The Purpose of Preaching Pt. 2
“The Purpose of Preaching” Pt. 2”
Scripture Text:
Series: “Preachers of the Kingdom” Pt. 2
Introduction:
Quote: My quote… “Preaching is not so much an event as it is an “encounter”! It is an encounter with a Holy, Supreme, Righteous God and King, yet it is spiritual arousal of a Divine Lover!”
Preaching is… “proclamative exaltation”… It is the preacher’s job to lift and extract the truth of the revelation of God from the pages of His word and proclaim that truth to God’s people with as little as the preacher as possible but with unlimited, unrestricted and unrestrained authenticity and veracity as is possible by the Holy Ghost!
Exaltation… The preacher and the people are to exult over God’s word… Preaching does not in the order of the service come “after worship”… It’s aim is worship… My job is not simply to see truth and show it to you, the devil can do that! My job is to see what the devil cannot see… to see the “glory” of God’s truth and we rejoice over it!
The Text: 2 Tim. 4:1-4… “Preach the word!”
“I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready (preach with urgency) in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”
So if you are use to a 20 minute lecture or 20 minute motivational speech from me – forget it! I cannot do all that preaching requires in a sermon for me to do in 20 minutes! If you expect that then forget it – you’re in the wrong church!
I first gotta preach the hell out of you THEN preach heaven and the glory of God into you… And my brother and sister, that is not a 20 minute undertaking!!!
A Few Possibilities for the Purpose of Preaching…
- (Last Week) The Purpose of Preaching is to Restore the Glory of God to the Hearts and Minds of Fallen Humanity!
- Preaching Raises the Spiritually Dead and Gives Them Life!
– Ez. 37:2-4, “He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. 3He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord GOD, You know.” 4Again He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.’…
– God used His word(s) to take an earth that was void, wasteland, lifeless and spoke/proclaimed His word into nothingness…
– John 1:4, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
– John 6:63, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”
– Jesus used His word to raise Lazarus from the grave!!
– Heb. 4:12 (NIV), “For the word of God is alive and active.”
– Matt. 4:4, “But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
– Rom. 1:16a, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…”
- Preaching Liberates the Captive and Captivates the Liberal!
– It was God that called Moses to go to Pharaoh and “preach” and tell him to “Let my people go!”
– Ex. 3:7-10, “And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. 8 So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. 9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
– Ex. 4:10, “Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”
– Ex. 9:1, “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.”
– John 8:32, “And you shall know the truth and the truth will make you free!”
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- Preaching Awakens Us To the Possibilities of God’s Purposes!
– The Truth will make you “Alive” – Awaken your soul and senses to the realties and possibilities of God through Christ and the Holy Spirit! To awaken the capabilities of your soul to the possibilities of God’s joy that you didn’t know existed!
– Mark 10:27, “But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”
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- Preaching Equips the Church To Be the Church!
– Preaching is not the service on Sunday mornings. If our church is only about singing and preaching then we have missed the mark!
– Preaching the word of God is what prepares our hearts and equips us for serving others so that we can BE the CHURCH…
– One of the responsibilities of preaching is to equip you to do the work of ministry (this is the role and function of the church).
– 2 Tim. 3:16-17, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
– This is a hard cold fact… If you sit here every Sunday and “hear” the word of God but are not serving others then the preaching and word of God has not effect on your life… One of the greatest evidence of the word of God (preaching of God) being alive in your life is that you give life to others through serving… That is one of the greatest purposes of the church…
– An inactive church is a dead church!! The church is not going to be any better than its members!!
- Preaching Give Us Direction!
- Preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ Gives Us HOPE!
– Quote: Chuck Swindoll… Hope Again: When Life Hurts and Dreams Fade.
“(Hope) is something as important to us as water is to a fish, as vital as electricity is to a light bulb, as essential as air is to a jumbo jet. Hope is basic to life….Without that needed spark of hope, we are doomed to a dark, grim existence. How often the word “hopeless” appears in suicide notes. And even if it isn’t actually written, we can read it between the lines. Take away our hope, and our world is reduced to something between depression and despair….hope is more than wishful thinking.”
Hope is a vital necessity of life–a gift that God wants to give to you. And in a world that regularly writes dreams off as foolish and drains the hope from the heart with dark pessimism” (Biblical hope) “is a voice crying in the wilderness…a word of enthusiasm for life in the midst of any difficult situation you are in….If you want to smile through your tears, if you want to rejoice through times of suffering, just keep reminding yourself that what you’re going through isn’t the end of the story…it’s simply the rough journey that leads to the right destination…Solid, stable, sure hope. Hope to press on. Hope to endure. Hope to stay focused. Hope to see new dreams fulfilled”
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