Preaching

Preaching is a biblical act, we are given examples of it in the Bible, and it serves an enormous purpose. I hope to be an elder someday, and therefore I really want to be a capable preacher (elders got to get paid son).

My "problem" with preaching is not in preaching itself. My problem is that churches across the nation have been relying on preaching alone for years and years to account for basically everything that a church does.

Go to an online Bible. Search the word "preach." I use Biblegateway.com and search the NASB. A very steady theme appears, showing us that preaching is what you do to unbelievers. You persuade them, you motivate them, you move them to respond to God. Preaching! It's beautiful! We have a prime example of Peter preaching in Acts 2. If this is the primary method for gaining converts to the kingdom of God, I cannot stress its importance enough. If you want them to know one thing, "the kingdom of God is at hand" "Christ died for your sins, and He is risen so that you can be risen too" then a sermon is the way to do it. You can create tension, tell stories (Jesus did this all the time) use humor, (when Jesus says you have a log in your eye, for example) and you will be doing something amazingly profitable and biblically commanded.

Now search, "teaching and preaching." You will find that they go hand in hand quite a bit. It seems that Jesus did both and that an elder must be able to do both. But what is it and where do we see it?

Sunday school?

The weakness of our times is (and maybe this is already changing) is that the sermon accounts for about 80% of our church experience. Furthermore, sermons are motivational, and inspirational.

I truly believe that preaching is how you get us there, and teaching is what we need for the rest of our lives, till we can preach and teach to others. Or else I'd ask, how long do we need to be motivated to obey Christ? How long must we be persuaded? Shouldn't the day come where you long for that instruction, in order to proactively obey it? How long can a Christian resist the words of the Bible, and force his elders to work tirelessly at convincing him to hear and obey, when they could be preparing him to teach and preach to others?

"like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation..." 1 Peter 2:2

This verse comes after an explanation as to how we obeyed what was preached, and repented from our sins.

The worst thing that I have seen is 50 year olds who have all their lives only built upon their faith with sermons. They still show the same resistance, and they still passively hear and criticize their preachers skills of persuasion. They get one point a week, and we WASTE their faith by not working to grow it up past conversion.

"For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food." Heb 5:12

The Problem with Preaching is that I don't think it can create preachers or teachers.

And I think a larger majority of church time and effort should go into preparing those after you to stand up in your place. At this point I honestly think that sermons should occupy only about 20% of a Christians church experience. To remind, maybe to inspire. Like a speech before battle. The speech can raise morale, and do a lot of good when well timed, but it can't compare to solid training.