Urgency, Necessity, and Obligation

I was away this past week at the Moody Bible Institute Pastors' Conference. It was a fabulous week. I attended classes on transformational preaching taught by Erwin Lutzer, John Piper, Crawford Loritts, and John MacArthur Jr.

It will take me a few weeks to digest all that I learned. However, for now I am stimulated by the urgency of the Word. This urgency comes from idea that salvation and the Word have a direct relationship. Consider Romans 10:17. The gospel of Jesus Christ is essential to salvation.

So then, urgency really takes on the idea of necessity. If necessary, then pastors have an obligation to preach the Bible; a mandate to faithfully communicate God's Word. As I sat and listened to these men teach and relay their convictions on preaching, I was reminded of a sermon I sat under some four years back. The pastor preached 45 minutes and never opened the Bible. Not only did he not open it, but did not quote from it or even project it on the screen. The Bible was nowhere to be found in a 45 minute talk. This, of course, was not preaching, but a speech. They were words without power to transform.

It is time for pastors to preach God's Word or shut up. Better that these men, who elect to not use the text, to step down and give the pulpit over to one called to preach. Preaching that opens and explains the Bible is the only preaching with the power to change a person from a life of death to a life of faith.

-Mark

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