These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not
into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter
ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. St.
Matthew 10:5-6
To take this passage literally will imply that those preaching the
gospel should not go beyond the borders of Israel. So to attempt to take
it literally will be to wrongly divide it, because it is obvious that
this was directly spoken with a Jewish audience in mind. But when it is
rightly divided, other passages of the bible will not be violated, such
as "go into all the world and preach the gospel." This is the way to
check whether or not we are applying to word correctly. A rightly
divided word does not contradict any other scripture.
However, there may be times when the Holy Spirit will give you a
specific instruction not to take the gospel to a particular place, and
to assure you that you are not out of His will, He will call your
attention to this verse of the scriptures. So even though this verse of
the scriptures is not directly telling us not to take the gospel to some
place, yet it can be used by the Holy Spirit to confirm that we are not
out of His will, when He tells us not to go to some places.
But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall
speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which
speaketh in you. St. Matthew 10:19-20
The command to take no thought about what to say may be
misrepresented to mean that a preacher should not take the preparation
of his sermons seriously, because when he stands to preach, the Holy
Spirit will put the words in his mouth. When this is believed, the word
is not being rightly divided. This is not the way to take God at His
words. This kind of belief already negates the word, because the word
commands the servants of the Lord to study. Having said this, it is
possible that after one may have prepared his sermon notes, that the
Holy Spirit can cause you to abandon the message prepared, and lead you
in an entirely different direction. Preparation is a lifetime venture.
Every sermon is a product of the preacher's life, not just the hours he
spends getting ready to deliver the message.
Toni
