INTAKE BEFORE OUTFLOW

 

 Old Mother Hubbard 
Went to the Cupboard,
 To give the poor Dog a bone;
 When she came there,
 The Cupboard was bare,
 And so the poor Dog had none.

As a preacher of God’s Word, we cannot give what we do not have. There must be intake before there can be outflow. If the spring is not flowing, then we cannot draw out water. Our people come to us, thirsty and longing for the Water of Life. Is the well dry?

We may all feel that way at times. Having given and given and given—we are poured out and exhausted—with nothing left to give. Yet, here comes another Lord’s Day and the assembling of the saints to drink. They are thirsty. The world they have functioned in all week has drained them dry. They look to the pulpit for help. What will you do?  Jesus provides the solution. 

There must be DESIRE. He says, “If anyone thirsts.”  

Self-sufficiency may drain our desire. Pride calls us to self-sufficiency. It’s our job to give the people the Lord’s message and satisfy their spiritual thirst.  We have been to seminary. We are the Bible experts. So, we function as professionals, just doing our job. There will be no outflow of grace from such a pulpit, for there has been no intake. God gives grace to the humble, and not the self-sufficient.

Carnal satisfaction can deplete our desire. Rather than the intake from the tributaries of truth in Scripture, we may satiate ourselves at this world’s well.  Distracted by electronic devices, addicted to worldly amusements, and gorged with fleshly pursuits, we think on Saturday night, we can borrow some other preacher’s bucket and share the contents of his intake with the thirsty Sunday morning crowd. 

Jeremiah speaks to this:  “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (‭Jer. 2‬:‭13‬‬). 

God forbid that we be a broken cistern!  Let us desire to drink deeply of Christ all week long through the fountain of the Spirit-inspired Scriptures.  Then, no matter how demanding our week has been, we may claim the promise, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled,” (Matt. 5:6). 

There must then be DIRECTION.  Jesus said, “let him come to me.”

Good intentions will not get the job done. We may have meant to dive deeply into the text we are to preach, but so many good things have detoured us from the primary task. I think of the Apostles, in the early days of the church. The congregation was growing exponentially, conflict arose, ministry demands intensified, and the church turned to the leadership. Their response was to install other godly men to care for those needs, for they said, “we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word,” (Acts 6:4). There must be delegation of many tasks, if there is to be the declaration of mighty truths. 

Wrong direction will keep us from the right direction. There is a place for reading commentaries and listening to podcasts. But, we must prioritize seeking Jesus. Our agenda is to drink deeply of Him, before we dive deeply into research. Pray much before you study long—to seek the Savior and not just create a sermon. You will be amazed how if you are in the Word with regularity, the Lord will fill you up, so you can pour out. Prayer and the ministry of the Word are inseparable.

Finally, this calls for DECISION. Our Lord said, “drink.”

The old adage is, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.”  I can present this, but you can ignore it. You may nod your head and say, “Amen,” with your lips, while returning to the old rut of doing what you’ve always done. You may feel guilty and so drained as to despair and quit the ministry. Some preachers go down in flames of moral failure, while others just fade away.  

It is time to come and drink. Open your heart to Christ anew. The Holy Spirit promises to flow into you and then out of you!  That outflow will be “rivers of living water,” not a trickle, but a torrent!  You may be drained, but the Spirit within you never is—not even a bit—from His boundless supply. 

Let us seek the Lord, brothers. God will supply the outflow if you take care of the intake.

PREACHERS OF FORGIVENESS PRACTICING FORGIVENESS

Gospel preachers proclaim God’s message of forgiveness. If we are not pointing people to the cross and extending an invitation to salvation, then we have forsaken our calling. Yet, we dare not only proclaim this as our message, but must present it as a model. Preaching forgiveness is easier than practicing it!

As I have pastored for over four decades, I have been wounded many times—most severally by church members. Sometimes, they have been akin to Judas—kissing up to your face, while betraying you behind your back. Lost sleep, many tears, depleted energy, and such have come from the wounds of critical words. I could tell you some horror stories, but if you have been a pastor for very long, you have plenty of your own.

The real issue is—what do we do about it?  Will we flee at the first sign of criticism?  Will we fight fire with fire and seek to incinerate our enemies from the pulpit as we rage against them?  Will we fester with bitterness that infects our ministry and poisons productivity?

Christ’s answer is to forgive. We are to consider how much He has forgiven us and then forgive those who have done much less to us. We may say, “I don’t deserve this!”  True enough. What we deserve is hell!  Anything less than that is grace—amazing grace.  We preach it.  Let’s practice it. Leave the critics to God. He can handle them much better than we can. Do not let your enemies live rent free in your head.

There is a reconciliation process provided in Matthew 18:15-20. Maybe you have preached on it. Have we practiced it?  Have you made every effort to reach out in love to your enemy?  If that has been tried and rebuffed, have you sought someone else to mediate the conflict as Scripture commands?  When all efforts have been exhausted, have you then placed the matter before the church?  What if you have attempted it, and the church has refused to take the final step and call the unforgiving party to repentance and being willing to discipline them by removing them from the assembly?  If that be the case, shake the dust off your feet and move on to another ministry opportunity!

A pastor who will not forgive forfeits his right to preach forgiveness. Bitterness will be toxic to our ministry. Anger and a vengeful spirit will light a fire that will burn everything down. Yet, a church that allows such without confronting the unrepentant—whether it be the preacher, the member(s), or both—is not a church, but merely a social club.