Monday, June 29, 2009

When People Perish

Proverbs 29:18 KJV
Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

I remember the first time I heard the idea that this verse may be improperly used by many pastors today. I was in Bible College and a fellow student and I were doing some work at the Exec Vice President's home. During a short time of conversation with that Bible teacher, he made mention of the fact that the verse should not be used to refer to a pastor's "vision" for the church.
The verse isn't speaking about goals
The verse isn't speaking about a five or ten year plan
The verse isn't speaking about a building campaign


John Gill says, "... here vision, or prophecy, signifies the public ministering of the word and ordinances, and want of persons to administer them ....."

Barnes Notes says of this vision, "The word commonly used of the revelation of God’s will made to prophets."

People perish when they are without the Word of God.
People perish when all they have as a substitute are the methods, programs and whims of men in so-called ministry.


People perish when the preachers of our day spend all of their time in pursuits (even good ones) besides prayer and ministry of the Word so that when they enter their pulpits, they just give some outline they got from a book or a sermon they adapted from a periodical.

People perish whenever their preacher has replaced anything with time in God's Word until God gives him a message from heaven.

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