Deeper Still by phil mccallum

I love this simple definition of preaching given by Alan Storey, a pastor from Capetown, South Africa.

Scripture

“These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.” Acts 17:6-7

You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.” Acts 17:20

Observation
When speaking in public, the speaker focuses most of his attention on what he or she has to say. But it is just as significant for the speaker to know what is heard. Preaching is more than the message that a pastor speaks, but it is also what the hearers hear. Fine details may slip from their memories but did they “get it?”

Paul’s hearers heard it, even if they did not understand what he was saying. In one city, they heard Paul to say that Jesus was a king supreme over all kings including caesar. Not a bad job of understanding. In another city, they heard Paul to speak “strange” ideas that did not flow with their normal course of thought and scientific reasoning. In both places they grasped that Paul was bringing a new teaching that would turn their world right side up.

Application
As I reflect on the exit poll of Paul’s preaching, I find myself wondering if I preach enough “strange ideas” that clearly present that there is “another king, one called Jesus.” In contemporary church life we have morphed Jesus is Lord into Jesus is Helper. Instead of being a king we follow into his kingdom he has become a partner who follows us into our world. I don’t want to preach Jesus that way. As Billy Sunday said, “People say I rub the fur the wrong way. Then let the cats turn around.” “A good sermon has one offensive point; a really good one has multiple ones,” says Mark Driscoll. Repentance means a total reordering of our thinking about who God is and who we are in light of him. He has not come to join my world but to bring me into his.

Prayer
Father, make me a preacher who comforts the disturbed and disturbs the comfortable. Amen.

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Scripture

“Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.” Revelation 10:9

Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.” Revelation 10:11

Observation
Will I have anything to say? That’s the fear of preaching.

If you haven’t stood in front of hundreds or thousands to speak for God that doesn’t mean a thing. But if you have had to stare at a blank Word Document every Monday morning and had to give something fresh in just 7 days, then you know what I mean.

What’s the answer? Take the Bible personally and internally. Before he is a talker, the preacher is first an eater of truth. Truth must upset him. Martin Luther said, “When I am angry I can pray and preach well.” I need to do more than taste test the Bible like some wine sniffer or hors d’oeuvres nibbler. I need to meditate until the Bible moves me.

Application
If I will have a daily intake of God’s word and let it work into my whole system, then I will never lack for something to share with God’s people.

Prayer
Father, I’ve talked a lot in my life for you, but I sense I have only just been warming up. There is more that you have to say than I can imagine. Help me not to become content predictable thoughts. Give me hot, fresh bread from the oven today. Amen.

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Scripture

…Be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:16

Observation
Preaching should heat up nonbelievers. Speaking to unchurched people about Jesus is more than laying out information. When an evangelist speaks Jesus and invites people to him he is laying his hearers on the altar before God for him to warm up their hearts to say yes to him.

Evangelistic preaching is priestly act of worship. The preacher is placing lost people on the grill and God will bring the fire.

Application
I want my preaching to put people in the hottest. I want my speaking to warm up hearts toward God and bring them home.

Prayer
Father, I want more than words, I want heat in the words I speak. You have used me before, but please use me again more than I have been used before. Amen.

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Press the arrow to listen to a heart-changing song from JesusCulture.org as you read today’s devotion on fire.

Scripture
Flaming fire His ministers. Psalm 104

Observation
It is from verses like this one that John Wesley explained the attraction of his ministry, “Set yourself on fire and people wll watch you burn.”

Some pastors excell at chopping and stacking wood. With laborious exegesis they saw and split cords of firewood but there is no fire. Other preachers are like boxes of matches. There is not a depth of knowing that comes from the word of God. With spit and shout they ignight like a box of match heads all at once the flame is bright but it does not last.

A preacher needs firewood and the fire. He needs both careful study as well as burning prayer.

Application
Next weekend I’m speaking to some of my favourite folks at Peninusla City Church in Frankston, Victoria in Australia. I want to bring the wood as God sends the fire!

Prayer
Father send the fire on me.

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Scripture
So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.” I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.” Revelation 10:9-11

Observation
A sermon is not stuck on a preacher like a Post-It-Note, ready to peel off to make room for the next one. The pastor is his message because he is to take the word of God internally. The minister is supposed to eat the Bible and to let truth eat him up.

That’s why the best messages always start out in personal devotion. If a passage has spoken to the messenger first it will move those who hear it. This requires time. A pastor must take time to savour his message and then to digest it.  For John, the message on the scroll tasted sweet like candy but he needed Pepto-Bismol to digest it.

Application
The Bible was not designed for speed reading, but for slow chewing. I know this, but sometimes I move too quickly. I need to take time to let the word of God affect me deeply.

Prayer
Father, I ask for the gift of indigestion. I want to be upset by truth that applies to me. I don’t want to be a taste-tester of truth. I want to be one who digests fully. Amen.

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Press the arrow to listen to Kari Jobe sing “Revelation Song” while you read today’s devotion on how to get respect.

Scripture
These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you. Titus 2:15

Observation
At the age of 26 I met my first city council member. Just out of acne, I was leading my first church.  Barely old enough to drive, I went to city hall to present plans for the construction of our new church building. Behind the desk was a politician as crusty as his weathered face. He took one look at me and said, “When did they let you out of high school?” The trouble with ministry is that when you are young, you are considered too young; and when you are old you are considered over the hill. There is no middle ground.

Titus was a pastor of island people known for their indifference toward authority. Paul warned him about it. How could the young preacher gain the attention of a people who brushed him aside?

Paul’s message was simple: Respect is earned but it must also be expected. Titus was to let no one disregard him. He was to allow no one to look down on him or stand over him in judgement.

But how exactly was this fresh-faced pastor supposed to manage that? The answer was to be in the words that Titus would speak.

Titus had to be conscious of his authority. He was speaking not because he wanted to talk but because God had something to say. He was sent by Jesus himself, with hands laid on him by the elders. His authority did not come from wizened age or decades of political connections in the community. Titus was a new face in town who came fresh from the throne room of God. With little rapport or reputation he had more authority than all because God had called him to speak.

Titus had to speak the right kinds of words. First came the words to “exhort”. In the Greek, the words literally mean, “those that come along side.” Titus would have to speak words that would keep walking with people, encouraging them long after he had spoken them, encouraging them forward. Some of Titus’ respect would come because his words would walk with people long after he spoke them.  Second, came “reproving” words. These were not the words that would walk with people, but words that would get in their way. Words of challenge would charge like a defensive tackle and level them. Some of Titus’ respect would come because he would speak words outside of himself that would get in the ways of wrong doing.

If Titus would speak out of his authority he would have respect. I remember an old counselor, who exuded respect every person she counseled, no matter how bungled their life, told me, “I always expect respect. I never let anyone disregard me.” Hers was never an arrogant demand, but an authority rooted in God’s call and expressed in deep love. I must do the same.

Application
If I will use my words well I too will have the respect I need to do what God has asked. I need to speak words that keep walking with people through the problems of life. I need to speak words that become speed bumps in their journey. If I respect the authority that has sent me others will respect the words I speak.

Prayer
Father, give to me the opportunity to speak, and when I do so let it be something worth listening to.

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Press the arrow to listen to “Jesus Is Above All” by Hillsong London as you read today’s devotion about prophetic ears.

Scripture

Surely the Lord GOD does nothing
Unless He reveals His secret counsel
To His servants the prophets.
lion has roared! Who will not fear?
The Lord GOD has spoken! Who can but prophesy? Amos 3:7-8

Observation
Amos lived in a shoe-box sized town but he had a widescreen view of the world. There was less to the town of Tekoa than met the eye. It was a place of grubby shepherds and smelly sheep. The freeway of life by passed it without an exit.

Amos, however, knew the world around him. Current events in far-flung cities were familiar to him. Even more, Amos knew God’s word in high definition vision. He could see through the headlines to see what God was up to.

Application
How did he do it? More importantly, how can we hear God as he did? His secret was this: while he worked he listened. Though he was just a shepherd and pruner of trees, he did not let his odd-job life keep him from seeing the big picture. He had confidence that God could speak to a man who was not the son of a prophet. He listened because he knew God speaks even to shepherds. And because he spoke what God told him, he was told even more.

I must work and listen. If God is to act he will speak to those who are listening and speaking for him. In the mundane events of life, I must listen for eternal things. Greater things are ahead for all of us, and before they come the prophets will hear them first. I want to be among them.

Prayer
Father, today, as I tend the sheep help me to hear what you are up to. And show me what to do with what I hear. Amen.

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