Today, Saturday May 29
Preaching, Warning and Teaching Colossians 1:27-29 “To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.”
Yesterday we talked about the passion of the Apostle Paul. He wanted to present everyone mature in Christ Jesus. He lived to lead others to spiritual maturity because he knew that spiritually healthy people will influence others to Christ also.
Paul tells us that in order to accomplish this he basically did three things. He preached, he warned and he taught. Sometimes we get the idea that preaching is just for the preacher at church. But the truth is every believer should be a proclaimer of Jesus Christ. Jesus does not need to be defended and argued about. We will not win the agnostic or atheist to faith in Christ with arguments and even explanations. Over and over in the New Testament we are encouraged to simply proclaim Jesus.
We first should proclaim Him with our manner of living. With our positive and encouraging attitude and with our kindness and generosity. Like Augustine said, “Preach the Gospel, preach the Gospel and if necessary use words. Of course we will need to use words to tell of Christ love, His sinless life, His death on the cross and His resurrection!
We first proclaim Christ, but we also need to warn everyone we can, of a coming day of judgement. Hebrews 9:27 tells us, “It is appointed for man once to die and after this the judgement.” Jesus said there is only one way to heaven and salvation. “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father but by me.” (John 14:6)
Jesus warned the people of His day that there was a terrible place called hell that was created for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41), but it is also a place that everyone who rejects His love and salvation will go to. (Luke 16) Jesus warned, “And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:46)
We must proclaim, we should warn and we should also teach the new believers how to live for the Lord! I’ve often said that everyone is a teacher! We are either teaching others around us the right way or leading them the wrong way. What are you doing today?
God bless!
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