Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate.  Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach.  For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.

 
 
 

Going to Jesus

Daily Thoughts

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Thought for Today
Mar. 19

PREACHING AND TEACHING

From a sermon at Grandma's farmhouse by Preacher Clark in mid-May, 1975.

The gospel of Christ cannot be taught. It must be preached because it is the power of God (Rom. 1:15-16). God alone can ordain men to preach His gospel (e.g. Lk. 4:18; Acts 10:42), and in every case, those who are ordained by God to preach His gospel have the power of the holy Ghost working through them to prove it. A man's deeds prove whether or not he has been sent by God to preach. He does not have to claim anything.

Likewise, the "kingdom of God" cannot be taught; it must be preached (Lk. 4:43) because, like the gospel, the kingdom of God is "not in word, but in power" (1Cor. 4:20). There is no place in the Bible that speaks of "teaching the kingdom of God". The things concerning the kingdom of God can be spoken of (Lk. 9:11; Acts 1:3; 19:8); but the kingdom itself cannot be taught; it must be preached. "The kingdom of God", wrote Paul, "is righteousness, peace, and joy in the holy Ghost" (Rom:17:14). So, the kingdom of God cannot be taught to men any more than the holy Ghost itself can be taught to men. It must be experienced, and only by preaching the kingdom of God can men experience it.

Doctrines, whether true or false, can be taught (1Tim. 1:3; Mt. 15:9); the way of God can be taught (Mt. 22:16); things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ can be taught (Acts 28:31); but the gospel can only be preached because, as with the kingdom of God, the gospel of God is "the power of God unto salvation" (Rom. 1:16). Paul said that he was "not ashamed of the gospel of Christ". This means that he was not ashamed of the power of God. He was not ashamed to speak in tongues; he was not ashamed to prophesy; he was not ashamed to heal the sick; he was not ashamed of those saints who trembled so greatly under the power of God that ignorant men thought that those happy saints were drunk with wine (Acts 2:13).

Preaching can be done silently with the hands, such as when a servant of God lays hands on the sick and they are healed, or verbally, as when a servant of Jesus is empowered by God to speak something in His name. Either way, miraculous things happen whenever preaching takes place. Peter was preaching under the anointing of God at Cornelius' house when the holy Ghost fell on everyone there, and Gentiles were taken into the kingdom of God (Acts 10).

Search your Bibles; you will find that there is no such thing as a "false preacher" in the body of Christ; there are only false teachers (2Pet. 2:1). Why are there no "false preachers"? Simply preaching can only happen when the anointing of God is present. What the Bible calls "preaching" is possible only when the power of God moves through a man. There are no false preachers because there is no false power of God; if it is the power of God, it cannot be false.

The power of God cannot be imitated. This is the reason that there is no such thing as a false preacher mentioned in your Bible. Teaching can be true or false because there are such things as false teachers, but preaching can be nothing but true.

Most Christian ministers call themselves, or are called by others, "preachers", but in all but an extremely few cases, they are not; they are only teachers. To call a man a "preacher" who does not have the miracle-working power of God moving through him is unbiblical. That ungodly tradition is simply another of Christianity's worthless ways. Such ministers are teachers, and they are all false, to one degree or another. If they were not false, to one degree or another, they would obey God and come out of Christianity. No Christian minister understands that merely being a part of the religion of Christianity makes him false, to some extent. For the many Christian ministers who are sincere and pure in heart, I feel certain that Jesus will rescue them from that vain religion somewhere along their way. Until then, as long as they remain a part of the Great Whore, their vision is clouded, and their teaching is always to some extent polluted by Christianity's rebellious spirit.

NOT FOR HIRE; NOT FOR SALE

The Scriptures indicate the difference between teaching and preaching in several places. For one example, we are told that Jesus departed "to teach and to preach in their cities" (Mt. 11:1). The "preaching" Jesus did was demonstrating the power of God with miracles and healing; the "teaching" was what Jesus told the people about His Father and His ways. He was preaching when the power of God rose up in him and he shouted, "Come out of her, you unclean spirit!" He was teaching when he said to those who gathered about him, "A sower went forth to sow . . ."

The apostles were commanded by the elders of Israel no longer to teach or to preach in Jesus' name (Acts 5:42). Apparently, even Israel's elders recognized that the apostles were doing more than talking about Jesus. They wanted to put an end to both their teaching about Jesus and the miraculous works the apostles did in his name.

Nature can teach us (1Cor:11:14). But it cannot preach. Experiences can teach us, but no experience ever preaches. The holy Ghost can teach us (Lk. 12:12; Jn. 14:26; 1Cor. 2:13; 1Jn. 2:27), but there is no Scripture that says the holy Ghost preaches. Only men can preach, and only those men can preach who are anointed with the power of the holy Ghost sent down from heaven (1Pet. 1:12).

Christian ministers can be hired to teach certain doctrines (2Tim. 4:3), but no man can be hired to preach because the power of God is not for sale. "Preaching" is an act that is impossible for a man to do in himself, for supernatural power from God is required for "preaching" to be possible. Men have the power in themselves to teach, but unless Jesus has taught a man the mysteries of God's kingdom, the only thing that man can teach is a lie. No man can teach the truth of Christ without hearing directly from God any more than he can preach without the anointing of God's miracle-working power. The truth of the doctrine of God is no more for sale than is His anointing with power. If a man is hired to teach, he is already a liar because God's truth is not for sale.

Christianity's religious system of hiring and firing of ministers is as much of God as is a worldly business' hiring and firing of workers. That system is altogether of man; it is of the will of man; it serves only to please the men in charge of that business. In the kingdom of God, there is no such thing as hiring a man to be a minister because God cannot be persuaded by money to call and to anoint a man with power. Neither can He be persuaded by "filthy lucre" to anoint a man to teach the truth. "To hell with you and your money!" angry Peter declared to one foolish man, "because you think the gift of God can be bought with money!" (Acts 8:20).

Hell is where Christianity and its entire money-driven system will be sent. Its ministers are hired with money; its doctrines are financed with money; the substances of its communion suppers are purchased with money; its churches are built with money; its robes for worship are woven for money; and its "word" is a dead book printed for money. God will destroy Christianity, the Babylon of the New Testament. For this reason, Jesus is pleading for his beloved people to come out of that vain religion before His Father determines that it is time to destroy it.

This is a message that cannot be taught by man in himself, nor yet understood by man because it is truth that only comes through the anointing of God and can only be received by a heart that has been touched by God to receive it. It is a message that is so pure and true that there is no place in Christianity for it. No one will pay a man to teach it because the teaching of it will destroy the religion that hires men to teach. It is freely received and freely given, and it sets free every person who embraces it.

In this message, you are being taught things that you cannot judge. Rather, these things are of God and are judging you. Have you been found worthy to receive them and to rejoice in the truth?

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