Preach Christ

The church preaches Christ, not self. It is essential to recognize postmodern trends that deny the Lord Jesus Christ will build His church by the agency of the Holy Spirit and by the power of the Gospel. Very simply, it is the Word of God building the church. The preacher exposits the point of the biblical passage to speak with the authority of God so the church may hear and heed God’s Word. Preaching is only with God's authority as the Word of God is handled aright. The church is continually conforming herself to God's mind. One must recognize the authority of God over the heart, mind, and soul. Whenever anything is substituted for the accurate teaching of Scripture, God's authority is usurped. Pride must never allow this, nor must it elevate one's own thoughts, or even using scores of illustrations and stories that are unrelated to explaining the meaning of Scripture and the mission of the church. Preachers are stewards who are to explain the meaning of the text of Scripture and exhort people to obey it. The problem is that many pastors fail to preach and teach the Word of God, and therefore, they abandon their authority from God. As a result, the church is not confronted with a word from God and the authority of God is not in the preaching, which is why the message receives little more than a yawn. What the church needs is more biblical, disciplined thinking through the preaching and teaching of God's Word. Western Christendom especially needs a deeper, more biblical knowledge of God.

When the accurate preaching and teaching of the Word of God is neglected, the work of the Holy Spirit is hindered. The church will be catapulted into the future only as she is carefully governed and powerfully driven by the Word of God. There is always a strong relationship between doctrine (orthodoxy) and application (orthopraxis) in Scripture. The foundation of orthopraxis is orthodoxy. If ever there is a problem with orthopraxis, it is inevitably a problem with orthodoxy, which is why the church needs more expositional preaching. Expositional preaching is the communicating of God's truth by God’s servant to meet the needs of God's people and to confront a godless culture. The church grows quantitatively and qualitatively through the systematic teaching of God's Word. The Holy Spirit creates and sustains the church by the Word of God (2 Kgs 22—23; Neh 8—9; Isa 55:10-11; Ezek 37:1-14; Matt 4:4; John 1:1, 4, 14; Acts 19:20; 20:32; Rom 1:16; 10:17; 1 Thess 2:13; Heb 4:12; Jas 1:18, 21; 1 Pet 1:23, 25). It is crucial to teach the church that God’s chosen method to bring new life is to use His Word, that is, the enunciation of God's words.