Do you teach a Bible class for children, youth or adults?
Do you lead a small group Bible study in your home?
Do you teach Bible in a Christian school?
Do you get to know unbelievers and boldly, but winsomely, share the gospel with them?
Is preaching an integral part of your ministry?
If you answer “Yes” to any of those questions, this truth will encourage you:
The basis for confidence in your ministry and the key that unlocks fruitfulness is the power inherent in God’s Word.
No other asset compares to the Holy Spirit’s shuttling of Scripture from the ears of listeners to their mind and hearts. When we’re discouraged or doubt our capacity to fulfill God’s call to teach, it’s reassuring to know that the primary key to effectiveness isn’t our Bible knowledge, formal training, personality or giftedness, but the inherent power in the Word that we communicate.
An Encouraging Story
In the late 1800s, Charles Spurgeon told the story of a pastor so burdened about unsaved persons in the congregation that he didn’t give the usual benediction after a message in which he had shared the basic truths of the gospel. Instead, the preacher said, “How can I dismiss you with a blessing when some of you will be accursed when the Lord returns because you didn’t love the Lord Jesus?”
Spurgeon described the outcome for a teenager who attended that day and heard the pastor’s words.
A lad of 15 heard that sermon and utterance, and 85 years afterwards (on his 100th birthday), while living in Virginia, sitting under a hedge, the whole scene came vividly before him as if it had been the day before. It pleased God to bless that pastor’s message and warning to the centenarian’s conversion. He lived three years longer to bear good testimony that he had felt the power of truth in his heart.
Imagine: 85 years later, God’s Spirit imprinted that pastor’s gospel message onto the heart of a congregant!
The following insights about God’s Word will instill confidence within you as they do me.
The Permanence of God’s Word
Peter told his readers that they owed their conversion to God’s Word: “You have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:23). Then he added a citation from Isaiah 40: “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls off, but the word of the Lord endures forever” (vv. 24–25).
As Spurgeon’s story illustrates, seeds that we sow from the Bible don’t have an expiration date!
The Power of God’s Word
This simple reminder buoys my Spirit when I feel inferior, don’t see results or wonder if all the time and effort invested in Bible study and teaching is worth it. It’s especially pertinent when I’m discouraged or in a depressive episode, and wonder how God could possibly use a broken person like me. That’s when God’s Spirit reminds me of Bible promises I’ve memorized, which turn my focus away from myself and to His Word. Focusing on the power of His Word counteracts negative thoughts about the effectiveness of what I do.
Just as a believer who’s touched by a particular sermon will hear it time and again, I preach these verses to myself over and over when my energy for teaching needs replenishing.
Jeremiah 23:29 While contrasting his words with those of false prophets, God exclaimed, “Is not My word like fire. . . . and like a hammer which shatters a rock?”
1 Thessalonians 2:13 Paul understood that God inspired the words he proclaimed. Reminiscing about his initial preaching venture in Thessalonica and their responsiveness, he wrote, “We also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.”
Hebrews 4:12 When there’s no evidence that my communication of Scripture packs a wallop, I remind myself of this assertion: “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
Will we believe appearances and our feelings, or cling tenaciously to those promises?
Your Personal Experience with God’s Word
Your own experience with God’s Word is additional evidence of its clout.
Look back over your spiritual pilgrimage.
Can you still see the fog lift on the day a biblical principle clarified an important decision you made?
Do you remember the battlefield where a verse you had memorized fortified you against temptation?
Can you still feel the pain of conviction over sin that the truth of God’s Word exposed, resulting in confession and renewal?
Do you recall the Bible truth or verse that comforted you during a trial, assuaging your pain and instilling hope for the future?
Then don’t lose heart!
What transformed you is the same Word you employ when you teach, counsel or witness. Keep reminding yourself of how you’ve experienced the power of Scripture.
_________
I cover this perspective on Bible teaching more comprehensively in a chapter of my book, Serve Strong: Biblical Encouragement To Sustain God’s Servants. For more information on this encouraging resource, which explains and illustrates 26 additional principles to buoy the spirits of His workers, use this link:
Thanks Terry