Pastor John Macarthur has nailed my passion in a recent short article that he has written, Why preach the Word? Click on the link and read this. Most of what preachers are passing off as preaching today is nothing more than a motivational/self help talk with a smattering of scripture, usually taken out of context. Our churches are facing a serious dearth of sound preaching and it is manifesting itself in congregations that find themselves as nothing more than civic minded social clubs that sing songs of worship to a God they barely know and obey even less. I am so thankful for the people of CHCC who have allowed me to proclaim God’s word in it’s entirety and their desire to grow in the ‘grace and knowledge of our Lord’. I’m no scholar, for I struggle each week to understand even the smallest passage of the Word of God, but I am convinced that as long as the Lord allows me to preach, by His grace, I will never cease to proclaim the entire truth of the Word of God as He reveals it to me. It is the Word of God that changes our lives. “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe” – The Bible
How refreshing! God has chosen to accomplish His purposes through the preaching of His Word! God’s Word is where the transforming power is. His Word is proclaimed the Holy Spirit causes understanding and provides illumination and BANG, life change occurs! Then as The Word is preached more and more, life change continues and growth happens and God sustains us and gives us the power to persevere. And on that day we have the hope and the authority of Scripture to know that we shall be saved! God’s Word is both amazing and engaging. 1In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:1-5) Please may I encourage you and even more as I see the day approaching, PREACH THE WORD! Great post! Keep up the awesome work my friend!!
I agree with Rocky. Keep preaching, Guy. I read John’s article, but left with a question. He never defined preaching vs. preaching the Word. What are your thoughts? I believe there is no delineation between the two. It is only preaching unless it is exegetically accurate and expositionally delivered. (granted, I have seen some streams trying to redefine exposition) But, you are not preaching unless you are preaching God’s truth. What do you feel is “preaching” that is not “preaching the Word” that John is talking about? “Preach”, used in II Tim. 4:1-5, is a communication by a herald. It is not referring to expounding, i.e. Ezra in Neh. 8. It is the proclamation of an event. Two different words for “preaching”. Sorry thing about our language, we use one word “preach”. The New Testament alone has over two dozen different words for communication. When the Bible is so broad in specific examples of men and women communicating truth I found John to be very vague. Any thoughts guys?
Further, I would push back on Rocky, there is no BANG until it is applied (Rom. 10:14). The measure of a father is his grandchildren, the measure of pastor is his flock, the measure of a teacher is his students. See the fruit and you know the tree (Matt 7:15-20).
Paul,
Thanks for the comment. My blog was simply to express my heart’s desire by referring to Macarthur’s article on the need for Pastors to find themselves dedicated to the proclamation of the whole counsel of God, not allowing themselves to capitulate to a culture of entertainment and sensationalism. You know my heart is in consistent, exegetical, expository preaching as the primary method of proclaiming the good news. I’m not sure that Mac was being vague in his wording of ‘preaching’, as an understanding of his passion for preaching and teaching is summed up in this, “unleashing God’s truth, one verse at a time”.
Keep preaching the word my friend, God has given you keen insight.
Guy
As I stated earlier, The Word of God is both amazing and engaging! Consider Romans 10;
1Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. 5Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: “The man who does these things will live by them.” 6But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?'” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7″or ‘Who will descend into the deep?'” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” 12For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
16But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” 17Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
I agree with Pastor Paul, as the Word of God is applied, true fruit grows! Spiritual fruit grows as a result of the divine living Word of God that is planted in us through the preaching, proclamation or reading of Scripture. As verse 14 so clearly states, there could never be application of God’s Word if there was no preaching of God’s Word. In fact, Faith itself, according to verse 17, comes from hearing the message of the Word of Christ. I appreciate verses 1-3 that teach us that the “good deeds” that we try and “do” which are not based on our knowledge of the Word of God, however zealous we may be about them, simply become our feeble attempt to tie dead pieces of fruit onto the trees of our lives and we all know how “fruitless” that will be. I whole heartedly agree with the Apostle Paul and it is also my hearts desire and prayer to see men and women be saved! I love the engaging conversation centered on the Word of God! May each of us be encouraged to continue to “Preach” the Word! And even more as we see the day approaching!