Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Orange Moon "Storyteller?"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe… 

 

"Storyteller?"

 

   Preachers are not storytellers.  We may, of course, tell stories in order to illustrate or accentuate a point.  However, God calls preachers to fulfill the office declared by the Apostle Paul to Timothy:

 

   "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the Word and doctrine" (I Timothy 5:17).

 

   The story that warms the heart, brings tears to the eyes, or even elicits a chuckle on Sunday morning will not suffice on Tuesday morning when a step of faith and obedience is required, or on Friday afternoon when one's world seems to come crashing down.  Only the truth of God's Word aids and strengthens in such times, or in real terms, at any time.  

 

   "My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken Thou me according to Thy Word... My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen Thou me according unto Thy Word" (Psalm 119:25; 28).

"Sanctify them through Thy Word. Thy Word is truth" (John 17:17).

   "Lead me in Thy truth, and teach me" (Psalm 25:5).

 

  God's Biblical promises, commands, and direction alone provide the handles of hope and power we must grasp with our hearts in order to trust and obey Him, and to consistently and increasingly know His peace and joy.  We must possess "the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God" in order "fight the good fight of faith" (I Timothy 6:17; 12).  Stories, as useful as they can be as an adjunct to Truth, are not Truth.  They are not our sword.  Thus, the preacher, if faithful to his calling, is not a storyteller.  He tells stories when appropriate.  But he is not a storyteller.  

 

    "Preach the Word" (II Timothy 4:2).

 

   Pray for your preacher that he will keenly understand this truth.  I would appreciate those prayers also.  Pray that we will "labor in the Word and in doctrine," and that we will be willing to say what needs to be said rather than what people sometimes want to be said.  A place exists for the story that helps to illustrate and accentuate.  It is a small place, however, in comparison to the vast sanctuary where God's infinite Truth resides, and from which the preacher must come to join his Lord, who declared of His own calling…

 

"To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the Truth."

(John 18:37)

 

Weekly Memory Verse

    "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"

 (I Corinthians 3:16)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6097

 

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