God blesses His Word wherever it is preached.

First, God blesses His Word wherever it is preached. Paul said to Timothy: "The word of God is not bound" (2 Tim. 2:9). On that occasion Paul was in a prison. His labors had been a cause of blessing for several years, but now he had been set aside. Nevertheless, he was confident that the blessing would continue to be poured out through the gospel, even if Paul himself were imprisoned. He knew that God could use others, and would do so, in spreading the gospel. He understood that the Lord did not need him to propagate the message, even though God had used him in the past to do that work. Whoever was diligent enough to go out carrying the Word of God would sooner or later reap the results of the preaching of the gospel. The Lord said: "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it" (Isa. 55:11). Those in the denominations have been diligent in what Paul exhorted Timothy to do -- "Preach the word" (2 Tim. 4:2) -- and God is blessing His Word. For this reason there is blessing in many denominations. We should be grateful for every effort that is made among Christians in propagating the good news, and pray that the result of it may be a great harvest of souls. We should not think that the blessing in the gospel that is preached by the Word of God is restricted to one group of Christians; the saints gathered to the name of the Lord do not have a monopoly on the preaching of the Word of God. Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to think that the blessing obtained in the preaching of the gospel is proof that the denominations are ecclesiastically correct. Someone might look at the various ecclesiastical organizations and think: "God must approve of these denominations, for He is using them to save people." It may seem that God is using the evangelical churches in Christendom, but it is not these organizations made by men that He is using. God is using His Word. As I have already said, God can and does use His Word for blessing wherever it is ministered. If a so-called Pastor or Minister preaches the Word of God to his audience, the Spirit of God will take the Word of God and apply it to souls and they will be saved. It is undeniable that people are being saved in those places. But this does not mean that God approves of the denominational order invented by men. A person could take the Word of God into an improper place, such as a bar, and even so the Spirit use that Word for the salvation of someone. But we would not dare to say that God would be using the bars! The existence of the denominations cannot be justified in that way. (I am not placing the denominations and the bars on the same level, but only illustrating my view that God can use His Word anywhere).

It is a fact: God blesses His Word wherever it is preached, and by whomever it is preached. In chapter 1 of the letter to the Philippians Paul speaks of some who were preaching the Word with a wrong motivation, and even so God was blessing it! Once again, this does not mean that God approves of the servants who preach with ulterior motives, but simply demonstrates that His Word will be a blessing wherever and by whomever it is preached, even by a person in a completely wrong state of spirit.