"A Place to find Peace From All the Cares, Concerns, and Conflicts in the World."
Dateline: Acts 6:4
Recently, I made the decision to truly dedicate myself to the ministries of prayer and preaching. The church has been gracious enough to accommodate this by freeing me of unrelated duties and I am so thankful for this opportunity. I have already discovered something very important. Something that is plaguing the modern day church. Something that I had fallen victim too myself- preachers are no longer preaching sermons from the pulpit.
Allow me to explain. I took Principles of Public speaking in college and I aced that class. I can write a speech of any length or style and deliver it with enough "gusto" to prove its academic quality and score a A on both paper and product. I can recognize all the tips and tricks taught by persuasive speech classes in an instant. Many preachers are using these at church every week. They are excellent public speakers... but it is not a sermon. As a student and a teacher, I have spent countless hours with my head buried in commentaries, Old and New Testament surveys, systematic theology, Biblical theology, and Bible dictionaries. Many preachers excel and compiling facts from reference materials and presenting them in a clear, concise, correct, cohesive, and complete manner... but it is not a sermon. Although for many years the sound of preachers has dominated the terrestrial and satellite radio signals in my home and car... I am no longer hearing sermons (church website feeds don't fair too well either).
I have heard seasoned pastors tell me that no one listens to what we preach anyway. I have asked seasoned Christians if they are hearing "real sermons" anymore and the answer has been a unanimous "no." Do you see the dilemma here?
We tell jokes. We quote famous people. We touch on a social or political issue (just enough to make one side happy but not enough to cause trouble). We tell more jokes. We show video clips. We talk about ourselves. We spin a good yarn. We pull at your heart. We alliterate. We regurgitate... but it is not a sermon.
It is remarkable how our education in this matter has changed. Every year new "preaching textbooks" are released and they only thing they have in common is the fact that they demand less and less time in sermon study. I read a textbook from 1950 that called for the pastor to a minimum of spend 4 hours per. day in sermon study- 4 hours per. day! Minimum! I have personally had a pastor tell me he writes his sermon on Sunday morning before he goes to church, based on what he reads in the paper that morning.
We have great public speakers. We have theological scholars. We have charisma. We have style. We have charm. We have entertainers, motivators, and pulpit jesters. We need what we do not have; We need sermon preachers.
Now, before you accuse me of being "old school" or some other such nonsense, remember who I am. I am the guy with the three foot long ponytail, tattoos, and I serve the "church of the misfits." A "good-old boy" I could never be.
Before you give this a message a hearty "amen," pray for your pastor. Pray that God would open his eyes, his heart, and his mind.
Pastors- before you slap yourself on the back, get on your knees. Ask God to show you what you have been preaching. It can (and should) be quite humbling.
Finally, I want to apologize to every person who reads this message. I am sorry for the state of the pulpit today. I beg for your forgiveness and I plead for God to forgive every single pastor who has been led astray. Compel us to repent. Forgive us, renew us, revive us.
