Throughout Scripture, we find that truth requires repetition. From the very beginning of Moses teaching the men of Israel how to train their children, it was repetition throughout every aspect of life (Deuteronomy 11:19). Many times as leaders, we think that one great presentation of truth will change the heart of a person and are very disappointed to find out that in most cases, it fails. Teaching is like fine carpentry. You cannot take a hammer and nail and then with one great stroke, drive the nail in perfectly. It requires many repetitively measured strokes to drive a nail properly. So it is with teaching the word of God. Constant small reminders are much more effective in putting truth permanently into the hearts of God’s people.
You can never “balance” a great truth about God. God is infinite. Every attribute of God is infinite. His love is extreme. His mercy is extreme. His justice is extreme. His grace is extreme. His faithfulness is extreme. When in our minds we try to explain in a balanced way an attribute of God, it is like an ant attempting to explain to a flea that an elephant is big but not to the extreme. There is just no frame of reference. Just embrace the truth that God is God, He is who He is, and be grateful!
Never allow the stretchers of truth to own a doctrine. I am a grace preacher. I am a prosperity preacher. I am a healing preacher. I am a faith preacher. I am a revival preacher. I am a River preacher. The winds of doctrine that Paul says blow through the church always involves the stretching of a great truth. Too many pastors then avoid the truth because they do not wish to be identified with the stretchers of the truth. My question is this, how else will people learn the truth unless we, as leaders, own the great doctrines that God has blessed us with? If you will teach the truth, then people will not go to the stretchers of the truth.
Young people sometimes ask me what is it like to get older? Well, for the most part, I never feel older and I never think I am old, until I look in the mirror or walk up a set of stairs (hahahahaha). I think like I have always thought. Yes, I sleep a little more and the knee is not quite what it used to be. However, there is one painful thing about getting older. It is watching and knowing what could have been in the lives of people. It does hurt to look at lives and see the talent and hand of God upon them and then temptation, bad decisions and sin reduce their destiny. Satan recognizes that there are people with one talent who receive small responsibilities and seems to leave them alone. He also recognizes the people with the 10 talents who are given great responsibility and
You do not need “the look” to be on a platform ministering to people. You need to be able to get people “TO LOOK” at Jesus.
Kinda amazing that the apostles did not have social media, network marketing training, branding or any of the things some say are necessary to grow the work of God. However, they changed the world in one generation. Maybe preaching the gospel and miracles really does work. Maybe we need to focus on these things.
In the world’s wisdom, appearance is everything. Interesting that Jesus purposely was not “star quality” in His appearance. Roman historians write that Paul was “short, bow legged, bald and ugly.” It is not the exterior packaging of our lives that changes the world but rather what/Who is within us.’’ Isaiah 53:2
Never underestimate the power of cultural pressure combined with the yeast of false doctrines to change the hearts of a local church. We must keep people focused on Jesus.
Never allow unchallenged influences in the lives of our children or people we provide leadership over. We should keep open dialogue flowing. When we hear false doctrines flowing to their lives, we should gently take them to the Word and instruct them from the scripture.
The tactic of “poisoning the minds” from Acts 14 not only worked on unbelievers, it worked on the believers in Jerusalem. Someone had “carefully instructed” the Jerusalem believers in three slanders regarding the apostle Paul, thus, destroying his ability to minister to them. Why was this slander unchallenged? Paul knew of the slander, thus, asked the believers in Rome to pray that his ministry would be accepted in Jerusalem.