PREACHING LIKE JESUS

PREACHING LIKE JESUS!
Christianity was founded on the power and glory of one person, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus was the heart and soul of Christianity in the first century.
"When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus." (Acts 4:13).
"But the believers who were scattered preached the Good News about Jesus wherever they went." (Acts 8:4).
Look at the reaction at the preaching of Jesus Christ.
Matthew 7:28 the crowds were amazed at his teaching.
Matthew 22:33 (TLB) the crowds were profoundly impressed.
Mark 11:18 (TLB) - people were so enthusiastic about Jesus' teaching.
Mark 12:37 (NASB) - The great crowd enjoyed listening to Him.
Whether you agree with Rick Warren or not, one thing is clear he is very smart and has some good insights on the preaching of Jesus that could be of help to us all. He has said some things that we in churches of Christ should have been saying a long time ago. I love truth and I appreciate it wherever it is to be found. Truth does not belong to the church of Christ but to God and is dispensed all over the world. Many people capture truth that we may neglect. Here is what Rick Warren has said about the preaching of Jesus that I find most interesting.

1. "Jesus Began With Peoples Needs, Hurts, and Interests. Our basic message to the lost must be good news. Crowds always flock to Good News. Wise teachers know to start with the students interests and move them toward the lesson. Because preachers are called to communicate truth, we often mistakenly assume that unbelievers are eager to hear the truth. They aren't! Unbelievers aren't that interested in truth these days. In fact, surveys show that the majority of Americans reject the idea of absolute truth.

This is the source of all the problems in our society. People dont value truth. Today people value tolerance more than truth. People complain about crime, drug abuse, the breakup of the family, and other problems of our culture, but they dont realize the cause of it all is their rejection of truth.
Moral relativism is the root of what is wrong in our society. But it is a big mistake for us to think that unbelievers will race to church if we just proclaim, We have the truth!

Their reaction will more likely be, Yeah, so does everybody else! Proclaimers of truth dont get much attention in a society that devalues truth. To overcome this, some preachers try to Yell it like it is. But preaching louder isnt the solution to this apathy. It starts by being wise as serpents and harmless as doves."

2. "While most unbelievers arent looking for truth, they are looking for relief. This gives us the opportunity to interest them in truth. Ive found that when I teach the truth that relieves their pain or solves their problem, unbelievers say, Thanks! What else is true in that book? Sharing biblical principles that meet a need creates a hunger for more truth. "
3. Jesus understood this. Very few of the people who came to Jesus were looking for truth. They were looking for relief. So Jesus would meet their felt needs, whether leprosy, blindness, or a bent back. After their felt needs were met, they were always anxious to know the truth about this man. He had helped them with a problem they couldnt solve.

Ephesians 4:29 says, ...[speak] only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Notice that who we are speaking to determines what we are to say (this has nothing to do with compromising the message and everything to do with understanding the needs of your listeners). The needs of those listening decide the content of our message. We are to speak ONLY what benefits those we are speaking to. If this is Gods will for our conversations, it must also be Gods will for our sermons.

4. Unfortunately, it seems that many pastors determine the content of their messages by what they feel they need to say rather than what the people need to hear.
Read all of Rick Warren's article here:
http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/churchandministry/warren_preach_like_jesusa.aspx