Grace Bible Church
PastorTeacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Friday, July 15, 2016
“It is not the critic who counts; it's not the ones who point out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the one who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and may come up short again and again.
Because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but it's the ones who actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, great devotions; and who spends himself in a worthy cause;
who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
PHI 2:14-15, Do all things without grumbling or complaining; that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world,
ISA 29:24 "And those who err in mind will know the truth, And those who criticize will accept instruction.
In the original Greek language the word hypocrite comes from two Greek words, hypo which means "to be under" and "crites" referring to criticism.
One of the definitions of a hypocrite is one who puts others under criticism.
Abraham has 100 more years to live because he's going to die at age 175 according to GEN 25:7.
In Gen 12 we find Abram finally coming to geographical obedience but not personnel obedience.
You must be in the right geographical location and make daily decisions to perceive, metabolize, and apply Bible doctrine to your life.
If you can't be face to face with your pastor-teacher, then you should have the discipline to take doctrine in daily some other way.
This reveals the purpose of the pastor and the responsibility of the believer which is EPH 4:11-12.
The pastor has been assigned to a certain group of believers; ACT 20:28.
ACT 20:28 "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood."
Believers have been allotted to or assigned to a pastor-teacher, 1PE 5:2-3.
1PE 5:2 shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge,
HEB 10:25 Do not forsake your own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.
EPH 3:18-19, that you may be able to comprehend in the presence of all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge.
Get under your right pastor whoever he is and stay there and never let a day go by one way or another without taking in Bible doctrine in some capacity.
The Lord said, you take in food every day, it's much more important to take in doctrine, MAT 4:4; JOB 23:12.
John penned the book of Revelation, which is a series of non-face-to-face messages delivered to seven churches on a regular basis; i.e., to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.
They were letters to the churches in a non face-to-face manner by the apostle John was also pastoring the house churches that were meeting all over the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, taught in a non face-to face manner.
Paul's epistle to the Colossians was non-face-to-face teaching of those believers the apostle had never met.
Non face-to-face teaching was not only biblical in the early church but it was better for the believers in the early church then just having face to face teaching because it was more convenient.
They were receiving mystery doctrine from the apostle Paul rather than just teachings from the Old Testament from those pastors who had not yet studied and mastered the mystery doctrine of the Church-age.
From the beginning of the Church-age, there was a tremendous amount of non‑face‑to‑face teaching, illustrated by the epistles of the New Testament.
Non‑canonical epistles are books that were written by the apostles and the early pastors of the church-age which were accurate doctrinally but not a part of the Canon of scripture.
Paul preached to at least a dozen churches through writing, the only technology for that time.
Epaphras was the founder and pastor of a local church at Colossae, according to COL 1:7 and 4:12, however according to Phile 23,
Epaphras was serving with Paul in Rome during Paul's first imprisonment.
Epaphroditus may or may not have been the pastor at Philippi, but when he carried the Philippian epistle from Paul to that group of believers, he carried a series of non-face-to-face messages.
While the apostle John was teaching face-to-face in Ephesus, he was at the same time teaching at least two other groups in a non-face-to-face manner.
One such group was centered around an elect lady in 2 John; another group was centered around a man named Gaius in 3 John.
You should you be listening to and submitting to the pastor-teacher that can help you grow in God's grace and knowledge more than any other could and whether it's face-to-face or non face-to-face, it is not even an issue.
Those that we actually love the most and those that we are closest to often become the greatest testing at some point in our spiritual advance.
People are going to be a "testing" to people.
Sarai is a nag, but Sarai is never going to go from nag to hag as most nags do....she will go from nag to a virtuous woman.
God will separate Lot from Abram and doctrine will take care of Sarai.
If loved ones do not advance with you spiritually, they will be used to hinder your spiritual growth at certain particular times.
When negative volition toward doctrine occurs, those closest to you in your life will often become your greatest enemies and hindrance to spiritual advance.
The word for possessions is the Hebrew noun rekush which means great wealth.
This wealth, which was designed to be a divine blessing will actually become the source of division.
Even materialistic possessions become a test at some point in our spiritual experience.
Everything you possess, every friend that you have, everyone that you love, at sometime in your advance, become a test.
When Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated...,he was bringing people and things that would be used for testing him.
Is that person or that possession more important to you than Bible doctrine?
Beware of being distracted from doctrine by anything that you have accumulated.
1TH 2:18 For we wanted to come to you‑‑ I, Paul, more than once‑‑ and yet Satan hindered us.
He simply has a system that he developed which is designed to take you away from the plan of God and the reason why you have been created.
MAR 4:19 and the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
a. The worries of the world. b. The deceitfulness of riches. c. The desires for other things.