Basics 2008 - Session #4, Voddie Baucham

Voddie Baucham was back for Session #4. He started out by asking two questions, Why do we preach the gospel?" and "Why should we continue?"

2 Tim 2 contrasts the ashamed people with the unashamed people who preach the gospel. 2 Tim 3 contrasts the attitudes of the hearts of the people who are corrupt with the hearts of those who stand firm. In 2 Tim 3:10, Paul tell timothy, "You will not be like that." Why not? Because of his allegiance to the Word of God. That is the fulcrum that the Holy Spirit will use to keep those who stand firm from failing. Baucham said we can categorize the people of the world into two camps; those who believe God's Word and those who don't. What do we do about that?

2 Tim 4:1 tells us to "Preach the Word." It's all we have but it's all we need! preaching is Bible exposition it is not teaching object lessons or issues using Scripture to bolster our premises. Biblical exposition is allowing God to encourage and admonish us through the sharing of his Word. The last thing Paul tells Timothy, his last admonishment to him is for him to, "Preach the Word."

In light of all this and 2 Tim 4, this is why we commit ourselves to preaching the Word of God;

1) It is the standard by which we will be judged. we must first apply it to ourselves.

2)No matter what the occasion, the Word of God is the answer. There is no inopportune time to preach the Word. We should be ready all the time. We should have a gospel answer to all situations because God's Word impacts all areas of our lives. Many of us think the gospel and the Word of God can handle most problems but the 'really serious' ones need outside resources, counselors and such.

3) We must reprove, rebuke and exhort with "patience and teaching" in and out of season (all the time). A proclaimer of the gospel carries God's authority, not his own, into any situation and it must be used. In other words, we bring the Word to bear on any problem or dilemma. But we have to remember that, "We don't write the mail. We just deliver it." The message is from God not us and so is the solution to the problem. So, we don't preach or counsel our opinion, we use the gospel.

4) We preach the Word because people will turn away from the truth and embrace myths. We need clarity so others will be able to identify 'myths' ( 2 Tim 4:14 ). We only expose, it is God who repays. We have to be careful with this because we have a tendency to do whatever it takes to draw a crowd. We want successful churches. As people turn to 'myths' we can easily adapt their methods to get people to show up. We must be careful not to turn away from the truth ourselves. God, not our methods, is the answer to church growth.

What can be worth turning away from the truth? A Bigger congregation? A better reputation? The respect of other men? God can overcome any problem we have in our churches. How do we know that? We know that because there is no bigger problem than a dead Jesus and God overcame that. If God can resurrect Jesus, is there any problem we have that He can't fix?