But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching…(Titus 1:3)
Preaching is a matter of life and death. We don’t take it seriously enough. All this therapeutic nonsense we call preaching these days is nothing more than glorified self help hype, psychological poisoning, and feel good motivational talks. Everybody is on the bandwagon: the secret of this, the seven steps to that, the keys to this, the formula for that, and so on, and so on.
Well, preacher man, I have got a message for you. There are basically only two types of preaching you need to do, and really it is just one type, with two facets. What are they, evangelistic, doctrinal you ask? First off, teaching is not preaching. We are talking about proclamation here. We tell them like it is, the indicative, and exhort them to believe it, the imperative. Of course, those that respond will be the ones whom the Holy Spirit empowers.
Now both types of preaching are essentially preaching to dead people. There are two types of dead people – those that are dead in sins or those that are dead to self. Either way what you are trying to do is getting them to realize that. There are those that are alive but dead, and those that are dead but alive. To the unconverted, you are preaching Christ as the Life to answer their death sentence. To Christians you preach Christ as having given them new life, as the source of their life. Whereas once we were alive to sin and self and dead to God now we are to be dead to sin and self and alive to God. (Ephesians 2:1, 4:18) (Romans 6:2, 4,7, 11)
Preaching Life / Preaching Death – You preach for God to make them alive in the spirit and then you preach for God to make them dead to self. Do you want to live? Yes, well then, do you want to die? Romans 10:17 / 1 Corinthians 2:18,21 / Titus 1:3 / James 1:18 / 1 Peter 1:23 / Romans 8:6,13 / Galatians 5:24 – You preach Jesus on the cross, and you on the cross – Hebrews 2:15 – The bottom line is that preaching is about life and death. Take it seriously, preacher man.
8 comments:
Excellent! Thanks.
This post is under "why you have to go to church" because we will not naturally preach these things to ourselves, especially if we are the kind that would stay away from chruch, being self-indulgent...
Instead of trying to justify ourselves,
we need to just deny ourselves...
Preaching to dead people? I think I visited that church. ;-)
It's so funny when the preacher is sooo worked-up and bouncing on his toes, loudly says, "...and all God's people said," and the congregation, in unison, just bobs their heads up and down.
.....And then there's the congregation that gets all worked up (they look alive) yet they are still dead.......because they haven't died to self!
anonymous too
...hooked on a feeling...exactly.
This all sounds very familiar. Good stuff though and it is good for me to hear again and again.
I actually have a new post up so if you have time check it out. Thanks.
I really like this post and I really liked it Sunday.
Look for Riverside to perhaps be meationed in the st. pete times next tuesday. I think I may have meantioned it... ha ha
J.D.
Love that photo of the sunset. Sunsets are one of my favorites subjects.
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