THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER
"Search the scriptures: for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. " (John 5:39)

VOLUME 5, NUMBER 40,  OCTOBER 9, 2005

WHAT KIND OF PREACHING IS NEEDED?

            The following article was submitted by Marvin Saylor.

            The best place to learn what kind of preaching is needed is the New Testament itself.  It is a record of preaching and preachers.  It may not fit the mold of the philosophers and theologians, but it sets forth GOD’S pattern of preaching.  Any conception of preaching which is not based on the Bible is an erroneous conception; let the preachers learn to imitate the apostolic pattern.

            1. New Testament preaching was CLEAR, SOUND AND INTELLIGIBLE (Acts 17:2, 18:4, 9:22 ).  Paul “reasoned” in his preaching and “proved” his points.  There is no incoherent screaming or frantic yelling at the people.  Neither was it so intellectual as to be over the heads of the common people.  The preaching, in other words, could be understood.

            2. New Testament preaching was BOLD and AGGRESSIVE (Acts  4:29, 1 Thess. 2:2, Acts 13:36, 9:28).  Early preachers had no fear.  They were not cowards.

            3. New Testament preaching was CONTROVERSIAL (Acts 6:9, 9:28).  There was much disputing, conflict and debating.  What a contrast to the smug veneer of piety some have today as they say, “We don’t believe in such” or “I don’t think we should find fault with other religious people” or “Preaching should be constructive and positive instead of negative” or “We are too busy saving souls to spend time in arguing…”  Such people just do not believe in the New Testament.

            4. New Testament preaching was NOT COUCHED IN HUMAN WISDOM (1 Cor. 2:1-4, 13).  First century preachers proclaimed what God had ordained, what had been revealed of His own mind.  This preaching was not suitable for flattering the intellects of those who were wise after the fashion of the world.  The apostles had not been to the seminaries and were not trained philosophers.  What a far cry from the modern preacher’s climate.  Today people are concerned about which schools their preacher has attended and what degrees he holds.

            5. New Testament preaching was REVERENT and RESPECTFUL toward the authority of God’s word.  Effort was made to “prove” with proper authority that a matter was right (Acts 17:2-3, 1 Peter 4:11, 1 John 4:1-2).   No gospel preacher or any other Christian of the apostolic period proved a practice to be right because “Mother did it,” or “the church has done it all my life,” etc.

            6. New Testament preaching was motivated by LOVE.  The preacher is to love God, Jesus Christ, the word of truth, the souls of lost men, and the church (Eph. 4:14, 2 Thess. 2:10-11).  Love for God and Christ will make him desire to please them in all he teaches.  Love for the word of God will prompt him to teach it without perversion of any sort.  Love for the souls of men will impel him to keep back nothing that sinners need to hear to be saved; it will demand that he tell them the Truth without compromise.

            The world still needs preaching.  It always will.  If the right kind of preaching is done, men may not get what they want, but they will get what they need.

                                                            Barney Keith

I KNOW SOMETHING GOOD ABOUT YOU

Wouldn’t this old world be better
If the folks we meet would say –
“I know something good about you.”
And treat you just that way.

Wouldn’t it be fine and dandy
If each handclasp, fond and true
Carried with it this assurance –
“I know something good about you.”

Wouldn’t life be lots more happy
If the good that’s in us all
Where only thing about us
That folks bothered to recall?

Wouldn’t life be lots more happy
If we praised the good we see?
For there’s such a lot of goodness
In the worst of you and me!

Wouldn’t it be nice to practice
That fine way of thinking, too?
You know something good about me,
I know something good about you.

Anonymous