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Why Should We Preach?

The Word of God is given to break hearts, not tickle ears.

Preaching is to be an exhibition of truth. Preaching is telling folks how things really are, not how they want it to be. Pity the church that wants their preacher to be politically correct and biblically corrupt. The power of the preaching moment is in the content—not the personality.

I once asked Ron Dunn how long a man can stay at a church as pastor. When do people get tired of hearing the same voice?

His response was simple: “If you stay fresh, you can last.” Henry C. Fish put it this way: “Preachers who saturate their sermons with the Word of God never wear out.” A. W. Pink said, “The man who preaches the Word of God has an inexhaustible supply to draw from.”

I have preacher friends who blatantly preach other people’s sermons. They download sermons from a website and walk into the pulpit with a word from their favorite preacher—but not a word from God. The man who does not spend time with God, wrestling with what his people need from God’s Word for this time in the life of the church, is a discredit to the pulpit.

I once served a pastor who announced he was preaching on Ephesians. Because I had organized his library, I knew what he had on his shelves. He had been at the church almost a year and had yet to unpack his library—meaning he was preaching old sermons.

At that time I had eight or 10 commentaries on Ephesians. I offered to let him borrow some of mine. His response? “No, I like to stick with one  commentary when I preach through a book.” To be interpreted as: “I don’t study, I don’t think, I don’t compare interpretations, I don’t dig in the Word for myself. I just mouth the words of others.” During the series he preached through that commentary, almost word for word. Trust me, there was no power!

Nobody is original. If a preacher says he is, he’s deluded. We all glean and borrow. That’s why God gave us commentaries.

But the message has to have permeated and penetrated our heart, soul and mind, or else we are giving our people leftovers from someone else’s table. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote, “Preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire.”

Finally, I would say preach without fear.

Deal with sin as sin. Speak of grace, but don’t be afraid to talk about divine judgement and holy wrath.

A preacher will never be at peace with himself if he doesn’t speak the Word. Let the chips fall where they may. You are speaking for the Lord God of heaven and eternity.

There are bigger things at stake than what “Sister Stick in the Mud” thinks. Don’t let the cold water committee douse the fire from heaven. Ask God for a holy unction and anointing from on high. You may get fired, but you’ll hear the applause of heaven. Vance Havner said, “Better be a free preacher who can walk into any pulpit responsible only to God, immune to praise or blame, than a ventriloquist’s dummy.”

Let me leave you with this thought from Augustus H. Strong: “The preacher who talks lightly of sin and punishment does a work strikingly analogous to Satan, when he told Eve, ‘You will not surely die.’ ”