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Grace Baptist Church of Danville April 7, 2013
Every preacher is responsible before God and his hearers to faithfully proclaim the Scriptures, giving the meaning and message intended by God the Holy Spirit in the passage from which he preaches. The Spirit’s meaning and message can be obtained only by the gift of the Holy Spirit; and that gift is bestowed upon faithful men laboring in the Word, studying, praying, and seeking God’s message for his people.
Daily Readings for the Week of April 7-14, 2013 Sunday 2 Samuel 15-17 Thursday 2 Samuel 24-1 Kings 1 Monday 2 Samuel 18-19 Friday 1 Kings 2-3 Tuesday 2 Samuel 20-21 Saturday 1 Kings 4-6 Wednesday 2 Samuel 22-23 Sunday 1 Kings 7-8
· Bro. Frank Hall is preaching today for Bible Baptist Church in Madisonville, Kentucky.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Jayalita McCormack-14th
NURSERY DUTY THIS WEEK Today: Alexis Mason (AM) Ruth Wall (PM) Tuesday: Celeste Peterson
Oh, Come and Bless Us Here! — Don Fortner
(Tune: #164 — Breathe on Me, Breath of God —SM)
1. Will God now condescend To dwell with man below? Will He to our poor souls attend, And blessings here bestow?
2. “Yes,” says the Lord, proclaim The promise far and near, “Where souls are gathered in My name, I’ll come and bless you there.”
3. “The place, it matters not, Chapel, or home, or cave, Where’er I cast my children’s lot, There I will come and save!”
4. Fulfil Your promise, Lord, Oh, come and bless us here, Let pow’r Divine attend Your Word, Show Your salvation here!
16 Interpreting the Word of God
“So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.” (Nehemiah 8:8)
It is not necessary to know the ancient languages to accurately interpret the Bible. God has given us his Word in our own language. Personally, I do not place much value upon any of the modern translations of the Holy Scriptures. None of them is more accurate or more readable than the King James version. Only two things are necessary for an accurate interpretation of Holy Scripture: faith and honesty. We must believe what God says, subjecting our reason, opinions, and emotions to the revelation of God in the Scriptures. And we must interpret the Word of God with honesty. An honest interpretation of God’s Word is a contextual interpretation. Three things are involved in an honest, contextual interpretation of the scriptures.
Context
Everything revealed in the Scriptures must be interpreted by the context in which it is given. It is dishonest to take a man’s words out of context, much more so to take God’s words out of context. Every word, phrase, verse, and chapter of the Bible must be interpreted in the light of its context. I mean it must be interpreted in the light of its immediate context and in the light of the whole Book of Divine Revelation, “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20).
Plain Statements
We must build our doctrine upon the plain statements of Holy Scripture and upon the whole Volume of Inspiration. We must not form our doctrine by logic or tradition and then seek to find “proof texts’ for the doctrine we have built. And we must not build our doctrine upon isolated portions of scripture. We build our doctrine upon the whole testimony of God.
Place Explained
If we would know the truth of God concerning any subject, we must go to that place in the Scriptures where that specific subject is explained by an inspired writer. If you want to know what the Bible says about baptism, you must not go to Acts 2:38, but to Romans 6. If you want to know what the Bible teaches about marriage and divorce, you must not go to Romans 7:1-4, but to 1 Corinthians 7. If you want to know what God has to say about his purpose of grace, you do not go to John 3:16, but to Ephesians 1, Romans 8, 9, and 10. Honesty compels a man who seeks to know the truth of God to find that place in the Bible where a subject is taught and explained and build his doctrine upon God’s revelation. Honesty and faith will keep us from error.
17 Preaching — God’s Definition
“So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused [them] to understand the reading.” (Nehemiah 8:8)
You will not find a clearer, more direct definition of preaching than is here given by God the Holy Spirit. “Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose.” Standing upon this elevated pulpit above the people (so that he could be seen and heard by all), Ezra lifted up praises to the Lord God and led the people of God in the reverent worship of Jehovah our Savior. Then we are told that Ezra and those who preached with him on this great day did three things, three things that every preacher must do every time he stands to speak to eternity bound sinners in the name of God.
1. “They read in the Book in the law of God distinctly.”
If we would preach to immortal souls in the name of God, let us preach the Book of God. If we would preach the Book of God, we must read the Word of God in our assemblies. In this house of worship we meet three times a week. At every worship service, either one of our men or I read a lengthy portion of Holy Scripture. To my knowledge, we have not had a worship service in more than thirty-two years without the public reading of the Scriptures. This public reading of Holy Scripture is as important as our congregational singing and prayer. Notice that Ezra and his assistants in worship read the Word of God “distinctly”. Let us do the same. Before reading a portion of Scripture in public, the man reading should go over that portion in private, reading it many times in preparation for the public worship service, so that he may read it “distinctly”. When we read the Word of God in public worship (or lead the congregation in prayer), we should do so “distinctly”, carefully pronouncing each word with clarity and speaking with sufficient volume to be heard. There is no point in having public prayer or a public reading of the Word if the man speaking cannot be heard and heard “distinctly”.
2. “And gave the sense.”
How blessed we are when God sends a man to speak to our hearts by his Word, who gives us the meaning of God’s Word! To give the sense of any portion of Scripture is to expound the text, giving out the meaning of the text as it stands in the Book of God. Preaching is not telling people what you think about a passage, or what a passage reminds you of, or how you think a passage applies to modern life! To preach the Word of God is to faithfully give the message of God the Holy Spirit in the text. The only way a preacher can do that is by diligent preparation, prayer, and study.
3. “And caused them to understand the reading.”
If the people to whom we preach do not understand what we preach, if they are not by our preaching caused to understand the Word of God, then our preaching is utterly meaningless. The man called and sent of God to preach the gospel is “apt to teach”, gifted of God to cause those who hear him to understand the Word of God. He preaches with such simplicity and boldness that no one can misunderstand what he preaches.
18 The Grace Bulletin
April 7, 2013
Grace Baptist Church of Danville 2734 Old Stanford Road-Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438 Telephone (859) 236-8235 - E-Mail don@donfortner.com
Donald S. Fortner, Pastor
Schedule of Regular Services
Sunday 10:00 A.M. Bible Classes 10:30 A.M. Morning Worship Service 6:30 P.M. Evening Worship Service
Tuesday 7:30 P.M. Mid-Week Worship Service
Television Broadcasts in Danville
Channel 6 - Sunday Morning 7:45 A.M. Channel 6 - Wednesday Evening 6:00 P.M. Channel 6 - Friday Evening 7:00 P.M.
Television Broadcasts in Harrodsburg Channel 6 - Sunday Afternoon 3:00 P.M. Channel 6 - Friday Evening 6:00 P.M.
Web Pages http://www.DonFortner.com http://www.FreegraceRadio.com http://www.Grace-eBooks.com
Don Fortner
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Pastor Fortner’s
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