“POWER PREACHERS AND PASSION”

  • Derek Staples
  • | Jun 22, 2009
  • | Series: Monday Morning Manna

MONDAY MORNING MANNA

“POWER PREACHERS AND PASSION”

 “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:1-5)

Craig Groeschel, founder and senior pastor of LifeChurch.tv, recently wrote in his blog:

 The American Church is not lacking for “cool” pastors. Like a single guy who is trying just-a-bit-too-hard to impress a girl, some churches are simply trying too hard to be cool. I’m very encouraged to see a shifting in direction. For years, many of us seemed focused on:

 Designing relevant church experiences.

Producing entertaining videos.

Creating inviting environments.

Crafting sermon series to draw a crowd.

Writing sermons with shock value and plenty of humor or stories.

While all of the above can be effective tools, many of my friends are intentionally moving in a stronger direction. So many great Christian leaders are seeing far better results with:

 Bathing a sermon in prayer.

Fasting regularly.

Practicing personal confession and repentance.

Preaching from the overflow of time alone in God’s word.

Caring deeply for others in biblical community.

I’m thrilled so many leaders are placing less emphasis on being cool and more emphasis on being like Christ.

 Craig has stated what I have defended for years in a fad-based ministry era. It is the preacher of God, bathed in the Word of God, anointed by the Spirit of God, preaching to the people of God, that brings the most glory to God. I remember during my seminary days as a doctoral student, Dr. Danny Akin drilling in our minds the importance of Biblical preaching. One day, he taught from the above text and outlined it as follows:

 I. Preach the word convictionally. (4:2)

II. Preach the word consistently. (4:2)

III. Preach the word convincingly. (4:2)

IV. Preach the word compassionately. (4:2)

V. Preach the word correctly. (4:2)

VI. Preach the word courageously. (4:3)

 In other words, we must, at all times, be true to our calling as shepherds. We must remain steadfast in our convictions as we preach the whole counsel of God. After all fads become outdated and erode with changing times, the living Word of God stands forever. Let’s make sure as preachers and teachers that we never sacrifice the primary (Biblical truth as the life-changing tool) for the secondary (designing an entertainment worship experience). As Paul charged Timothy, let’s be steadfast soul winners with a servant’s heart (2 Tim. 4:5).

Until Next Week,

Dr. Derek