Value 1: Christ-Centered Preaching

Introduction

What are you doing here? Some of you are thinking that you are here against your will because you were brought here by a family member or loved one who really wanted to come and not so much because you yourself wants to be here. Others likely are thinking that you are here because this is your church and you’ve been coming for either 5 months or 55 years or somewhere in between. Others of you are here and you’re a guest and we want to welcome you to worship with us today. Regardless of why you are here, the Bible gives us clear instruction regarding what we are supposed to do whenever we gather for worship. We’ve done some of these things already, we’ve prayed together, we’ve sang songs together, we’ve read Scripture together, we’ve fellowshipped with one another, we’ve given sacrificially as the Bible instructs us to do. Now we’re preparing to hear the Word of God preached. These are all good things! We could say that these are marks of a healthy church. A healthy church is a church that prays together. A healthy church is a church that proclaims the Gospel. A healthy church is a church that cares about its community. A healthy church is a church that sings with one another truths from God’s Word. A healthy church is a Biblical church. Not necessarily a big church. Not necessarily a small church. Not necessarily a traditional looking or sounding church. Not necessarily a modern looking or sounding church. A Biblical church. Two churches can have completely different styles of music, completely different looking buildings, completely different leadership models, completely different contexts, and completely different views on programs and events - and both churches can still be faithful to God’s Word.

What makes a church a Biblical church? We would say being true to what the Bible says. Maybe a better question is this: What does Jesus expect of His Church? I’m all for VBS, nice nursery space for a growing number of babies, a wonderful choir that desires to worship Jesus rather than performing for Jesus, I love these things! But you can be a Biblical church without VBS, a nursery, or a choir. We have to dig deeper into the Word. What does Jesus expect of His church? Whatever that answer is, we’d better value those things too!

Back in 2021 whenever I arrived, I had the opportunity to get to know a bit about this church from the pastor search team - people who have since become friends. I got to get a glimpse of this church physically as Lindsey and I were able to walk through the building. We got to know the church spiritually and socially as we learned more about the people that make up First Baptist Church, Salem… But you don’t really get to know a church until you get to the church. In the first few weeks and months that I was at FBC Salem, I began to take notes regarding this question: Who is First Baptist Church Salem? We worked on this together as many of you completed church survey sheets back in 2021 and there were several answers that kept coming up: FBC loves God’s Word. FBC loves Salem. FBC loves missions. FBC loves one another. In the last 2+ years, I’ve gained an appreciation for these things and many more as I’ve learned that FBC Salem loves its members truly like a family does. If you’ve been here for any number of years, or if you’re completely new, it’s a healthy thing to look at what the Bible expects of a church and in looking at that, what we must value as a Biblical church.

Jesus expects His church to be a Word-Centered Church. This means that the Bible, not our society, not our traditions, not our opinions, nothing else, the Word of God must be the first place we go when we think about why we do what we do. God’s Word is His plan A to create, convict, convert, and conform His people into His image! We see in Scripture that the Word of God is central to God’s plan for His people and His church. In Isaiah 55 God declares this

Isaiah 55:8–11 CSB

8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration. 9 “For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return there without saturating the earth and making it germinate and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat, 11 so my word that comes from my mouth will not return to me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do.”

In the New Testament we see from Jesus Himself that the Word of God is important and vital

Matthew 4:4 CSB

4 He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

2 Timothy 3:16 CSB

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness,

The Word of God matters because God speaks through His Word to His people. Sadly, many people attend churches or think wrongly that the Word of God does not matter. How do they reveal this? A diminished view of the preaching of Scripture. Many say that preaching is a waste of time, an afterthought, unnecessary, boring. The list goes on… Biblically and historically, the Word is central. The preaching of God’s Word is the most important thing that we do each Sunday whenever we gather for worship. Period. Other churches can do things differently and that’s fine - but we’ll stand on Scripture that requires the church of God to preach and teach the Word of God to the people of God for the glory of God! Why? Because God works through His Word. This morning as we begin working through what God expects of His church, we begin with value 1 of our church - Christ-Centered Preaching. Here’s my promise if you’re new: Every Sunday you are here, you will hear Jesus preached in this pulpit. Pastor, member, guest - it’s all about exalting Jesus in this pulpit. That might not be your past experience and I am sorry if it is, but this is what God’s Word commands of His under-shepherds. We will have expository preaching, meaning we will have the Word interpreted, communicated, applied, and re-presented faithfully to its original context and we will point to Jesus. This must be your expectation.

Let’s turn to 2 Corinthians 2:12-17 and see the importance of preaching

Over these next few Sundays, we’ll be unpacking some of these things that our church values not because they’re easy or popular, but because they’re Biblical. This morning we’ll begin with value #1 - Christ-Centered Preaching as God’s Word tells us that the preaching of the Word is central to being a Biblical and healthy church. Martin Luther once shared that, “The highest worship of God is the preaching of His Word.” Sadly, though, many people disagree. Many attend churches that separate worship from preaching. Some have a worship leader and a pastor who operate in complete isolation as if worship and preaching are separate silos - this is wrong because Biblically, the worship leader is the one who preaches the Word and not the other way around. Many churches have diminished preaching to the point that preaching is thought of as an afterthought or waste of time or unnecessary or boring - the list goes on. Historically, the preaching of the Word has been the center of the worship gathering of God’s people because God speaks to His people through His Word. If you are here as a guest, or if you are here as a longtime member, the number one thing that you must look for in a church is the preaching of the Word. Not the style of songs, not the length of the service, not the programs practiced, not the color of carpet The preaching of the Word. If the Word is not being preached, the church might do some things really well but they do so accidentally - not purposefully. The main call from God to His under-shepherds who are most frequently called elders in the Bible - is to pastor or shepherd the flock chiefly through the preaching of the Word. Here’s my promise: FBC Salem is a church where Jesus will be preached every week. That might not be your past experience - but this is what the Bible commands of pastors and churches alike and this is where we must start as we look at the things that a Biblical church must value.

2 Corinthians 2:12–17 CSB

12 When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though the Lord opened a door for me, 13 I had no rest in my spirit because I did not find my brother Titus. Instead, I said good-bye to them and left for Macedonia. 14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in Christ’s triumphal procession and through us spreads the aroma of the knowledge of him in every place. 15 For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 16 To some we are an aroma of death leading to death, but to others, an aroma of life leading to life. Who is adequate for these things? 17 For we do not market the word of God for profit like so many. On the contrary, we speak with sincerity in Christ, as from God and before God.

We see in our text that God’s Word accomplishes something as it spreads the aroma of knowledge of Him and we know that that message of Jesus Christ saved lives 2000 years ago and the message of Jesus Christ continues to save lives today. As we go forward into a new year, our methods will change but our message will always stay the same! Jesus Christ Still Saves Sinners - this is the message our community needs to hear and this is the message this church needs to hear week in and week out. Let’s pause and thank Jesus for this truth!

1st, what Christ Centered Preaching DOES

Christ-Centered Preaching Exposits the Scripture

As you read the Bible, you do one of two things: You either exposit (or extract) the meaning of the text and seek to apply what the Bible says. This is is called exegesis. Or you practice eisegesis, you insert your opinion or view into the Biblical text. The goal of Bible study must be to understand what the Bible says. Every pastor will tell you that this is their goal in preaching the Word - but who best accomplishes this goal? The person who has a viewpoint and tries to add some Bible verses to support their view, or the person who goes to Scripture and allows the Bible to inform their viewpoint? Obviously, the person who simply says what God says in His Word. Christ-Centered Preaching done in an expository manner best reveals the meaning of the Word of God to the people of God. We see in our text that Paul came to Macedonia in order to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We must understand something, church: Preaching requires one to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Spurgeon, known as the Prince of Preachers, shared that as every road in England leads to London, in all of Scripture there is a road that leads to Christ. Faithful preaching will point the congregation to Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ is the center of all of Scripture.

Now, there are lots of different kinds of preaching but essentially you can boil them down to two separate types: Biblical and non-Biblical. A non-Biblical sermon is one that is not based on the text of Scripture and one that does not exalt Jesus. That’s a passionate plea or a TED Talk - not a Christian sermon. Within Biblical sermons there are a few options out there. Those that pick a topic and select a few verses from multiple places to support their topic and view (Topical preaching) or those who preach a text or a passage or sometimes a single verse and allow the Scripture to speak (Expository preaching). How many of us have ever sat under a topical sermon? We all have - and that’s not necessarily a bad thing! What should you expect on Easter Sunday? A message that is on a topic: The Resurrection! As we’ve done these last 2 years, we will have weeks where we dive specifically into a topic or doctrine for the majority of the sermon - but that topic or doctrine is found in the text. We don’t gather at church to hear the latest thing on the news, we don’t gather to talk about this event or that event, we gather to hear from God’s Word and hear these words “Thus Saith the Lord!” The preaching that best exposits the Scripture and brings the main idea of Scripture to light is Christ-Centered Preaching. Have you ever heard the expression, if you give a man a fish you feed him for a day, but if you teach a man how to fish you feed him for a lifetime? This is the picture of a Topical message versus an Expository message. Topical preaching may give a Christian a fish, expository preaching teaches him how to fish. Expository preaching teaches us how to interpret the Bible in its right context and apply it faithfully and accurately in our lives. As we do this week in and week out, there should be a hunger to dive into the Scriptures throughout the week and continue to get fed Sunday after Sunday from the richness of God’s Word.

The danger of not expositing Scripture and not finding the source of our messages in the Bible is that the messages then lack authority. It then becomes the opinions of man and you all deserve better than that. As one author wrote, “The only right we have to preach is to preach Christ as He makes Himself known through the Scripture in the Old and New Testament.” Whenever you come to FBC Salem, you should expect to hear a message that points to Jesus Christ and is found straight from Scripture where the main idea of the passage is the main idea of the message. That is the expectation and that is what we need - we are pandered to so often in life. We don’t need more motivational messages or informational talks or soothing sales pitches, we need the the Word to rock our world so that we go into this world and stand on the Word. 1st, Christ-Centered Preaching Exposits the Scripture

2nd,

Christ-Centered Preaching Exalts the Savior

If Christ-Centered Preaching is based in Scripture then the outcome of such preaching is that it must exalt the Savior as this is the purpose of Scripture in the first place - to testify of the greatness and glory of Jesus Christ who stands at the center of Scripture as the uncontested hero. Expository Preaching not only points people to Jesus but it magnifies Him. Whenever you come to church, regardless of if you are saved or if you are not, you should come expecting to hear about Jesus in everything that we do. You should expect a church to sing true songs to and about Jesus. You should expect a church to pray that Jesus would be glorified. You should expect that a church preaches about the power and mercy and grace of Jesus Christ. These are things that healthy churches simply do - however, not every church does these things. Some churches and leaders are tempted to exalt themselves or their traditions, especially in their preaching. Any sermon that doesn’t focus on Jesus and His Gospel is a waste of time for everyone in attendance. True, Biblical, preaching is Christ-Centered preaching. The late John Stott argued this

In this sense, whenever you leave here each Sunday my prayer is not that you say, “Wow, that was a great sermon.” Lots of people do this and they don’t mean bad - it’s encouraging! But people will comment on Facebook, “Wow, what a great song” or “Wow, what a great solo” or “What a great sermon” - the goal of Christ-Centered Preaching is to get everyone to say this, “Wow, what a great Savior! I better understand Him because of today’s worship service.” At FBC Salem, we exist to glorify God and that starts with remembering that it’s not about us. It’s not about our preferences. It’s not about our traditions. It’s about exalting Jesus as His Word demands. Why would the Word of God demand that we focus on Jesus? 3rd,

Christ-Centered Preaching Edifies the Sheep

If you are saved, your heart has been changed by Jesus and this means that your desires start to change as well. It might be hard for you to remember your before Jesus days if you’ve been saved for a number of years, but try and think through specific ways that Jesus has changed your life by removing things that no longer need to be apart of your life and replaced them with things that must be present in your life. Can you think of some? Arguably the easiest thing to think of in this regard is the way that we use and steward our time. Before Jesus or even as a young Christian, perhaps we thought that we knew the best way to spend our time. Get all we can, can all we get, sit on the can! We use our time doing what we want, how we want, when we want because it’s ours! As we grow in Christ, though, what do we realize? Time is a gift from God that we must steward wisely. How do we understand this? Look in our text. Paul shares this in verses 14-15

2 Corinthians 2:14–15 CSB

14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in Christ’s triumphal procession and through us spreads the aroma of the knowledge of him in every place. 15 For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

What does this mean? It means that the Christian is not only saved but where the Christian goes, there is a fragrance of Christ that follows. This fragrance stands out. In fact, this knowledge of Christ is what we long to know more and more of. Genuine Christians crave the meat of God’s Word! Whenever we gather for worship, the reason that we preach the Word of God is because the Word of God satisfies our cravings. It is sufficient. It is authoritative. It is what we need, Christian. Other styles of preaching might deliver some junk food on occasion, but consistent Christ-Centered, Expository Preaching will deliver exactly what we need, whether we realize that beforehand or not by pointing our eyes upward. 4th,

Christ-Centered Preaching Encourages the Saint

In a world that has lost its mind in more ways than one and where anxiety, depression, loneliness, and stress seem to be at an all time high, we desperately need encouragement. Does anyone else here have moments in life where they need encouragement? This is one of the reasons why we gather corporately for worship! This is why Hebrews 10:24-25 tells us to not neglect gathering together as some are in the habit of doing, but instead consider one another and provoke one another to love and good works. Our text tells us that our ministry is that of life - the presence of Christ inside of us makes us stand out and causes His light to shine and life to flourish. What we need whenever we gather as a church body each week is to be encouraged because we live in a culture of death where sin is celebrated. It’s easy to get discouraged. It’s easy to think of a million reasons not to come to this gathering. But week in and week out, we come. We gather. We worship. And I’m not sure about you, but I leave encouraged. That doesn’t mean there aren’t stressors and there aren’t issues - believe me, there are… But I leave encouraged. Anyone else in that boat?

Why do we leave encouraged week in and week out? It’s not because we have a time of motivational self-help - that message leads to despair because we don’t measure up. It’s not because we are perfect and given a pat on the back each week - we’re not perfect and often we come under conviction. Why do we leave encouraged at FBC Salem? Because God’s Word doesn’t return void and in the Word of God we find answers to our deepest struggles. Struggling Christians need the hope in God’s Word. In fact, we all need this hope! As we preach through God’s Word verse by verse, book by book, you know what you can’t avoid? The next verse, the next chapter, another book. As you read in God’s Word, there is encouragement for weary sinners as we have a victorious Christ who is sufficient to meet our needs each day. As we gather for worship, Christ-Centered Preaching encourages the saint. 5th,

Christ-Centered Preaching Evangelizes the Sinner

I shared the story of Charles Simeon several months ago as he was at the ripe age of 24 when he became the pastor of Holy Trinity Church in England. Do you remember the initial complaint that his congregation had against him? He was too Gospel-Centered in his sermons. If you will ever level a complaint against a pastor, please please please let it be this! People ask, why do you preach the Gospel in every sermon? Because every person needs to be reminded of the Gospel message every single week. We live in a world where people buy into the lie that they are fine with God just because they do some nice things on occasion. People often believe that God is love and this means that as long as you don’t do anything really bad, you’ll end up in heaven and everything will be just fine. But this isn’t the Biblical teaching. How many of you had to read the book, “The Giver” in school? Everyone is forced to live each day in black and white with no emotion - they just do their daily requirements, go home, wake up and do them all again. With the exception of “The Giver” who is able to feel emotions and see the world in color. This is our world! People think they are living and they are fine, but they’re in darkness. They don’t know the truth. They don’t know their Creator. Why do we preach the Gospel at FBC Salem? Because

1 Corinthians 1:23–24 CSB

23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. 24 Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God,

Some people will not understand the Gospel - but we will keep on preaching it. As a church we will continue to plant seeds. We will continue to water seeds. We will pray that the Lord would open up blind eyes and dark hearts in Salem, Missouri and that through Christ-Centered Preaching from the Word of God, lives would be changed for all eternity! This is what our community needs. Not more platitudes. Not more motivation. Not more programs. More Christians living our Ephesians 4:15. Non-Christians need the Gospel truth spoken in love. This message as our text in 2 Corinthians 2 tells us, spoken in sincerity, stands out.

By God’s grace, in the last 2 years we’ve seen Christ-Centered Preaching and Teaching do what only it can do as we’ve seen 42 people baptized with 4 more on the calendar. That is not about us - it’s about Jesus. Whenever we are faithful to preach and teach the Word, the Word does the work and we know that God promises His Word does not return to Him void. It might not always result in a harvest, but Christ-Centered Preaching plants Gospel seeds each week. By God’s grace, we’re seeing a season of harvest and our desire must be for that to continue by being faithful to God’s Word.

These are 5 things that Christ-Centered Preaching Does: It changes us, it changes others, it exalts Jesus. Let’s look briefly at what Christ-Centered Preaching is.

2nd, what Christ Centered Preaching IS

Christ-Centered Preaching Is Not Boring

I hear these two responses often from other pastors when they are asked why they don’t preach Christ-Centered Expository sermons. “They’re boring” and “My church doesn’t like them.” What a shame, but what an accurate picture of the modern pulpit.

Hebrews 4:12 CSB

12 For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

What do we see in the text? The Word of God is living and active, faithful preaching is life-giving as God speaks through His Word! If the job of the pastor is to preach what the text says and the Word of God is living, active, sharp, and live changing, where do we get boring?

A sermon will be boring for one of 2 reasons:

The pastor failed to accurately preach the text

The person failed to faithfully listen to the text

There are times where your pastor will lay an egg - I can give you a list of my worst sermons as any pastor can! But when the Word of God is faithfully preached and the main idea of the text is the main idea of the message, that is not boring. That might not be what one is used to, but it’s not boring, it’s Biblical. This is what our community needs - Biblical preaching. That might bore some who are not saved, but our responsibility is to be faithful to the text. Because of this responsibility, next we see that

Christ-Centered Preaching Is Not Easy

There are much easier ways to preach. I recall many a pastor in the mid to late 200s preaching for weeks on end topically on Revelation and the blood moons and secret rapture and all that jazz. That’s not hard, that’s easy. Those are hobby horse topics for many people that are easy to prepare and often times are not Christ-Centered and when they’re done week after week, month after month, they’re not expository - they’re topical. They might peak our interest if it’s a good topic, but it’s not the consecutive teaching of God’s Word that we need the most. That type of teaching isn’t easy, it’s hard. I have a friend who preached through Romans at his church years ago and his congregation loved chapter 8 - after all, Romans 8 is one of the most encouraging chapters in the whole New Testament as it starts with no condemnation for the one in Christ Jesus and it ends with no separation for the one in Christ Jesus - we love Romans 8! You know what happened when he got to Romans 9? The claps turned into complaints real quick.

God’s people must expect their pastor to proclaim God’s truth regardless of how difficult it might be. If all we did was interesting topics, it would be really easy to avoid difficult ones. It would be easy to gloss over much of the Word of God because it’s too controversial or this or that. But Christ-Centered Expository Preaching doesn’t allow one to do this. In Acts we see the early church have pastors preaching the Word and this was their number one Biblical priority as it must be today as well.

Acts 6:2–4 CSB

2 The Twelve summoned the whole company of the disciples and said, “It would not be right for us to give up preaching the word of God to wait on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we can appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

Acts 6:7 CSB

7 So the word of God spread, the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly in number, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith.

Praise God for Biblical deacons to help serve throughout the church, and I’m extremely grateful for the men we have serving in those various roles today that allow for the preaching (ministry of the Word) to reign supreme as that takes time.

At FBC Salem, we will preach and teach the full counsel of God’s Word - it won’t always be easy, but it will always be worth it! If the Bible says it, that settles it.

Christ-Centered Preaching Is Not Flashy

Many churches are laser focused on church growth strategies. We have to have this type of music to attract this type of person. We have to have this setting of light during the message to attract this type of person. We have to have this type of message to bring in these people from the outside. You think these sound crazy, but I promise you these are regular conversations churches and leadership teams have! Christ-Centered Expository preaching is not high on those lists. If you go to YouTube of TBN and search the most popular churches and pastor out there, very few have preached through the entire Bible - sure, that takes a long time and we’re like 10% of the way there in the 2 years I’ve been here working Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night - it’s a grind! But many of the most popular preachers out there don’t even try to preach through tough texts, they fly over them. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 tells us this

2 Timothy 4:3–4 CSB

3 For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear. 4 They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths.

We’re there. But the measure of our success is not raised hands, although we’re seeing God do a mighty work in our church in saving sinners. The measure of our success is not in dollars and cents, although we’re paying our bills and making a dent in Dent County for God’s glory and seeing His Kingdom advanced. What is the measure of our success? Faithfulness to Jesus. True preaching is not measured by gimmicks or lights or emotion – it is measured by faithfulness to the text. At FBC Salem, our focus isn’t to entertain but to edify. Our focus isn’t to be flashy but to be faithful. Christ deserves faithful churches.

Christ-Centered Preaching Is Biblical

The charge to the individual Christian is to glorify Christ in all that we do. The charge to the church is the same and the way that we glorify Jesus is by being obedient to what He says in His Word. This means that the pastor must preach the Word as 2 Timothy 4:2 commands. Every week that we gather, you can expect this - rather, you must require this as a church. If you move to another community, this must be your expectation of that church - a church that preaches Biblica, Christ-Centered messages. Why Christ-Centered? Many ask this concerning the Old Testament. How does Leviticus and all those animal sacrifices and rules and regulations about Jesus? Jesus is the lamb of God who came to take away our sins! Jesus had this to say about Scripture

John 5:39 CSB

39 You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, and yet they testify about me.

Luke 24:27 CSB

27 Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted for them the things concerning himself in all the Scriptures.

After His resurrection, Jesus pointed these Emmaus disciples to Himself starting with the Old Testament. Jesus proclaimed that He was the center of Scripture. We must proclaim this truth as well! We preach Christ because He is our Savior. He is our Sustainer. He is the Center of Scripture. Christ-Centered Preaching most faithfully honors Christ. At FBC Salem, our goal is to be Biblical and if Jesus says that the Bible is about Him, we’re going to focus on Jesus each week. We will have Text-Driven, God-Exalting, Christ-Centered, Spirit-Empowered, Exegetically-Grounded, Theologically-Precise, Logically-Ordered, Passionately-Delivered, Pastorally-Edifying, Evangelistically-Aimed Preaching. The expectation must be nothing less.

Christ-Centered Preaching Is Nourishing

Steve Lawson shares that the lack of Christ-Centered Preaching in the modern pulpit has led to a spiritual famine in the land. People not only tolerate but promote and celebrate junk food propagated week in and week out. Not here. Does anyone else here believe the Bible? In our study of 1 Peter on Wednesday nights we saw in chapter 1 how the Word of God is enduring and lasts forever. It is truth. It is our guide. It is God’s Word for us. This means that it nourishes us. God continues to change lives through the preaching of His Word – this is the diet that His church deserves and requires.

Lots of people want to hear a fresh word from the Lord. Y’all know the answer to this conundrum. If you want to hear from God, do what? Read your Bible. If you want to hear God speak out loud, do what? Read your Bible out loud. This is God’s Word. It satisfies. It nourishes. It works. Our responsibility is to proclaim it boldly, passionately, consistently, and faithfully.

Romans 10:17 CSB

17 So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.

Spurgeon once put it like this, “It is blessed to eat into the very soul of the Bible until, at last, you come to talk in Scriptural language, and your spirit is flavored with the words of the Lord, so that your blood is Bibline and the very essence of the Bible flows through you.” FBC Salem family, this is my prayer for each one of us. That we would eat our Bible daily and every week that we gather corporately and that the Holy Spirit would light a fire in our souls to stand on the Word and stand out in a godless world. God’s Word is inspired by God. It is profitable. This is why God commands His pastors in this way!

This is our first church value - Christ-Centered Preaching, because if we get everything else right and get this wrong, your pastor has failed you because your pastor has failed God. This is God’s calling on every pastor. There are no youth pastors in the Bible. There are no worship pastors in the Bible. There are no janitorial pastors in the Bible. There’s just pastors. And the charge from God to each one is to preach the Word. I don’t get to pick what to say - I must say what He has already said. In the days in which we live, Christ-Centered Preaching is undervalued and often seen as a waste of time. May we never dare lessen the value of God’s Word being proclaimed week in and week out. This is the climax of our worship time and as we do this patiently, God works faithfully! As Martin Luther said, “I did nothing, the Word did everything.” At FBC Salem, we let the Word do the Work! Our purpose as we go forward in 2024 and as we read from the Word of God in our homes and as we gather together is to magnify and exalt the God of the Word. My prayer for our church this new year is based on John 3:30 - that He would increase and we would decrease. That our hunger for God’s Word increases and our passion to praise God’s name increases and as these things increase, that others would come to know the God of the Word who alone can save their soul. Sin is our greatest problem. Jesus is the only solution. As a church, we need Christ-Centered Preaching every week. Our community needs Christ-Centered Preaching. Our world needs Christ-Centered Preaching. This is where we stand. This is what we will do. A fearful world needs a fearless Church - let’s be that to our community!