The Pulpit is Responsible for it!

As I read this quote this morning I feel pricked in my conscience:

The Pulpit is Responsible for it!

One of America’s eminent Pastors, Charles G. Finney wrote, “Brethren, our preaching will bear its legitimate fruits. If immorality prevails in the land, the fault is ours in a great degree. If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the public press lacks moral discrimination, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the world loses its interest in religion, the pulpit is responsible for it. If Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it. If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it. Let us not ignore this fact, my dear brethren; but let us lay it to heart, and be thoroughly awake to our responsibility in respect to the morals of this nation.”

Read a couple verses this morning, and encouraged myself in the responsibility I have as a minister to preach the Word!

2 Corinthians 2:17

You see, we are not like the many hucksters who preach for personal profit. We preach the word of God with sincerity and with Christ’s authority, knowing that God is watching us.

The Word of God will change people!

Not my works, not my efforts, but my prayer, clear, bold deliverance of the Word, and the power of Holy Spirit demonstrated.

There is no plan B.

Jesus set the example:

Mark 2:2

Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them

Luke 5:1

[ The First Disciples ] One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to theword of God.

For this the disciples prayed:

Acts 4:29

And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word.

³⁰ while You extend Your hand to heal, and ^[w]signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy ^[x]servant Jesus.” ³¹ And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.

The world does not need sermons; it needs a message. You can go to seminary and learn how to preach sermons, but you will have to go to God to get messages. 

Oswald J. Smith

Acts 8:25

After testifying and preaching the word of the Lord in Samaria, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem. And they stopped in many Samaritan villages along the way to preach the Good News.

Acts 11:19

[ The Church in Antioch of Syria ] Meanwhile, the believers who had been scattered during the persecution after Stephen’s death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch of Syria. They preached the word of God, but only to Jews.

John Wesley used to ask his young men whom he had sent out to preach on probation two questions: “Has any one been converted?” and “Did any one get mad?” If the answer was “No,” he told them he did not think the Lord had called them to preach the Gospel, and sent them about their business. When the Holy Ghost convicts of sin, people are either converted or they don’t like it, and get mad. 

Moody’s Anecdotes, P. 123

Acts 13:5

There, in the town of Salamis, they went to the Jewish synagogues and preached the word of God. John Mark went with them as their assistant.

Acts 13:44

[ Paul Turns to the Gentiles ] The following week almost the entire city turned out to hear them preach the word of the Lord.

There is a tale told of that great English actor Macready. An eminent preacher once said to him: “I wish you would explain to me something.” “Well, what is it? I don’t know that I can explain anything to a preacher.” “What is the reason for the difference between you and me? You are appearing before crowds night after night with fiction, and the crowds come wherever you go. I am preaching the essential and unchangeable truth, and I am not getting any crowd at all.” Macready’s answer was this: “This is quite simple. I can tell you the difference between us. I present my fiction as though it were truth; you present your truth as though it were fiction.” 

G. Campbell Morgan, Preaching, p. 36

Acts 14:25

They preached the word in Perga, then went down to Attalia.

Acts 15:35

Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch. They and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord there.

Acts 18:5

And after Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul spent all his time preaching the word. He testified to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.

2 Timothy 2:9

And because I preach this Good News, I am suffering and have been chained like a criminal. But the word of God cannot be chained.

This is our command, our responsibility – Preach the WORD!

Let’s pray:

‘Father, may I be faithful to You, your will and your word, to preach, faithfully your commandments, without compromise! May I not shy from Your harder truths, teaching all men and women to live holy lives, fully obedient to You. Please grant me grace, strength, and fresh fire to get this done, for Your great name’s sake Lord Jesus! Amen”