I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead [b]at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
2 Timothy 4:1-2 NKJV
I have preached God’s Word for over 45 years now. I started at 19 years old and through an amazing string of events, doors were opened to me that only God could open. That said, those early sermons were raw, unpolished, and admittedly less than stellar biblical expositions. Those messages would be rightly evaluated as simple, superficial, and shallow. I plead guilty. God truly manifested I Corinthians 1:27-29, by using the epitome of a foolish, weak, and simple young man…
But I learned something important in those early days. Preaching is more about God speaking than you speaking. There is a mystery to the preaching of God’s Word…
Yes, it is your voice that is being heralded, but there is something at work which transcends your intellect, cleverness, or oratory. The Holy Spirit is at work, empowering mediocre human thoughts derived from the eternal Word of God, to effect transformational impact upon the hearers…
Every Sunday, in hundreds of thousands of locations globally, preaching is taking place…
And through the power of this proclamation, people are forever and eternally changed…
That’s mind-boggling to me…
This was reinforced to me this past Sunday as I listened to my son, who is now my pastor, preach the Sunday morning message. We have reversed roles. For decades I was his pastor and now he is mine…
He’s a great communicator. I honestly think he’s better at preaching than his ole’ dad. But as I listened this past Sunday, I noticed something working in my heart. I was hearing thoughts coming from his mouth which I myself had preached and obviously knew, yet those words were speaking inside me in a far more profound way…
I was hearing not only what he was saying, but hearing a parallel lane of God speaking to my direct need…
I remember thinking…
What else could produce this moment besides preaching…
And I was reminded that while I may have my favorite preachers, at the end of it all, preaching transcends my preference. It’s not the twist of a phrase, the funny story, or the unusual angle of the message. It’s not the atmosphere, ambiance, or light show…
It’s the mystery and the power of preaching…
It’s another reason you need a live time, on site, gathering called church.
And I guess my thought is this…
If 45 year preaching veteran needs to marvel still over the power and mystery of preaching…
My guess is you do too…
Get yourself under some biblical preaching…
You’ll be forever glad you did…
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