Page 85 - Homiletics I Student Textbook

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a
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hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24
For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man
he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not
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a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. (KJV)

Do you know any preachers that smokes cigarettes? He may smell when you get near
him and his skin is leathery from the effects of nicotine over the years. He is literally
killing himself with this awful habit. Or the preacher may be grossly overweight which
the Bible calls gluttony.

So when he comes to teaching Romans 12:1-2 (Therefore, I urge you, brothers and
sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God--this is
your true and proper worship) or I Corinthians 6 (Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the
Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?) He would have a
difficult time standing before the congregation and teaching them to present their bodies as a living
sacrifice to God, when he is killing his own body with his habits.

None of us is perfect, that’s for sure. As a pastor, you will come to a passage of Scripture and find that
you have not been obedient to it. You may have to tell your congregation that the Holy Spirit has used
this lesson to convict you of sin and to make some changes in your life. Just because you don’t have it
all dialed in does not mean you cannot teach the truth to your people. But you had better not stand up
like a Pharisee of Bible times and present yourself as a Holy man of God when you are disobedient on
the inside! Let’s get honest!

Paul set some goals in his life about his teaching. Here they are:

Acts 26: 29 Paul replied, "Short time or long--I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to
me today may become what I am, except for these chains."

Romans 15: 18 I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me
in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done—

Do you see what his goals were? He wanted to make sure that He was living the passage before he
asked others to do the same. He asked his congregation to become just like him!

Do you want your congregation to become just like you? Most of us would have to say, in some ways,
“yes,” but in a lot of ways, “no.”

“Be like me as I am like Christ!”

So, when you come to a portion of Scripture that you have not mastered in your life, you have one of
two options. Admit where you are, seek the Lord to apply the lesson in your life BEFORE you teach your
people, and be honest with them. The other option, which I have taken many times, is to skip the
passage and move on. That’s not the best plan, but it works.

If you really want to be a great pastor, walk with Jesus. Become like Him. Then, as the Apostle Paul did,
you can stand as an example to your congregation and say, “Be like me as I am like Christ!”
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