Raw Preaching

At best, people can remember a maximum of 20% of any message preached for a maximum of 10 days; unless they find a way to integrate the message into their daily life. The Church of the Western World has adopted the methods of the Scribes of Jesus time: They taught with illustrations, quotes, ear-tickling detail and often passionate eloquence.

Jesus taught in a different way “the crowds were astonished at His teaching because He was teaching them as one who had authority and not as the Scribes..” Matthew 7:28-29. He used brief powerful stories and parables because he knew the limitations of the people; that they could not retain things unless they were expressed in the simplest everyday concepts that they could relate to. He always included a command to action.

I once heard Juan Carlos Ortiz say: “Don’t preach a new sermon till the last one has been done!” Very few have tried this approach (and survived), it was not popular. People’s expectations are for nice meetings and new teaching.  Somehow we must re-direct this expectation toward a new task or command of Jesus that we must all embrace in order to move on. This would involve a radical re-think of the way we do church.

The enemy of our souls comes to church also… to prey. He wants to snatch the word away from us in case we actually do it! In Matthew 7:21 Jesus warns us that we will fail to enter His Kingdom unless we DO the will of God. He goes on to give the illustration of the house built on sand or rock.

We resent anything that breaks into the pattern of our independence and traditions but the commands of Jesus always do. Are we building a system of church life that neatly sidesteps our responsibility to act upon those commands? Please think about this before things change.