of person we are determines
determines
the kind of words we speak. If
we are a superficial, immature person, it
will be very difficult to understand when
God wants to tell me something profound.
So the question, brothers, is, what
makes us superficial people?
First of all, thinking only or
mostly on superficial things. It
must be acknowledged, although it is sad to say,
say,
there are pastors who think a lot about things
like fashion, soccer,
numerical success, appearances,
those things fill their thoughts.
When you speak with that person
intimately, you realize, those are the
things that interest them.
Obviously, they are going to be very superficial people.
The topics that a person talks about in private
private
indicate whether they are a deep person or a
light person.
Another thing that makes us light
is when we think only about ourselves.
ourselves.
How many pastors think basically about
their ministry, their family, their
possessions, their health? They almost never
think about others. They
also think about superficial things and also about material things
like how much money they are paying me, what
material things I can achieve, what things I
long to have, where I go on vacation.
If our minds are filled with those
superficial things, we are obviously going to be
superficial people.
And all of that is going to be reflected
in the burden
we are capable of receiving from God
as well as the ability to communicate it. There is an
interesting example in the life of
Abraham in Genesis 18. Do you remember that
great servant of God?
In Genesis 18, he receives a visit from three
spiritual beings.
One seems to be the angel of Jehovah, the
Lord Jesus, before the incarnation, the
other two angels.
And after the two angels leave for
Sodom and Gomorrah, the angel of Jehovah
remains speaking with Abraham, and we read the following:
following:
I will hide from Abraham what I am going to
do to the city of Sodom,
Abraham being a man who walks with Me,
with Me,
who will teach his children to walk in
My ways.
In other words, the Lord began to
look at Abraham's life and realized
Abraham was a profound person.
Profound, because his entire mind and heart
were on the things of God.
And God reveals to Abraham, gives him a
burden about what God is about to do in
Sodom and Gomorrah. And of course, Abraham,
who had just heard that Sarah was going to
have a son,
instead of running back to speak with Sarah,
Sarah,
stays interceding for Sodom,
showing the depth of that man of God.
God.
But notice, compare the experience with
Lot, the following chapter.
The two angels arrive at the house. of Lot.
Lot realizes there's a danger
of violence here,
and Lot, frankly, acts very badly.
But the next day, when they get up,
get up,
Lot is supposed to be in a hurry
to get out of that city, but he's not.
The angels have to hurry him. Read,
read Genesis 19, verses 15 to 20.
The angels have to hurry him, and he doesn't
want to leave.
And then Lot says, "But no,
we're not going very far. Let's go to this city
right here."
And the angels are pleading with Lot to
leave so that he won't be consumed in the
destruction of Sodom.
And do you remember that when Lot tried to
warn his future sons-in-law, they took the danger
as a joke?
With a joke?
All of this indicates the tremendous superficiality
superficiality
of Lot.
And that's why Lot's end is so sad. He
was a believer. Yes, Lot was a believer .
.
But he ends up in a cave.
A sexual life with his daughters was so unpleasant.
unpleasant.
Brothers, let's be very careful
how we use our minds,
what things we are interested in.
Let's allow God to deepen our
minds and our hearts,
especially if we want to minister the
word of God. Now, how does
God do it? How does He deepen us? First of
all, through the internal ministry
of the Holy Spirit.
Every believer
has the Holy Spirit dwelling within them
them
and that Holy Spirit begins to mold us
mold us
and transform us and place things in
us so that little by little we think
the things of God and have the word of
God. Listen to what Watchman says.
Thanks to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit,
God can incorporate something of His being into us,
incorporate something of His being into us.
So that when we think
and speak,
the word of God flows through us.
us.
The minister of the word must allow
the Holy Spirit to reconstitute us
so that we may have the word of God.
Their thoughts must not only
agree with God's thoughts,
but they must be His thoughts. How
must not
simply conform that what I think or say
is in agreement with God's thoughts
, but even more so
that what I think
is God's thought.
That is, God, through His Spirit, works in
my inner being. He
so attunes me to God
that I begin to think the
same way God thinks,
I begin to speak the same way God speaks.
speaks.
And we can see this process in Second
Corinthians 3, verse 18. How the
Holy Spirit transforms us into the
image of the Lord Jesus—
our whole being, our
behavior, our words,
our thoughts into the image of Christ,
Christ,
so that when we speak, it
is Christ speaking.
When we think, it
is Christ thinking. That
is the goal. of the Holy Spirit.
But then there's also the whole aspect
of trials and difficulties that God uses
to mold us.
This goes hand in hand with the internal work
of the Holy Spirit. Trials and
difficulties are the external work God
does in us, molding us like the
potter's vessel.
Watchman says, "God has to sculpt us.
sculpt us.
We are shaped
or carved
by the struggles and trials he
allows into our lives.
In other words, what he is
saying is that we by nature
are like a block of marble in shape.
And for God to conform us to his image,
image,
for our being to reflect what God is,
is,
he has to take his chisel and
hammer and start hitting and hitting and
hitting this block of marble, removing
everything that is carnal and worldly in
us so that little by little the form
of God is manifested in us.
Obviously a long process,
a hard and painful process
for the word of God to emanate from a
life sincere for God.
In essence, this is the ministry of the word. It
word. It
is the word of God that comes
from a life
sincerely spoken by God in the trials and
What we will be able to talk about from God
God
is closely related to what
we have learned
about God's work in our lives.
In Hebrews 12, verse 11, the author
speaks of God's discipline in the
life of a believer.
And he acknowledges, discipline is never
something pleasant, it always causes a lot of pain.
pain.
But in verse 11 it says, "But in the end
end
this discipline produces the peaceful fruit
of righteousness.
In whom?
In those who have been trained by
discipline." You have to notice that
word exercised. In Greek, gumnazo.
We have the word "gym" in Spanish,
where you do exercises.
Many believers, unfortunately,
when they go through a discipline from God,
simply endure it, put up with it,
but they don't learn.
And if we don't learn something, that test is of little use .
.
Brothers and sisters, we must understand that in
every difficulty that God allows, he
wants to transform us, make
us sincere, and prepare us to be his ministers.
ministers.
For example, the case of Paul, 2
Corinthians 12, the famous thorn in the
flesh, something very painful for Paul.
Paul asked God to take it away three times
. God told him, "No." What did Paul do?
Paul do?
Did Paul insist
that God had to take away
the thorn?
Paul set out to declare, to
declare with faith that the thorn was free
. No, brothers.
What did Paul do?
He heard the voice of God
through the sting.
And because he started listening to God
instead of just declaring that he was free
from the sting, he started listening to
God and began to understand why God
sent him that sting or allowed it.
And then Paul accepted God's will
for his life to such an extent that Paul
ends up glorying
in the thorn.
And notice when you read that passage, now
comes the word of God.
This apostle has been trained
in God's gymnasium through this
thorn in the flesh.
And now the word of God comes out.
God's grace is sufficient for
us. How many of us have heard that
great statement?
But you have to notice where it comes from.
From a man who has been formed by God
God
in the fire of discipline and suffering
suffering
so that the word of God may come forth from a
deep person, a deep soul, not
superficial, who understands the things of God.
God.
And that's why Paul says something so paradoxical:
paradoxical:
the power of God is manifested in weakness.
weakness.
So from that moment on, the
apostle Paul stopped trying to feel strong, he
strong, he
stopped trying to psychologically
make himself look strong, he
didn't accept his weakness
because he had learned something very important.
important.
The weaker he was,
the more the power of God would manifest itself.
manifest itself.
And that's why Paul could say, "God has
put this treasure in earthen vessels."
Today there are many pastors who don't
want to be vessels of clay, they want to be
vessels of gold, they want to show off, they want to
be impressive, they want people to
congratulate them,
but that's not the case, brothers.
The word of God is not going to come from a
golden vessel.
The word of God will come from a
clay vessel,
a vessel made pure by God, so that the
word of God may come out of that vessel. Let's
finish with some quotes from Watchman
that I find very interesting. It is
worth meditating on.
First, he said, "God makes us
go through many trials. He
allows us to be tested even through
other children of his, other believers.
As we learn,
we receive the word of God.
It all depends on our willingness to
submit to God's plans.
We receive his word
to the extent that we obey him
and bow down before him in submission.
submission.
The word of God is written on the
tablet of our life, it
is engraved on every fiber of our being. That is
being. That is
why God allows his ministers to
go through many difficulties.
Each difficulty clarifies and perfects the
word of God in us.
That allows us to stand and preach the
word of God. And that word encourages and
blesses the children of God. It
becomes a word of light.
At another time he says the following: That is
why ministers of the word
must first be tested
so that they may know God deeply
in the furnace of affliction.
In that way they will be prepared to
minister Christ to those who listen. It
is because they have endured much,
that they can help much and have much
to give.
God has placed us to supply the
needs of many of his people,
and that's why we must endure much more than others.
others.
What depth of thought that
last part is.
God has placed us as ministers of the
word to supply the needs of many.
many.
In the church, 50, 100, hundreds of
believers. How much need is there for a single preacher?
And that's why the preacher will have to
endure much,
much more than others,
so that from that depth of his soul
he has something to say that can help
many people.
But then Watchman adds something very, very
important, brothers.
All these struggles and trials
are to teach us one fundamental thing:
fundamental thing:
that with Christ we are more than conquerors,
that he is the source of eternal life,
that we need nothing but him,
that he is sufficient for any
desert and any tribulation.
Why is it important to note that?
Because God doesn't want to use us to
teach stoicism,
that is, to endure trials.
There are believers who are very stoic; they
endure trials,
but they never find that Christ is
sufficient for them. That's why they
always walk around sad, with their heads They
come to the services discouraged, they
are already enduring, they are not there, they are not
going backwards. But where is the
joy of the Lord? Where is that fountain
of water that they bubble up with?
God does not want to teach us to be passive
or to be content with what we have, no.
God wants to use us to transmit
words of eternal life, words of
abundant life. That is
why, like Paul, we
must rejoice
when struggles come, when
difficulties come into our lives,
it is because God is preparing us
to have more words to give to others. You
can read these passages in Second Corinthians.
Corinthians.
As Paul testifies of his
tremendous difficulties and struggles in the ministry,
ministry, all so that Paul can
all so that Paul can comfort and have words of encouragement for
comfort and have words of encouragement for the church in Corinth.
the church in Corinth. And brothers, that is my
And brothers, that is my personal testimony as well.
personal testimony as well. From the moment God converted me
From the moment God converted me until I arrived at the mission field, God
until I arrived at the mission field, God had to make me go through many
had to make me go through many difficulties.
difficulties. Difficulties in
Difficulties in romantic relationships, problems at church,
romantic relationships, problems at church, problems with the pastor, problems with the
problems with the pastor, problems with the university evangelical group, tension
university evangelical group, tension in the seminary, etc., etc.,
in the seminary, etc., etc., etc. Very difficult years.
etc. Very difficult years. And I was wondering, "Lord, what are you
And I was wondering, "Lord, what are you doing with my life? Why is
doing with my life? Why is all this so difficult?
all this so difficult? And it was when I arrived in Peru and began to
And it was when I arrived in Peru and began to serve the Lord
serve the Lord that I began to realize.
that I began to realize. God was deepening my soul,
God was deepening my soul, preparing my heart, my spirit to be
preparing my heart, my spirit to be able to transmit,
able to transmit, even in a very poor way,
even in a very poor way, some of the word of God and the burden of
some of the word of God and the burden of that word. spiritual.
that word. spiritual. So here we end with the
So here we end with the apostle Paul's exhortation to Timothy. He
apostle Paul's exhortation to Timothy. He says to him, Timothy, you must look for
says to him, Timothy, you must look for faithful men whom you are going to teach, who
faithful men whom you are going to teach, who are also capable of teaching others.
are also capable of teaching others. But before beginning that process,
But before beginning that process, Paul says, he suffers hardships
Paul says, he suffers hardships like a good soldier of Christ. You
like a good soldier of Christ. You will never be able to form other soldiers.
will never be able to form other soldiers. If you're always looking for shortcuts, always
If you're always looking for shortcuts, always looking for ways out to avoid suffering, you
looking for ways out to avoid suffering, you 'll never be able to train other soldiers.
'll never be able to train other soldiers. So endure the suffering first and
So endure the suffering first and then you will be able to give voice and train
then you will be able to give voice and train others as well.
others as well. We see, brothers, again the tremendous
We see, brothers, again the tremendous challenge
challenge of being a minister of the word of
of being a minister of the word of God.
God. No one should get involved in this task
No one should get involved in this task simply because they want to.
simply because they want to. Only God has the right to call
Only God has the right to call a person to this ministry,
a person to this ministry, and each person he calls
and each person he calls will be subjected to suffering and
will be subjected to suffering and put through many trials
put through many trials so that they can become good
so that they can become good ministers of the word of God. Father,
ministers of the word of God. Father, thank you for sharing these teachings with us
thank you for sharing these teachings with us .
. I pray, Lord, that they may be useful to
I pray, Lord, that they may be useful to us in our Christian life.
us in our Christian life. Work in us,
Work in us, especially those of us who are
especially those of us who are called to administer your word.
called to administer your word. Deliver us
Deliver us from being superficial men.
from being superficial men. Deepen our soul, our
Deepen our soul, our spirit
spirit so that we can be a blessing to
so that we can be a blessing to many people.
many people. In the name of the Lord Jesus
In the name of the Lord Jesus we ask this. Amen.
we ask this. Amen. Amen. Brothers, may God bless you and
Amen. Brothers, may God bless you and the next class will be the last, so we
the next class will be the last, so we look forward to it in a week. M.
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