preaching

  • Is it ever appropriate to call out prosperity gospel preachers by name? (video by John Piper)

    Norm commented on my post “What do you want to hear?”:

    Apart from reprinting whole sermons – say, from Piper and M L-J, can we critique some sermons of others?  Not just to be critical, but to use them as springboards into what the message might have/should have been?  I am interested in seeing if there are an encouraging number who will know the difference and be spurred to action…(like talking to their pastor or looking up good sermons to listen to?)   I find that good sermons always drive me to the scriptures hungry and thirsty for more of the same.  I guess bad sermons can serve the same purpose – driving us to the scriptures, but for the reason of finding where the preacher went wrong…

    Not long after that, I stumbled upon this clip of John Piper…

    Expanding on the original question a bit…a few discussion questions…

    Besides the prosperity gospel, what other false gospels are being preached today?
    Do you believe it is ever appropriate to call out false gospel preachers by name?
    Do you agree with Piper’s view that it’s generally better to focus on principles rather than personalities?
    Have you ever called out false gospel preachers by name? If so, when, and why did you do so?
    How did God’s appointed ministers deal with false gospel preachers in the Scripture?
    What do we need to guard against as we call out and examine false gospel preachers?
    How can we distinguish true gospel preaching from false preaching?
    What essential doctrines must be emphasized in gospel preaching?
    How might we address false gospels in a more positive manner?
    Please add Scriptures which might help us as well as your comments, questions, etc.

  • Why listen to bad preaching and read bad blogs?

    In response to a comment made regarding the state of preaching on my post What do you want to hear? I wrote:

    Yeah, as far as I’m concerned you can probably just scrap about 99% of all preachers and listen to Piper, unfortunately he doesn’t broadcast on radio (he used to in some places). (You could burn his messages onto CDs.) That’s exactly what Piper preaches, but I know you already know that.

    I think it’d probably be better to put on some good worship music rather than listen to a bad sermon, other than it might help to sharpen you doctrinally. I think it helps to hear bad preaching at times, as well as read bad blogs at times, b/c then we’re forced to ask ourselves things like:

    What’s missing here?
    Why is this bothering me?
    Why does it seem empty?
    What is the Biblical teaching?
    What Bible passages address this issue?
    and so on…

    (As much as I find X/R frustrating, that’s one thing I’ve found beneficial about it.) Bad preaching also helps us to see the “ruins” even more out there and leads us to pray more. It may also provide blogging fodder. We can’t live on bad sermons. I know I can’t. There are plenty of churches around here, but I’d say maybe 3 of them have good preaching (we visited quite a few), and we are blessed to be at one of them.

    * * *

    Do you ever purposefully listen to bad preaching or read bad blogs?
    How have you been affected if you’ve done so?
    What has God taught you through doing so?

  • “What do you want to hear?”

    The following questions were posed in Revelife’s “What Do You Want to Hear?”
    (By Sam at Creating Culture)

    What’s the one message you would love to hear preached?

    A message on a certain perplexing scripture, social issue or theological position?

    * * *

    Though we can’t and we shouldn’t totally discount or disregard the people to whom we’re speaking and their particular needs…

    Shouldn’t we be asking God what message He would love to hear preached?


    II Timothy 4:1  I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2  preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3  For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4  and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5  As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.


    An appalling and horrible thing
    has happened in the land:
    the prophets prophesy falsely,
    and the priests rule at their direction;
    my people love to have it so,
    but what will you do when the end comes?
    Jeremiah 5:30-31

    My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…
    Hosea 4:6

    O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you.
    Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,”
    for by professing it some have swerved from the faith.
    Grace be with you.
    I Timothy 6:20-21
    Like Timothy, may we guard the deposit entrusted to us
    and may God’s grace be with us
    and may the knowledge of the Lord fill the earth!


    For the earth will be filled
    with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD
    as the waters cover the sea.
    Habakkuk 2:14
    May God keep us faithfully preaching His Word regardless of what others might say or may ask for.

    * * *

    What would you say are the main threats and hindrances to the word of the Lord being preached rightly?
    What hinders you from preaching God’s word rightly?

    Can you share a time when you heard a message you didn’t initially want to hear,
    but then you realized it was just what you needed to hear?

    Please feel free to add related Scriptures, songs, your thoughts, your prayers, etc., however the Lord leads you,
    so we might encourage one another to preach the word and be ready in season and out of season…
    as well as receive His word into our own hearts…