Word of His Mouth Publisher

09/19/2026

There has never been an example of saving faith that only affected the future but never affected the feet. Real faith affects your feet. (P.228, link in comments.)

09/19/2026

Day 48: Read Numbers 14-15

What Is Happening?
In Numbers 14, the fallout continued from the bad report of the spies. God demanded that Israel then go back out into the wilderness for the next thirty-eight years until the entire generation 20 years old and upward was dead. Only Joshua and Caleb of that generation would gain the promised land. Upon hearing that, the people suddenly decided to go in and fight – too late and without God – and got beaten badly.
In Numbers 15, God went right back to telling the people how they were to behave in the promised land, even though it would be decades before they got to go in. Toward the end of the chapter, hard on the heels of their disobedience and being sent back out into the wilderness, a man chose to violate the Sabbath by working. He was put to death.

Hard Words and Phrases:
Murmur = grumble, complain. Discomfitted = beat. Habitations = homes to live in. Hin = about five quarts. Presumptuously = intentionally. Ward = confinement. Fringes = tassels.

Interesting things to know:
The man who was killed for picking up sticks was not just “killed for picking up sticks.” This was an intentional act of rebellion, preparing to kindle a fire on the Sabbath, which was expressly forbidden. It was also in a rare moment when everyone else was doing right. It was also while the very presence of God was visible in the form of the pillar of fire. This was an “in your face, God,” moment, and it cost him his life.

Application:
God deals very harshly with rebellion that is likely to cause others to rebel also.

Encouragement:
You are not just learning facts and figures for the head; you are learning truths for the heart and life as well.

09/18/2026

Jesus took a “detour” through a city that most Jews never went to, and by the time He left, a multitude of people in that city had gotten saved. That kind of detour isn’t a detour; it’s the entire point the whole time. (P. 222, link in comments.)

09/18/2026

Day 47: Read Numbers 11-13

What Is Happening?

In Numbers 11, three chapters of action begin. The people complain about the food; Manna is not good enough for them. God sends fire among them to destroy many. Then He instructs Moses to formally appoint seventy elders to him, since he (Moses) is getting burnt out by the load. God sends enough quail to feed everyone for an entire month, then plagues them while they are eating it.

In Numbers 12, Moses seems to have married again, most likely upon the death of his first wife, Zipporah. This woman was an Ethiopian, and Miriam and Aaron did not like it. They complained, clearly led by Miriam, and God gave her immediate leprosy. They repented, Moses prayed, and she was cleansed.

In Numbers 13, two years into their journey, they were at the border of Canaan and ready to go in. Moses sent twelve spies into the land, not to see if they could take it, but to see what the land they were about to take was like. After forty days, the spies came back. The report: all twelve agreed the land was amazing. The conclusion: ten said they could not take it because the giants of the land were too big. Two, Joshua and Caleb, said they could.

Hard Words and Phrases:

Mixt multitude = people who were only partially, or in some cases not at all, Hebrews. Foreigners that left Egypt with the Hebrews. Bdellium = the pale yellow resin of a certain tree. Out of hand = immediately, at once. Suffice = be enough for. Two cubits = thirty-six inches. Ere = before. Similitude = likeness (sort of like a divine mask Moses could see and still live). A great stature = very tall.

Interesting things to know:

The children of Israel entered Canaan from the south, with no water to cross. Thirty-eight years later, they would enter from the East, which is why God stopped the flow of the Jordan River for them.

Application:

God hates complaining. And just as He was with Israel (He literally sent them food from Heaven!), He has been too good to us for us to complain!

Encouragement:

You have made it into some exciting chapters of Scripture, and there is more to come!

09/17/2026

Keep good records, young preacher!

We have dealt with many spiritual issues in these posts; let’s deal with an incredibly practical one this time, one that will help you more than you can imagine, young preacher:

Keep detailed, searchable records.

I have been preaching since I was twelve years old, doing evangelism since I was twenty or so, and have been a pastor since I was twenty-seven. That amounts to nearly ten thousand messages or lessons I have preached, nearly thirty years that I have pastored, and around 16,000 days’ worth of life since I first stood in a pulpit and, in my high-pitched young voice, said, “Open your Bible to...”

That all amounts to a large body of work. Fortunately for me, even way back then, someone gave me a form of the advice I gave you a moment ago. I still actually have a small black three-ring binder with many of my messages from those pre-PC years!

Early in my pastorate, I was still handwriting messages. Dana, my dear tech-savvy bride, though, quickly dragged me into the modern world with a computer tower roughly the size of Trump Tower, and I was off and running. Messages were now typed, printed, and compiled like a booklet. There was more, though; she built a database for me, one that I am still using today. Each and every message and lesson, no matter where or when I preach it, is listed by date, text, title, subject, place, pastor, attendance, any notable illustrations used, and any results (anyone saved, baptized, joining the church, etc.). With a click of a button, I can instantly look up every single time and place I have preached a message, or how many times I have preached from a particular text, or when someone joined, or who I have preached for, or all of my messages on any particular subject, and much more.

Now that I also have an iPad, I can do much the same on the spreadsheet it comes equipped with.

This, young preacher, will assist you over and over again – even in ways you would not expect. Some years ago, a rather obnoxious sort confronted me after a service: “You always preach on X,” he said angrily. I smiled, and said, “Really, let’s check that out.” Then I went and retrieved my laptop, opened the database, and started reading back to him all of my messages in reverse order from that day. After several minutes of X never even being mentioned, and me still rattling off messages, he slinked away, and we never had that conversation again.

As to messages themselves, please, please heed this: footnote them carefully. I know, I know, “footnote” and “message” may not be two words you have heard hand-in-hand before. But they should be.

Like all preachers, you are going to have illustrations, historical events, quotes, and other things in the midst of your messages. In years past, preachers have often rightly gotten a very bad reputation for lying (mostly unintentionally, I grant) in illustrations and quotes. They heard a preacher say some spectacular thing, repeated it, and never bothered to check it out. “The team of scientists that drilled a hole so deep in Russia that they heard the screams of hell,” anyone?

Research everything before you say it. Find solid documentation, then footnote it. If you tell about the Battle of the Bulge, footnote it. If you quote some politician, footnote it. If you got something from a commentary or book, footnote it. And as a bonus, if you, like me, are also an author, it makes the production of books from your messages infinitely easier.

You should also keep a daily journal of absolutely everything. In years past, I have heard more than one frothing reverend say something like “Journaling... what are you, some woman with a diary?”

Let me help you with that one; I personally am a power-lifting black belt who jumps out of airplanes, scuba dives, drives heavy equipment, and has enough scars to make a doctor wince at the sight. So, no, not a woman with a diary. What I am, though, is something I hope you will also be, young preacher: wary.

Here is a question for you. If someone accused you of being somewhere and doing something ten or fifteen years ago, what would you do?

My answer is, I would open my computer, go to my journal for that day, and lay out everywhere I was, at what time, and all that was done. I have been keeping a detailed daily journal for decades now. It is actually pretty enjoyable to be able to go back many, many years and see all that God did in the early years to get us where we are now!

On many occasions, that daily journal has been a saving grace. I do not have to try and remember things that transpired, they are written down, and I can use a search feature to find them in seconds if I do not remember the date.

You, young preacher, have advantages that old-timers did not have. You have never known a day that did not have electronics in it. Some will rail against it, but you should use it for good and for a guard.

Keep detailed, searchable records, young preacher; decades from now, you will thank me for it.

09/17/2026

Jesus openly claimed to be the Messiah. Do you understand how significant that was? He was claiming to be the fulfillment of all the promises made from Genesis 3:15 onward of the Chosen One being sent from God! (P.221, link in comments.)

09/17/2026

Day 46: Read Numbers 8-10

What Is Happening?
In Numbers 8, the Levites are sanctified and begin their service under Aaron and his sons. They would serve from twenty-five to fifty years of age, but as Numbers chapter 4 specified, it would be from 30-50 that they actually did the work. The first five years would be an apprenticeship; they would serve as students of the work.
In Numbers 9, we are shown again the one year anniversary of the Exodus from Egypt. Israel was commanded to observe the Passover Feast, the first annual reminder of the night of their delivery. There was some men, though, who had been defiled by a dead body. This made for a conflict; everyone was commanded to keep the Passover, but no one was allowed into the camp for seven days when they were defiled. So God made provision for such cases, allowing them to keep the Passover personally one month later. The rest of the chapter reminds us again of the pillar of smoke by day and fire by night. Israel never moved unless the pillar moved.
In Numbers 10, two silver trumpets were made. They would be used to summon the people, or to send them to battle. On the twentieth day of that second month, the pillar moved from Sinai to Paran, a three day journey, and they moved with it.

Hard Words and Phrases:
Atonement = covering. Touching their charge = concerning their work. Rites = customs, ordinances. Forebeareth = decides not to. Standard = banner. Against they came = ahead of their coming. The rereward = the back of the line.

Interesting things to know:
We are introduced to another family member of Moses in Numbers 10:29, Hobab, his father-in-law’s son.

Application:
God is a God of grace. When men could not keep the Passover due to uncleanness, God gave them another day to keep it rather than cutting them off or making them do without it.

Encouragement:
Be a help to someone today; nothing will make you much happier than helping to lighten someone else’s load.

09/16/2026

A good study, I think!

“Is There A Call To Preach?”
By Pastor Bo Wagner
9/16/2026

Early this morning, I received a fantastic Bible question from a young man at Heartland Baptist Bible College concerning the call to preach. In short, he wanted to know if there still is an actual “call to preach,” at least in the sense of the way we see it in the book of Acts. As a follow-up, he wondered whether merely meeting the qualifications of 1 Timothy 3 was, in and of itself, sufficient enough for a man to become a pastor, whether “called” or not.

I answered him in brief, but it was a good enough question that I want to answer it more fully here, and will post it to my WordOfHisMouth website later as well.

Let us begin by giving a few verses that specifically reference the call to preach:

Acts 16:10 And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.

“Called us for to preach the gospel” is very specific indeed!

Here is an Old Testament verse equally specific:

Jonah 3:2 Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.

Now a few more from the New Testament, from the lips of the Master Himself:

Matthew 10:7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Luke 9:60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

In Jonah, it was from the Hebrew Qara, “Cry aloud, publicly proclaim.” In Matthew and Mark it was the Greek Kerusso, “to proclaim aloud, to speak with authority.” In Luke, it was diangello, “to publish abroad, to declare.”

In Acts, we find another reference to the call to preach, this time as a command:

Acts 10:42 And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.

In Romans, we find another very specific reference for the need to be sent as a preacher:

Romans 10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

In that one, we find two different words for preach, giving us a robust definition of the task. The first is kerusso, which we have already seen, the second is euangellidzo, meaning to announce good tidings, to bring good news.

The letter to the church at Corinth gives us another sent/preach passage:

1 Corinthians 1:17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

In another passage to the letter to Corinth, we find a verse that separates the call to preach from the general call for every believer to proclaim the gospel:

1 Corinthians 9:14 Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.

If they are to live of the gospel (make their livelihood through the preaching of the gospel), then this is an example of what we commonly call “full-time ministry,” not just believers speaking of Christ as they go about their day.

Here is another one with another key word to consider:

Ephesians 3:7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. 8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;

Paul said that he was made a minister (diakonos, a servant) specifically that he should preach among the Gentiles.

In 2 Timothy 4:1, Paul commanded young Timothy to “Preach the word.” This was a charge, a diamarturomia, a religious charge of responsibility.

Now let’s go back to Jesus again on the subject:

Matthew 9:38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

Note the command: they were specifically to pray that the lord would send, not just that people would go. With that in mind, look at the very next chapter:

Matthew 10:7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

God told them to pray the Lord would send, and then He sent them to preach. No one just barged into the field; the Lord of the harvest sent them.

In summation, there is unquestionably a call to preach. No, it may not look like it did early in the book of Acts, but it is very much still normative for today. And if a man goes into the ministry without a call from God, even if he means well, he is risking disaster; nothing is as hard as the ministry, nothing is more in need of the assurance one is supposed to be there, nothing is as much in need of support from the God who sends.

09/16/2026

Day 45: Read Numbers 7

What Is Happening?

In Numbers 7, the heads (princes) of the tribes of Israel came to offer a love offering at the dedication of the Tabernacle. They began with six covered wagons and twelve oxen, one yoke of oxen for each wagon. These would be used to transport the Tabernacle when it was moved. The family of the Kohathites, though, received none of those wagons, though the families of Gershon and Merari did. Kohath would carry the most holy things, and those were always to be carried with rods through the rings up on their shoulders

The rest of the chapter shows each tribe coming, one each day for twelve days, to offer an identical love offering for use in the Tabernacle.

Hard Words and Phrases:

Charger = platter, flat dish.

Interesting things to know:

The Kohathites had the hardest job – but also the one that brought them closer to the presence of God than any other family.

Application:

This chapter is so long because, rather than God saying, “Between them all, they gave X,” He listed every tribe, every prince, and every offering in detail. God is good like that; He loves to brag on His children!

Encouragement:

God did not want puppets, and therefore did not make puppets. He made you and everyone else with a free will. Use it wisely!

09/16/2026

If you ask Jesus to save you, hoping that He will then leave you alone and let you be you, you will be most disappointed! The saved will be under the Sculptor’s hammer until the day they die. (P. 206, link in comments.)