How to Preach When Society is Going to Hell

Vance Avner used to say, if we serve such a dynamite God, then why do so many of us live firecracker lives? Well, I believe there can be a wide array of answers to that burning question, friends, varying from the spectrum of a lack of faith to compromise in our personal lives. But in regard to preaching, there are only two reasons why some men have firecracker ministries and other men have dynamite ministries. One is the messenger.

The other is the message. That's what I'm going to talk about in this series, friends, how to preach with power. And we will approach this subject from the two angles of the messenger and the message.

If you're a young preacher boy who wants more power in the pulpit, then this message is right up your alley, friend. Two well-known preachers were walking down the street in Boston about 130 years ago, and the one who had a DD after his name said to the other, The sermon I gave today in my church was one I really enjoyed. You see, that one man was preaching for himself, for his own enjoyment, for his own acceptance with his people.

He loved it when his congregation would approach him after the sermon and grab his hand and tell him how much they enjoyed his sermon. He lived for that. The other man was D.L. Moody.

Moody was no orator. Moody had no formal education. But Moody had a burden for souls, and Moody preached to win souls to Christ, not to please himself.

I believe it's possible to have a popular ministry and a powerful ministry at the same time like Charles Spurgeon did, where thousands came to Christ under his ministry. And I believe you can have an uneventful and uninfluential ministry that just passes time. When you get up before your folks, you aim to occupy them and entertain them.

And if that's all you're shooting for, then that's all you'll have. So long as everybody's having a good time at your church, that's all that matters. I'll never forget going to hear a famous preacher, and he had them rolling in the aisles with laughter, and he made the comment that at his church in California, they rather laugh than cry.

That's what the old boy said, but he had, in my opinion, a pretty mediocre yet popular ministry. As a preacher, I guess you have to ask yourself a question. Do I want to be a Joel Osteen? Or do I want to be a Jonathan Edwards? Edwards saw a remarkable period's revival, but he was kicked out of his church that saw those revivals.

We're going to talk about the messenger and the message in this series, friends. I believe the two go hand-in-hand like biscuits and gravy. You can have one without the other, but it's not as good.

I'm an old man, and I've been studying revival for over four decades. I've written about it. I've preached about it.

I've prayed for it. And bless God, I've seen some sprinklings of revival here and there through the years. I know what revival is, and I know what it is not.

I know good preaching when I hear it, and I know mediocre preaching when I hear it. I've known some good men in ministry, and I've known some bad men in ministry. But through it all, I believe God is a dynamite God whose arm is not too short to save, and He's still in the miracle-working business, and there's nothing impossible with God, and there's nothing impossible to those who believe in a big God.

If you want change in your ministry, friend, then this series of messages is for you. If you want power in the pulpit, if you long to see lives transformed under your ministry, then the following messages may help you get there. I know this.

If you want to get into the battle with the devil and do some damage to his kingdom, it's going to cost you. What cost counts, and what counts costs. If you start pushing back against the darkness in your community, you will get some pushback from his satanic majesty.

There's a price for fighting on the front line of the battle, and you will get your scars. I guess you need to decide how bad do you want it? How bad do you want to leave a mark on this generation for God and eternity? God gets serious with those who get serious with Him. How serious are you? Talk is cheap.

Sacrifice is real. Are you willing to go out on a limb for God like a CT stud and be remembered like a CT stud? D.O. Moody lived by the following verse from 2 Chronicles 16.9 which reads, For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show themselves strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him. D.O. Moody heard a man say once, The world has yet to see what God can do with the man fully consecrated to Him.

Moody walked away and muttered under his breath a vow, Oh God, make me that man. And God did just that. Moody did more than all of us put together.

CT stud at the age of 53 said goodbye to his wife, family, and friends. And for the next 19 years he planted himself in the heart of Africa for the salvation of souls. For 16 years he and his wife never saw each other.

Finally, she had to travel to Africa alone just to see him one last time before she died. They both paid a huge price to spread the gospel in their generation. But CT stud penned the following poem that has meant so much to me through the years.

Only one life which will soon be past. Only what's done for Christ will last. If we serve such a dynamite God, then what's our excuse for a fire cracker life?