Expository Preaching Blog #10 – “Don’t Trust Me!”

By

When my wife became a Christian at age 18, she was one of a family of 10. One day a friend of hers invited her to go to church with him. She heard the gospel for the first time and accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior that day. The pastor of the church where she got saved baptized her a few weeks later as a new believer. He was the first Christian leader she ever knew well. He is still a good friend of ours now 50 years later.

One of the first pieces of advice that he gave her was about Bible study. She listened to his preaching Sunday after Sunday. But he told her, “Don’t trust me, look it up for yourself!” And that is what she did and what she does faithfully unto this day.

Every Christian is able to read and understand the Bible for themselves. They can study it and learn from it every day of the week. Some Christians don’t really believe that. They think that they can only understand the Bible by listening to preachers, reading Christian books and going to Bible studies. Nothing can be farther from the truth. Actually listening to preachers, reading Christian books and going to Bible studies can teach false things about the Bible. No human teacher or author is 100% trustworthy. You must compare everything they say with what the Bible says directly.

In my 50 years of preaching I have never had someone challenge me on what I preached in a sermon as error. Once a man in my congregation disagreed with me on an issue. After one sermon that man in the church told another man in the church, “He believes that, he really believes that!” The other man simply replied, “Well, that is what the Bible says!” They did not come to me or put me in the middle. The second man read, understood and believed the Bible for himself. He did not require someone else to tell him what the Bible said and what he believed.

There is a good illustration of this in Scripture. In Acts 17:10&11 gives us the story of Paul preaching in Berea. He preached to the Jews there in the synagogue. They listened and received what he said but they “searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” If these people read the scriptures and checked out what the Apostle Paul said to them, how much more we should read the Bible for ourselves and check to make sure what we are hearing is right. If you are a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit indwelling you. You can do this on your own, any time, any place.

Yes preaching should be a primary focus of every church and main services. But we only have human preachers who are fallible. BUT we have an inspired Word of God that is infallible!

 

Rev. David Johnson

Former Pastor

First Baptist Church of Austin, MN

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Expository Preaching Blog #39 – “Accuracy – Orphans and Adoption”

By
I believe in expository preaching. It is my pet peeve. It is an obsession with me. It makes it very hard for me to attend church many Sundays. This is nothing new. I have been an expository preacher for the last 50 years. The first sermon I ever preached was an expository sermon. My last one was too. Every sermon in between has been an expository sermon. Yep, I am focused. There is a reason for that. When I stand in a pulpit the authority is not in my words but in God’s Word. I want to get it right. I want people to be able to trust, rely on and depend on what I say. Not because I said it but because God said it. If I ever preach just what “I think”, then there is no reason for me to preach ever again. There are millions who do just that. I hunger to preach the Word of God. I long to do it and do it right. Last Sunday I sat in a worship and sang a well-known contemporary Christian song. A lyric caught my ear. It said “I was an orphan.” Some of you might know that song and that phra...
Read more

Expository Preaching Blog #48 – “Holding Fast the Faithful Word” (BBC & CSU)

By
On July 1, 2024 it was announced that Clarks Summit University in Clarks Summit, PA was permanently closing. This is was my alma mater. When I attended there from 1976-1981 it was known as Baptist Bible College of Pennsylvania. The school began as Baptist Bible Seminary in Johnson City, NY in 1932. It moved to the Clarks Summit campus in 1968. I loved the school and deeply appreciated the education I received there. My mother, my brother and both of my sisters attended and graduated from the school. I graduated from the local high school in Clarks Summit and then stayed on for my college years. I lived in the area for a total of 11 years until I moved to SE Pennsylvania to take my first church as a pastor. I am very sad to see it close. Faculty and staff have to find new employment elsewhere. Students have to find other colleges or universities to attend. Area businesses and local churches will be effected. It is not known what will become of the 35 acre campus. I met my wife Trici...
Read more

Expository Preaching Blog #18 – “Take Your Bible Into the Pulpit!”

By
In the churches that I have attended in the last 5 years in the Charlotte, NC area I have seen a very distinct trend. Almost every preacher is a manuscript preacher. That is they write out their sermon word for word during the week and basically read it for the congregation on Sunday. They only read the manuscript and there is no impromptu speaking in the sermon. I fundamentally do not have a problem with manuscript preaching. Some do it very well and some do it very poorly. Some need it and cannot preach any other way. I am an outline preacher. I have usually a one page outline that I preach from. My week of study from the previous week fills my mind, heart and soul during my study. My outline keeps me on track and also helps me time the sermon to be neither to short nor too long. Here are the two things I do have a problem with. One, I seen many preachers never take their Bible into the pulpit. Secondly some take their Bible into the pulpit but never open it. When we preach, we a...
Read more