" Preach the WORD ! "

 

2nd.Timothy 4:1-4 "I charge thee therefore before GOD, and the LORD JESUS CHRIST, WHO shall judge the quick and the dead at HIS appearing and HIS kingdom; preach the WORD; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine: but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."

     Consider these familiar words found in the first two verses of today's reading: "I charge thee therefore before GOD, and the LORD JESUS CHRIST. . .Preach the WORD." The Apostle Paul's last letter to his younger fellow worker, his son in the faith (2nd.Timothy 1:2), was coming to a close. The parchment or papyrus in Paul's prison room was nearly full as Luke recorded the dictated words from the heart and lips of the aged Apostle. The final message from this fervent warrior in the battle for truth needed an appropriate challenge as a preface to his concluding exhortations: "I charge thee therefore" are the words that flow forth as he speaks before the divine witnesses of the eternal FATHER and the blessed SON (v.1), WHO were surely present not only with Paul in prison but with Timothy as well amid his responsibilities as Pastor in Ephesus.

     What was so important that Paul would direct this solemn charge toward Timothy ? How can we sum up the importance of these closing words from a man whose heart was fixed on GOD ? Paul does it in three simple words: "Preach the WORD." Men will rebel against the truth and gather teachers who say what they want to hear. They will "be turned unto fables" rather than the unadulterated truth of GOD's WORD (v.4). So, what was Timothy to do ? Preach the WORD ! Allow the Bible to do what it does best and proclaim it at all times: "reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine." "All Scripture is given by inspiration of GOD, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2nd.Timothy 3:16 pictured above). Just declare GOD's WORD and let IT do ITs work. You can never go wrong by preaching the WORD of GOD. JED

Your servant in CHRIST,

Julie

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