“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.” 2 Timothy 4:2 – 4
The charge from God to every preacher is “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ…Preach the word…” no matter what. The charge is to “preach or proclaim” which means - to herald (as a public crier), especially divine truth (the gospel), from Strong’s. – that is to publicly shout or cry because as Ministers we are the official messenger bringing the word of truth. There is not another, no one else will deliver God’s written truth to the world of both lost and saved. It is just as important as the churches of truth getting the gospel to the world, no one else can do it. Without the preachers or proclaimers appointed by God, or the churches commissioned by Jesus Christ, neither the word of truth nor the true gospel gets delivered. This is the importance we all must put on it, it is exactly that important. Now, please do not use the attitude that, “well God is Sovereign, and He will get it out no matter what”. That is called “hard-shell-ism” and if that’s you’re thinking then why preach the gospel at all? While you are correct, it’s our commission from God to both Preachers and churches! Listen men, a Minister is a called servant of God, no one else was appointed and called of God for this beautiful work, just us. It is the Word of God that both sinners and saints need, they do not need entertainment, they do not need worldly sympathizing, they do not need worldly lies, they need God’s TRUTH. No one tells God’s servants what people need because it is God Who tells the Minister, and the Minister tells the people. Don’t forget what God told young Jeremiah, “But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.” Jeremiah 1:7 - 8 It wasn’t that Jeremiah was so young that God was with Him, look at the Apostle Paul, “Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.” Acts 18:9 – 10 Preaching is a calling and an inspired work, we are never alone in it, God is with us all the way. The Apostle Paul was extremely successful in his work for the Lord, but why? Well Paul credited God, “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” 1 Corinthians 15:10 Brethren, this is to us all, we are, what we are by God’s grace, and we will accomplish what we will because God is continually with us! We never need to forget those words of encouragement because we will always need them because lost people will hate us and some Christians will walk away with, “…having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” One Author wrote these words, “The great fight is the preaching of the Word. The men of power and weight are men of the Book; such represent God.” Preaching the Truth of the Word is a great fight because Satan hates it. He is fighting us on every turn and we who are God’s men of truth must walk in truth, no matter what. God warned us thru the Apostle Paul that weak Christians would have carnal desires for religious lies. Because of their “itching ears” they would desire teachers who would satisfy their cravings for things that disagree with God’s truths. God’s word is hard for the weak Christians that fail to study God’s word, they simply cannot stomach truth, therefore they forsake the church and truth. In our day, a preacher who has a large congregation is mostly a sign that he is preaching untruth for “itching ears”, or it has a lot of children in it. In fact, it may be evidence that he is tickling people’s “itching ears” and giving them what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear. The churches of Truth and the churches that are true need to be fed strong meet, the weak need to be fed milk, but God will direct His men He has appointed what to feed them, always trust God and not people. However, a good well-seasoned Pastor knows what is needed and will always lean on God to show him, no matter where it leads or what the results are. Younger Pastors and Ministers need to pay attention to the good well-seasoned Pastor’s and learn from them, not just the truth of preaching, but from their strength and manner of their ministry. I will personally never forget the strong men who showed me the strength of the ministry, I love them even today even though most are with the Lord. Paul said, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:” 2 Timothy 4:7 This should be the thought of every God called man to the ministry, I stood on truth no matter what, because I trusted God even if they all walked away, I stood on truth like Jesus did in, John 6:60 - 61, 66 - 69 "Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? (61) When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? (66) From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. (67) Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? (68) Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. (69) And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God." Brethren, numbers are in God’s control, we are commanded to preach the truth and never stop!
