To all young preachers and old alike. Preaching the word of God from our pulpits is a calling that only a few even qualify for. God calls, anoints and sends preachers himself. Romans 10:14 “…how can they preach except they be sent.” Luke 4:18 “…He has anointed me to preach…he hath sent me…”
It is not to be a show, it is not to be a performance and it is not to be a competition. I recently stood in a pulpit to preach at a local church and all I heard behind me was “Kill us Doc”, “You Killing us Doc”, “Tear the House down!”. Honestly, that’s what I really felt that God wanted to do. I shut it down because I felt like I was casting my pearls before swine. (Honestly).
I understand the art of preaching. I understand the mechanics and the atmosphere around the preaching moment. But never forget this: “Preaching should always be of benefit the people and not just the preacher.”
As I mature I realize more and more John’s commentary, “I must decrease and he must increase.” What I understand is that preaching is a privilege and it is a gift from God that is not designed to be exploited or solicit applause. It is a gift that should be revered and it should carry a message to be adhered. Revered and Adhered.
Listen to these words and lets put preaching back into its proper place in our pulpits, on our streets, prisons or wherever God positions us to stand and proclaim His word to mankind.
1 Cor 1:17 TMSG
17 God didn’t send me out to collect a following for myself, but to preach the Message of what he has done, collecting a following for him. And he didn’t send me to do it with a lot of fancy rhetoric of my own, lest the powerful action at the center — Christ on the Cross — be trivialized into mere words.
I couldn’t have said it better than this in hundreds of years? What saith thou?
—Bishop Vaughn McLaughlin