SOUNDING OUT:
On Fire for God (Part 3 of 5)
We have been looking at the foundation
of a fervent attitude that springs from a genuine and
vital spiritual relationship with God. We are in the
process of searching out five activities that the Word
identifies as springing from a proper attitude and approach
to life. We will see the importance of:
1. Prayer and
Praise
2. Reading the Scriptures
3. Speaking the Word of God to Others
4. Giving of our Abundance
5. Fellowshipping with like minded believers.
The Greek word prothumos
is a key to unlock God’s heart on these activities.
The last couple of weeks we looked at the first two,
and this week we will look at the third. We find the
third of our key activities in the next use of the words
in the prothumos word family.
Romans 1:15,16:
So, as much as in me is, I am ready [prothumos]
to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.
16 For I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God
unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew
first, and also to the Greek.
Paul was prothumos
to preach the gospel because he understood the "good
news" and knew what it had done for him and would
do for "every one that believeth" (verse 16).
He wasn’t ashamed to speak for he knew it was
the power of God unto salvation.
But what does this third activity, Speaking
the Word of God to Others, have to do with the
second, Reading the Scriptures?
Matthew 12:34:
0 generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak
good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the
mouth speaketh.
If you put an "abundance"
of the Word in your heart, you will inevitably bubble
up all over people with it. Neither will you won't get
"burnt out," because you'll be giving from
your abundance, not your need.
Reach out with the Truth of God’s Word
and be a dynamic witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Share
what you know from God’s Word and share what God
has done for you. You have earned the right to tell
your own story like no one else can.
Psalms 107:2:
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed
from the hand of the enemy;
We’ve been redeemed
and we should speak boldly and gladly and enthusiastically
about it.
Psalms 66:16:
Come and hear, all ye that fear [respect] God,
and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.
“I will declare…”
this was a deliberate decision of will. The Psalmist
invited anyone to come and hear for he was determined
to speak. That’s the kind of resolve that comes
from a prothumos approach to life.
Acts 4:20:
For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen
and heard.
The Word lived abundantly
in their hearts, and they couldn’t help but speak
of it. That’s prothumos preaching.
II Corinthians
5:18-20:
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to
himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry
of reconciliation;
19 To wit, that God was
in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto
us the word of reconciliation.
20 Now then we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we
pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
We are ambassadors declaring
our message to the nations of the world. Paul was committed,
bearing the symbolic marking of a bondslave determined
to carry out his master’s will to boldly proclaim
the mystery of the gospel..
Ephesians 6:19,20:
And [pray] for me, that utterance may be given unto
me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the
mystery of the gospel,
20 For which I am an ambassador
in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought
to speak.
Not only ought we to speak,
but there is great rejoicing as we do.
Philippians 2:16:
Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in
the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither
laboured in vain.
1) What was your life
like before you accepted the completed work of Jesus
Christ?
2) How did you come to know God and His Son, your Lord
Jesus Christ?
3) What has your life been like since you accepted Jesus
Christ?
These are things many
are hungering to know, and we should be ready to tell
them.
1 Peter 3:15:
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready
always to give an answer to every man that asketh you
a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and
fear:
We should give God special
place in our hearts. When our hearts are sanctified
for the master’s use we find ourselves ready and
willing at any moment to perform prothumously
in all five of these categories. More to come next week.
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