Proclamation AND Preaching

I love to preach. There are a few choice words that I live by in preaching. I would share with you wordsthat I live by, that to me are part of my sacred assignment as apreacher. But, not too surprising, I have come to the conclusion that these words are not justfor ordained people. Together we all are the church apostolic, calledto know Jesus and to witness to the world of what we know.
HERE ARETHE PRECIOUS WORDS

I. I AM AN AMBASSADOR, NOT A PEDDLER "We do not peddle the word of God for profit" A. Peddlers are honorable, but they (1) are in their work to makea living; and (2) they usually sell gadgets. B. We are ambassadors. We earn our livings in order to support ourtrue work. What we handle is a matter of life and death. We are peoplewho are sent. C. As ambassadors we are honor bound to learn our craft; to knowour calling well; to become experts in the matter of scripturaltruth. We must know the message in order not to garble it.

II. I AM CALLED TO BE REAL, NOT A PLAY-ACTOR "We do not cover our face, as Moses, to hide the fading glory" A. The incident cited: Moses had a crisis time of glory when hisface shone. He was frightening to the people then, but it was anhonorable sort of excitement. After all, he had been with God. When the glory faded, Moses kept the veil on so the peoplewouldn't see his apparent weakness or mere humanity. B. Religious hokus-pocus is a temptation. People think more highlyor less highly of us than we deserve. But we must strive to be honestbefore God! [Not just "be ourselves!" But be ourselves as God is working with us!] It is vital that we share our high moments as well as bevulnerable in our low times. I am not suggesting that people want tohear the details of your hospital experiences; but I am saying that weneed to share the fact that God meets with human beings where theylive.

III. I MUST SPEAK THE TRUTH, NOT PROPAGANDIZE "We do not distort the Word of God" A. Let the Word itself speak. All too often when we apply the wordto a situation we know where we want to end up before we evenstart. We are sure how we want to see the result turn out. That isall very well, so long as we are totally under the authority of theliving Word. B. The Word will speak! The Word of God reflects the Living Word,the Son of God. It has a mind, a life, a will all its own thatsupersedes our limited perspective. But that is the rub; the word will not be used! It must beobeyed! C. The critical factor: AM I LIVING BY THE WORD?

IV. I MUST BE CHRIST-CENTERED, NOT SELF-PROMOTING "We do not preach ourselves, but Christ"
A. This is not to say that God cannot and will not use"characters." Thank God, He loves you the way you are-- and He wantsyou to be yourself! Your sanctified self, that is!
B. It comes down to a matter of LOVE: we seek the glory of Godahead of our own!

Conclusion I have a dream of seeing our church become very effective inreaching people who do not know Jesus as Savior. I believe that wecan have a great new break-through in proclamation. Such a dream would usually be immediately followed up bychallenge to learning and doing. And I believe there is a place forall that.

There are two things that if they happen the dream will come:

1. We must really want to proclaim; must see proclamation as thetotal task of the total church, and as the one single thing that willbring us the most joy. WE MUST WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW THE CHRIST WE LOVE.

2. We must believe in each other as we catch the vision: loveand encourage and boost one another in every thing that we do. WE MUSTHAVE A BAPTISM OF TRUST AND LOVE AND COMMUNITY. And, so, we do not lose heart.


{{{SCRIPTURE TEXTS2 Corinthians2:17 FOR WE ARE NOT AS MANY, WHICH CORRUPT THE WORD OF GOD: but as ofsincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.3:13 AND NOT AS MOSES, [WHICH] PUT A VAIL OVER HIS FACE, that thechildren of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that whichis abolished:4:2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, NOT WALKING INCRAFTINESS, NOR HANDLING THE WORD OF GOD DECEITFULLY; but bymanifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man'sconscience in the sight of God.4:5 FOR WE PREACH NOT OURSELVES, BUT CHRIST JESUS THE LORD; andourselves your servants for Jesus' sake)))