Why do you preach??? When you stand before men and preach, what are you trying to accomplish? What do you preach??? Will you be ready to stand before a Holy God and give an account for the motives behind the things that you have preached? Do you preach just to make sure people know the things that you hate or like? There are those who love to stand in judgment of others, whether it be government officials or those of "other" religious persuasions - they love nothing more than finding some kind of fault in the "other guy" and far too often the ones doing the judging have grossly missed the point when they make these things the focus of their preaching. To be sure this does not excuse anyone that is not doing what it right, but these things cannot be the emphasis of what we call "gospel preaching"! 2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. Many times I have been able to notice the sin in others while remaining blissfully ignorant of my own shortcomings. Proverbs 21:2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts. Those who have believed the Gospel have been set at liberty in Christ Jesus, not to be the "policemen" of the kingdom, but to minister unto God through the preaching of the gospel. We have been given the solemn responsibility of ministering unto the body of Christ! Those who have been called to preach have been brought into an arena of ultimate awareness! We are laboring in this world, with the next world in mind! All those who are in Christ are called to essentially be "otherworldly" minded! Now, in light of what God is doing in the person of Christ Jesus, all who are in Christ are at liberty to openly share what the Spirit has given them to see. Preaching Christ is essential to being saved! "For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.(1 Corinthians 1:21–24) If all someone ever heard was your preaching, would it get them ready to meet God at the judgment? When we see every sermon as an opportunity to glorify God, to open up some precious aspect of the truth that was previously hidden, it changes they way we preach! These are some things to think about, and to ask God to give all of His people the ability carefully consider their words in the assembly.
Posted on: Sun, 01 Sep 2013 05:13:43 +0000
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