Preaching and Teaching

"(23) And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. (24) Then His fame went throughout all Syria and they brought to Him sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments and who were demon-possessed, epileptics and paralytics and He healed them. (25) Great multitudes followed Him from Galilee and from the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and beyond the Jordan."
                                                                 Matthew 4:23-25.  New King James Version

Jesus was becoming very popular and wherever He went, crowds gathered. He even began preaching and teaching in the synagogues. These were placed wherever a small crowd of people wanted to gather and they had three parts to their services:

PRAYER
READINGS 
These were reading from the Law where members of the congregation could take part.
ADDRESS  
This was for preaching and teaching and there was no particular minister who administered this. The president of the synagogue presided over the arrangements of the service and any distinguished visitor could be asked to give the address, or any one could volunteer if they had a message and the president thought them fit to carry out this task. Afterwards, there would be a  time of discussion and question time.

As mentioned earlier, Jesus was becoming very popular and He used the synagogues to preach and teach and also to bring healing to people who needed this. People came from all-around to see Him; even people from the Decapolis, which was ten independent Greek cities, which apart from one, were on the far side of the Jordan. This gives an idea of how popular He had become.

Preaching and teaching are key elements of the Gospel, together with healing. Thus, Jesus was performing the full Gospel. Preaching and teaching, should always be a prominent part of church services. People need to hear about Jesus and how He changes lives and also, what He can do for them - today!

William Barclay comments:

"Preaching is the proclamation of certainties, not perhapses, maybes or probablies. It's a definite message."

We need to be filled with God's Word on a daily basis. Praising and worshipping is fabulous and we should do this whenever we can. Jesus deserves this praise. However, preaching and teaching needs to have an equal part. Sadly today, the preaching and teaching side of things become condensed and the emphasis is more on worship. There needs to be a healthy balance, so that the full Gospel can be proclaimed.

In this day of the internet, Christian teaching is readily available 24/7 and many of the programs are good, offering sound and solid teaching. Some of the programs need a little more checking out as the emphasis can be more about giving our money away. For myself, nothing beats just getting out my bible and a useful commentary and becoming filled up with teaching.

There is something wonderful about, just sitting alone with Jesus and allowing the Holy Spirit to teach you new things. If you are suffering from a lack of teaching, then get close to God and let Him teach you. Preach to yourself; fill your note books with lots of texts and write down what they mean to you. Get into the Living Word. Pretty soon you'll be hooked!

Copyright 2019 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com