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A minister of God’s word is one who has received the revelation of Christ. This means that it has pleased God to reveal His Son in him. One must not only be able to speak the word with his mouth but must know in an inward way that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of the living God. This statement only takes a few minutes to memorize, but the Lord said, “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in the heavens” (Matt. 16:17). The knowledge of Christ is a matter not of words but of revelation. A minister of the word is one who receives mercy from God to have a revelation concerning God’s Son. He is a man to whom God has chosen to reveal His Son; he has a basic revelation that enables him to know who Jesus of Nazareth is. When a man has seen the Son of God, all holiness, righteousness, light, and life pass away under such a vision, and only Christ remains.
Nothing in this universe can compare with Christ. No spiritual thing can compare with Christ. Christ is all and in all. Apart from Christ, one cannot find life, light, holiness, or righteousness. Apart from Christ one cannot find anything. Once God brings a man into the revelation of Christ, he will realize that there is nothing outside of Christ. Christ is everything. He is God. He is the Son of God and the Word of God. He is love, holiness, righteousness, salvation, redemption, freedom, grace, light, and work. Christ fills all. All that we have seen in the past cannot stand up to the light of the Lord today. All things will pass away. Nothing can stand up to this great revelation. Moses is gone. Elijah is gone. Peter, James, and John are all gone. Only Jesus remains. He fills all and is all. Christ is both the centrality and the universality. God’s center is Christ, and God’s universality is also Christ. He is the center and the universality.
When a man is brought to Christ and has a knowledge of Him, this basic experience will enable him to know God’s word and to minister Christ to others. In order to serve, to minister Christ to others, and to supply others with Christ, a man must have the revelation of Christ. Every minister of Christ must have the revelation of Christ. He cannot supply others with what he has not seen himself. He cannot minister to others a Christ that he does not know. He cannot supply others with a fragmented knowledge of Christ. Such a “fragmented” Christ cannot constitute the basis of ministry. A ministry is not built on the basis of a fragmented knowledge of Christ. Since the day of Paul and Peter, everyone who has a ministry of the word before God has had a fundamental revelation of Christ. A man must be brought on by God to the point where he knows God’s Son face to face in the deepest part of his being. To him, Christ must be the One who transcends all, is all, and fills all. Only then can he minister such a Christ to others. From that day forward, he can minister Christ to others. From that day forward, the Bible becomes a living book to him.
Do you see what I am saying? God’s revelation enables us to know Christ. A man can say with his mouth that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and the Anointed One through reading the Bible. But this does not mean that he has touched Christ. A man can understand something about Christ through studying the Bible, but this does not mean that he has the revelation. Many are “pressing” Christ along the way, but they do not necessarily touch Christ. Today what we need is God’s mercy. We need His light and His grace. God has to grant us mercy and grace and reveal His Son in us. It is not a matter of studying and researching but a matter of mercy and revelation. It is a matter of inward enlightening, inward discerning, and inward knowledge. This is what it is all about. From the day we receive mercy and revelation, the Bible becomes a new book, a living book. The words which were once unintelligible are now transparent. Before, the more we talked about things related to the Bible, the more we did not seem to understand them. They seemed logical, and yet we could not comprehend them. But once we see Christ, they become very clear to us. God’s written word becomes obvious and transparent. We are inwardly clear; we are inwardly enlightened. We know Christ in an inward way, and we begin to understand the Bible. This fundamental revelation of Christ enables us to know who Christ is.
What does it mean for God to reveal His Son in us? We cannot describe this; no one can describe it. Even Paul could not describe it. How can we tell whether or not a person has God’s revelation in him? Some people can say that they have seen the revelation, whereas others are unable to say this. Some are clear, but others remain unclear. We struggle, labor, think, and pursue, yet we still do not see anything. But when God grants us mercy one day, our eyes are opened immediately.
Today we may pray to the Lord, “May You be my all. May You fill all and be all.” We pray this way, yet we do not know what this means. We say what we do not understand. When God grants us mercy and reveals His Son in us, we will say spontaneously and effortlessly, “Thank God, He is everything. Christ is everything. All my past spiritual experiences are behind me. All my past works and pursuits are behind me. Even my love, faith, righteousness, holiness, and victory are behind me. Everything but Christ is behind me. Christ is everything.” Only then can we say that He is over all and fills all. This is a fundamental revelation. It is on the basis of this revelation that we seek to understand God’s word. This is the starting point from which we seek to understand the Bible. We begin by knowing God’s Son. After this we proceed to know the Bible. As we go on in this way, everything will become transparent to us, and we will say, “I did not understand many things, but today I am beginning to understand them.”
This is where a man must learn to turn and become like an infant. He must learn to be like a child. How does a child learn about a cow? There are two ways. First, he can have a book with the picture of a cow on the page and the word cow beside it. Second, he can be taken to see a cow. Which of these ways gives the child a more genuine understanding of the cow, a picture or a real-life cow? The cow in the picture is only a few inches tall. The child may think that a cow is only that tall. If you put him in front of the cow, however, his understanding will be different. Suppose a child has seen a living cow. Within him there is an impression of something — a cow. But he does not know what it is called. Now if you point out a cow to him in the book and tell him that it is called a cow, he will readily understand. His questions will be answered. We should be like a little child. May God cause us to know Christ at least once, to touch Him in a fundamental way at least once. When we read the Bible again, everything will be clear and obvious to us; we will see everything through the light of this book. Once the foundational experience is right, everything else will be right. Once this is established, everything else will be in place. Everything will be related and linked together.
If you merely give a person a Bible and tell him the things contained in it, you will not get very far. One brother studied many books on botany. He read about a certain plant with a certain kind of leaf and flower. He went up to the mountain in search of this plant but could not find it. It is relatively easy to learn a word by looking at a picture. But it is not that easy to identify an object by comparing it to a picture. This brother tried to find the plant by the description in a book, but he could not find it. The same is true when it comes to identifying a man. It is easier to look at a man first and then look at his picture. It may not be easy for us to identify a person from his picture. This is a very simple illustration. We find this experience among many children of God. We find this in Paul and Peter. One day God granted mercy to them, and they knew Christ. The Lord Himself said, “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in the heavens” (Matt. 16:17). This is entirely a matter of God’s mercy and grace. We know His Son because He has chosen to reveal Him to us. From the day we begin to know Him, we begin to know the Bible. In order to know the Bible, we have to know Christ first.
The basic issue is: Are you simply ministering to others from this book, the Bible, or are you one who has met Christ and who has a revelation of Christ? Are you one who has met and encountered the Lord fundamentally? Do you have a fundamental understanding of the Lord? If you do, you will spontaneously say, “Thank God, many things in the Bible are clear to me now.” From that time forward, day by day as you read the Bible, you will find passage after passage making sense to you. An inward knowledge of the Lord comes first, while a knowledge of Him through the Bible comes later. Once you have the subjective knowledge, you will find God’s word understandable and self-harmonizing when you study it again. What were problems to you now become meaningful revelations, and what was once insignificant now becomes very significant. Everything fits together; all the parts are linked up and nothing is insignificant any longer. From that point on, your days on earth will become days of knowing the Bible. Day by day what you see will match what the Bible says; the two will testify to the same things. You may not see everything all at once, but it will appear to you little by little, and you will see more as the days go by. We do not understand the Bible through the Bible. Rather, we know the Bible through inward light and inward revelation.
The misguided mind always wants to take the way of the intellectual man. Man thinks that he can study the Bible by himself. He thinks he can make the effort to understand it. He thinks that he can read it with or without prayer. He thinks he can study it, and he trusts in his study. But this is a wrong way. When the Lord Jesus was born, many Jews were very familiar with the Bible. Herod asked where Christ would be born, and the chief priests and scribes answered without looking it up that Christ would be born in Bethlehem of the land of Judah. They even quoted the Scripture which says, “And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, by no means are you the least among the princes of Judah; for out of you shall come forth a Ruler, One who will shepherd My people Israel” (Matt. 2:6). They could recite the Scripture. But did they know Christ? Although they were so familiar with the Bible, they did not use it to find Christ. Instead, they used it to try to kill Christ. They used it to help Herod try to kill God’s Anointed. How wrong one can become in reading the Bible! How wrong a man can become by being familiar with the Scripture! What kind of things a man can do by the so-called understanding of the Bible!
When the Lord Jesus was on earth, the Scripture was fulfilled point by point. While a person who knows nothing about the Bible can be excused for not recognizing this, those who knew the Scripture should have recognized immediately that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God from the many fulfillments of the Word. But did the Pharisees know this? They did not know Christ nor could they accept Him. They sewed the Scripture to the hem of their garments and their girdles. They had a knowledge of the Scripture and could expound biblical prophecies. They could tell others about the teachings and doctrines of the Scripture, but they kept Christ outside the door. A man can touch the Scripture without touching Christ. The Pharisees made the Scripture mere reading material, study curriculum, an object of doctrinal research. They could understand the doctrines, but they rejected the Savior.
At the same time that this was going on, there was another group of people. They did not have any Bible knowledge. Matthew was a tax collector. Peter was a fisherman. Even in Acts, they were considered “uneducated men and laymen” (4:13). Yet they had met the Lord. They had met Christ. God revealed His Son in them, and they knew the Lord. Peter received from God the revelation of His Son at Caesarea Philippi. He knew inwardly that Jesus was God’s Anointed, the very Son of God. As far as Christ’s ministry is concerned, He is the Christ of God. As far as His person is concerned, He is the Son of God. As far as His work is concerned, He is the Christ of God. As far as His person is concerned, He is the Son of God. This is the greatest revelation. The entire church is built upon this revelation. These uneducated laymen knew the Son of God, and they knew the Bible. Matthew was a tax collector; he had not previously known the Bible. But because he knew the Lord, he could tell us so much about the Old Testament in the New Testament. Once he knew the Lord, everything became clear. This is not learning a word by seeing the picture, but rather, identifying a picture by seeing the object. He first knew the Lord, and then he found out about Him from the books of the Old Testament. Suppose you know a brother personally. When another person brings you a picture of this brother, you can identify him in the picture immediately. You must first know Christ before you can know His book.
The trouble with some people is that they turn the order of Christ and the Bible around. They want to know the Bible first and then know Christ. But it is possible for a man to know the Bible yet at the same time to not know Christ. Matthew and Peter received mercy from God to have Christ first revealed in them. When they read the Scripture afterwards, every sentence was clear to them. We are not Jews and may not realize the significance of this. Suppose we were Jews and lived as Old Testament men in the land of Judea. When we studied the Old Testament according to the outward letter, the whole book would be a mystery to us. Today, the Old Testament is still a mystery to many unbelievers and so-called theologians. But Peter, Matthew, John, and James met Jesus of Nazareth, and God revealed His Son in them. The more they read the Old Testament, the more it was opened to them. When they came to a passage, they could say, “This is a fulfillment of what was written.” Throughout this book, from Genesis 1 to Malachi 4, they found that this Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God, the very Christ. They did not know the Scripture through the Scripture itself, but through Christ. Those who know Christ know the Bible spontaneously. Many so-called Christians, nominal Christians, have read the Bible for years but know nothing about it. However, once they see that Jesus is the Savior, they have a different feeling altogether when they read the Bible. It is a new book to them.
Hence, when one knows the Lord, he knows the Bible. Revelation comes from Christ. Once a person has a revelation of Christ, he has a revelation of the Bible. Those who think that they know the Lord just from the book do not necessarily have revelation. The experiences of many who know the Lord tell us that it is useless to study the Bible by itself. We must remember that a man must first know Christ before he can know the Bible. This was the case with the twelve disciples. It was the same with Paul. He was a Pharisee, that is, one who knew the Scripture very well. The Pharisees were very familiar with the Scripture, yet they did not know the Lord. Although Paul was a good and pious Pharisee, and although he knew the Scripture very well, he persecuted those who were of the Way (Acts 9:2; 22:4). It is possible for a man to know and be familiar with the Bible and yet still persecute the Lord Jesus. Paul was such a man. Paul did not study the Scripture and then suddenly realize one day through his study that Jesus is the Son of God. Rather, God shone on him one day, which brought him the realization that this One was the Lord. Here was a man who hated and persecuted the Lord. He sought out believers, both male and female, in order to bring them bound to Jerusalem. He was a stern persecutor of the church. What a wicked person he was! Yet as soon as God flashed His light on him, he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” Immediately he answered, “Who are You, Lord?” and went on to inquire of the Lord what he should do (Acts 9:1-6; 22:10). The prostration was genuine. The fall was real. Paul’s body fell, his self fell, and his whole being fell. Paul was humbled in his outward man, and he was humbled in his inward man. After he received this revelation, what do we learn of Paul in the rest of the book of Acts and in the Epistles? He was able to interpret the Old Testament. He was able to tell us that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of the living God. The Old Testament became an open book, a living book, to him.
You can read the Bible. But if you set aside the knowledge of Christ, your Bible becomes a closed book to you. This is why many educated and intelligent people find the Bible confusing and mysterious. You can tell them about all the merits of this book, but they will only shake their heads. To you this book is very clear, but to them it is very confusing. They do not know Christ. If a man knows Christ, he will know God’s word. This does not mean that no one can find God by reading the Bible. Some do find God from reading the Bible. But this is a case of God’s mercy; He chooses to enlighten such a person this way. While he is reading the Bible, God takes pleasure in revealing His Son to him and saving him. The way to know the Bible is by knowing Christ. Paul was led by God to the point where he could explain to others in his many Epistles who this Jesus was. When we read Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians, we find a man who was crystal clear about the Old Testament. Where did Paul’s knowledge come from? He first knew Christ, and through that knowledge, he knew the Scripture.
In order to be a minister of the word, we must begin by having a knowledge of Christ. Only after we have known Christ will we know the Bible, and only then will we be able to serve as a minister of the word. Anything short of that will not qualify us to be a minister of the word. Paul saw a great light and knew Christ. After he was saved, he went immediately to the synagogue to tell others that Jesus is the Christ. Acts 9:19-20 says, “And he was with the disciples in Damascus for some days. And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, that this One is the Son of God.” However, the Jews would not believe his word. What did he do? “But Saul was all the more empowered, and he confounded the Jews dwelling in Damascus by proving that this One is the Christ” (v. 22). The Jews believed in the Old Testament. In order to confound them, Paul quoted from the Old Testament to prove that Jesus is the Christ. What a surprise that only a few days earlier this man had been persecuting those who called on this name and had brought them bound to the high priest! How could he be so empowered to prove that Jesus is the Christ from the Old Testament Scripture? This shows us that ministry of the word is based on the knowledge of Christ.
Let me repeat this: We do not lightly esteem the Bible. The foundation of God’s word is based on the Bible. What we are saying is that those who depend on the Bible alone cannot be a minister of the word. Those who do not read the Bible do not have God’s word. But those who are familiar with the Bible are not necessarily ministers of the word. Only those who know Christ can be ministers of the word. If you want to be an oracle of the Lord’s word, you need a thorough and powerful shining to realize that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Such a realization will humble you; it will cause you to forget about everything and to have a one-hundred-eighty-degree turn. Once you know the Lord this way, the Bible will become a new and open book to you, and you will understand this book.
This revelation of the knowledge of Christ was common to all the apostles. Matthew had this revelation. So did Peter, John, and Paul. The Lord Jesus said to Peter, “Upon this rock I will build My church” (Matt. 16:18). This meant He would build the church upon this knowledge. Rock does not refer just to Christ but also to the revelation of Christ. The Lord said that Peter’s knowledge was not revealed to him by flesh and blood but by the Father who is in the heavens. This is revelation. This rock is Christ; this rock is also the Son of God. Our knowledge of this rock today comes from such a revelation. The Lord said, “Upon this rock I will build My church.” This means the church is built upon Jesus as the Christ and as the Son of God. This is the foundation of the church. The gates of Hades will not prevail against the church because the foundation of the church is Christ; this foundation is the Son of God. But this is not all. We should pay attention to how we can know this Christ, this Son of God. Jesus of Nazareth is known to us by revelation, not by Bible expositions in the hands of flesh and blood. Today many people — men of flesh and blood — are expounding the Bible. Yet we do not know Him by such expositions. Our knowledge of Him comes from a revelation that is beyond flesh and blood; it comes from the Father who is in the heavens. It is God’s speaking that ushers in a knowledge of who Jesus of Nazareth is. Today the church is built upon this rock. The church is built upon the rock of the knowledge of Christ that comes from revelation. Today the whole church should be built upon this rock.
A revelation concerning Christ was not only crucial to Peter, to Paul, to John, and to Matthew, but to the whole church today as well. If we want to serve God in the ministry of the word, we have to have this fundamental revelation. Otherwise, a man can teach the Bible, but he cannot minister Christ. A minister of the word serves men with Christ; he dispenses Christ to men. This work is based on our revelation of Jesus. We need revelation to see who Jesus is. The church must be built upon this foundation. Without this revelation, the church has no foundation. It must have the revelation and knowledge that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of God. Everyone who has received this revelation is begotten of God. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God (1 John 5:1). Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Son of God is begotten of God. Such a one comes from God. God’s life and power enable such a one to recognize Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. When God gives a man a fundamental recognition and when he sees this matter clearly and accurately, his understanding of the Bible is drastically changed. He no longer supplies others with just the Bible but with Christ.
Anyone who wants to be a minister of the word needs to experience what Peter, Matthew, John, and Paul experienced at the beginning. Some brothers do not have a great deal of knowledge of the Bible. However, there is something special about them: They were all humbled by the Lord at one time, and they now know something. They know that Jesus of Nazareth, who is God’s Christ, transcends all works. This Jesus of Nazareth, who is God’s Son, transcends everything. Once this realization comes to a man, he begins to know how to teach the Bible. He knows Christ, and his exposition of the Bible is an excellent ministry of the word. Please remember that the basis of the ministry of the word is the knowledge of Christ, not a good knowledge of the Bible. This is not to say that Bible exposition is worthless or that Bible knowledge is harmful in any way. We are merely saying that a man who does not know Christ and who is just touching the Bible outwardly does not have the ministry of the word. Ministry of the word is based on inward revelation — not just the isolated revelations of different portions of the Scripture, but one basic revelation concerning Christ. Without this, one cannot minister anything even if he has memorized the Bible. If he has this inward revelation, an outward knowledge proves to be useful, and his exposition of the Bible is not only right but living as well. Then everything works together for good to the ministry. But if inward revelation is missing, outward things are worth little. Once a man is clear inwardly, the outward things fall into place.
Ministry of the word involves a knowledge of the One behind God’s word. It is a question of who that person is. Once a man sees this, he has a basis upon which he can minister Christ through the Scripture to others. Ministry of God’s word means to know Christ and then to supply others with Christ through the Bible. There is a difference between knowing Christ and knowing the Bible. A man does not have to be prostrate on the floor to know the Bible. As long as he has a good mind and applies some diligence to look in reference books, he will know the Bible. But being a minister of the word is a different story. A man has to be broken by God before he can be used as a minster of the word. If a man is honestly seeking God and then meets God one day, everything will become clear to him in the light. This revelation demands the sacrifice of our entire person. When a man begs for mercy, rejects his own thoughts and decisions, and prays for God’s conquering light, which will cast him at the feet of Jesus of Nazareth and enable him to proclaim Him as Lord and confess, “Lord Jesus, from now on, I acknowledge that You are all, that You transcend all and fill all,” this light will spontaneously produce a message in him, and he will become a minister of the word.
What does a minister of the word do? We can say that a minister of the word translates Christ into the Bible, that is, he takes the word of the Bible and uses it to tell others about Christ. In the end the Holy Spirit translates the words of the Bible back into Christ within those who have received the word. This is what it means to be a minister of the word. You must know Christ, and you must have a basic revelation and fundamental knowledge. A minister of the word translates Christ into the words of the Bible. This may sound peculiar to you, but it is a fact. He knows Christ as a living person, and the Bible is full of Christ. He receives mercy from God to see Christ, and he sees Christ in the Bible. Having familiarized himself with the Bible, he can speak with assurance concerning a certain passage, a certain story, or a certain teaching. We should note that there is a world of difference between having and not having this translation process going on behind the word. Some people proceed from the Bible when they talk about Christ; the Bible is their starting point. Others have Christ as their starting point. For them the living Christ is transformed into the word of the Bible. They put the Christ they know into the words of the Bible and present these words to others. When these words are presented before men, the Holy Spirit opens up the words and conveys Christ to them. If you do not know Christ and you merely present to others the words of the Bible, your work ends when your words end; nothing more will happen. You have merely passed the Bible on to others. The Bible is your starting point.
A man needs to know Christ. Those who have a fundamental knowledge of Christ put this Christ into the words of the Bible and release them to others. The Holy Spirit acknowledges these words. On the one hand, the ministers are speaking the words, and on the other hand, the Holy Spirit does the work. The Holy Spirit releases the speaking through the ministers, and the audience sees Christ. This is what it means to minister Christ. This is the ministry of the word. We are responsible for putting the Christ we know, gain, and see into words and presenting these words to others. This is the only way for the Holy Spirit to convey God’s word to others. If our starting point is the Bible, doctrines, or teachings, then, when we are finished speaking, the Holy Spirit will not take up the words and will not be responsible for supplying others with Christ. We should not think that an exposition of the Bible alone ministers Christ. We can only minister Christ after we have known Christ. We must be thoroughly broken by the Lord. Only then do we have a way to go on. We must ask the Lord to give us a basic understanding, a knowledge of the basic revelation. We must know what Christ is like and what the Lord is like. Only then will our speaking of the Scripture be living.
What is a minister of the word? A minister of the word is one who ministers Christ by the words he speaks. When the word is released from his mouth, the Holy Spirit works, Christ is realized and known, and the church receives the benefit. We should not put all the blame on the listener. We should realize that we are the ones who should bear the full responsibility. The audience is used to teachings and expositions. For them a messages begins with the Scripture and ends with the Scripture, and it stops where the Scripture stops. They do not see the revelation or the Lord behind the Bible. This is why the church is poor and desolate. When we translate the Christ we know into the words of the Bible and allow the Holy Spirit to translate these words back into Christ, we have the word of God. We should translate the personified Word into spoken words. The Holy Spirit will then translate these spoken words back into the personified Word. Without such a translation work, there is no speaking. A minister of the word blends the personified Word together with audible words. When a minister of the word stands up to speak, one finds God’s Christ and God’s Son through the words he utters. A minister of the word puts Christ’s very person into the Bible and then delivers Him to others. When he supplies others with the book, he supplies others with the person as well. This is what it means to be a minister of the word. Such a man is chosen by God to be a minister of the word. When his word goes out, God’s word goes out. When the Bible is released, Christ is released. The two become one.
Today the church is poor because the ministers are poor. We have to ask God for mercy and light so that we will realize the meagerness of our revelation. Today many works are conducted in an outward way; many exegeses touch only superficial things. We do not know Christ deeply enough. We are not dealt with seriously enough. This is why the supply of Christ is meager along our pathway. We can tell others about the words of the Bible, but we cannot tell them about God’s Word, which is Christ Himself. When God grants mercy and light, we see that in the beginning was the Word and this Word was with God. This Word was God; the Son of God is the Word. This Word became flesh. In other words, Jesus of Nazareth is the Word. This Bible is God’s Word. This man is God’s Word. When God chooses us to be a minister of the word, we find out that as we are speaking from this book, we are speaking about this man. When we convey the words of this book to others, we are conveying His person as well; we are conveying Christ to others. Our preaching should be for the ministering and dispensing of Christ to others. The ministry of God’s word is the ministry of this very person.
One day when we find out what a minister of the word really is, we will realize that there is nothing we can do except to prostrate ourselves before God and say, “Lord, I cannot make it.” Whether or not a person can be a minister of the word depends on his attitude before the Lord. What a hard word this is! Who can take this? We speak Christ by speaking Him through the word. We are not speaking about Him but speaking Him forth. We are not giving a message but speaking a person; this person is conveyed through us. When others receive our word, they receive Christ. When others hear our word, the Holy Spirit conveys Christ to them. This is what it means to be a minister of the word.
This is a grave matter. It is something beyond our capacity, something absolutely beyond our capabilities. Every servant of God should be conscious of his own worthlessness. All ministers of God’s word have to prostrate themselves before Him. They should know that even though they can expound the Bible, preach the word, and teach others, they are powerless when it comes to supplying and ministering Christ to others through the ministry of the word. They can only prostrate themselves before the Lord. Today we have to look to God for mercy. We should make a fresh evaluation of everything we do. We have to see our worthlessness, our utter hopelessness. Unless the Lord grants us mercy, we can do nothing. It is a very solemn thing to be a minister of the word. It is not easy to be a preacher of the word. It is not a matter of how many times we have read the Bible. What we need is to minister Christ as a minister of the word before God so that others touch Christ when they touch the words we speak.
