That preacher does not know me from Adam.<\/p>\n
I’m glad, because he would probably not be pleased with anything that follows.<\/p>\n
I sat in the church recently where he was filling in for the regular pastor.\u00a0 It was a small church and the service was poorly done, I regret to say, from beginning to end.\u00a0 I know that sounds harsh, and I am no judge of anyone’s worship.<\/p>\n
But some things are obvious to everyone.<\/p>\n
No one involved in that church service–I’m hesitant to call it a worship service–seemed to have\u00a0a clue\u00a0of this being a time of worship,<\/em> of reverence and holiness.\u00a0 No advance thought had been given to the songs to sing, prayers to be offered, or comments made. Everything was off the cuff. The welcome and hymn-introductions were silly and went on and on.<\/p>\n My opinion is that when those leading a service\u00a0see it as a community fun time, the failure lies at the feet of the pastor.\u00a0He sets the standard.\u00a0But since I do not know the man, this is neither about him or his leadership team.<\/p>\n I wanted to\u00a0tell you what the guest preacher did.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n After he was introduced–and rather poorly, if I may say; if anyone caught his name, I’d be surprised–the man walked to the pulpit,\u00a0gave a few opening remarks, then had us turn to his text.\u00a0 Then, he stepped out from behind the pulpit and began a full scale exhortation.<\/p>\n He had not even read the scripture, but he was\u00a0already into full preaching mode.<\/p>\n The brother’s\u00a0preaching was loud and fast, delivered in\u00a0a staccato style which he picked up from somebody along the way. and which, no doubt, he and his colleagues consider the right way to preach.<\/p>\n He gave no\u00a0introduction to the sermon. This man\u00a0simply stepped\u00a0off the high diving board into the deep water.<\/p>\n Except there was no deep water.<\/p>\n I’d have loved for there to have been some depth to the sermon. It would have compensated for having to listen to that attack-style of proclamation.\u00a0 But\u00a0the man\u00a0never expounded the scripture, never told us why it’s there in the Word, how to implement its instruction, or why that’s a good idea. He never brought in other texts where the same idea is communicated or where variations on the same theme flesh out this truth.<\/p>\n He cited\u00a0his text a few times, I’ll give him that. But nothing more.<\/p>\n The man\u00a0made me think of\u00a0a shepherd going out to feed the flock and telling the sheep, “There’s the food! Get it.\u00a0 It’s yours. Get it.”\u00a0 Then, for the next 25 minutes, he harangued the sheep for not getting into the feed and told them they were being disobedient if they didn’t. The problem with the world, he said, is that they don’t get into the food.\u00a0 The problem with the church is they do not get into that food.<\/p>\n The essence of his content can be summed up in four words: Fuss at the people.<\/em><\/p>\n When the congregation left that day, I can almost guarantee that not a single soul carried a burning desire to do anything the pastor had said.<\/p>\n He did not feed the sheep. He merely fussed at them for not eating.<\/p>\n Where did he learn that style of preaching, I wondered.<\/strong><\/p>\n At one point\u00a0in the message,\u00a0the brother\u00a0mentioned his call to preach.<\/p>\n I don’t doubt for a minute that God called him to preach. If he says the Lord did, that’s good enough for me.<\/p>\n What I do seriously question is his choice of role models.\u00a0 He clearly learned that unnatural, high-pitched, rapid-fire, machine-gun deliver method from someone. He learned to mimic some preachers who put all the emphasis on delivery style and none on\u00a0content to the serious detriment of their congregations.<\/p>\n That’s the saddest thing I know.<\/p>\n In some areas of the country, the culture of churches holds that up as the epitome of good preaching.<\/p>\n To people in bondage to that culture, good preaching\u00a0states the obvious, ignores the complexities\u00a0of the Word, holds to the King James Version as the only inspired Word, emphasizes the negatives, and never ever teaches God’s people anything they didn’t already know. \u00a0It conforms to that loud and fast pattern they have accepted as the only good preaching.<\/p>\n I found myself praying for that guest preacher. I pray that one day soon he will hear someone like John MacArthur or Chuck Swindoll or Andy Stanley preaching the Word, and\u00a0that the Holy Spirit\u00a0will awaken something inside him\u00a0to say, “There! That’s how it should be done!”<\/p>\n I pray that he will experience one of those “aha!” moments when a spark shall ignite a new passion in him, a zeal for the kind of preaching that feeds the sheep, encourages God’s people, exalts Jesus, has a proper understanding of what the Word of God is, and puts the emphasis on communication, not on theatrics.<\/p>\n Please understand I am not\u00a0saying he should take any of these men as his role models.\u00a0 God has good preachers in every city and town in America. Good communicators of the Word abound, for which we give thanks.<\/p>\n After all, the best preaching\u00a0this guest preacher\u00a0can do\u00a0may\u00a0end up being\u00a0something new under the sun, the kind the Holy Spirit can do through him as He can with no one else.<\/p>\n How exciting that will be.\u00a0 God grant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" That preacher does not know me from Adam. I’m glad, because he would probably not be pleased with anything that follows. I sat in the church recently where he was filling in for the regular pastor.\u00a0 It was a small … Continue reading