Bulletin
“What Should I Speak?”
There is a vacancy within every man. A cavernous and frigid darkness once occupied with the Presence essential for life, yet emptied by free-will. A creation seen as good, dwelling with the Good (cf. Matthew 19:17), turned to the antithesis, betrayed by one “more cunning than any” (Genesis 3:1). He boasts liberty and offers pleasure while the reservation for “everlasting fire” (Matthew 25:41) awaits those who would lend him an ear. The putrid aroma ascending from his offer of eternal death is masked by the “deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13). And so, the masses flock to his beckoning call not realizing they are “grasping for wind” (Ecclesiastes 2:11), only to fall short of their truly rewarding created purpose (cf. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14). Innocence vanishes and the life-giving Presence with it (cf. Isaiah 59:1-2), the separation resulting in a most devastating state of deprivation (cf. Romans 5:6).
The void can be filled. Life can be restored by the One who possesses it within Himself (cf. John 11:25-26), the “lawless deeds” (Hebrews 8:12) being forgiven and remembered no more. This One’s counsel is immutable, thus His promises certain (cf. Hebrews 6:13-20). Yet they are conditional. Not upon nationality, rank, nor gender, but submission to that which He wills. Yet, “as the heavens are higher than the earth” (Isaiah 55:9) so His ways and thoughts transcend ours. They are essential to life, but not attainable through earthly wisdom (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:18-25). We must peer into His mind to discover “the depth of the riches both of [His] wisdom and knowledge” (Romans 11:33), but as no “man knows the things of man except the spirit of the man which is in him[,] even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:11). But thanks be to God Who has given us “the Spirit…that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by [Him]” (1 Corinthians 2:12).
“’Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame’…For ‘whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved’”(Romans 10:11, 13). Therefore, in powerful simplicity salvation ensues. Yet, the beautiful message which saves the active hearer must be heard (cf. Romans 10:13-15). So commissioned by the Lord and aided by the promised Comforter (cf. John 14:25-26), disciples began to make disciples, and the pattern continued (cf. Matthew 28:18-20).
Twenty centuries accumulated atop that revolutionary Day of Pentecost (cf. Acts 2), men with void in their lives remain. The Deceiver continues his antagonistic mission wreaking havoc on creation purposed toward worshiping the God who created. And following the same pattern devised in eternity the adversary is combated by valiant followers convicted by the saving truth (cf. Jude 3). It is this truth only that freed men from the bonds of sin when the brave ambassadors of Christ walked the earth (cf. Romans 1:16). The hopeless message of the Sadducees could not offer victory over death (cf. Matthew 22:23-33). The vain attempt of Judaizers to marry salvation to the Mosaic Law could not free from sin (cf. Galatians 5:1-6). The arrogant doctrine of the Gnostics proved to be most foolish (cf. 1 John 2:18-23; 4:1-6). And any “good news” differing from the gospel “once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3) was unable to make one righteous (cf. Galatians 1:6-10).
Still today that mantle of proclamation must be assumed by any willing to stand in the gap. And once that “man of God” (2 Timothy 3:17) begins his journey he must ask the question, “What should I speak?” With this question he must remember the nature of the important war he wages (cf. Ephesians 6:12). His success cannot be found wielding carnal weapons (cf. 2 Corinthians 10:3-6). Instead he must equip himself with the “whole armor of God, that [he] may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11), and grasping that living and powerful sword he must “wage the good warfare” (1 Timothy 1:18), speaking only “as the oracles of God” (1 Peter 4:11).
