"Sir, we would see Jesus!" to me are the most important biblical words about preaching. Preaching must illuminate Jesus. Preaching must invite the hearers into a open, centered conversation in the spirit of the priesthood of all believers, instead of telling them what they must believe.
"Sir, we would see Jesus" is one of the great statements about preaching in the Bible. The part about "inviting hearers into an open, centered conversation" is a positive thing that all of us should be doing. But that's not the same as preaching.
That depends. My point was simply to distinguish between conversation and preaching. The Romans text I quoted in the article is based on the Greek "karusso," which is clearly different from conversation.
This is so well written and so true. There is nothing more powerful to be spoken and unpacked than the Holy word of God from preachers and teachers. You are one who did that and I was immensely blessed to sit at your feet. You provided inspiration to me in my role as a teacher as I not only listened to what you said but observed how you preached it. My Bible remains full of notes from your sermons which still impact my teaching. Thank you for your many years of ministry—-even when it was hard. The good ones persevere through the hard times!!!!!
I think our attention span is shrinking rapidly due to the overload of news sound bites we’ve grown accustomed to. We have a hunger for fresh content delivered in forty characters or less. The Word of God is unchanging, and priests and pastors are tasked with making the Good News not sound like repackaged old news. Sad but true. A pastor such as yourself had the remarkable ability to keep my attention and deliver a perspective that I had never contemplated before. I hope this isn’t offensive or irreverent because I don’t mean for it to be. I hold the Word of God to the highest regard, but I can see where both preaching and teaching are gifts of the Holy Spirit, and we are blessed when we can sit at the feet of those individuals.
Preaching will always have a place in the church provided we answer two questions - 1) what does the text truly say or teach? and 2) how does my congregation take this and live it out in their lives? Sometimes, I think we come up short in doing that at times. Telling our congregation what they need to do is the easier part of this because we understand Scripture very well. How they live it out is harder because, many times, we really don't truly understand the world they live in and the challenges they face. And our people suffer as a result.
All of us who have preached much know how inadequate we are to the task. I'm preaching later this morning at my new church (I'm just a member and not on staff) and I feel as anxious about the sermon as I did forty years ago. At the end of the day we give it our best and leave it in the hands of God.
Yes and Yes. HOWEVER, after 40 + years of preaching every Sunday morning (and for many of those years on Sunday night and Wednesday night as well) I often question this in my own ministry. Certainly I am called ‘to preach.’ And yet after 40+ years I’m seeing less and less impact from the pulpit…and less and less impact from even small group ministry. Instead of a trajectory toward righteousness, justice, and simple obedience to God’s Word - even the parts we don’t truly understand - shouldn’t our culture bend towards what Micah 6:8 envisions? I certainly don’t see our culture bending that way - it seems more and more bent towards personal autonomy, less and less genuine community (even among believers), and a justice that seems to serve a select few. Just a little frustrated after decades of ministry - probably need a good night’s sleep and a couple of consecutive days off!
It’s a hard time to do ministry! And it sounds like you’ve been at it a long time. Only eternity will reveal the fruit of your faithful labor, so don’t stop!
"Sir, we would see Jesus!" to me are the most important biblical words about preaching. Preaching must illuminate Jesus. Preaching must invite the hearers into a open, centered conversation in the spirit of the priesthood of all believers, instead of telling them what they must believe.
"Sir, we would see Jesus" is one of the great statements about preaching in the Bible. The part about "inviting hearers into an open, centered conversation" is a positive thing that all of us should be doing. But that's not the same as preaching.
But should it be the goal or affect of preaching?
That depends. My point was simply to distinguish between conversation and preaching. The Romans text I quoted in the article is based on the Greek "karusso," which is clearly different from conversation.
You are right-on Brother, please keep reminding us of the Godly truth! ED
This is so well written and so true. There is nothing more powerful to be spoken and unpacked than the Holy word of God from preachers and teachers. You are one who did that and I was immensely blessed to sit at your feet. You provided inspiration to me in my role as a teacher as I not only listened to what you said but observed how you preached it. My Bible remains full of notes from your sermons which still impact my teaching. Thank you for your many years of ministry—-even when it was hard. The good ones persevere through the hard times!!!!!
The Word illuminated and applied by the Spirit does the real work of ministry.
I think our attention span is shrinking rapidly due to the overload of news sound bites we’ve grown accustomed to. We have a hunger for fresh content delivered in forty characters or less. The Word of God is unchanging, and priests and pastors are tasked with making the Good News not sound like repackaged old news. Sad but true. A pastor such as yourself had the remarkable ability to keep my attention and deliver a perspective that I had never contemplated before. I hope this isn’t offensive or irreverent because I don’t mean for it to be. I hold the Word of God to the highest regard, but I can see where both preaching and teaching are gifts of the Holy Spirit, and we are blessed when we can sit at the feet of those individuals.
Thanks for your kind words. Preaching, I think, is a calling and deserves our best.
Preaching will always have a place in the church provided we answer two questions - 1) what does the text truly say or teach? and 2) how does my congregation take this and live it out in their lives? Sometimes, I think we come up short in doing that at times. Telling our congregation what they need to do is the easier part of this because we understand Scripture very well. How they live it out is harder because, many times, we really don't truly understand the world they live in and the challenges they face. And our people suffer as a result.
All of us who have preached much know how inadequate we are to the task. I'm preaching later this morning at my new church (I'm just a member and not on staff) and I feel as anxious about the sermon as I did forty years ago. At the end of the day we give it our best and leave it in the hands of God.
Yes and Yes. HOWEVER, after 40 + years of preaching every Sunday morning (and for many of those years on Sunday night and Wednesday night as well) I often question this in my own ministry. Certainly I am called ‘to preach.’ And yet after 40+ years I’m seeing less and less impact from the pulpit…and less and less impact from even small group ministry. Instead of a trajectory toward righteousness, justice, and simple obedience to God’s Word - even the parts we don’t truly understand - shouldn’t our culture bend towards what Micah 6:8 envisions? I certainly don’t see our culture bending that way - it seems more and more bent towards personal autonomy, less and less genuine community (even among believers), and a justice that seems to serve a select few. Just a little frustrated after decades of ministry - probably need a good night’s sleep and a couple of consecutive days off!
It’s a hard time to do ministry! And it sounds like you’ve been at it a long time. Only eternity will reveal the fruit of your faithful labor, so don’t stop!