What's the Big Deal about Preaching?

"And after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel'" (Mark 1:14-15)

I remember many years ago, beloved, a certain church in our community advertising a special service to which they wanted to invite everyone. They took out a large ad in the local paper and described in that ad all that would take place during the service. What caught my eye, however, was that in the largest and boldest print in that ad they placed in the very center two words - NO PREACHING! The primary drawing card for the people they wanted most to attend that service, then, was the promise that they would not have to listen to a sermon!

I wonder what Jesus would have said about such an attitude toward preaching the gospel to the lost? Mark records for us in his narrative that Jesus "came preaching the gospel of God." When it was time for His ministry to really gear up, what method of communication did Jesus choose? Preaching! And do you recall what the Apostle Paul had to say to those in Corinth about the place of preaching in God's plan for mankind?

"For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe" (1 Corinthians 1:21)

Now you may be thinking at this point - "Of course, you feel that way! You're a preacher!" And to that I would simply add a hearty "Amen!" But it is not that I believe in the preaching of God's Word because I am a preacher, beloved, but rather that it is the way God has chosen to reveal His truth to a lost world. Do you recall one other thing that Paul wrote to those same saints in Corinth?

"Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God" (2 Corinthians 4:1-2)

Do you get Paul's point, beloved? Preaching is God's chosen method for reaching into the heart and conscience of every man! How many times have you walked out the door on Sunday after a worship service and said something like this to your pastor: "Great sermon, pastor! I really enjoyed it!"? What does that mean? When's the last time you said or heard someone else say in the same setting: "Powerful message, pastor! God's truth really convicted my heart and I am going to do something about it!"?

You see, beloved, preaching is not meant to impress or to entertain. Preaching is meant to transform! That is why Jesus came into Galilee preaching. That is why Paul said that he was anxious to preach the gospel. That is why any true herald of God's truth today steps into the pulpit week after week. It is because we want to see people's lives transformed by the power of God! I love what Pastor Ray Stedman said about this most special of all forms of communication:

"I do not think preaching will ever be superseded by anything else, because good preaching is, at its most essential, the revelation of reality. True, honest, biblical preaching allows people to see what life is really about" (The Servant Who Rules, p.40)

So what is the "big deal" about preaching? Only that it is the means God has chosen to impart biblical truth to masses of people. Oh, there will always be those who think that preaching is just "foolishness"! But for those of us who know better, it is the power of God to transform, to change human thinking and direction. Sinners have been saved by it, families have been rescued by it, nations have been stopped in their tracks and sent off in a new direction by it.

What can you do, then? If your pastor is preaching God's Word faithfully, the first thing you can do is start listening, I mean really listening! Get into your Bible and learn. Then begin to apply what God is showing you to your own life. Let the transforming power of God's truth make you a different person. Oh, and one other thing. As a preacher myself, let me urge you to let your pastor know how much you appreciate the time and effort he puts into bringing you each and every message from the heart of God.

Ron

How Heart-Healthy Are You?

"This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me" (Matthew 15:8)

I have recently become much better acquainted with the term "heart-healthy," beloved! Believe me, since my recent experience with a stent implant, I have been doing my best to be "heart-healthy" in my lifestyle. Bev has become quite an authority on what we should eat and what we should not. And you simply won't find much of what we were eating in our house anymore. For years I was guilty of paying "lip service" to the notion of being heart-healthy, but there really wasn't much substance behind that claim.

Jesus had the same problem with the religious leaders of His day, except that their failure to be "heart-healthy" occurred on a much deeper and more consequential level! When the scribes and Pharisees chided His disciples for not observing the man-made tradition of ceremonial religious cleansing before eating, Jesus let them know in no uncertain terms that their own claim to spiritual superiority was just so much "lip service" (Matthew 15:3-6). Then in the verse before us here, He flat out accused them of fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy by being anything but "heart-healthy" spiritually!

How many of us who are professed followers of Jesus Christ are as "heart-healthy" as we ought to be in our personal relationship with Him? In our visible walk before this watching unsaved world? Jesus made it clear by quoting Isaiah's words that there is nothing at all wrong with honoring Him with our lips. In fact, Scripture teaches us that it is "the fruit of (our) lips" that is pleasing to God as we give thanks to His name (Hebrews 13:15). When we worship Him in spirit and in truth, we do "honor" Him with our lips! But it is only when our hearts are not in tune with our lips that we become shallow and hypocritical and prove that we are not "heart-healthy" at all. If it is foolish to pay lip service to taking care of our physical health while in reality abusing it with wrongful living, beloved, imagine how much more foolish it is for us to "play" at true spirituality, claiming with our lips to be committed Christians while in reality something or someone else has stolen our heart away.

How "heart-healthy" are you today? Have you made that commitment by faith to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord? Does the Holy Spirit have complete control of your life so that He can mold you into that kind of Christian that truly does back up his lip service with his living? I encourage you to become a "heart-healthy" person today in all respects, beloved, but especially through a genuine personal relationship with Jesus Christ!

Ron

Good News from the Wilderness

"John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" (Mark 1:4)

I don't know how you may have imagined John the Baptist, beloved, but I believe that many have pictured him as a wild and hairy unkempt prophet who thundered when he preached and ranted on and on about sin and condemnation. Unfortunately, I don't personally believe that characterization does him justice.

Perhaps it is because he has been so closely associated with the environs in which he delivered his message that he has come to be pictured in this way. After all, Mark tells us that he came preaching "in the wilderness." Pastor Ray Stedman described his own firsthand look at the Jordan River valley where John preached as a true wilderness, dry and dreary, parched and barren, the Jordan itself being the only water source for miles around. Yet the people of Jerusalem and Judea flocked to that desolate region in great numbers to hear the message of John and to yield themselves to baptism.

Why? Why would so many travel so far to hear a preacher that they did not even know? What was it that drew them there? I am convinced that it was for them the same basic human need that tugs at the heart of lost mankind today. It is the guilt of the heart over sin and the fear of sin's condemnation. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard this or that person give a personal testimony and tell of the "void" that they felt within, a need that could only be met in the person of Jesus Christ. And what more appropriate place to hear about the "wilderness" of our lives spiritually than in an actual wilderness?

John's message spoke directly to that timeless need, beloved! The opening words of Mark's narrative are simply "the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." John came to bring to people the good news that they could have forgiveness of sins and be put right with God. Right there in the wilderness of the Jordan River valley, they could confess their sinfulness and be baptized unto genuine repentance.

That is for all today the good news from the wilderness! You do not have to remain in the wilderness of your sins and guilt before God. Jesus has come, that One about whom John preached, and He has broken the power of sin in the life of every person who will turn to Him in faith and in heartfelt repentance. There is good news from the wilderness, beloved. Have you yet made it your own?

Ron

Oh, Precious is the Flow!

"Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ" (1 Peter 1:18-19)

The human heart is truly an amazing organ, beloved! This reality was brought home to me last week when because of severe chest pains I found myself in the emergency room of our local hospital. Before that night was over I had been transported to a heart center where I underwent a catheterization and the implanting of two stents to open blocked arteries. Now the flow of blood is once again unrestricted and I am feeling so much better. What a way to be reminded that the human heart is a glorious gift from God and you can believe that I am now a firm believer! And I intend to do my part to take care of my heart by healthy eating and by getting the exercise that I need. It feels so good to know that once again the blood is flowing as it should!

The Apostle Peter wrote that you and I as Christians owe our eternal redemption to the flow of blood, beloved. He said that we have been bought by "precious blood," the blood of the Lamb of God shed for us and staining the rugged wood of Calvary's tree. Robert Lowery was a popular Baptist preacher throughout the east during the mid to late 1800's. Later in life his interest turned specifically to writing and publishing gospel music. In 1876 he gave us the song that so wondrously states the simple fact that we must ever, ever trust only in "the precious flow" of Jesus' blood shed on the cross for us.

What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

For my pardon this I see - nothing but the blood of Jesus;
For my cleansing, this my plea - nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Nothing can for sin atone - nothing but the blood of Jesus;
Naught of good that I have done - nothing but the blood of Jesus.

This is all my hope and peace - nothing but the blood of Jesus;
This is all my righteousness - nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Oh! Precious is the flow that makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know - nothing but the blood of Jesus!

I have learned most recently, beloved, that the flow of blood through the human heart, God's own gift to each of us, is indeed a "precious flow." But the fountain that flows even today from Calvary with the same power to wash our sins away and to put us in right standing with Him for all eternity is truly most precious of all! Oh, precious is the flow! Thank you, Father, for the fountain filled with the blood that will never lose its power!

Ron

Back, Back, Back, Back....GONE!

"But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, in order that I may finish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24)

Anyone who has ever loved baseball is familiar with the sound of Chris Berman's voice calling out as a home run ball makes its way toward the bleachers - "Back, back, back, back...gone!" This week my grandson who is an avid baseball fan and player and wants so much to make a career of it called me to let me know with great pride that he had just hit his first "over the fence" homer in competitive baseball. For those of you who love the sport and want details, it was a drive over the left centerfield fence and carried over 300 feet. For a thirteen year old, that is quite a poke! In fact, he let me know that he was so intent on just watching the ball disappear that he almost failed to touch first as he rounded the bases!

The Apostle Paul in his final remarks to the elders of the church in Ephesus spoke of the importance of "rounding the bases" in his own life spiritually as a Christian. He stated first that he did not consider his own life - dreams and aspirations - to be anything that should stand in the way of what the Lord Jesus had given him to do. His one overriding purpose in life was to "finish" his course and to fully carry out the ministry to which he had been called of God. That ministry, of course, was simply to let the Gentile world know of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross and the gift of eternal life by God's grace through that sacrifice.

Each one of us who are Christians today is "standing at the plate" ourselves, beloved. This is our turn at bat and our focus needs to be on rounding the bases and making it home, accomplishing fully what we ourselves have been called by God to do. We need to make it our intention to cause our living to so attract people to Christ that those who know us will come to know Him as well because of us. To make this ministry happen, however, we are going to have to adopt Paul's own attitude toward our personal lives, not to consider what we want as so dear to us that we would allow anything to interfere with the fulfillment of our mission for the cause of Christ.

This same apostle who stated here so emphatically his desire to live completely for Jesus Christ would one day write to his young protege and declare as he looked back over his life that he had "fought the good fight," that he had "finished the course," that he had "kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7). Oh, that one day you and I will look back on our lives and be able to say the same thing as did Paul! Or to put it in this present baseball vernacular, to know that we have made full contact and that we are sailing homeward - "Back, back, back, back....gone!" May God bless you as you impact upon your world for the cause of Jesus Christ!

Ron