Preach the Word!
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· 42 viewsPreaching the Word and Faith by hearing the Word
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Power is in the Word
Power is in the Word
As a SIBI graduate and from the first day walking onto the campus there it is the custom to say “preach the Word” because it is not about the preacher and his little stories or illustrations, it is about the Word. The word needs to be the center of our worship, not our item of worship but a reason we come to worship, to hear, learn, and walk away with a “so what” from the Word.
Most of the time in the assembly is devoted to preaching, or should we say actively listening to the preaching.
(Slide) A preachers preaching should be centered, focused on the Word
(Slide) The preaching should expound upon the word and give application for our lives today (hence the, ‘so what’).
Preaching has the potential to inform, convict, and convert.
13 Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching.
16 Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.
Timothy was charged with giving special attention to it, it was his gift (you can see in vv.14-15) and that in doing it, like Timothy, I need to pay close attention to it for it can.
(Slide) ENSURE SALVATION
Despite the great potential in the preaching people hear and react differently.
(Slide) Some are encouraged and inspired
(Slide) Others are convicted and conformed
(Slide) While other, well, bored and unimpressed
I know that is some drastic differences there, again a reminder, you get out of something what you put into it. I am not out to try to impress you with my stories, my illustrations but to engage you with God’s Word and to help you to grow in it and apply it to your life to assist in the transformation and maturity process. What do you put into the preaching?
I hope you may pray these things (THIS IS NOT ON A SLIDE)
Pray that the message is from the Lord and His Word today
Pray for
Pray that you may have open heart, ears and eyes to take in the message
Come to service expecting to hear the Word of God, and to hear something it starts with listening
I. Preach the Word - in the Assembly
I. Preach the Word - in the Assembly
Benefits of Preaching
A. Benefits of Preaching
You can be blessed by it. To have the blessing takes actively listening with open heart, engaging your mind to what we have today.
16 “But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. 17 “For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
Mt13:16-17
Those before the cross wanted to hear it, they wanted to see it, but did not either, we get to see, we get to hear because we have the gospel that has been revealed.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”
The gospel when it is preached using God’s Word, brings faith
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
The preacher expounds the Gospel message so people can come to believe
14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?
Speaking of belief, can’t leave this one out
30 Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
It’s not about me, not about any preacher, it is about the preaching of God’s word that brings you the benefits of salvation and assurance of it too.
It’s not about me, not about any preacher, it is about the preaching of God’s word that brings you the benefits of salvation and assurance of it too.
When we actively listen, then we are actively participating and we are in receipt of God’s blessings (just another benefit)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
So we need to be attentive, we need to be diligent, we need to be ready to receive God’s Word when we assemble.
As active listeners we can be more fruitful
6 which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth; 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, 8 and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.
When we hear, when we understand the grace of God we will bear more fruit for the kingdom. When we are attentive in our listening we will better be able to grasp and understand God’s grace and be motivated, encouraged to bear fruit for the kingdom.
Jesus said it.
20 “So then, you will know them by their fruits.
Are we producing fruit for the kingdom?
OK, how about being active listeners to Biblical preaching we can avoid apostasy.
1 For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. 2 For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty,
3 how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,
We can drift away if we neglect so great a salvation! why? we don’t listen, apply the Word to our lives.
Being active listeners is a discipline that can be learned if you want to enjoy the benefits of the preaching.
Now there are different kind of listeners
The Dull of hearing listener
Heb5:
11 Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.
This type of listener the problem is not the subject matter nor the preaching but the listening. One who does not come to hear and grow but to show they were there, they don’t put into practice what they have been taught from the beginning and they seem not to grow, not to mature.
Jesus spoke of these things, quoting from the prophet Isaiah.
Mt13:13-14
13 “Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 “In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘You will keep on hearing, but will not understand; You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive;
15 For the heart of this people has become dull, With their ears they scarcely hear, And they have closed their eyes, Otherwise they would see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, And understand with their heart and return, And I would heal them.’
Paul warned Timothy of another problem, itching ears (or tickled ears).
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
The warning started back in (v.2) so let me give it to you.
2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.
Then there is the best listeners; hear with a honest and good heart
15 “But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.
Or how about those Bereans
11 Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.
Noble minded, received with eagerness and then they checked it out!
Do we come to the assembly eager to hear God’s Word preached? Are we ready to receive it and check it out and apply?
(Slide) WHAT KIND OF LISTENERS ARE WE?
Do we realize how blessed we are to be able to gather like this? We can gather on any day we chose. We have the opportunity to hear God’s Word expounded on and maybe even have the opportunity to teach it ourselves if a woman to the woman if a man to the men or maybe the assembly. Remember it is about the preaching not the preacher.
May we have the heart and minds of the Bereans and we will be open to the blessings that come from God’s Word.
So how can I prepare and participate in the preaching.
II. Getting more out of the Preaching
II. Getting more out of the Preaching
(Slide) Make listening an act of worship
How you listen, how you apply is an indication of your devotion to God, just as much as your praying, singing and coming to assembly is.
(Slide) Come with a heart prepared to hear God’s Word
(Slide) Come with expecting heart to be engaged by God’s Word
(Slide) You may listen, watch, go to hear famous people speak and here we have the opportunity to hear from the most famous person. God! again, not the preacher, but the message
(Slide) Stay tuned in, from introduction to conclusion - you cannot expect to get much from a book if you read the introduction and the conclusion but don’t read the chapters.
(Slide) You will find most of the time there is a formula to the preaching - something like this, tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them then tell them what you told them and give some application.
(Slide) Stay engaged look at the preacher
(Slide) Looking elsewhere can lead to drifting off elsewhere
(Slide) Don’t close your eyes your apt to go to sleep.
I know these maybe hard to do, they take practice, they take spiritual discipline; self discipline and they help to aid in the developing of your attention span.
(Slide) Bring your bible, prepare to use your bible - especially in bible class; become very comfortable with your bible. Put tabs on it if needed so you can find scriptures quickly
(Slide) If scriptures are on the screen, read along with it being spoken - I know this may sound silly but it helps you engage with the preaching.
(Slide) The best visual tool you have is your own bible - Your visual aid tool like anything else has to have practice it may be hard to keep up at first, but you can persevere and benefit from it. - normally the passage scriptures that are being expounded on are posted on the announcement screen days before they are preached so you can read, study and be prepared when you come to hear the preaching.
(Slide) LISTEN WITH FAITH - come with a willingness to accept God’s Word as it is preached, again it is about the message not the messenger. The Israelites had issues for they listened but it was not with faith.
Heb4:1-2
1 Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.
The word did not profit them and it won’t profit us if we are not listening and uniting it with faith!
We do want to receive the heavenly rest don’t we?
(Slide) Listen with intention to apply
Pray we are not like those in Ezekiel’s day.
30 “But as for you, son of man, your fellow citizens who talk about you by the walls and in the doorways of the houses, speak to one another, each to his brother, saying, ‘Come now and hear what the message is which comes forth from the Lord.’
Eze33:30-
31 “They come to you as people come, and sit before you as My people and hear your words, but they do not do them, for they do the lustful desires expressed by their mouth, and their heart goes after their gain. 32 “Behold, you are to them like a sensual song by one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument; for they hear your words but they do not practice them.
Eze30:31-32
Loved to hear but did not apply, listened for wrong reason and got the wrong results. Do we listen because of the presentation or the presence of the Lord in the message. May it be about the message not the messenger.
Hearing must be accompanied by doing or it profits nothing.
22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;
24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.
Don’t be just hearers who just delude themselves look intently into the word and apply it and live it.
(Invitation and Encouragment)
(Slide) Be a doer - obey the Gospel
(Slide) Be a doer - live the Gospel