GOD'S WORD AND HIS SOVEREIGNTY part1

Here read Proverbs 16:1 Proverbs 26:4-5 I Corinthians 12 Romans 12:3-8 Ephesians 4:16 Matthew 28:18-20 Mark 16:15-16 I Thessalonians 5:17

In Proverbs 26, the fourth verse seems to contradict the fifth verse. Does this mean that there is a contradiction in the Word of God?

By no means, because Proverbs 16:1 clearly teaches that if a man's heart has been prepared by the Holy Spirit, then his tongue will answer according to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. When a Christian hears someone say something foolish and sinful, and that Christian has "Pray(ed) without ceasing;" that is, he or she has kept their heart in a state of constant openness to the instructions of the Holy Spirit, then that Christian may rebuke that foolish person or ignore him as guided by the Holy Spirit.

The entire Word of God works this same way. Sometimes, preachers preach as if God were hidebound by His own Word. They preach as if God cannot do certain things in certain situations because His own Word wont let Him. They forget that God is sovereign, and that He can do whatever He pleases so long as it is something good.

This does not mean that God ever violates His own Word. He does not. However, God does not use His Word to restrict His own actions, but rather, He uses His Word like a mechanic uses different tools out of his tool box. Just as a mechanic uses different tools according to the problem at hand, God uses different passages from His Word to fix whatever particular problem that may arise.

One can see this type of application of God's Word in the life of Jesus on earth. At times, Jesus was loving and compassionate. At other times, He was angry and severely rebuked those who practiced injustice, but He never violated His own Word in any case. He used His Word in accordance with that which the situation demanded.

The ordinary Christian, who lives in tune with the Holy Spirit and who practices having the mind of Christ, can do the same. The only difference is that the ordinary Christian wont always get it right like Jesus did. For this reason, the ordinary Christian must try to comply with I Thessalonians 5:17 and all other verses about the guidance of the Holy Spirit in order to practice everyday obedience. To "Pray without ceasing" means that every Christian should try to keep his or her heart in constant communication with the Holy Spirit so that they may obey God's will at any moment. This means that every Christian should resolve to read his or her Bible ( which is the 1611 KJV in English) and pray every day without fail for God's guidance for that day. If this constant communication with the Holy Spirit should become broken because of sin, the Christian should immediately repent and ask God to restore it.

This same guidance of the Holy Spirit extends not only to the individual Christian but to the church as a whole. The purposes of the local church are to preach the gospel to every creature, to teach believers to obey Christ, and to baptize them into the local church. This is the purpose of the church as a whole with each member doing his or her part as gifted and guided by the Holy Spirit. In other words, the local church operates as a team effort with each member doing his or her part faithfully. Jesus' commands to the local church were directed to the team as a whole.

Sometimes, preachers mistakenly preach that the commands of Christ ( called the "great commission" by the church) are meant for every individual Christian. They preach that every Christian should give a personal witness to anyone at any time. Some Christians may be gifted by the Holy Spirit to be a personal witness, but many are not. Those who have not been so gifted should not try to be a personal witness unless in a particular instance the Holy Spirit tells them to be a witness. In such a case, the Holy Spirit will empower them to be a witness. Certainly, every Christian should witness when asked about their faith because such occasions are always arranged by the Holy Spirit. But many a Christian, not so gifted, has tried to obey the preacher rather than the Holy Spirit and have become loaded with guilt because they often make a mess of it. God does not want His Christians to feel unnecessary guilt because they tried to witness when the Holy Spirit had not empowered them to do so. God wants His people to feel free of guilt and oppression, not to be weighed down by it. Some Christians are empowered by the Holy Spirit to be personal witnesses, and they are always quite successful at winning souls to Christ, but this happens because the Holy Spirit always arranges for them to witness to just the right person at just the right time.

However, each individual Christian should pray that God will reveal His gift to him or her and then faithfully practice that gift. The gift may be to be a prayer warrior, or to minister to the poor, or to preach the gospel, or to teach, or to be a doorkeeper; but whatever the gift, the individual Christian should faithfully practice his or her gift as a team member of their local church.