The letter Paul wrote to the Ephesians, talks about walking worthy of the vocation in which you were called. He was not talking about, those who weren’t called. Let us see if we can deal first, with those who were.

I believe we got the first part; or most did. I also think that there are two parts of walking worthy. One, is to live in such a manner that nothing ill can be spoken of you, or the church you are a part of. I would be a hypocrite, if I did not insert here, that falling is not the end.

In our world today, nothing is more honored, than someone who has made mistakes, faced it, admitted it, done everything to turn their life around, and once again proven themselves as worthy people. That also includes ministers.

But it’s the second part of worthy, that has caused such upheaval among God’s people. The words were stated very clear:

. . . . . “with all lowliness and meekness,”

. . . . . “with longsuffering,”

. . . . . “forbearing one another in love”

It went on to say, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit, in the bond of peace. I noticed something earlier. It didn’t say unity of the people, or unity of the assembly, it said, unity of the Spirit. Two key words, are unity, and peace.

Since one fruit of the Spirit is peace, it likely means, that without the Spirit, there is no real unity.

We’ve all pulled apart, in so many directions. I don’t know, how we ever got to the place, that if you didn’t belong, or no longer belonged to my particular group, I couldn’t love you anymore. We could no longer have fellowship together. Jesus Christ, never intended that. Someone decided, unless you are like me, you’re not in the Body.

There are those who have called themselves. Jesus said they did. It was also written in the Old texts, that some prophets, had called themselves. It has never been our practice to say who is called and who is not. But I do think, one way to tell, is that they do not follow what is written above about those who are worthy.

We also know, that some started out right, but for what ever reason, they no longer manifest those characteristics. Those things are, the fruit of the Spirit. Mean, harsh, demanding preachers are out of order; we’ve all seen our share. Thank God, for those who still love.

You don’t even have to have the Holy Ghost to be a good preacher. You can preach up a storm, convince a lot of people, put on a great show, and not have the true anointing of the Spirit. It happens and we see it often.

I think that the real note of a genuine man or woman of God who preaches, is that they “speak the truth in love.” Any of us can get on our soapbox and preach up a storm; set the house on fire. But only those who have the true Spirit of God, can minister to people, and see their lives, truly changed. We can preach with fire; but we must be certain it is the fire of the Holy Ghost, and not some pumped up affair. If we are called to preach, we need to act like someone who is called. We must truly love, those we are preaching to.

Robert Blackburn