PREACHING
-Introduction
-This morning we will conclude our
series of lessons regarding God’s pattern for worship.
-Hopefully, this series of lessons has
reminded us of the importance of our worship
and the significance of it.
-It truly is an
opportunity and a privilege to offer our worship to God.
-To be pleasing and
acceptable in His sight, it needs to be in the manner He
has prescribed.
-John 4:24
-To be pleasing to God,
our worship must be “in spirit and in truth.”
-Yes, we must incorporate
the proper components of worship, but we must also
do so with the proper
attitude, focus and devotion.
-Hopefully, this series of lessons has
reminded us of these things and re-affirmed them
in our hearts and minds.
-To conclude this series of lessons,
we’ll address the topic of preaching.
-Must Be Pleasing to God
-It is important to realize that our
worship is ultimately directed to God. However, we
are the ones that benefit from it.
-Lord’s Supper - “in
remembrance of me” - God doesn’t need to be reminded of the
sacrifice of Jesus - we
do. It helps to maintain our focus and motivation.
-We teach and admonish one
another in our songs.
-Our giving is to be done
with purpose. Such purpose should make us mindful of
the blessings God has
afforded us. It should also remind us of the significance of
the work of the church
which we are contributing to in both money and effort.
-Prayer - Last week we
addressed the importance and privilege of prayer. “There is
always a blessing, a
blessing in prayer.”
-With preaching, a message from the
scriptures is addressed to the congregation
(preacher included). It is
to be done so in accordance with God’s word, ultimately to
His praise, honor and glory.
-Gene Wood’s comments - If
a preacher isn't preaching to himself, he's not preaching
at a high enough
level.
-The goal of preaching should be to
please God. However, the message that is pleasing
to God isn’t always pleasing to men
but it is the message that is most beneficial.
-Hopefully, we are working
toward continuing to condition our hearts so that
the message we need is
also the message we want.
-Preaching and Worship
-It is interesting to note that the
scriptures deal very little with preaching within the
specific context of worship.
-Acts 2:42
-Acts 20:7
-preached -
(Strongs Concord.) - dialegomai - “to say thoroughly, i.e. discuss
KJV:
dispute, preach (unto), reason, speak
-This is the
word from which we get our English word “dialogue.”
-It seems that, in the early church,
the preaching was sometimes more of a discussion
than a presentation.
-see also 1 Cor 14:26-33
(in the context of miraculous gifts of the Spirit)
-I’m not trying to say
that our current practice/method is wrong.
-I’m just afraid that we
view preaching within a very narrow scope.
-I’m afraid that the church has
unfortunately narrowed the idea of preaching to our
worship assembly. Preaching should
extend much further.
-As a result, we’ve also
narrowed our view of preaching to a view individuals
rather than a personal
responsibility.
-For a church to have 20/20 vision, it
needs to follow the pattern of Acts 20:20 - teach/
preach God’s word publicly and
privately.
-Paul’s Instructions to Timothy
-2 Tim 4:2
-preach - (Vines) - kerusso - “to be a
herald or, in general, to proclaim, to preach”
-be instant - be ready (NASB), be
prepared (NIV)
-in season, out of season - when it’s
convenient and when it’s not
-reprove - (Vines) - elencho - to
convict, rebuke, reprove
-rebuke - (Vines) - epitimao -
primarily “to put honor upon” then “to adjudge” hence
signifies
to rebuke ... See charge
-exhort - (Vines) - parakaleo - (para
- to the side, kaleo - to call) - to call on, entreat,
admonish,
exhort, urge one to pursue some course of conduct (always
prospective,
looking to the future)
-longsuffering and doctrine - “with
great patience and instruction” (NASB)
“with great patience and careful instruction” (NIV)
-Summary and Invitation
-So, yes, the preaching of God’s word
is a part of our worship to Him. But, the preaching
of God’s word should extend much
further.
-It is the avenue through which God
has decided to reveal His word/will for the saving
of souls (Titus 1:1-3, Rom
16:25-26,Col 1:23).
-How about your soul? Is it saved?
Have you responded in obedience to the Gospel?
-Believe (John 3:16,
8:24), Confess (Matt 10:32, Rom 10:9-10), Repent (Acts 17:30,
Luke 13:3,5), Be
Baptized (Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38)
-If you’ve already obeyed the Gospel,
have you been living faithfully (Rev 17:14)? If
not, confess your shortcomings,
repent of them and pray to God (1 John 1:7-9, Acts
8:22-24).
Date: Jan 29, 2006
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Other sermons and lessons about Worship:
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