Preaching is supposed to point people to God, not to “men of God.”
When I preach, I want the people to be impressed with God, not with me. I want them to think how great God is, not how great (or funny or deep or boring. . .) my sermon was.
Look what happened when Jesus preached—“when they heard Jesus’ words, (they) acknowledged that God’s way was right.” (Luke 7:29) They did not acknowledge what a great sermon they heard or what a great preacher they heard. They acknowledged God. The sermon
pointed them to God, not the preacher or a message.
I hope my sermons do that.
Here’s the weekend sermon preview. . .
There are two types of righteousness:
1. Self Righteousness
2. His Righteousness
Put another way, there are two righteousness formulas:
1. right living produces right standing
2. right standing produces right living
Self-righteousness is by far the most common type of righteousness in the world and in the church and in the pulpit. Most church people seem to live as if their “right living” causes them to be in right standing with God. This is pure self-righteousness. And God hates it.
Hopefully, everyone at the Bethel Brentwood 8:15, 10:00, and 11:45 a.m. services will “acknowledge that God’s ways are right” after hearing the sermon.
“accidental missionary” movie reviews: