The right kind of preaching should produce change in the heart of man. Bad preaching will just puff you up.
1 Timothy 1:5-7 Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.
Heart Preaching – Not Head Preaching
Instead of preaching that deals with sin and living right, churches have replaced that with teaching the puffs up the ego and gives people a lot of head knowledge.
Good preaching is always going to have a good doctrine, however, good preaching should be practical and something you can apply to your life. Good doctrine should try to have a practical application or it is almost worthless.
If you go to church and your pastor does not leave a demand at your hearts door, you should probably try and find a church that can help you.
Four Things in Good Preaching
We have to many teachers who say things they don’t understand or don’t live by things they say. You can have good doctrine, but if you do not have good living to go along with it, it is useless. The end of any commandment or doctrine in the Bible should always be focused on charity, a right heart, a clean conscience and a real faith.
- Charity – Preaching needs to focus first on charity. I Cor. 13 places the emphasis on charity for the New Testament Christian. Living under grace is a whole lot harder than living under the law. Not only do I need to not kill my brother, now I need to not hate him. In addition I need to not think evil of him, have longsuffering with him, etc.
- Right Heart – Preaching next needs to move people toward getting their hearts right with God. It is one thing to fix your actions, it is quite another thing to fix your heart. It is a lot easier for some to quit drinking than it is to quit having a bad spirit or being bitter. The problem is it often takes the Spirit of God to overcome these issues. There is no quick fix.
- Clean Conscience – Preaching next needs to try and get your conscience cleaned up. That is only going to happen when you come clean with God and let Him show you your real sin. You then need to confess and forsake that sin. Then the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse your conscience. Unless there is true repentance there is not a clean conscience.
- Real Faith – Preaching next needs to have faith. You have to believe that God is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him out. It has to a real faith, not a faked or feigned faith. A feigned faith is a faith that is only outward and is used to impress man. A real faith only cares what God thinks about you and is toward Him. You can only be saved by a real faith and you can only live the Christian life by a real faith.
Are you in a church where you are under preaching like this? Do you regularly have demands placed at your heart’s door? If so, you should thank God because those kinds of churches are becoming a rare breed.
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