Preaching with a purpose

Is God punishing those caught in the path of a storm? We need to see what Jesus would say. He spoke of people who had died when a tower fell on them. He asked this question,"Were those people worse sinners than the rest of you?" The answer was that they were not worse, but that all of us deserve the same fate, because we are sinners. We need the forgiveness that can only be found in Jesus. We should never point the finger at people who have been overcome by disaster, we all deserve the same. However disaster gives us the chance to help one another and learn about the fragility of life.

My prayers are with those affected by Hurricane Sandy. However I am always amazed that the loss of life is not greater. Of course even one life is precious. I see the limited deaths as being part of God's graciousness to us. If you consider the amount of traffic on the roads it is amazing how few accidents there are on our motorways. Things are bad in New York and other places today, but it could all have been so much worse. I saw on the news that there were trees falling and crushing cars. Of course this is traumatic for people but the trees could have been falling on the people. Let's be thankful to God for His mercies and let's thank Him for deliverance. We need to repent for loving him so little when He has loved us so much.

Pastor's are very much ordinary human beings and subject to ill health as anyone can be. All pastors need the encouragement of knowing that what they teach us is doing us good. So be sure to let your pastor know that he is not labouring in vain. This is especially necessary if your pastor is struggling with his health. My pastor has M.E. and has limited energy to spare, yet every week he prepares us good teaching from the word. It would be so easy for him to give up and take a back seat, but no, he continues to search the scriptures and bring us our spiritual food.Hurray for faithful pastors. Of course there may be practical things that you could do to help your pastor. Maybe he needs a holiday or you could invite him around for a meal. Do something practical to ease his burden. Don't sit in the pew like a damp cabbage, let him see that you are listening to what he has prepared. He needs lots of agape love too.

There is only one place that tells us about God and about what we should believe. The bible. Of course this is also true of Bible-based preaching. We know this and yet we neglect to read our Bibles. How foolish we are! Set aside some time every day to read and meditate upon your Bible. Don't be content with just a few verses, read large portions so that you can see the context of the smaller passages. This is the best way to increase your spiritual well-being. Doing this will gain you no merit in itself, but as you ponder on what you read and invite the Holy Spirit to interpret the word to you, you will grow in Christ and grow nearer to him. May God bless you as you do this.

What does going to church mean to you? Is it a time in the week when you can relax and forget the troubles of the week? Or is it a time to spend thinking about your Lord and learning from his word? Does your minister challenge you to strive more for your Lord or are you promised an easy life? Maybe you need to find a church that will push you to the limits. Jesus gave all for us, we should give our all for him. The christian life is not about being comfortable.

Which part of the Bible do you prefer? Well I believe both are indispensible. There is an old sentence that puts it succinctly, "The New is in the Old concealed, the Old is in the New revealed." The Old Testament looks toward the new and promises the Messiah and when we get to the New we see prophecy after prophecy fulfilled. Don't make the mistake of discarding any of the Bible. If you discard one part you will find that action undermines another part. If you don't read the whole of your Bible you will miss out on wonderful revelations of who our great God is. Don't miss out, but dig deep into every part of the Bible, God's word for you.