I have looked high and low through the New Testament and I find all those who preached in the beginning preached with much compassion. In fact the New Testament preachers preached it direct, straight and did not play when they preached. The New Testament preachers came forth with biblical principles, holiness, prophecy, and much doctrine. Here we are in 2011 we who preach are told to stay away from passionate preaching.
I realize when we are in a church service we are meeting people from all walks of life. These folks are coming to church full of burdens, cares and much strife in their lives. I realize that no one wants to be beat up by the preacher. Because of life many when they get to church are automatically defensive. Once the preacher begins to preach with passion so many on the pews take offense and are so upset. The first thing they think is the preacher took his text and aimed directly at them. Many say, why go to church to be beat up when the world is already abusing us?
Preaching with a contagious passion for God, His Word, the gospel, and the people is a must even in this day, solid preaching is still a good thing. But as preachers we always need to be careful not to let our passion slip into offensive or abusiveness mode through our communication styles.
I have tried over the years to check myself often while I am preaching. I have also tried to keep me and my personal feeling out of my preaching. I must confess that both of these are often hard to do especially when a person from the membership has confronted me just before the service starts and I have to take the pulpit with all that fresh correction on your mind and that individual sitting before me, knowing my every move is being critiqued.
I do understand that passion can often be taken as aggressive preaching. Passion that becomes intense and overly aggressive can also be offensive to hearers. Even we as pastors and preachers do not like to hear offensive preaching, with this understanding we must always be aware of how we are coming across as we preach. Every word and sentence counts as we preach to our congregations so we must be careful not to make a carefree assertion that might unnecessarily offend those who are sensitive listeners.
I have learned the hard way that many listeners are not always the best at hearing statements in full context. There are so many hearers of our preached sermons who most often fail to hear quotes we make in context.
I have personally learned the hard way that so many who congregate at the church I pastor are not really there to hear the Word of God preached. These have come for me to shake their hands and pat them on the back while I tell them they are really doing good all the while they are not living for God at all. These congregants are soft skinned and critique everything that comes across the pulpit. These congregants are constantly saying things to cut the pastor, saints and the church as a whole. So when a message is preached with passion they usually leave church offended and try their best to get as many as they can on their side against the preaching by quoting the message out of context.
I do understand so many do not want to be pounded when they are in church. But they must understand their pastor has their spiritual lives in mind when he is preaching with direction and anointing from the Lord. Most people do not understand the passion that is felt when the man of God is trying his best to get their attention and directing them toward glory.
As a preacher and a pastor I understand what it means to feel the anointing of the Lord and the unction that He places within me to preach the truths that He has spoken into my life and given me to speak to the congregation of people. I also realize when this message becomes a part of my spirit and I become passionate while I prepare to preach it. When I or so many others stand before the congregation to preach and are moved with such passion, we have a tendency of becoming “shouty” when we deliver this Word. Yes, with our personalities we begin to openly try to convey our message by shouting it to the people. At the time we deliver a message that is powerfully anointed and filled with moving conviction there is something within us that has to get it out. And often we do not hear how it is coming forth and to some people “shouty” is so bothersome and they are distracted they miss the depth of the message. That is why we who often preach with passion must learn to deliver without shouting. I must confess this is often hard for us as preachers to do.
Even if we do not shout, there is a certain level of intensity that can be heard in our preaching. If this intensity is consistently maintained while we are preaching, so often it will drain the congregation of spiritual energy and focus. I have personally realized that for the sake of those who do love passionate, anointed preaching who are seated in our congregations we must give them a break. We must give them a chance to hear the Word of God preached in its fullness and entirety. Let them have the chance to receive what the Spirit of the Lord is speaking through the preaching of His Word. Intensity that is turned up a notch or two and left there for the entirety of the sermon can become simply too much for some in the congregation to take. I have learned that this is not at all worth it for those who really desire to hear preaching. As a preacher and a pastor I feel it is much better that the messages that God has given to me to deliver to this wonderful congregation is for them to hear, understand, take to their heart and begin to follow. The whole object of preaching is to get people living right, doing the will of God and prepared for heaven.
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