Preach The Word

2 Timothy 4: 2 reads, “Preach the Word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.”

1 Corinthians 2: 21 reads, “it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe.”

Certainly, we who are called to the pastorate must view preaching as preeminent in our responsibilities as a pastor – to proclaim God’s truth; to offer His hope, help, deliverance, and salvation; to preach the WHOLE COUNSEL of God. With such an important task, we who serve the LORD through His church as pastors must not abandon our responsibility to the “busy-ness” that often preoccupies our time and causes us to neglect the important task that God uses to initially reach so many people.

Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources, interviewed 353 “formerly unchurched” people. In the interview, he asked this question “Did the pastor and his preaching play a part in your coming to the church?” 97% answered yes. When asked, “What factors led you to choose this church?” 90% said “the pastor and his preaching.” Truly, this emphasizes the importance of you and I as pastors being prepared for this important task.

Now, you might say, “Dougald I pastor a small, country, family chapel type church. We very seldom have any prospects to enter our doors.” So what? If “rightly dividing the Word of Truth” is important to “prospects,” then it is equally important to those God has entrusted to your care. And let me just pause a minute to emphasize an important point – that church you serve is not small; a “country church” is not somehow less important than any other; nor does a “family chapel” need less of God’s Truth than anyone else. SEE YOUR CHURCH AS GOD’S CHURCH AND YOU HIS APPOINTED UNDERSHEPHERD FOR THIS SEASON OF THEIR LIFE AND LEAD THEM TO BE OBEDIENT TO THE WORD BY BEING FAITHFUL IN YOUR PROCLAMATION OF HIS WORD.

Do not get me wrong. Preaching is not all the people under your care need to hear and see. There is tremendous need for discipleship/Bible study in the church to help our members in their spiritual growth. However, the topic at hand today is our preaching.

Have you ever noticed the Baptist church sanctuary? Anywhere you go in the world, when you enter a Baptist worship center of any sort, the pulpit stands in the center – the “focal point” of the sanctuary. I think that is an illustration of the importance of the proclamation of the Word and the central element of the worship experience. Can that be accomplished through testimony? Yes. Can that be accomplished in song? Yes. But these things should not crowd out week after week the proclamation of the Word of God.

The Pastor serves as the “worship leader” of that sacred hour. Yes, I know many bulletins identify someone else as “worship leader.” Don’t get hung up with the terminology. Just be the actual worship leader. Don’t defend your inaction by saying “that music director just doesn’t cooperate.” Instead, make the extra effort to cooperate with that music director.

Let me illustrate what I found to be helpful. Each quarter I TRIED (Note the emphasis) to develop a “preaching plan.” I would list the possible themes/sometimes the actual tiles. I would list the scripture references God was leading me to and sometimes the background scripture as well. I would emphasize that the Holy Spirit may lead us to do otherwise, but this would help us in our planning. Then I gave that information to my music minister and youth minister (the three of us rotated children’s sermons) and asked that they refer to it as they planned their activities. I discovered the church going forward together as the youth minister made reference to what the pastor was doing. I noticed the children’s sermons almost always reinforced the message to be delivered (even if it did not follow the same scripture passage). The hymn selection and special music reinforced the message. I was particularly blessed with one music director that never selected the hymn of invitation in advance – all of a sudden, the hymns she selected at the prompting of the Holy Spirit were the same hymns I would have chosen.

Proclamation – the preaching of the Gospel – should be central to Christian worship. We’ve all tried to adapt. We have worked to become more and more “relevant” to the times. And we should do those things. In the process, we should not forsake the proclamation of the Word. The Word indeed is the most relevant thing the world needs to hear!

Do you remember your first sermon? Mine was at Lake Lynn Baptist Church outside Hope Mills, NC. I don’t remember the scripture passage nor the title of the message. But I do remember how excited I was to be able to stand behind that sacred desk and proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to those fine people that endured that first message. O.S. Hawkins wrote, “The preacher should preach every sermon as though it were his first and as if it might be his last.” And EAGERNESS to preach and an URGENCY to proclaim the Truth so that others might come to know Christ personally.

There is an urgent need before us. The people of this world need to come to know the Christ that is proclaimed in the Word. So Brother – PREACH THE WORD!