The following three paragraphs are Charles Swindoll's response to J. R. Kerr's question, "What advice do you have for young preachers?" I recently read this in the March 2010 issue of 'Christianity Today'.
"I want them to say, 'I want to get serious about being a bible preacher. I'm not going to fool around with a lot of entertaining stuff. I'm going to take people to the Word, and I'm going to keep it interesting. I'm going to go through the books of the Bible and subjects that are significant, and I'm going to pour myself into this as a regular habit of my life. I want to be known in 20 years as a expositor. I want to be able to take the Scriptures and help people see how relevant they are. I'm going to start with Romans verse 1 of Chapter 1, and when I finish Chapter 16, people are going to say', "Oh my goodness, what have I missed half my life?"
"If I ever wrote a book on preaching, it would contain three words: Preach The Word. Get rid of all the other stuff that gets you sidetracked; preach the Word. Second Timothy 4:2 says, 'Be prepared in season and out of season.'"
"A mentor of mine, Ray Stedman, used to say, 'Keep your finger on the text whether you are teaching it or applying it. Keep them with their eyes on the Word and tell them about Jesus.' It's as simple as that."
I love Charles Swindoll's words. Why is this so difficult to find? Lots are entertaining, plenty are boring. Sidetracked? Ha yeah! Many jump around grabbing verses from here and there. I hear so many reference scripture but so few preach it or teach it. They seem to have their own points, then they search the scriptures through the many translations to find a verse with the words they want, which they take out of context, to try to prove their point. Seems to me their points should be determined, molded and adjusted by the context of the scripture, not twisting and molding scripture to make their points.
Maybe I'm just too critical. I've been told that a time or two.
5 comments:
See if you hadn't said that was Swindoll's words I would have just thought you were on your soapbox again.
C'mon Ethan. You've never heard me do that. This is so out of character for me! :)
I just finished reading a book by someone else who has a real passion for God's Word. It's called Divine Mentor by Wayne Cordeiro. To my amazement, Jeremy has even read the book too! It's made a big impact on the way we do devotions. Definetly worth the time to read!
Thanks for the reference Jeanette.
As always, Swindoll gives good advice. You would think we could all sigh a collective...."Duh", like who doesn't know that you need to preach the word, in context. Unfortunately, lots of pulpits neglecting that these days in favor of tickling some ears.
I've had a recurring thought over the years that if I was ever called to preach, I would make it mandatory once a year to go over Revelations 2 and 3 where Jesus is talking thru the Apostle John to the 7 churches in Asia. Specifically the church @ Ephesus, where Christ commends them for their service, (Rev 2:2,3)"I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be Apostles, but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary." ( I can almost see their little chests swelling up with pride right now with all these compliments from the Lord!)
Then He drops the hammer on them in verses 4 and 5..."Yet, I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love, Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place."
Because WE are ALL sinners and of our propensity to take our eyes off the perverbial "spiritual ball", we always need to be reminded who our first love is and that we should never forget Him. Churches today have so many programs, methods, resources, etc., that we can get so caught up in them that we forget our first love....Jesus!
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