Preach With Power

Abraham Licoln once said, "I like to watch a preacher who looks like he is fighting off a swarm of bee’s as he preaches." There are varying styles of preaching, some exciting, some very powerful. Yet, sad but true, many are boring. One guy described some preachers as being, "drier than cracker juice."

Down south many years ago at an old brush arbor meeting, Aunt Becky, a rather large woman, was punctuating the preacher’s sermon with "Amen! Amen!...Praise the Lawd!...It’s God’s own truth, Brother! etc., while the preacher lit into every sin from bloody murder to rolling dice. But when he moved on to snuff dipping, all the applause suddenly stopped as Aunt Becky turned to her neighbor and exclaimed: "There he goes now! he done stopped preachin’ now he’s gone to meddlin!"

Let Us Look At The Grand Theme Of Our Preaching.

(1) Jesus Is The Topic

(A) "Whom we preach". (ver.28)

Of all the great men to ever live, no matter what their contribution to the world has been, no matter how many books were written by them or about them; none have made the impression upon the world that Jesus has. Their influence lasts only for a small span of time, His influence covers the past, present and future.

(B)Jesus took two natures, the divine and the human and put them together. Why? It was necessary that He be both God and man to accomplish the work He set out to do. As God, He satisfied all the requirements of deity; as man He put Himself in our place, He experienced all of our needs. He took on our sinful nature, yet He knew no sin.

(2)Jesus Operated In The Office of Prophet, Priest & King.

(A)In Matthew 16, Jesus was described as one of the prophets. As a prophet He testified of the truth of God.

(B) As a priest, He offered Himself as a sacrifice upon Calvary’s cross as atonement for our sins.

(C) As King, He destroyed our adversary, the devil. He now asks for our submission to His rule for our lives.

(3) Preach Him as The Only Saviour.

(A) Look at the phrase "every man" repeated three times in verse 28. We have Admonition, Instruction, adn Presentation.

(a)(Admonition) "Warning every Man" Preaching Should Admonish!

The sinner is in grave danger, his heart is hardened, and he cannot see the danger he is in. Our preaching should awaken him, should arouse his concerns for his soul.

(b)(Instruction) "Teaching Every Man" Our preaching should not only awaken the sinner, but should also instruct them. The sinner is not in need of someone to tell him he is lost, he needs to be told someone is looking for him. He needs to be persuaded that Jesus is not just a way to salvation, He is the only way.

(c)(Presentation)"Present Every Man Perfect In Christ Jesus"

Preach the gospel as a mirror in which we model our character after that of Jesus.

Our mission as a preacher of the gospel is not to make people feel good about themselves, not to entertain, or pacify them, but it is to strengthen the saint in the battle with satan, to supply the saint with the holiest of motives for service, and to promote spiritual progress, so as to "present every man, perfect in Christ Jesus."

I close by saying to every preacher who says he has no subject to preach about, as long as Jesus is alive, as long as He reigns, we will never run out of material to preach. If we will just preach Jesus, born, lived, died and resurrected, we have an effective and an inexhaustable topic to preach. It is the greatest news this world has ever heard. Let’s preach it!