A passion for preaching
By Adrian Warnock
Subtitle ‘Why I am obsessed with preaching’
INTRO
The Japanese eat a low fat diet and have less heart attacks than the British and Americans.
The French eat a high fat diet and have less heart attacks than the British and Americans.
The Japanese drink very little wine and have less heart attacks than the British and Americans.
The Italians drink lots of wine and have less heart attacks than the British and Americans.
The moral?
Eat and drink as much as you like, it is speaking English that will kill you!
‘sticks and stones may break my bones but words could never hurt me—RUBBISH
We live in an age that devalues words, All about image…..and esp preaching.
‘Its just words’
‘Youre all talk’
Words alone are powerful actually.
Words with the holy spirit are lifechanging.
‘when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.’ 1 Thes 2:13
You may remember sermons, which changed your life.
You may have forgotten sermons, which none the less changed your life.
In true preaching more is done than said
May this sermon be one of those that do something….. PRAY.
Nehemiah 8 and 9
Neh 8:1-8
The setting for preaching
All the people ‘gathered as one man’. Many today don’t go to church. I believe in God they say, but you can keep your church. Bloggers I know who say the church is in a mess- they are right. But we must work to reform the church, and to do that we need to gather….
‘Men and women and all who could understand what they heard’ v2
‘God has decided he will manifest his glory through the church= gathering of people ‘as one man’ to hear the same, to think the same, to act the same (not as clones, but according to the same principles. Eg Colin and Tope- very different people, very different styles, very different leadership styles but ‘as one man’- hard to get a piece of paper between them
It is this gathering of God’s people under the word of God who He has chosen to reveal his glory through.
NO PLAN B Not through the internet, through blogs, through books, worship CDs, Christian TV, even dare I say the Passion.
All those things SERVE the church, but it is the church that is Gods passion
Watching the Passion without a preacher to explain it to you will help no one.
EPH 3:7 Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. 8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,
Why did they gather? To hear God’s word preached. There had been a famine of Gods word- just like today.
IT was always this way in Israel – Judges ‘there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel.’ They hadn’t heard preaching!
When we gather we want to hear God’s word.
In the new testament preaching also has a broader definition- not just what
happens when a large group gather together-
Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. (Acts 8:4)
And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. (Acts 5:42)
You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, 19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; 20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, 21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 20:18-21)
Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. (Col 1:28-29)
The great commission- to every believer
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in [2] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Mt 28:18-20
Every Believer should be a preacher, first to himself, then to others- even if it is only 1 to 1 or in a small group.
Gifts have a capacity- perhaps your preaching gift has a capacity of one, and its limit is sharing the basics of the gospel to a friend- it is still preaching as much as the man who regularly preaches to thousands.
The people who preach to our kids need much thanks and honour.
Preaching should always be in the context of worship
Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.
Worship sets the scene for preaching. Worship and preaching are actually intrinsically linked.
Worship and Preaching are the primary purposes for which we gather, but even our worship is in response to the revelation of Gods truth. Actually much of our worship is preaching- if the heavens preach surely our worship songs do. They should do! We sing certain songs here because of their doctrinal content. Because as a truth is explored in song the Spirit catches it on fire and we thrill in our hearts and are caught up into the presence of God.
Does preaching inspire you as much as a worship song? Are you as likely to be caught up into rapturous worship of God during a sermon as a song?
If not there is something wrong with either our preaching or our attitude to preaching or both.
Maybe already you are beginning to understand why all true preachers have a tendency to despair of ever truly preaching as they ought.
Of Martyn Lloyd-Jones
‘There could be no mistaking the opening. The distinctive Welsh accent. The voice, somewhat nasal in tone, that to begin with spoke so quietly that you had almost to strain to hear. ’I should like to call your attention to . . . .’And once again the great preacher had us in his grip.
Make no mistake about it, this man of many parts was above all else a
preacher. ’This greatest of all tasks’, as he called it, was the burden of his life. ’To me the work of preaching is the highest and the greatest and the most glorious calling to which anyone can ever be called.’ Such was his conviction, and he acted on it by leaving medicine to preach the everlasting gospel.
….he did not need defending! Who else in our day preached like him? What power of argument and logical progression as he unfolded his message in such a way that the simplest could follow him and the deepest could but marvel at his profundity. How great it was to hear him preach as he did not infrequently, ’with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven’.
It was a new dimension to me when first I heard him. Here was the spirit and the power of the old Methodist fathers all over again. He gave to those of us who were preachers at once a standard to aspire to and an encouragement to strive after it and seek it. He ministered in a day of small things, but he never let us settle for the inevitability of such a day. Always he pointed us to the glory of God, to the possibility of communion with him, to the increasingly urgent need for revival.
The God he preached was the God who could act and intervene in the affairs of men. His God was (and is) ’the living God’ - I can hear him say it now - and no other God was worth having.
He never left you without a blessing. True, there were times when, judged by his own standards, he did not preach as he could. Yet even then you went away edified, humbled and blessed. But there were also times - and they were so many - when the almighty power of God was on him and he preached sermons the like of which I have never heard from anyone else. And there were occasions as well and how he longed for them! - when there was something even more. Heaven itself seemed open before you and you experienced something of the glory. What he always sought to do was to confront you with the living God; it was
not always a comforting or comfortable experience. One young woman very well known to me stopped going to Westminster Chapel because she said that he always made her feel uncomfortable, such a wretch and a sinner!
But what he did was to send you away with a renewed conviction of the
greatness and the glory of the gospel, of the power of the living God, and of his love to us in sending his dear Son Christ Jesus to die for us sinners on Calvary’s hill. So humbling! But so uplifting and exhilarating’ And yet this man said he had never truly preached as he ought except when he was asleep!
! Thes 1:2 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. ……you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit
Lets cry out for preaching like this!!!! I am getting ahead of myself.
The content of preaching ‘bring the Book’ v1
The Book is the source of all true preaching. It is the book that brings life if it is anointed by the holy spirit.
The book is opened and it is read extensively ‘he read from it …from early morning until midday’ AND WE COMPLAIN ABOUT 1 hour! V3
‘helped the people to understand’ what is in this book- not these are my latest ideas! NIV here says ‘instructed the people’
They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, [2] and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.
NIV ‘making it clear’
ESV FOOTNOTE- Or with interpretation, or paragraph by paragraph
explained
God is in his essence a revealer- he reveals himself as love. But he must reveal himself for us to worship him. He must reveal himself in his word for us to weigh the prophetic. He must reveal himself in preaching for us to have a clear message to share with others in our evangelism, he must teach us in his word how to care for each other, the world and the poor.
The success of our mission is dependant on how well we are trained and prepared for war. This is the book of standing orders. Without clear understanding of this, we will be tossed back and forth by every wind of doctrine (Eph 4:14)
The results of preaching
the ears of all the people were attentive v3
Dare you not listen attentively to the words of God?
Do you believe that preaching is God’s now word to his people this morning?
If God was here and speaking would you not listen carefully, and maybe even jot down some notes, or order the CD so you could listen to it again and again?
Do we always preach like we believe we are delivering Gods word?
Is there life and passion and a sense of gravity?
This is the WORD OF THE KING OF KINGS, NOW HEAR THIS!!!!
Like a clear trumpet sound a preacher ought to announce the presence of the King.
He is here, and he has something to say!
all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law
Have you ever found yourself weeping as you listen to a sermon?
That is the kind of preaching I long to witness, and would love to give Conviction of sin fell on the people- they had failed God. The had not kept his law.
What do we know of deep rooted, far reaching conviction? We are more likely to argue about what kind of films we can watch ‘that ones harmless but this ones evil’ ‘no it’s the other way- how dare you limit what I can see’. Do we not see the extent of sin, the effect it has had on our life. How its destroying us, our husbands or wives and our children.
Maybe you have perfect home life- I doubt it. Are you aware of just how selfish you really are- getting married and having children will reveal it.
You will look at your childrens misbehaviour and realise that you are
looking in a mirror.
When I was young I used to be proud about sin ‘I would never do that’. Now I know more about myself I know that left to my own devices there is no sin I could not commit.
Brothers and sisters do you weep?
Do you weep for the lost and how little that we have done for them?
What if those bombs had gone off in London- would we have wept for the dead- probably. But what of the many more who die each week in car accidents, and in hospitals. What do we do to tell them to STOP and save themselves.
The weight of it can be too much to bear, and yet it is vital that we weep.
BUT see the wisdom of Nehemiah. After much weeping (perhaps for several of the hours they listened to this sermon) he says ‘enough’
" "This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep."
We would be tempted to say this day is holy SO WEEP! GO on weep you
sinners, wail you deserve hell anyway! Suffer a bit, then I will tell you the good news- I want to make sure this is genuine! You are such a rabble, no different to your parents and there parents….
“do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."
What is the joy of the Lord- it is that there is salvation, there is
freedom, there is GOOD NEWS!!!!
The fact that despite their sin the Israelites were where they were was proof that God keeps his unconditional covenant that he makes with unreliable men.
They had been saved, their sin got rid of.
JUST LIKE US- because of Jesus.
You may look at me now and see a confident, friendly person- but I used to be a child at school with no friends who was bullied. God has changed me, and is going on changing me!
all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.v12
REPENTANCE and change. Christians believe dramatic change in personality and behaviour IS possible.
v13-18
v18: Day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. They kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the rule.
Chapter 9
1Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were
assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. 2And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. 3And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the LORD
Several days of non stop preaching anyone? Well actually it was
interspersed with lots of food- kind of like a continual alpha course!
The importance of preaching
In many foreign countries the people hunger for the word- they cant get enough of it. They wont let it stop. We are complacent and complain if it goes on too long.
I have had a message from a blogger on the internet saying that as he
listened to one of our sermons he was in tears saying ‘what I wouldn’t give to be able to hear preaching like that every week’
Our responsibility as preachers is to press in to God to plead with him that we can get closer to the kind of preaching we see here. For it is in the restoration of that kind of preaching that revival springs up.
Please pray for us, as it is only as God anoints and directs that preaching can even approach what is here.
Pray for all of us that we will listen attentively and open to the Spirit and that having heard we will repent, turn to Jesus ongoingly, live his way and dare I say it preach the message ourselves.
Wouldn’t it be fantastic if when each of us chatted to our friends about Jesus it had something of this preaching edge to it. Imagine a friend weeping as you speak to him and crying out ‘What must I do’
A lot of people are weeping at the Passion. We must take this opportunity to PREACH to them, one to one, in small groups and where possible in the context of a larger group (get them to church on Easter Sunday!).
It is preaching that will bring Faith, and answer the lack that we have in our churches. Preaching that is anointed with the Holy Spirit, preaching where that holy spirit falls on the hearers and tears and joy flow. Where healings occur as they listen, where marriages are healed, where forgiveness is received, where lives are transformed.
I heard of a man who came into church a drunkard and a sinner, and whilst listening to preaching he fell to the floor, was there for a long time and got up saved and never touched another drop.
That is what I want to see, don’t you?
