Weak Preaching

I moved to a place where the bible and Jesus death and resurrection for our sins is not taught well or faithfully. I did not realize how blessed I was at home with strong, Jesus focused, biblical preaching until I went home for Easter and heard our old pastor preach. It was like a long drink of cool water after a really long hot walk. I had slipped back into the numbness of shallow preaching for a while until I started listening to Mark Driscoll in the car.

I was at church on Sunday and realized what everyone was missing out on as the preacher talked about God speaking to him using even pictures. The example he used was helping him find keys in a pair of pants. I am sure it was true and probably God but it occurred to me that maybe pointing people to read the bible for guidance might be more helpful. I talked to him afterwards, as politely as I could, and during the conversation I said that the bible is the same bible for everyone. He said it wasn't, what the Holy Spirit/Bible said to me would be different to what it said to you. That may be true to a point, for example, the sins I struggle with will be different to the sins other people struggle with, but it is dangerous to apply it too much. I got into the car to go home and the very next part of the Driscoll Sermon said that when people begin to "interpret" the bible to suit themselves you can get some whacked out ideas.

I thought of an excellent example, Romans 6:1 actually says "sin more that Grace may abound" The fact that the bits around it indicate that we should not, in fact, do this, these bible words give us licence to do anything.

Romans 6:1-2 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? By no means.

For those of us blessed to have access to strong preaching, make the most of it and support it because it is NOT everywhere.