Date Preached _____________
Where Preached _____________
Why Do We Do What We Do?
Why Do We Have a Sermon Each Week?
2 Timothy 4:1-5
In 2 Timothy 4:1-5, the apostle Paul said to the young preacher Timothy,
1In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
A man in the church choir couldn’t sing. Several people hinted to him that he could serve in other places, but he continued to come to the choir. The choir director became desperate and went to the pastor.
“You’ve got to get that man out of the choir,” he said. “If you don’t, the choir members are going to quit. Please do something.”
So the pastor went to the man and suggested, “Perhaps you should leave the choir.”
“Why should I get out of the choir?” he asked.
“Well, five or six people told me you can’t sing,” answered the pastor.
“That’s nothing,” the man snorted, “At least 50 people have told me that you can’t preach!”
1. We have sermons to bring about life change!
Throughout the Scriptures, anytime God’s men were instructed to preach, to teach, to proclaim, to instruct, or to admonish, they were instructed to do so with the goal of seeing the lives of their hearers changed. I have had a lot of people tell me at different times boy you sure stepped on my toes today. Well that is fine unless it doesn’t produce the effects of seeing lives change or to see a spiritual growth take place in your lives. You see God gives us His word to change us and to draw us closer to Him. But we have to make the first step. We have to want to change.
If God has called me to help you grow, then my job as a preacher is to preach in such a way that you know what to do, why you should do it, and how you can do it; I think that when we hear the word of God delivered then we also have a responsibility to do something with it.
Now, granted there are many things I can do to be a better preacher. I will continue to study. I will continue to work on better delivery. I must continue to surrender my life to Christ. I must try and remove the sin in my so that it does not hinder my message. But there are also a number of things you can do. Whether you have thought about it before or not, you have certain responsibilities before, during and after the sermon that will help you to not only hear the preaching, but to make better use of the Word that is preached.
Responsibilities Before the Word is Preached
If I come prepared to peach each Sunday then God expects you to be prepared as well. but the truth is that most people don’t come to church prepared to encounter the Word of God with life-changes in mind. In fact, most people wake up an hour or two before the sermon, skip breakfast, come in with foggy heads and sleepy eyes, and leave with grumbling stomachs. With a little effort however, you can change all of that and create an atmosphere where you study the Word of God each week through a personal encounter with God. How do we do that?
Focus on preparation
I believe preparation for all of us begins on Saturday night. Don’t stay out to late on Saturday then you won’t be so tired when you come to church. When you get here and see what the scripture is then open your Bibles to that scripture and begin reading it. Then pray that this scripture will touch you in some way.
Pray for something significant
One of the greatest things you can do leading up to a worship service is to pray and trust God for His Holy spirit to fill you up. When you take time to pray, you are aligning your hearts with God’s. You are saying to Him that you want what He wants, and that you are purposing in your heart to meet with Him in His Word.
Pray for the preacher
If you are looking for rich sermons from your pastor, then pray. Pray for me in the study. Pray for wisdom and insight. Pray for spiritual discernment. Pray that I would have boldness, that God would inspire me, that He would protect me, and that He would teach me what I need to know. The greatest encouragement you can give me is to take me before of God week after week in your prayers.
Responsibilities During the Preaching of the Word?
Worship
Every part of the worship service must be thought of as an act of worship. Singing, giving, and listening to the preaching are acts of worship.
Think
You are responsible, before God, to think as you hear the sermons. I will do my best to deliver thought provoking messages, but I cannot make you think – you have to be willing to do that. Thinking during the preaching is going to require that you tune in both to God’s Word and to yourself.
Take Notes
I am convinced that taking notes, even in the form of a few simple statements, can greatly enhance the benefit a sermon has in your life. Those who take notes will remember a sermon longer than those who don’t, and taking notes moves you from being a passive listener to becoming an aggressive listener Taking notes means that you are going to write down key thoughts, primary points, and those things that God impresses upon you during the process.
Use your Bibles and follow along when we read scripture. Make sure what I am saying comes from that scripture.
Fight Distractions
One of Satan’s greatest tools during the service is to distract you. There are always going to be distractions, so do your best to listen and stay focused on the message. I would also encourage you not to be distracting. Every one of you can help keep distractions down by learning and training yourself to turn off the sound on your phones and pagers, to bring some cough drops, go to the bathroom before we start, use the nursery, and don’t start putting your things away until we are through.
Of all the things sermons can do, life-change is what I believe to be the among the greatest. When we look at God’s word and realize that God has chosen sermons and preaching to change the world, we can begin to change our own ways of thinking about church services and we can begin to align our hearts with God’s in light of what He’s trying to do in our lives.
I do not know anything that can change lives move than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Tony Abrams says this, “It can unite broken homes, draw the alcoholic from the cup, the gambler from the cards, the addict from the needle, the prostitute from the streets and draw all people into the Kingdom of God.” It changes lives. It changed my life and that is why I have given my life to preach the Gospel.
2 Corinthians 5:17 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
John 5:24 says: 24"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.
2. I think a second point would be that hearing sermons helps us to reach and teach others.
I believe that we can take what we learn here on Sunday mornings or even Wednesday evenings and share that with our co-workers, neighbors, family and friends.
In the early 1950’s, Polio was one of the most feared and crippling diseases in the world. Thousands of kids used to die from it every year. Parents were even afraid to let their kids play outside in the summertime.
But this burden of fear was lifted forever when it was announced that Dr. Jonas Salk had developed a vaccine against the disease. He became a household name overnight. And he could have become a millionaire overnight. He could have put a patent on the vaccine. And would have become rich beyond the dreams of avarice.
But he had no desire to profit personally from this discovery. The only thing he cared about was getting the vaccine to as many people as possible. To save as many people as he could.
My prayer is that we would feel the same way about the gospel of Christ. If you have a relationship with the Lord, you have something more powerful than the polio vaccine. Something more wonderful than any of the medical discoveries ever made. And since the gospel has changed our lives, we owe it to the rest of our worlds to pass it on.
That’s how Paul felt. And that’s why he says in Romans 1:14 "I am obligated to both Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome." In other words, ’because my life has been transformed by the power of God, because we are servants of Jesus Christ, we have an obligation to tell the whole world about it! We have a mission from God to share the message of Jesus Christ.’
In fact, Paul will say later on in Philippians 2:16 that you and I are to shine like stars in the universe as we hold out the word of life. Some of you are thinking, "Brent, count me out! I don’t have the boldness or the ability to do what you’re talking about Evangelism is just not my thing."
But you want to know something? To a certain extent, you practice evangelism every day. By the way you live your life. There’s an old poem that says, "Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are read by only a few. But the one Gospel people will read is the Gospel According to You." If you live a life of integrity, and if you love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself, your faithful example will reflect Christ to the world.
Just as we all want what is godly and best for our kids, Paul wanted what was godly and best for the people of the world. He wanted everyone to have a chance to hear the gospel.
I feel the same way he does. When I hear about someone I know giving their life to Christ, it brings tears to my eyes. Because more than anything in the world, I want the people I love to get saved. I want to see how beautiful their lives can be when they become totally sold out for the Lord. My prayer is that God will make you feel that way about the people in your life. That your heart will be speared with compassion for lost people.
We live in a cynical world. A world where it’s easy to feel ashamed of the gospel. Someone at work will say, "There’s something different about you. You don’t swear anymore. You don’t drink with us. Instead of meeting us at the bars, you go straight home to your wife and kids. Where’s the guy we used to know? What’s going on?"
And if we have the courage to tell them WHY we’re not doing these things anymore, they say, "Come on! God doesn’t want you to be a robot! He wants you to be you! There’s nothing wrong with having a good time. Come out with us tonight." And replies like that take the wind out of our sails. Because we’re not sure how to respond. If we give in to the peer pressure, then it shows that to some degree, we’re ashamed of the gospel. And if we stand our ground, we might get laughed at. And life at work could become potentially unpleasant.
But you want to know something? The older I get. The less I worry over what other people think of me. And the more I care about what God thinks of me. The older I get, the only opinion that matters to me is His opinion. And I pray that over time, you’ll become more secure in how God sees you. And less worried about how others see you.
That’s how Paul felt. He said, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Because I know for a fact that this message can change people’s lives! It is not a product of my imagination. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of the living God!"
Here’s what you can say: "You know that I care about our friendship. But I also care about God. I hope that over time, you’ll respect the fact that there will be some changes in my life. I hope that we will always be friends."
That’s the life changing power of the gospel. You and I don’t have to be ashamed of it. Because the scripture says that it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.
’the righteous will live by faith." So faith in God is not just something we exercise the moment we accept Christ. God wants people to live by faith every single day.
And that’s why we need to share our faith. Not by being a nuisance. Not by being a Bible banger. But by talking about what Christ has done in our lives as God gives the opportunity. 2 Timothy 1:8 says "Do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord."
It’s obvious that God is calling us to hear his message of the good news of salvation. I hope that He is calling you to share God’s Word with your neighbors, friends and co-workers.
And if you’re here today and you are not a Christian, I want you to know that the gospel is for you, too. God sent Jesus to die for your sins. And He rose from the dead to be your Savior. And you don’t need to walk the aisle and come to the front to be saved. But it helps to let your Brothers and Sisters in Christ hold you accountable. Coming forward is an encouragement not only to you but to the entire church as well. We want to celebrate as the angels do when someone gives their life over to the Lord. When we accept Christ into our hearts, and we are repentant, when we confess Christ before men, and are immersed, then try to live our lives for Jesus then we are saved. Let’s pray!!!
