A Good Preacher

 

“I’m in the Army, I never unpack.”,  Ike told Roosevelt when the President informed the General that he had better pack to go to London to head up the Allied forces.  People who preach the Word of God, in ANY fashion, need to have that same mindset.  They should never “unpack” their skills and motivation and put them aside for a time being.  Everyone who professes to be a Disciple of Jesus, in the Army of God, needs to keep his or her duffel bag and uniform ready to go at all times.  One never knows to where God will call us. 

 

Eisenhower’s response (this was from a TV movie, “IKE”---I am not sure if the actual Ike uttered this statement) applies to all of us in God’s Army, not just what we term preachers or evangelists.  The mission of spreading God’s Word is everybody’s responsibility.  But how does one do this effectively?

 

If you will turn in your Bibles (always a good place to start), to the book Ecclesiastes, and read verses 9, 10 and 11 of chapter 12, there you will find advice about how to be a good ‘preacher’ of God’s Word.  Ah, what the heck, I will include those Scriptures for you here, in case you are reading this at your computer and your Bible is not handy:

 

Not only was the Teacher wise, but also he imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs.

The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true.

The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails--given by one Shepherd.  (NIV)

 

There are four basic tenets to preparing yourself to present God’s Word to anyone, whether it be to a ‘flock’ of folks gathered together on a Sunday, a mid-week or other day, or whether it is simply one person to whom you plan to speak.  Solomon, the ‘wise teacher’ himself, explained how to be a wise teacher in those Scriptures. 

One, he said the Teacher pondered.  Or in other words, he gave a great deal of thought to what he was going to say on a particular subject.  He didn’t just think of something and then start talking about it. 

Two, he searched out many Scriptures, and  searched to find just the right words.  It was important to him to research what he wanted to say, not necessarily with many words, but just the right ones to get his point across.  He probably used several references in his teachings, much like we should today.  I constantly ask folks to at least use differing Bible versions when doing studies or lessons. 

Three, he set in order his thoughts and researched material.  He arranged his lesson plan in a format that would best convey his thoughts without a lot of extraneous thoughts and words. 

And four, he made sure his words were the truth (upright and true) before he uttered them. He didn’t throw in opinion or half-truths----he spoke the WHOLE truth. 

 

A great preacher should follow the advice of this wise man.  And when I say great preacher, I mean all of you reading this.  2nd Timothy 2, verse 15 tells us to do your best, or as the King James Version put it,  ' Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.’  How many of us are actually studying God’s Word?  How many of us are actually sharing that Word with others?  Too few, I fear.  Otherwise, God would be working to build up our church in size and stature.  We all need to be great preachers of God’s Word!

 

We are all searching for a great preacher to lead the West Cobb Ministry, yet, if you look around you, there are plenty already here doing great preaching.  More of us can if we are to take the advice of THE WISE TEACHER who wrote Ecclesiastes.  Do YOU want to be a greater teacher than you are now?  Yes?  Then prepare your ‘evangelistic speech’ in advance by following those four tenets:  Ponder, search out, set in order and use the right (true) words. 

 

When all is said and done, the teacher told us that the words of a great teacher are like goads.  A goad is a sharpened stick or rod use to prod cattle.  These words, these goads, are designed to motivate, or guide others.  When you preach, pick those words carefully, and if you do, they will be just like the nail Solomon mentions, driven directly into someone’s heart (figuratively, of course).  And once a nail is driven in all the way, it is very difficult to remove.  THAT is how much impact your pondered, researched, arranged and true lessons about God’s Words can have on others.

 

As a soldier in God’s Army, never unpack your bag of knowledge if you want to be a great preacher; keep it with you all the time, always be prepared, in season and out, to fight the War for God.

 

Mac