Revival...Doing what's Required

What is required of thee young man.

Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams, In ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8).

Preparing to go to a weekend of meetings, its a small building, folks that are believers and love God, Fijian and Welsh, English. Looking forward to it. My brother was sharing his concern, "I want to do things professional you know!"  He said, that's admirable! It got me thinking. It's amazing how much time we spend on the unimportant things, the microphones, the speakers, the lectern, the projector. All these things are good, but are they the things that the Lord requires?

The things that we see as important are not really important at all, in fact we spend most of our money and time on the things that of no importance. God is not hindered if we have no projector, for if he visits us we wont be looking for a song to sing or a microphone to preach through. If God walks with us he advertise his own arrival. If he visits, half the town will show up without a notice in the paper or the radio or your web page.  If God himself showed up, he himself will be the will be the advert. Are you ready for the visit?

All depends on whose coming!

As for me I'm getting ready to walk with the Lord!

How about you?

Paul

How Not to Preach, Next Sunday Morning.

 
1. Don't Puppet Preach
The in thing is not a good thing!
What popular is now a joke!

"Somebody say, amen."
"Somebody turn to your neighbor"
"Somebody say, praise the Lord"
This is not primary school. We're not kids!
You should have enough anointing "in the pulpit to make people want to shout "hallelujah" and "praise the Lord" without any provoking or hint whatsoever from you. If there is no anointing in your preaching, don't manipulate it.

Don't tell us to "praise the Lord" just so that you can feel as if folks are listening to you, don't just say "talk to me" because no one is really paying you any attention. Its condescending and amateurish.  There should be enough power in the pulpit to make the dead rise, the lame walk and the unbridled tongues of the saints , catch fire. If its not happening in the church then stay in the closet until it happens to you. Dead men can't raise dead congregations, hot preaching does! Our first call is to raise the dead. Preacher raise the dead saints in the church, first, if you do, you are serve the Lord and be good at it! (Matt 10:8).

2. Don't start with a story
Start with scripture.
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine" (2 Tim. 4:2).
If you're story is your starting point then you're telling me your story is more important that the message. Don't use a story to lead me gentle into something. Preacher, tell me as it is!

3. Don't rush over the text
I heard a preacher the other day, rush through the test he obviously thought that what he had to say was more important that what the bible had to tell him. This type of preaching conveys the feeling that you're using God's word to tell us your thing, when really you have nothing mush to tell us anyway. Preacher read the word of God on your knees until your knees shake then take the shake and awake the folks in the pew. If the word hasn't first go you out of bed, don't try getting me out of bed. I enjoy my Sunday morning kip, let me sleep!

4. Don't Wander. Keep to the point!
What message are you communicating today? What are you saying? Don't wander off the target if you do you will miss the whole point of preaching to us this morning. Don't tell me about Peter when your preaching about Abraham. Don't wander away from your text. If you're going to present a message present it professionally and in style make it memorable and to the point. speak it so that the hearers will never forget it.

Don't go so deep that you bury yourself and everybody that's hearing you. That's not teaching, that's called "digging a hole!" Here's the rule. If you don't understand what you are saying  don't expect those that are hearing you to understand either. Here's another rule. If you cant explain your message in one minit you're in over your head!

5. Don't Preach Unless you're Convicted by your own Message.
"When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth" (Acts 7:54).
If my heart is not throbbing and my teeth chattering then you ain't preaching!
Dont preach Ten ways to be happy, six ways to get famous and 9 ways to get promotion tomorrow morning on a Monday. I can get all that from the experts. You're a preacher your message is different because you're a life changer, not a life coach. If I need counseling I make an appointment tomorrow and if you're good at it I tell others about you. maybe you can start your own biz You'll make more money as one than a preacher anyway!

Or do they these day?

That's another subject!

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Thank you for you valued support and interest. If you would like to have an article published please let me know. Paul

Sit Down Brother, Do Us all a favour...

Convert me, convict me, correct me and bother me, but please O please don't bore me or waste my time...

Is the quality of preaching today lower than that of our forefathers?
They knew how to preach and teach and present the Word of God not only in an intelligent manner but also in a way that provoked thought, stirred the conscience and brought one under conviction. I'm well aware of my apostolic brothers know these things. However there are many churches that have no standards of truth and presentation and as a traveling preacher visiting many different organizations and denominations, I don't see to often, passionate, soul stirring, articulated, creative and meaningful preaching.

Lets tackle the root problem. Entering the ministry for the wrong reasons. Here are some of them.

1. The call of God is not seeing a need and filling it. Don't mistake the need for a speaker on a mid day meeting for the call of God to ministry. If you have no call you should take no pulpit. Everyman should be able to say, when God called him and to what specifically God did call him to. (Acts 9:6,15)

2. Don't take mistake an ability to speak before a crowd as a sign you are called to lead a church. Come on now, everyman can speak! What separates you from the crowd is God's authority released to you to go ahead and speak. If you are not been authorized by God, don't preach!

3. Don't mistake the call to preach with the actual time to go and preach. Saul heard God's call to preach yet it was three and a half years later that he began his ministry. Jesus knew at 12 that he must be about his fathers business yet it was not until he was 30 that he began to preach. The call is not God's Go ahead, the possession of "truth" is!

 God does call one to preach the Methodist doctrine and another to preach a charismatic doctrine and another to preach a word of faith doctrine, no! We are called to preach truth! If we don't know truth how can we preach truth! Most preachers I talk to today don't even know what doctrine is! Now explain that! (1 Tim 4:13-16). Take the time to study doctrine, take more time to know it and never go into the pulpit until you can preach it. 

Maybe the problem is with the attraction of being a Pastor. The money, the audience, the status! Let me say this. You have no status! The call of God carries no status! The ministry carries no status. All the authority you will ever have is in the TRUTH you preach. Only truth carries authority! and if you have not truth, sit down! (Matthew 23:6-10).

4. If you don't have it, sit down brother!
I rather sit down with no word than stand in the pulpit without no anointing.
I once went to a church and heard this brother preach. I remember keeping my head down, trying to answer my own question, "why am I hear!" He had nothing to say, just a repeated testimony. No message, no content, no anointing and I thought, Paul, you're wasting your time here. If folks travel to your church with the last dime or pound in their pocket, you better give them good enough reason to be there. If you cant be like a prince in the pulpit you better sit down where you can sit like a Lord in your armchair. The church don't need flimsy, preachers.

Bottom Line. If you're called, we see some fire. If your not, were gonna see a lot of smoke!

Good Preaching..

Good Preaching
"Our preaching needs to be so hot that the devil has to go back to hell in order to cool down"
(49 On Fire Preaching Keys by Paul B Thomas)


#GOOD PREACHING: IS SIMPLE
Truth is simple, the gospel uncomplicated, revelation was sweet and the gospel unadulterated. I see much deep teaching today, so deep its like muddy waters, I can't see what men are saying! When Jesus spoke he is words were understood by everybody, his doctrine pure. his message direct. Its my guess that if a man knows truth he can communicate it clear. Other than that the more he says the less he knows and the more he tries to uncover the bigger the hole he falls into.

#GOOD PREACHING: IS PURE
Truth has fallen in the streets. All our energies and ministries are to be directed to the preaching of salvation. without such all our growth strategies, plans and goals are of no value. If salvation is not taught as doctrine daily then our character shall be corrupt and our fall shall be great. Only as we preach salvation can we preserve our purity. Failing in this we cease to be the church rather we become a synagogue of satan.


##GOOD PREACHING: IS TRUTH
Good Preaching grabs the soul, challenges the mind, disturbs the conscience and frees the body. Good preaching will turn the crook to the book and the pagan to the pulpit. Good preaching will upset the mystic, awaken the heretic, appeal to the logic and convert the critic. Good preaching will turn all hell into all heaven or make all heaven all hell. It leaves no room for "Nice message pastor!" Nice has no power and neither have you if you have no truth.

Truth is that which has challenged you and saved you from a devil's hell. Truth is your revelation of Jesus.If its not about Jesus, then you have no truth in you. Truth is not what you know to be true its who you know as the only truth. Jesus alone is the true God and to preach Jesus as God is to preach the Truth. To preach other things and to neglect to preach him as the main thing, is to commit pulpit idolatory. 

In the days where preaching is popular and the ministry an open door for everybody. We need to be God's men not "yes" men. Preach truth. preach Jesus.

 .

Preacher What of your preaching?

The Preacher and his message

We don't need boring preachers. There is nothing worse than wasting the precious times of others and having nothing to say and knowing it. We don't need you to take up our time. We do need you to hear for the Lord and speak with boldness, conviction and understanding and give us something to go home with.

Don't add to scripture by giving your view or take away from scripture by giving it a different meaning. Scripture can explain itself and does, when taught in context. Keep the text within its context. If you're preaching from the New Testament letters stick to what the letters are saying. They were written as letters and to add another subject to whats originally given is to do injustice to the letter itself. Don't take one verse and talk about something entirely different rather use all the verses around the text to explain your chosen verse.

What then makes a preacher a good preacher. I would say a good preacher is more than a good preacher for he is first a good servant  and then he is a good orator and then he is a good friend of sinners. Here are 10 other qualities of a good preacher.

1. He has an anointing on his ministry that breaks the yoke. People don't get bored when he speaks.
2. The spirit of God rests upon him.
3. He can preach the word clearly and convincingly.
4. He can expound the scriptures with clarity and conviction.
5. He can keep to the subject and expound it well so that the truth of the entire text and passage is revealed in his message.
6. He can preach with an understanding of the background of the text and so preach doctrine.
7. He can reveal Jesus from the volume of the book.
8. He can speak without conforming, watering down, or adapting the text to make it acceptable to those present.
9. He can deliver the text as a prince in the pulpit.
10. He can so leave the congregation knowing that they have seen Jesus.