Preaching

Weekly Sermon

Pastors put a great deal of energy into preaching a weekly sermon to their congregation. In the modern world, this is misdirected energy.

1. The weekly sermon implies that the pastor hears God better than his people. This contrasts with 1 Corinthians 14:26, where everyone has a word or revelation.

2. The weekly sermon encourages Christians to be passive and not to seek God's word for themselves. Perhaps this why Christians are so easily
   manipulated by false prophets. They are trained to be passive.

3. Many years ago, the pastor or priest was often the only person in a church who could read. He had to teach the people what the Bible says. This need no longer exists.

4. There is an abundance of excellent teaching on television, radio, audio tape and the internet.

5. If the Church needs a word of direction or challenge, it should come from one of the prophets and not the pastor.

6. The Holy Spirit has been poured out on the Church, so there is no need for an intermediary between God and his people. The Holy Spirit has
   promised to teach us all things (1 John 2:27, John 16:13-15).

Parable

An army is not trained by getting together all the soldiers, from brigadier to private, for an hour and half a week and spending the first 30 minutes singing battle songs and the next hour listening to a general lecturing on tactics and the history of war.

Soldiers need to learn discipline, obedience and weapons skills. These skills are learned by doing. The generals concentrate on tactics and planning. Most private soldiers are trained by NCOs. Troops need to be battle-hardened before they are fully trained.

Preaching in the World
Preaching belongs in the world. In the New Testament, preaching was used for evangelism. The good preachers in the church should be taken out of their pulpits and sent into the marketplaces to proclaim the good news to the world.