I WAS JUST THINKING ON THIS SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2011

I CANNOT EXPECT EVERYONE TO BE PLEASED WITH MY PREACHING
I learned early on in my ministry, that I could not please everyone with my preaching. The goal in my preaching is not to please all of those who are listeners. But it should be my goal to touch them and change them forever. In my preparation of a sermon, I try to follow the leading of the Holy Ghost. I also try to keep the messages I preach from being prepared and then presented so as to point out an individual or individuals, especially when I do know specific situations. But try as I might, I do know that if I am going to preach the Word of God in the Spirit of Truth, I will step on someone’s toes.
But knowing all of these things I still deal with my own vulnerabilities, it is very uncomfortable to hear that some church members are not happy with my preaching.
The challenge is for me to figure out why and then know whether to adjust my messages or not. Here are some possible reasons some do not like my preaching and some possible responses or ways to change my presentation.
I am not a really intellectual preacher, but I still preach Over The Heads of many—Perhaps my preaching is simply not pitched effectively for the members that are faithful in attendance. Maybe I use terminology or words that are academically above the listeners and the people simply struggle to understand my points. There is no real reason or virtue in doing this and I must be willing to hear the response of the people and follow their line of feedback.
If I cannot make it understandable for those I pastor or preach to, it is my problem to deal with rather than their problem. The carnal nature of men or the flesh has a tendency to showoff our intelligence, but there is no good excuse for carnal fleshly preaching. I as a pastor, preacher must listen to the feedback from the church members or the faithful saints. I must listen to them graciously and seek ways and means to change my presentation of God’s Word so that they can be moved and changed by the preaching of His Holy Word. This does not mean I compromise or water my messages down, but it does mean I present it in such a way the people I am preaching to understand it and are convicted by the preached Word.
I really do try to show compassion and to be tolerant of the people I pastor and preach to, but I do understand there are those times I can Overly Grate Their Tolerance—I do know that I have a strong personality that can come across as coarse and grating to some people and because of this some people have a personal struggle with my preaching on certain subjects. This is a hard area for me to adjust or even to know how to change. I suppose in an ideal church situation I try my best to increase the fruit of the Spirit through my life as I preach hoping and praying that as I mature in these spiritual areas this should alleviate this problem over a short period of time. No matter how I try to fix and change myself sometimes two personalities will clash, and because of this it will always be a struggle in some cases. Sometimes people hide behind the clash of personalities when there is an underlying sin issue that should be addressed (jealousy, bitterness, contempt, control, etc.). This is a harder problem to address, but loving these who struggle is not a bad path for me to take.
Sometimes I can preach so that I Overly Burdening The Lives of The Saints Who Are In Attendance—Sometimes my preaching can simply weigh some of the saints down with duty and burden. This may be a misunderstanding of both the saints and myself or a misunderstanding of our Biblical principles. There are too many Pentecostal’s who think that the preacher needs to “spiritually beat and berate” listeners in order to be truly preaching the Word. Too many Pentecostal’s have a sort of “flagellation by sermon” approach to spirituality. Some Pentecostal saints feel like they are somehow better off when they can walk out of church feeling like they have been flogged by the preaching. Yes they feel great when they say, “Man, I needed that!” But this approach to preaching is not my style, nor do I like to overly burden the lives of those I preach to. This beating and berating of the saints will break bruised reeds and snuff out lives. I have not been called by the Lord to be harsh, hard or to abuse the saints of God that I pastor or that come hear me preach. I am to present to these people the Word of God with love and a Christ-like attitude.
Yes there are those times I Overly Touch The Hearts Of Those I Am Preaching—Perhaps my preaching is simply touching too close to home for them, actually doing everything but calling their names. If I am preaching in such a way as to target the hearts of those who are listening, then many will resonate deeply with what I am doing. But in any church there will be some who are essentially hard-hearted, who want the preaching to meet certain criteria and stroke their religious egos and pious. Some find it deeply convicting to feel as if they do not really have a loving personal relationship with Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Some hearers of the Word, whose hearts are overly charged by my preaching have openly revolted at the notion that those who are not born again as the Word of the Lord says, are actually lost and undone.. It is so sad to know there are so many in our churches that prefer to have everyone who attends to be pleasantly untouched, and feel comfortable just as they are.
There are other reasons that I cannot expect everyone to be pleased by my preaching, and often it is a blend of more than one reason. The challenge is to sort and present my preaching for every listening audience so it will be received and cherished with a loving sensitivity to the many who sit and listen to me. It is wrong for me to refuse to hear feedback, and it is wrong for me to try to please everyone. I am to Love Him, love them and I am to respond to the feedback and adjust my preaching only when and where it is appropriate.