"And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he never prophesied good unto me, but always evil: the same is Micaiah."
(2 Chron. 18:7)
I’m a preacher and have been for over sixty-plus years. Jesus told the people of His day that He was a preacher (Lk4:18). Paul in writing to the young preacher, Timothy, mentions being a preacher before stating he was an apostle or teacher (1Tim.2:7). Paul’s admonition to the preachers of his day, as well as our own, was to “Preach the Word.” This generation suffers from a famine of good, old fashioned, Bible preaching. I’m not speaking of a particular style, but of substance.
I had the privilege of being in on the afterglow of the revival of the forties. I have personally known or sat under the ministries of some of the great revivalists, to list just a few: Joe Henry Hankins, Bob Jones Sr., John R. Rice, B.R. Lakin, and the Jewish evangelist, Hyman Appleman. One characteristic each of these men had was that they preached on hell, judgment, sin, and worldliness. And they never gave syrupy apologies to a congregation before doing so. Today’s preachers, before preaching on sin, ask “Who’s out there”; whereas, the above mentioned men asked, after the fact, “Who’d I hit?” As one has said, “The pulpit can be a coward’s fort.”
I describe most of today’s preaching as, “toothless, having no bite to it.” After all, who is afraid of a barking dog that has no teeth? God’s people are leaving their churches on Sundays with no teeth-marks on them. These panty-waist preachers would never fit in with those rugged prophets of old. Well, let me remind any toothless preacher who may be reading this article, you’re going to have to face men such as Micaiah, John the Baptist and Stephen, in Heaven. And you’ll not be able to hide behind skirt tails then. “There was a man sent from God”; He didn’t send sissies to deliver His message!
The test of any church is how hard of preaching they can take. One good sermon like Jesus brought in Matthew twenty-three would empty out most churches. “Faithful are the wounds of a friend”; in other words, if you’re not willing to hurt them, you can’t help them. A preacher is no friend to those he will not declare the whole counsel of God to. Teaching doesn't get people right with God; preaching does. Preaching gets you right, teaching keeps you right! Many back-sliders love Bible teaching (2 Tim.4:12,3).
We need some red-hot preaching, if we’re going to see any change in our churches or our beloved country. Billy Sunday said, “Don’t pluck the chicken till the water boils.” Believe me, it works. I've preached three nights on sin without any invitation to let conviction build. And on the fourth evening, altars were filled and overflowing. People we’re so faint that they were helped forward by friends holding them up. That was forty-five years ago, and people from that meeting are still serving the Lord as missionaries, pastors, and church workers.
Preaching is “foolishness”; and most preachers are not willing to play the fool for God!
By An Old Disciple
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