Untitled Sermon

Which “preacher” am I listening to?

Have you personally prayed regarding the ministry of God’s word today?

What is a preacher?

Preach – to proclaim, make known; to urge acceptance or abandonment of an idea or course of action

; ; ;

Preacher – a person who communicates publicly on religious subjects; 2. A person that teaches anything with earnestness (sincerity, intensity, conviction)

Preacher – one who is commissioned by God to declare His word

Commissioned – called out , indwelled / empowered by the Holy Spirit to communicate God’s message to people in the world and people of the world.

Now the Lord may commission someone to bring His word to you today, however if you have not yielded yourself to receive it you might hear it, but you won’t listen to it!

No preacher is listened to but Time, which gives us the same train of thought that elder people have tried in vain to put into our heads before.

Jonathan Swift (Ireland, Essayist, Reverend, 1667-1745)

It takes Time, before people come to listen, by that is meant, accept what we’ve been already told!

Satan preaches to Eve and Adam

Moses preaches to Pharaoh

Job friends

Eliphaz – preached, the upright are never cut off from God, Job is guilty of some sin, condemned

Bildad – preached, God is just, He will not reject a blameless man, the wicked are condemned

Zophar – preaches because you are guilty, you deserve the misery that you are experiencing

Elihu - God’s ways are just, our human limitation and arrogance condemns us

Job – preached I am innocent, I’ve been condemned unjustly (for a want of knowledge)

Jesus preaches eternal life is in Him and available to all who believes and dwells in Him

The Holy Spirit is the believer’s personal preacher

Paul preached regarding a contrary Gospel, law or grace?

Revelation – John preached don’t you dare add to or take away from the word of this book.

Can you believe that they are 7.7 billion potential preachers on the earth today?

Preaching is not the performance of an hour. It is the outflow of a life. It takes twenty years to make a sermon, because it takes twenty years to make the man. The true sermon is a thing of life. The sermon grows because the man grows. The sermon is forceful because the man is forceful. The sermon is holy because the man is holy. The sermon is full of the divine unction – (anointing) because the man is full of the divine unction (Power through Prayer E.M. Bounds)

The preacher must be surrendered to God in the holiest devotion. He is not a professional man, his ministry is not a profession; it is a divine institution, a divine devotion. He is devoted to God. His aim, aspirations, ambitions are for God and to God, and to such prayer is as essential as food is to life.

Edward McKendree Bounds August 15, 1835 – August 24, 1913 prominently known as E.M. Bounds, was an American author, attorney.

How many preachers have you listened to during your life time?

Listen - to hear, to attend closely with a view to obey; yield to advice; to follow admonition

Hebrew -shema – hear, pay attention and respond – act

What Am I listening for from this preacher ?

Go after different gods; ; religious practices above God’s commands

Test the spirits; Reject deceiving spirits

.

Who are some of the most notable preachers of our day?

In our lifetime, we have the opportunity to hear a multitude of preachers, yet a critical responsibility remain, which one will I listen to?

They are only two preachers in this world today.

One led by the Holy Spirit, the other led by a Satanic spirit appealing to our humanistic appetites.

Jesus temptation in the Desert

pp ; pp Peter’s confession Jesus is the Messiah

; Jesus rebukes Satan speaking through Peter

; pp (teaching as God’s commandments the doctrines and traditions of men)

Why should I listen to the preacher?

1. To be warned, reminded, encouraged, chastened, ponder my current standing in the faith.

2. Even though we live in the age of God’s grace toward mankind, we are bombarded by the deception that we can make our own grace in this world; or that we can sin against God because His grace abounds even more.

The times in which we live

Vs 10-13 There is no distinction between Jew and Gentile, no respecter of persons

The Gospel is presented clearly and concisely

Vs 13 everyone who calls upon the Lord will be saved. ()

Not only salvation, eternal presence of God; but . . .

Daily deliverance from our weak flesh and the assaults from Satan and his demons

The Gospel must be preached; proclaimed, it must be made known

Vs 14 Will I call upon someone in whom I don’t believe?

Can I believe in someone who I have not heard of?

How can I hear without a preacher?

Vs 15 How can they preach unless they are sent?

The message of the Gospel is wonderfully exciting, timely and good!

Vs 16 All did not obey; they did not yield or submit themselves to it.

() Isaiah says, who has believed our message? To whom has it been revealed?

Vs 17 Faith comes by hearing and hearing through the (rhema) spoken word of Christ

Vs 18 Did they not hear? What, that Christ is God in the flesh: Christ is LORD

Paul says they did. For the word has gone out to the whole earth and their words to the ends of the

world.

Vs 19 Did Israel not understand?

It was not that you lacked understanding, you rejected the Lord of Glory

To prove my point, I will engage those that truly lack understanding

Vs 20 I am found by these who were not looking for me

I make Myself known to those who had no interest in me

Vs 21 I have held out my hands to you all day long

But you have disobeyed and oppose me.

Am I listening to Discern the Preacher’s Message ?

Inspired by Zack Eswine Book, Preaching to a Post-Everything World

Take up the cross, mortify the flesh – seeking our holiness in Christ, deny self;

Reject the Cross, gratify the flesh – seeking our holiness through our own works; do me-self

1. Prophetic devilry ascribes authority to oneself by preaching our own thoughts in God’s name, this is thievery.

a. Speak on their own authority of their own ideas and words

b. Handles God’s word casually, giving false assurances

i. Acquitting the guilty

ii. Condemning the innocent

c. These preachers corruptly give false guilt and/or false peace

2. Catechetical (religious instructions) devilry,

a. Attacking the authority and credibility of Jesus Christ

b. Removes Jesus from the Redemption story (not connecting Jesus to OT)

c. Misrepresents public moral and godly instruction

3. Devilish wisdom exists.

a. Entices the imagination by prospects of sinful (worldly pleasure)

b. Entices the fleshy desire for deceitful wealth

c. Christ-less religion or Christ-less irreligion

i. The religious are comforted and accused in their religion; they are harassed with a need to work harder with self-effort to find God’s love.

ii. The irreligious are likewise comforted and accused in their irreligion.

4. The Parable of the Sower

a. War of interpretation – people do not understand the message

b. War with the world – people ungrounded in the Kingdom falling in defeat to the world

c. War of love or loyalty - people tied in bonds to their possessions, temporal security

5. When considering one’s hearers, ask the following questions:

a. What misunderstandings of the Bible are dominant in our community?

b. What physical or verbal harm is threatened for those who embrace Christ in our community?

c. c. How are treasures defined in our community? What role do possessions play in our community?

d. d. How does our community talk about security? How is money described in our community?

Human beings are not the only ones examining how to preach effectively for the persuasion of our times. Devils are searching for effective homiletics too. Will the strategies we offer differ from what the devils are trying?