Centrality of Preaching

By Wil Pounds

What is the main priority of the minister of the Gospel?

·        The preacher must be certain of his own relationship to Jesus Christ and must maintain a strong personal devotional life.

·        The most effective preachers believe in the centrality of preaching. They recognize the primary task of the church and the Christian minister is the proclamation of the Word of God. Preaching is primary and only it is essential. If a minister does not believe this he will not give sufficient time for preparation and his pulpit ministry will suffer. This in no way implies that he is not also responsible for administration, counseling, Christian education, visitation, etc.

·        The preacher must be absolutely clear on the question of the inspiration of the Bible and the total authority of the Word of God. There is an excellent statement on Biblical inerrancy and inspiration in Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. Great preaching, true preaching, comes form a personal conviction that the truth of the Scriptures is what God uses to transform the lives of men, women and youth. If the preacher does not have deep abiding conviction about the Word of God then he should pursue a different vocation.

·        When we preach from the Bible we are dealing with facts; therefore, present them as facts. God has spoken and still speaks through factual history. Let the Bible tell its own eternal message.

·        The effective Biblical preacher presents clearly the great doctrines of Scriptures. Otherwise we will perpetuate an ignorant church. This requires a minister who is committed to his own intellectual and spiritual growth. A. S. Peak said he was “a theological middleman.” He took the great Biblical truths and put them in simple terms that he understood and taught his people the same.

·        The effective minister is a model for others who are called of God to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Dorothy Sayers wrote: “The tools of learning are the same in any and every subject; and to the person who knows how to use them will, at any age, gets the mastery of a new subject in half the time and with a quarter of the effort expected by the person who had not the tools at his command.”

Preparation for preaching is liken to what Winston Churchill said about the task of writing. “If you sit waiting for inspiration, you will sit waiting until you are an old man. Writing is like any other job—like marching an army, for instance. If you sit down and wait until the weather is fine, you won’t get far with your troops. Kick yourself; irritate yourself; but write; it’s the only way.”

The Biblical preacher does not have to wait around for inspiration. He has the inspired Word of God. Choose a book in the Bible and get busy studying it. It will preach itself if you will master its contents. The preacher needs to go to work like any workingman must go to work.

Bible word studies for sermon preparation, messages, devotions and personal Bible studies with abiding principles and practical applications.  Key Word Studies on Bible Doctrines    

RECORDED RADIO MESSAGES INDEX by Wil Pounds

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