01.57. Excerpt18 - The Leaders - Preachers

Excerpt18 - The Leaders - Preachers

A preacher is a man
with a message from another world
to people in this world
who are going to that other world. The successful preacher does not end
his sermon with the congregation on
its feet applauding him; but rather,
he leaves it on its knees adoring Him. Our preachers must be filled with the Spirit
before they fill our pulpits,
or else they will fill the people with chaff. The message of the preacher
is not always scathing,
but it is always searching -
if it is Spirit-energized. The effective preacher is the man
who trembles at His Word,
but who stands untremblingly
to deliver that Word. The preacher must taste the powers of another
world, if he would preach to men of this world
who are blind and deaf
to the claims of the next world. We have an abundance of "men of the cloth";
few - too few - men with sackcloth. Wet-eyed preachers never deliver dry sermons. A preacher cannot get "off the ground"
until he prays,
and he cannot keep on the ground
after he prays - his preaching will soar! The petty Peter of pre-Pentecost days
became the prophet-preacher
of post-Pentecost days. There is much more to preaching than merely
being loaded with theological savvy and elastic
vocabulary. The pastor’s task is to feed the flock,
not to produce it. Giving a man an "R-E-V" does not sanctify him
any more than giving him a Ph.D.
can edify him. I am tired of preachers who act like lions
in the pulpit,
but play like kittens outside of it. Some preachers spend so much time walking
theological picket lines that they never enter
the areas of true worship. An evangelist with his eye on the "Jackpot"
Should be afraid of being labeled a "crackpot." Pity him and pray for him - the preacher who
can mouth eternal truths to eternal souls
without pain, or tears, or burden.