Though I did not know it, Bob made a covenant with God that night. He promised that if God would heal his son, he would begin attending church. The surgery was successful and Bob kept his promise to God. Each Sunday thereafter, Bob was in church. He and I regularly had lunch together and talked about what really matters in life. Bob eventually gave his life to Christ and became a leading member in that church. God not only restored the health of his son, but redeemed Bob's marriage and revitalized his relationship to his family.

I recently had an opportunity to visit that congregation again. After I preached, Bob and Sue met me in the foyer. Bob wept uncontrollably, hardly able to speak. Sue repeatedly said, "He's a changed man."

The right words, words far beyond my wisdom, had served as tools of redemption eighteen years earlier. The Holy Spirit had rendered the scriptures effective in ways that only He foresaw.

Every parishioner deserves a pastor who speaks the language of the Kingdom rather than mimicking the ideas of a confused society. Translating both the written text and the human text is critical to the work of the prophet-priest. God's Word must be applied to the human heart. The names of this couple have been changed to safeguard their privacy.

All of us who claim to be Christian ministers must keep in mind what Jesus told His disciples: "The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life" (John 6:63b). Christ's words are truly the difference between life and death.

Paul's First Epistle to Timothy describes the core identity of a pastor. The one gift most necessary for an "overseer," a leader of the people of God, is the ability to teach -- to use prophetic words (3:2). "The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching" (5:17). This epistle frequently alludes to the task of teaching and reminds young Timothy that it is essential for the welfare of the church (1:3, 5; 4:11, 13, 16; 6:2, 17). The following exhortation is as applicable to pastors in our own day as in any other: "Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths" (2 Tim. 4:2-4).

Even those who were physically closest to Christ were unable to comprehend adequately the "fullness of the Godhead" in Christ, much less express it in words. God had revealed Himself via the living Word, "the creative principle of the cosmic order."8 That incarnate Word represented everything God had ever been or ever will be. Ministers have been striving ever since to find proper words to describe and communicate that Word. This is the challenge and the art of the prophet-priest.