Preach the Word, Please!

So it's Sunday afternoon and I have been in bed all morning. My cross of Multiple Sclerosis has jumped up and made it very difficult for me to walk. Since I could not make it to church, I decided to catch a service on television. I have to say that I was thoroughly disappointed with what I observed.

Now I want to qualify what I observed with the fact that today was the first time I saw these churches on television and hopefully not every week is like this weeks service. I also want to make it clear that I am not bashing church, just bringing out a very serious point and try to explain how that affects each of us.

I watched four local church services from three different denominations and found the same results - the sermons were based on the Bible, but the Bible was not preached. Every church in an effort to connect with the audience the pastors told stories, jokes, illustrations, and even quoted the Bible, but the services were void of preaching the Word!

You might be wondering what I mean by this so let me quickly try to explain. Paul instructs Timothy to preach the Word which is done by viewing the text of Scripture through the eyes of language, context, unity with the rest of Scripture and letting the Scripture make the practical application. What I observed today were sermons full of man's application adding Scripture to make a point. Doesn't sound like a huge deal, but this greatly impacts our whole theology. I don't have time today to deal with this, but this will be our topic for the week.

Until then, if you have an opportunity - Just preach the Word, Please!