Who Do You Quote?

A few weeks ago I posted a question on a rather popular website that got absolutely no response. I simply asked, "Why do we quote everyone else more than we quote Jesus?" I then proceeded to answer my own question. The answer is simple, because we really don't know what Jesus said.

Let me make myself very clear, I have no problem with people reading or quoting from these other books. The thing that bothers me the most is simply the fact that I see more preachers quoting what 'people' wrote instead of what GOD wrote. You can find postings of all these great quotes on all these different web sites but hardly any of them are quoting Jesus. They can quote chapter and page from these books but you almost never see them quote scripture. Why is that?

During one of my visits with the Prophet T. W. Barnes, who mentored me for about 13 yrs, he told me that one day he was thinking about a certain subject in scripture. He decided to go to his book shelf and read up on the matter. Just as he reached for the book he was wanting to read, the Holy Ghost spoke. God asked him, "Tom what are you about to read." Bro. Barnes responded that he had a certain topic of scripture on his mind and was wanting to read this particular book to gain some insight. Then the Lord spoke back and asked, "Tom, did I write that book?" Of course Bro. Barnes responded, "No sir, you did not." After a moment the Lord spoke again and said, "If you want to know what I meant then study the book I wrote and I will explain it to you."

Its easy to know what a man is passionate about, just listen to him talk. If he talks about the latest and most ''cutting edge'' book he has read lately and the one before that, etc. etc. then that's what he is passionate about. It truly concerns me when this seems to be their focus and you never hear them talking passionately about the Word of God or some new revelation they have recently received out of the Word of God.

I wonder if the reason they read everything else is because they simply believe it more. It seems to me that a man of God would want to spend more of his time reading and studying the Word of God rather than all these other authors and their views.

Over the past few years I have heard several young men of God say that they want to see the miracles that our elders saw. I've got news for you - they spent time with Jesus. They kept their faces in His word.

I have said several times lately, while preaching, that the stories of the miracles and signs and wonders that we often recall are, more often than not, from our elders generation, not our own. You have to ask the question. Why?

Yes, I know that there are miracles that happen today but the stories we mostly recall are those that happened in our elders day. We must again ask ourselves, why? What did they all have in common? Why did so many miracles happen back then? The answer is simple - They had a relationship with God. How do I know that? Because that is what they talked about! All things God! He was what they believed in and what they were passionate about and we knew it because God was all they could talk about.

We must realize that the more time we spend reading and studying the Word of God the more we will begin to know God's voice. The better we know His voice the easier it is to follow Him. Let's get passionate about God! Read what He wrote. Learn His voice. Seek His face. Know His ways.

We will never see a move of God any other way than to get close to Him and to lift Him up. John 12:32

I challenge you to put all of those other books down for a while. Pick up the Word of God and read it, ingest it, BELIEVE it and DO it.

JSS