By

 Expository Preaching Blog #22 – “Do I Know More Than God?”

Many of my blog posts are born out of frustration and negative experiences. This is another one of those blog posts. On a recent morning I sat in a Sunday service of a nearby church. It was the first time I had ever attended there. They were concluding a yearlong series from the Book of Hebrews. Great I thought, it is expository verse by verse through the Book of Hebrews. Maybe the rest of the year was expository but this morning sure wasn’t. Then the preacher took the last 5 verses of Hebrews and demolished them.

I had listened to the senior pastor on line for a couple of sermons and he did pretty well. It truly was expository preaching. Not very dynamic but he kept to the text. The Sunday we attended the Student Pastor was finishing up the yearlong series on the Book of Hebrews. He did not preach what was in the passage. He did not preach God’s Word but he preached his own words. Instead of preaching on “Jesus Christ … that great Shepherd of the sheep” he spent much of his time on himself and earthly shepherds (pastors) and their role and his experiences. This passage is not talking about earthly shepherds at all so why was he? This is what I mean about sticking to the text. Don’t preach what is not there and do preach what is there.

I do not understand how preachers say they preach the Bible when they make it all up. They preach what they think the Bible stays instead of what the Bible truly does say. If Jesus was physically listening to most preaching, He would say “That is not what I said!” God says it the way He says it. Nothing more and nothing less.

They create their own outlines. They make their own points. They say what they want to say not what God says. Who can say it better than God Himself? Who has more authority in life and from the scriptures than God does? God is God. God is holy. God is omniscient. God is perfect. God is eternal. No human can say any of those things about himself. Man is human. Man is a sinner, totally depraved. Man is totally limited both in knowledge and understanding. Man is sinful. Man falls short everywhere he turns. God is mighty, true and the bread of life. Why would we preach moldy crumbs when we have the Words of Life from the creator of the universe? How can we do any better than to preach Jesus Christ, died on the cross, buried in the grave, risen for the grave and coming again?

When a man distorts God’s Word and changes it for his own words, he is putting himself above God. He is saying that he knows more than God. He says that he can say it better than the way that God said it. Really? I would be afraid of preaching my own words in place of God’s Word.

I am passionate about expository preaching. I am committed to preaching the Bible the way that God wrote it by men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. How or why can we do anything else? Preach the Word. Be instant in season and out of season. May God help us!

 

Rev. David Johnson

Former Pastor

First Baptist Church of Austin, MN

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Expository Preaching Blog #14 – “Pastor Bill Park”

By
I have never done this before and I probably never will again but today I must. I will give my blog over to speak about a dear friend of mine who entered heaven last night after a short illness. Pastor Bill Park has been a friend of mine, my pastor, colleague, teacher, missions leader for many year years now. I first met him 40 years ago. My first pastorate was 15 miles from his church at the time, High Point Baptist Chapel. After resigning my first pastorate we attended his church in Geigertown, PA for about 15 months before we moved on to our next ministry in NY State. We felt at home at High Point there like no other church I have attended since starting in pastoral ministry. He was a father to me in ministry like I never had with my own father. My own father had died on the mission field 13 years earlier. My father’s death was one of the biggest losses in my life. Pastor Bill left this life as I was writing the first draft of this blog. My heart is breaking and aching for his fam
Read more

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