"Preaching, Preachers, & The Plan"

            In Matthew 4:23, the Bible says, "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people." Likewise, in Matthew 9:35, the Bible says, "Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people." Luke, the "beloved physician", wrote by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, "Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them; but He said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent. And He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee," (Luke 4:42-44). Later, Luke also records, "Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him," (Luke 8:1)

The preceding passages clearly show that Jesus' focus while on earth was to preach or proclaim the gospel. In His path to the cross, Jesus took  time at every turn to verbally proclaim the meaning of what He was doing.

Later, in Acts 5:42, the Scripture says, "And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ."   Also, in Acts 8:4, we are told, "Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word."

          The apostles and early Christians evidently understood that to be like Jesus, they would also need the same determination and single-minded focus. In 2 Timothy 4:1-5, Paul relates to Timothy:

          "I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His king-dom; Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." At least thirty-six times in Acts, the Bible records that the early church preached (as the mode of communication in getting the gospel to the world).

          With this information in mind, it is remarkable that denomi-nationalism and even the Lord's church in some circles have resorted to unauthorized (by God) gimmicks of transmitting the Word (e.g., drama) that have taken the place of Bible preaching. Also, it is notable that few families are encouraging their sons to be preachers. Someone recently wondered aloud in a conversation about preaching: "Who are we raising up in our brotherhood to become the Guy N. Woods, the Gus Nichols, the Marshall Keebles, and the B.C. Goodpastures of the church in today's generation?

Bible preaching, book chapter and verse preaching, preaching that pricks the heart and convicts the hearers will never go out of style with the Lord. His obvious regard for preaching and preachers is well documented (Romans 10:14-15; 1 Corinthians 1:17; 9:14,16, 18; 2 Corinthians 4:5; Ephesians 3:8; Philippians 1:15-16; Revelation 14:6). If God the Father thought enough of this medium for expressing His Word, we ought to esteem it, practice it, encourage it, and follow the Word that is preached.