<\/p>\n
They read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading.
\n\u2013Nehemiah 8:8<\/p><\/blockquote>\nGod uses the church to generate the power of His Holy Spirit into our lives. And one characteristic of a winning church is instruction\u2013the teaching that comes from God\u2019s Word. The early church understood that instruction from God\u2019s Word is an integral part of worship.<\/p>\n
You might say, \u201cIf the Holy Spirit dwells within me, can\u2019t I just study God\u2019s Word on my own? Why do I need to go to church in order to hear God\u2019s Word?\u201d<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s see what God says about that. Look at Ephesians 4:11: \u201cHe gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers.\u201d In the original text, there is no \u201cand\u201d between \u201cpastors\u201d and \u201cteachers.\u201d It is one word: \u201cpastor-teacher.\u201d Why did God ordain these pastor-teachers? \u201cFor the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ\u201d (vv. 12-13).<\/p>\n
God is in the body-building business. The purpose of the church is to build you up in such a way that you resemble Jesus Christ in all His fullness\u2013not in your physique but in your actions, attitudes, and affections. How does God accomplish that? Think about a professional athlete. If an athlete is serious about building muscle, his coach will hire a trainer. It is the same way here. God has hired trainers to help you become just like Jesus Christ, and in the church the trainer is the pastor-teacher. He is the one God has ordained to teach you the Word of God so you can grow in your faith.<\/p>\n
Yes, it is valuable to study the Bible for yourself. As 1 Peter 2:2 says, \u201cLike newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.\u201d However, a personal study of God\u2019s Word is no substitute for sitting under the preaching of God\u2019s Word. In fact, as you read the New Testament, you will find that listening to the Word of God from a sound teacher is commanded as much as or more than studying the Word for yourself. If you are only engaged in your own personal Bible study, you are missing out on what God has planned for you. The early church received instruction from a God-ordained pastor-teacher, and that is God\u2019s plan for your growth as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
They read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading. \u2013Nehemiah 8:8 God uses the church to generate the power of His Holy Spirit into our lives. And one characteristic of a winning church is instruction\u2013the teaching that comes from God\u2019s Word. The … Continue reading “Pathway to Victory; Dr. Jeffress”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-170392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-prayers"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170392"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":170393,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170392\/revisions\/170393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}