Preach the Word 2010

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry (2 Timothy 4: 1-5, ESV).

Preaching the Word is overwhelmingly our most important task. It is crucial to the health and strength of the churches, to the expansion of God’s Kingdom, that men give themselves to preaching the Word. The task is hugely demanding, but it is unendingly thrilling. I never get tired of preaching the Word. I come to it with the freshness and enthusiasm of over forty years ago. Paul tells us to preach (κηρύσσω). In Greek it means to herald the Word. It means to declare publicly. Heralds didn’t whisper; they didn’t murmur in corners. A trumpet was sounded, and they spoke out loudly, boldly, and clearly. It was always something important which they brought. It wasn’t some piece of trivia, or some gossip from the imperial court. It was an edict. It was a law. It was an event which the citizens needed to hear. Their message came from a superior source: from the emperor, the government, or the local assembly. They weren’t bringing their own ideas. This was a message entrusted to them from above. The full authority of the source of the message lay behind their proclamation. They were not speaking in their own name, or by their own authority, but by the authority of whoever sent them. So, it’s a very fruitful and suggestive word for our ministry. When we preach, we are making an authoritative, public proclamation of something which is hugely significant; and behind that proclamation is the authority of the One who sent us. So preach and proclaim!

—Excerpt from “Preach the Word, Part 1,” preached by Edward Donnelly.