Four Preaching Mistakes You Don't Know Your Making

I want to bring to your attention four mistakes in preaching you don't even know your making. As a seasoned preacher I have learned through listening to bad and good sermons what real preaching must be. These four mistakes have been made by all of us and if I can help you not to make these same mistakes than I have accomplished my work. So lets dive into the first mistake:

Preaching is not teaching! 

How dare I make this conjecture. 

I will acknowledge your protestations and show you what I mean. 

"Preaching must be about teaching." I will partially grant you this, there will be things taught and explained in a sermon. But a sermon is not about simply imparting knowledge.  

"When we preach we are opening the scriptures in order to tell people about the Lord."  But, this is not the sole purpose, to simply explain who God is.  If I were to simply explain what a smart phone is, this would be of no concern to someone who sees no need for such a device. 

"The Old Testament is explained in the New and the New Testament is hidden in the Old, so a preacher must teach all the scriptures." This also is true and a sensible preacher would have to interpret the context of his passage for those who may not know Old from New. 

If preaching is not teaching than what is it?  

Preaching is always and solely a call for sinners to come stand under the cleansing shower of Jesus' blood!  A summons to come to the Kings house.  A persuading plea for people, who have offended God, to find restitution through the sacrifice of Jesus. 

Can you imagine a preacher giving a thirty minute lecture on the facts of Hell and not giving a summon to repent and turn to Jesus?  It has happened before and I am sure it will happen again. 

If you have read this article I pray you will not fall victim to giving lectures from the pulpit on a Sunday without a plea for sinners to repent and come by faith to Jesus. Otherwise you have simple given a "talk."  

Questioning God: What We Can Learn From Habakkuk

The Minor Prophets are not as useless as we think. They contain the very mind of God. They are also very human. What I mean are the prophets, although people endowed with special revelation, they are still simply people. 

I could connect with Habakkuk more than the other minor prophets. He was a God-fearing man surrounded by people who should have been more God-fearing and he struggled with that knowledge. When he opens his little prophecy we read his heart felt prayer of asking God, "What is going on?  These people are full of sin and violence.  Do You even notice, God?"  

Gods answer, unfortunately, was not what Habakkuk wanted to hear. Habakkuk was given a rare insight. He was allowed to see specifically what God was about to do - and it was not pretty. So, like any good human, Habakkuk asks the second obvious question, "Are You sure that is a good idea, God?"  

So God reveals one of the most important aspects that His people must display - faith. God tells him, "The righteous shall live by faith."  Those words that the apostle Paul would later pen in Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11, those words that would stir Martin Luther out of his works-based faith and shake the world with the reformation. 

 

God told Habakkuk and He is still telling people today, the righteous will walk by faith, even in the midst of pain and conflict. God's prophecy was certain and Habakkuk could only wait for the inevitable to come. Habakkuk does what only God's people do - he maintained his faith in Yahweh. The picture I inserted above captured the last two verses of this little prophecy. "The Lord God is my strength."  These powerful words, full of faith's object and full of hope and inspiration are for people trapped in a painful world. 

When we ask what is going on in this chaotic world, we only have one answer - faith in our God, and more specifically - faith in our Lord Jesus!  Faith says God is sovereign and He has all the authority and all the power to do as He see's best

So when your questions are not being answered read Habakkuk and see the faith that is necessary to maintain a proper perspective. It is reliance upon God to sustain while in a precarious situation. 

Young Man, Determine Now Whom You Will Become!

"Youth is the planting time of full age." We can determine the tree by the shoot springing up and the fruit by the early bud. You can determine the type of day it will be by the early morning clouds, unless you live in Texas where the weather can change by the moment! In the same way the type of person you will be as an adult can be determined by your character now as a young man. 

Do not assume you can put off Jesus until you are an old man. Do not give the world, the devil, and your selfish lusts the most productive years of your life. You should not put off deciding to follow Jesus now rather than later, when the Bible warns that we are not guaranteed tomorrow and that every man should decide to follow Jesus today.  As long as you have breath in your lungs there is an opportunity to repent and turn to Jesus, whether you be young or old. But why wait?  the longer you wait the more stronger the roots of sin will have wrapped around your heart.

It is a true saying of good Archbishop Leighton: “The way of sin is down hill; a man cannot stop when he would.”  the older you get the stronger become the habits. Habits become chains that increase in strength the oldernyou get. Sins that are allowed in your heart while you are young will not be easily removed when you are older. A young boy can bend a sampling quite easily , but 100 men cannot uproot an aged tree.  Jeremiah, the old testament prophet rightly said, "Can the Cushite (a black-man) change his skin, or a leopard his spots?  If so, you might be able to do what is good, you who are instructed in evil."  It is hard to give up habits started when you are young, not impossible, but hard. So it is with habits: the older the stronger—the longer they have held possession, the harder they will be to cast out. They grow with our growth, and strengthen with our strength. Every fresh act of sin lessens fear and remorse, hardens our hearts, blunts the edge of our conscience, and increases our evil desire.

Habits, good and bad are strengthening in your heart every year you get older. Those sinful habits will pull you further and further away from Jesus with each year. Every year you remain away from Jesus the gorge will become deeper and broader, the gateway will become higher and heavier to open. Submit to Jesus now and do not put it off another moment.

(A modern re-telling of Ryle's "Thoughts for Young Men)