What kind of preaching do you like to hear? Who is your favorite preacher (if you have such a thing)? What is your favorite kind of sermon?
If you are a preacher or an elder, what kinds of sermons are preached the most from your pulpit? More specifically, what topics are dealt with regularly? What topics are dealt with occasionally? What topics are never touched?
What would your church be like if the Apostle Paul was your regular preacher? Would the sermon topics or the sermon content be any different? Preachers (and churches) would do well to model their preaching after the pattern of Paul, who “shrank not from declaring…the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). Paul did not pick and choose his favorite topics or avoid unpopular ones! He did not leave out certain portions of Scripture or certain doctrines because they did not match his philosophy or because it might be offensive to some. He preached the WHOLE counsel of God! What would it be like if preachers followed that same pattern today?
Paul preached about and against false teachers (Acts 20:28-31; 2 Tim. 4:3-4). Paul preached about and against false doctrines (1 Tim. 4:1-3; Col. 2:8-23). How often does that happen in pulpits today?
Paul preached about marriage, divorce and remarriage (1 Cor. 7); withdraw of fellowship (1 Cor. 5:1-13; 2 Thess. 3:6-15); God’s role for women in the church (1 Cor. 14:34-35; 1 Tim. 2:8-15); the exclusive nature of congregational singing in worship (Eph. 5:19; Col 3:16); the sinfulness of homosexuality (Rom. 1:18-32; 1 Cor. 6:9-11), adultery (1 Cor. 6:9; Gal. 5:19), fornication (1 Cor. 6:9-20; Eph. 5:3-5), drinking (Rom. 13:13; Gal. 5:21) and social drinking (Eph. 5:18; 1 Thess. 5:4-8); the importance of modesty (1 Tim. 2:9; Rom. 12:2). How often are any of these heard from today’s pulpits?
Paul preached against religious division (1 Cor. 1:10), and therefore, against denominationalism, although it did not yet exist (cf. 1 Tim. 4:1-3; 2 Tim. 4:3-4). Paul preached the absolute essentiality of baptism for salvation from sins (Acts 22:16; Rom. 6:3-6; Gal. 3:26-27; Eph. 5:25-27). Paul preached the exclusive nature of the Lord’s one church (Eph. 4:4; 1:22-23), to which one must belong in order to be saved (Eph. 5:23) and to go to heaven (1 Cor. 15:24). How many pulpits today ring out these same messages? How often?
Paul preached the whole counsel of God! And he shrank not from doing it! He did not budge, waver or compromise the fullness or the content of the message! He did not read a verse and then tell funny stories and anecdotes. Paul preached the Word! What if that was still happening today?